![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/d84b2257-b966-4eea-b68d-430c20dd2243.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA device was thrown inside the building and a window was smashed during last night\u2019s incident.<\/p>\n
It happened between 10pm and 10.30pm at the Islamic Centre in south Belfast.<\/p>\n
Staff at the centre told the Belfast Telegraph the centre, on University Road, had to be evacuated, disrupting evening prayers.<\/p>\n
Political representatives branded it a sinister attack and said it must be strongly condemned.<\/p>\n
A video from the first floor of the centre, seen by this newspaper, shows a man reaching into the building.<\/p>\n
One witness said he saw flames as the suspect allegedly attempted to set fire to the site.<\/p>\n
“I saw the flames in his hand from above but couldn’t capture it in the video,” they said.<\/p>\n
A pedestrian walking by stopped the suspect from doing any damage.<\/p>\n
A clip of the incident shows the young man grabbing the suspect and pulling him away.<\/p>\n
The suspect can be heard telling the pedestrian that he was “trying to save the world” as he was being dragged away.<\/p>\n
“He was the first to stop him,” the witness continued. “Only then did we reach there.”<\/p>\n
Officers subsequently arrested the man and cordoned off the site to conduct further investigations.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Islamic Centre today said they strongly condemned the \u201cvile attack\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring evening prayers last night, one of the windows was broken and a device was thrown inside the building.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone was evacuated from the building and the police were quick to respond.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were unable to continue night prayers as the whole area was cordoned off and nobody was allowed near the building.<\/p>\n
\u201cA bomb squad eventually removed the device in the early hours of this morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have had incidents in the past but nothing of this kind.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The centre had to be evacuated. Stock image<\/p>\n
“I think he’d be very well qualified”: Leo Varadkar on Colum Eastwood Irish presidential run<\/p>\n
Alliance MLA Paula Bradshaw condemned the attack.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is just the latest example of an attack motivated by hate which does not reflect the diversity of South Belfast in 2025,\u201d the South Belfast Assembly member said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis attack was again designed to cause fear among people inside the centre, who were at prayer at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cNevertheless, I am thankful for the intervention of a nearby passer-by and for the work of the police. Those were much more reflective of the true spirit of Belfast, where most people rejoice in diversity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sinn Fein MLA Deirdre Hargey said the \u201csinister attack\u201d must be strongly condemned.<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cNo one should ever feel unsafe in their place of worship, and my thoughts are with everyone affected.<\/p>\n
\u201cActs like these, fuelled by hate, spread fear and division, and target people who have come to our communities to build a life and call this place home.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s vital that all political leaders speak out and stand united against this disgusting behaviour.\u201d<\/p>\n
A PSNI spokesperson said early this morning: \u201cPolice are currently at the scene of a security alert at University Road in south Belfast. A number of cordons are in place in the vicinity.<\/p>\n
\u201cA 34-year-old man has been arrested and is currently in custody.<\/p>\n
\u201cMembers of the public are asked to avoid the area at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A device was thrown inside the building and a window was smashed during last night\u2019s incident. It happened…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[2378,1144,1610,17793,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-202185","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-belfast","9":"tag-northern-ireland","10":"tag-police-service-of-northern-ireland","11":"tag-south-belfast-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114720654250441986","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}