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![\"Eddie](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/cdd0fa30-a1b6-11f0-bd9d-890904e0d38e.jpg.webp.webp\")
Eddie Mitchell<\/p>\nOttilie Mitchell and<\/p>\n
Joshua AskewSouth East<\/p>\n
Eddie Mitchell<\/p>\n
A volunteer at the mosque said two people in balaclavas poured liquid at the entrance and also near a parked car and set it alight<\/p>\n
A mosque in East Sussex has been damaged in a suspected arson attack, which police are investigating as a hate crime.<\/p>\n
Fire crews were called to the mosque on Phyllis Avenue in Peacehaven at about 21:50 BST on Saturday.<\/p>\n
While no-one was injured in the incident, the front entrance of the building and a vehicle parked outside were damaged, Sussex Police said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“We understand the concerns this has caused within the community, and the impact that will be felt by the Muslim community as a result,” Det Supt Karrie Bohanna said.<\/p>\n
“There is already an increased police presence at the scene and there are also additional patrols taking place to provide reassurance at other places of worship across the county.”<\/p>\n
A volunteer at the mosque, who asked not to be named, told the BBC that two people tried to enter through the front door, only to find it locked. <\/p>\n
They then poured a liquid at the entrance and near a car parked outside, which was set alight, the volunteer said.<\/p>\n
“It could have been murder,” the man said, adding that two people inside the mosque managed to escape.<\/p>\n
![\"Eddie](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/8b6d35d0-a1b8-11f0-aa2c-37989ccaa7a1.png.webp.webp\")
Eddie Mitchell<\/p>\n
Sussex Police is treating the fire as suspected arson and a hate crime<\/p>\n
Video circulating on social media appears to show two people in balaclavas approaching an entry before a large blaze spreads.<\/p>\n
The footage has not been verified by the BBC.<\/p>\n
There is renewed focus around safety at places of worship following the attack outside a synagogue in Manchester on Thursday, in which two Jewish people were killed.<\/p>\n
The suspect, who was shot dead at the scene, has been named as 35-year-old Jihad Al-Shamie, a British citizen of Syrian descent.<\/p>\n
Tariq Jung, chair of Brighton and Hove Muslim Forum, said “everybody is deeply saddened and appalled” by the events in Manchester and Peacehaven. <\/p>\n
He said that, irrespective of whether worshippers were Jewish, Christian, Hindu or Muslim, the “last thing” they should expect is that someone would try to harm them.<\/p>\n
“I hope faith leaders and others within the community will come together to try and bring peace,” he told BBC Radio Sussex.<\/p>\n
“We’ve got to… support each other at this time of great need.”<\/p>\n
![\"Eddie](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/f9954030-a1c6-11f0-aa4e-41121ee831f6.jpg.webp.webp\")
Eddie Mitchell<\/p>\n
Chris Ward, Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven, has condemned what happened<\/p>\n
Chris Ward, Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven, called the attack on the mosque “disgusting”. <\/p>\n
He said: “That there were no injuries is purely by chance.<\/p>\n
“This violence and hatred has no place in our peaceful, tolerant local community. We will root it out and we stand in solidarity with all affected.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ottilie Mitchell and Joshua AskewSouth East Eddie Mitchell A volunteer at the mosque said two people in balaclavas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475613,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,12,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-475612","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115321020792262893","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475612","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=475612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}