Finsbury Park mosque in “pork sausages” hate incident

The London Evening Standard and Islington Tribune report on a suspected hate crime incident at Finsbury Park mosque after “pork sausages” and “pig’s remains” were found slung over the gate and onto the mosque grounds.

Officers were called to the mosque around the time of the early morning prayers, at 4.15am, on the morning of Thursday 26 May when a bag containing the meat products were found on the mosque premises.

Having reviewed CCTV footage, police have issued an image of a man they would like to question in connection with the incident. Police are treating the incident as religiously aggravated hate crime.

Mohamed Kozbar, chairman of the mosque, said: “We want to put a very strong message out there that we will not put up with this. We want to see this guy prosecuted and behind bars. Ramadan is coming up soon and we will be very busy – we have to deal with this.”

Detective Inspector Ralph Coates of Islington Community Safety Unit said: “We take hate crime extremely seriously as we know how destructive these offences can be, both to individuals and to communities.

The mosque has been the frequent target of hate crimes with an attempted arson late last year when a suspect allegedly tried to set fire to the mosque by lighting a petrol can and throwing it over a fence onto the premises.