Sarah Hooper
Published December 3, 2025 4:29pm
Updated December 3, 2025 4:30pm
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Previous Page Next PagePolice have launched a search for a group of people caught throwing traffic cones through the windows of a mosque as children played nearby.
The vandals targeted the Peace Centre in Thurnby, Leicester, at the end of evening prayers on Sunday.
Two hooded men were seen approaching the mosque before smashing the glass of the entrance doors.
Leicestershire Police believe the vandalism is connected to two other attacks on a bus and a house that same night.
Numayar Gazi, spokesperson for the Peace Centre, which has a mosque, a community centre and a weekly food bank, said: ‘This was premeditated and deeply saddening.
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‘It happened just at the end of evening prayers when there were worshippers still inside. The scariest part is that children, aged just four or five, come and play by the water fountain, which is right next to those doors.’
Police are searching for the two hooded teenagers (Picture: SWNS)
Mr Gazi said the attack deeply hurt the mosque (Picture: SWNS)
Mr Gazi said that to be attacked in such a way hurts deeply, because they love the community and do a lot to give back.
‘We are not an insular mosque; we are very much integrated, and when something like this happens, it makes you feel rejected,’ he said.
‘All over what? Because my skin colour is a different shade, or because sometimes I dress a bit differently? They intentionally came here. They’re not just walking past, and I do believe we were targeted.’
Mr Gazi said there was a similar attack in May last year when bottles and stones were thrown at the mosque, and when it first opened, a pig’s head was left outside.
Despite the violent act, Mr Gazi said he’d rather have the vandals come have a cup of tea with them in the mosque and explain why they did what they did, rather than see them punished by police.
Leicestershire Police's statement
A Leicestershire Police spokesperson said: ‘Three reports have been received relating to damage to a bus, a premises in Thurncourt Road and a house.
‘All the reports are being linked, and we believe these offences were carried out randomly and were not targeting specific properties. CCTV has been obtained, and enquiries are ongoing to identify those involved.
They added: ‘The victims believe the incident may be racially motivated, enquiries remain ongoing into the circumstances, and we are keeping an open mind into the motive.
‘However, we do not believe the premises were targeted specifically, and this was one of three incidents of damage that evening.’
Broader trends in hate crimes against different communities
An attack in a Manchester synagogue on the holiest day in Judaism rocked the UK this year (Picture: PA)
The attack on the mosque in Leicestershire comes just a month after the head of the Muslim Women’s Network said she is ‘deeply worried’ about hate crimes against Muslims increasing.
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Home Office figures show that anti-Muslim hate crimes rose from 2,690 incidents to 3,199 in just twelve months.
Attacks against the Jewish community are on the rise as well. In early October, a knifeman tried to barge into the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year.
Hate offences targeting Jewish people recorded by three major police forces spiked in the weeks after the Israel-Hamas conflict broke out in October 2023.
Islamophobic offences recorded by the force rose from an average of 33 a month in 2023 and 39 a month in the first half of 2024 before rising to 94 in August, then 73 in September.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
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