Brick attack on Islamic education centre in Preston is a hate crime, say police

The Iqra education centre at Madrassa-tul-madina in Garstang Road was targeted in a suspected hate attack at around 4am on Tuesday, March 12.

Two men have been captured on CCTV committing the vandalism and the footage has been passed to police.

The footage allegedly shows two men throwing the brick at the window twice. Their first attempt failed to break the window.

Undeterred, the men are then seen picking up the brick again and shattering the window on their second attempt.

Staff at the centre said they had asked the police to investigate the incident as a hate crime.

A spokesman for Lancashire Police said: "The incident has been reported to us and it is being treated as a hate crime."

The centre, near Moor Park, provides Islamic education for children up to the age of 15.

The building was targeted just three days before a terrorist killed 50 worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.

On Thursday, March 21, the Post revealed that Lancashire Police had investigated more than 1,500 reports of racially and religiously aggravated crimes in 2018.

Mukhtar Master, a spokesman for the city's mosques, said: "Unfortunately, it is deeply saddening that this type of incident has become almost a regular occurrence up and down the country.

"Clearly there does appear to be an increase on hate crimes, particularly directed towards the Muslim community."However, let’s hope that this is an isolated incident for a city such as Preston."

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 quoting reference number LC-20190312-0991.