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LAST UPDATE | 20 Feb 2020
POLICE IN LONDON have launched an attempted murder investigation after a man was stabbed on the grounds of a mosque.
The incident happened at the mosque on Park Road in northwest London at around 3.10pm, police said.
The mosque is close to Regent’s Park in the English capital.
Officers said that they attended the scene with paramedics from the London Ambulance Service where they found a man with stab injuries.
They confirmed that a man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder.
A spokesman said: “A crime scene has been put in place. Enquiries continue. Enquiries into the circumstances continue.”
Images posted to social media showed a white man in a red hooded top, jeans and bare feet being pinned to the floor by police officers inside the mosque, as others, including a small child, watched on.
One video showed a knife on the floor under a plastic chair.
A witness to the attack said the suspect had been a regular in the mosque, and had been seen at least six months ago.
Abi Watik, 59, said: “We were shocked we didn’t know what was happening.”
He said the victim had been stabbed once in the right shoulder moments after prayers had started, and he believed the suspect had waited for that moment.
He said: “It has just started and he was waiting for them to start.
“He was praying behind him and then he stabbed him.
“He (the suspect) was silent the whole time.”
The force said officers continue to investigate the circumstances of the stabbing.
With reporting by PA
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I lived in Southall in London in the 90′s, the Sikhism Vs Muslim fight’s outside the local mosque would terrify you.
I thought swords were museum pieces until I saw four being used on the street. They were actually fighting each other with these things.
No national coverage or anything, no Twitter et al, things just carried on as normal the next day, surreal.
@Cormac Laffan: cool story bro. But what has this got to do with the white guy who stabbed somebody in a place of worship today?
@Dave Thomas: cool me arse Dave.
If you’ve anything to contribute then bring it on.
@Dave Thomas: Islam is a religion, not a race; there are people from every ethnic background who are practising Muslims.
This is just madness, people should stop killing people. I don’t want my kids growing up in this world.
@Danny Waites: if only people could stop being racist and killing people because they’re different to them
@Sam Harms: do you have any actual info that this was a race related attack or are you just making an idiotic assumption due to location where it occurred? As there is certainly no such info in this article…
@Sam Harms: with Islam being the main culprit
@GrimyHR: white man stabbing the muezzin in a Mosque..I’m gonna guess it was a racist or xenophobic attack
@Danny Waites:….. Literally been going on since the creation of civilisation I think they’ll be fine
@GrimyHR: Does it matter whether or not it was racist??
@Sam Harms: I get what you’re saying Sam but the fact the offender was in bare feet in the mosque and a regular attendee may indicate that he is Muslim too and it could just be a personal thing between the 2 blokes. Am just speculating that it may not be a random attack on grounds of religion but a normal hateful vendetta between 2 people. Of course I could be wrong and hopefully the investigation throws some light on that.
Heartbreaking.
Throw away the key.
have your say