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Man investigated for hate incident after “Ice Mosque Challenge” uploaded on YouTube

Man investigated for hate incident after “Ice Mosque Challenge” uploaded on YouTube

Categories: Latest News

Thursday September 11 2014

The Bolton News reports on a video that has surfaced showing a semi-naked man wearing a homemade ‘burqa’ while doing an ice bucket challenge outside Zakariyya mosque. The challenge has been nicknamed “Ice Mosque Challenge”.

The footage, seen by the Bolton News, shows a man wearing only his underwear, socks and shoes and sporting a makeshift ‘burqa’ being drenched in water while holding a packet of bacon and with sausages dangling between his legs.

Another man is heard telling him to hurry up but the man responds “Don’t worry about it, I’m not worried about these b***ds.”

A clip of the video was uploaded on YouTube and Facebook, including the Stop The Astley Bridge Mosque Facebook page. Although the Bolton News reports that the video was later removed, it is still accessible on YouTube.

Following a number of complaints, the police are now investigating the incident as a hate crime. The police estimate that the video was filmed between midnight on 24 August and 5pm on 25 August.

PC Mel Jackson stated “The content is offensive and has caused distress in the local community – a hate incident has been recorded and is being investigated.”

The incident follows the disruption of a council meeting in July to discuss the Astley Bridge mosque proposal by protestors who shouted abuse. Bryn Morgan, who manages the Stop The Astley Bridge Mosque Facebook page, spoke out against the Astley Bridge mosque proposal at the planning meeting. On the “Ice Mosque Challenge” video, she told Bolton News, “We feel that the acts in themselves were childish and inapproriate [sic] and could be deemed as inflammatory.”

However, according to Islamophobia Watch, the video was uploaded to Facebook and YouTube by Andy Stockton, a supporter of the Stop the Astley Bridge Mosque Bolton campaign, following his posts on their Facebook page proclaiming his animosity for “muzzrats”.

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