{"id":202352,"date":"2025-06-21T10:59:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T10:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/202352\/"},"modified":"2025-06-21T10:59:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T10:59:12","slug":"belfast-islamic-centre-man-arrested-over-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/202352\/","title":{"rendered":"Belfast Islamic Centre: Man arrested over attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BBCBBC<\/p>\n

The incident took place at the Islamic Centre on University Road on Friday night<\/p>\n

The Belfast Islamic Centre has been attacked while some of its members were praying inside the building.<\/p>\n

The incident on University Road in the south of the city sparked a security alert on Friday night. <\/p>\n

Kashif Akram from the Belfast Islamic Centre told BBC News NI a window had been broken and device thrown inside, while up to 30 people were upstairs praying.<\/p>\n

A 34-year-old man has been arrested and remains in custody.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A broken window at the centre in Belfast<\/p>\n

‘Very upset’<\/p>\n

Mr Akram said the attack has caused alarm among the Muslim community. <\/p>\n

“There was a lot of commotion outside, that’s when people realised from upstairs that something was happening outside. Thankfully nobody was hurt.”<\/p>\n

He added: “They were very angry, very upset, they were here to do their prayers, minding their own business.”<\/p>\n

He praised the fast response of the security workers at the building, and the police.<\/p>\n

“Unfortunately, the place was cordoned off last night and we couldn’t continue with our congregational prayers last night or this morning.<\/p>\n

“Thankfully, the building is back in operation since six this morning, everything has been cleared and we’ll be fully functional today.”<\/p>\n

\"Kashif<\/p>\n

Kashif Akram and Raied Al-Wazzan said the centre had reopened as normal after the attack<\/p>\n

Raied Al-Wazzan, a former treasurer of the Belfast Islamic Centre, got a call about the attack on Friday night and went to the scene.<\/p>\n

He said it was already cordoned off when he arrived, and the centre and some neighbouring properties had been evacuated.<\/p>\n

He added the police cordon had been removed on Saturday morning but officers remained outside the building “just to be a visible presence and assure the community that everything is safe and under control”.<\/p>\n

“Of course people were upset but today is business as usual,” Mr Al-Wazzan said.<\/p>\n

“The centre is open again and there will be a full service to the community. “<\/p>\n

‘Motivated by hate’<\/p>\n

Alliance assembly member Paula Bradshaw said: “This is just the latest example of an attack motivated by hate which does not reflect the diversity of south Belfast in 2025,” she said.<\/p>\n

“This attack was again designed to cause fear among people inside the centre, who were at prayer at the time.”<\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in’s Deirdre Hargey condemned what she called a “sinister” attack.<\/p>\n

“No one should ever feel unsafe in their place of worship, and my thoughts are with everyone affected,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Acts 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

Green Party councillor \u00c1ine Groogan said it was “another reminder of the very real danger faced by our Islamic community”.<\/p>\n

“The recent rise in racist hate and violence on our streets is a shameful stain on our society,” she added.<\/p>\n

“We must all take responsibility for actively challenging racism, misinformation, and bigotry wherever it appears before someone is seriously hurt.”<\/p>\n

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said a number of cordons were in place over night during the alert.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BBC The incident took place at the Islamic Centre on University Road on Friday night The Belfast Islamic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-202352","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-northern-ireland","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114721008391238350","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202352","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=202352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}