Two pig heads have been dumped outside an Islamic school in Blackburn, just one week after ‘No Mosque’ was painted on the wall. The school plans to convert a building into a mosque, complete with a dome and minarets.
The butchered heads were left at the gates of the Markazul Uloom Girls School on Park Lee Road, Blackburn over the weekend. Pork and pigs are considered “impure” within Islam, and the gesture is likely to be perceived as offensive by Muslims.
Christian and Islamic leaders, and the local MP, have spoken out against the protest and the police say they will step up patrols in the area.
The school has submitted plans to convert a building on their site into a mosque by adding a dome and minarets. So far more than 2,000 people have signed an online petition opposing the development.
“The disruption of a mosque in this area will have a direct impact on the people using the hospice” the petition argues, claiming there is a “lack of parking facilities” such that the “primarily non-muslim area” will be effect by the “influx of people called to worship.”
Last week the words “No Mosque” were painted on a wall of the school. And then on Saturday night, one pig head was placed by the front gate and another thrown over a wall.
Mr. Qureshi, the chairman of the Lancashire Council of Mosques, said the act was, “appalling, disgusting and insulting to our faith.”
“This is about stirring up hatred”, he added. “The equivalent would be leaving these items outside a Jewish Synagogue. It is particularly distressing after what has been happening in Syria and Paris.”
The Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Rev Julian Henderson, told This is Lancashire: “I utterly condemn this abhorrent act which will shock any right thinking person. Whoever is responsible should hang their heads in shame.
“If certain individuals feel there should not be a mosque on this site there are established routes to make their objections. The location of this incident, a school for girls, causes me particular concern.”
Chief Inspector Sheena Tattum, of Blackburn Police, said: “This is being treated extremely seriously and we understand the concern that incidents like this, while thankfully rare, can cause in the community.
“We have put extra patrols on in the area to try to offer some reassurance.
“An investigation is under way to identify those responsible and a team of detectives are carrying out numerous inquiries.
“We have carried out house-to-house inquiries in the area and done a search through CCTV and we would appeal for anyone who has any information which could assist the investigation to get in touch with us.”