Wednesday, April 15, 2015
BBC News, ITV News, the Guardian, Daily Mirror and Birmingham Mail all cover an Islamophobic hate crime in Solihull after four severed pigs heads were left at the door of a community centre rumoured to be in use as an unauthorised mosque.
The papers report that West Midlands Police were alerted to the incident at the Solihull Community Hub on Sunday evening after a trustee found the pigs head on the premises.
The incident occurred just a day after the windows of the centre were smashed.
The hate crime follows rumours circulating in the local area that the centre was being used as a mosque without council permission. Solihull is investigating whether planning laws have been breached. The rumours have been sufficiently strong to prompt an online petition, which has attracted 3,000 signatures, objecting to the use of the premises for collective worship.
Chief Superintendent Alex Murray of West Midlands Police said the incident was being treated as a hate crime adding, “We’ve secured good quality CCTV of the culprits and my detectives are making good progress with the investigation. The forensic evidence we have is also very strong and we expect a result from that in the coming days.”
Some Muslim residents in Solihull have reacted to the news with BBC News reporting the comments of one local resident, Mohammed Abdullah, who said, “I’ve been living in Solihull for 10 to 15 years now and it’s never been as frightening to live in this area as a Muslim as it is now.”
The Daily Mirror reports on further tensions in Solihull with an expected English Defence League demonstration this weekend. The far right group’s plans were announced last week in reaction to plans re-submitted for the development of a Muslim cemetery in Catherine-de-Barnes.