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Muslim business firebombed
05/10/2006 17:32 - (SA)
London - A Muslim-owned business which reportedly housed a makeshift mosque was petrol-bombed following three nights of clashes between white and south Asian youths on the London outskirts, police said on Thursday.
The Evening Standard reported that the Medina Dairy in Windsor, famed for its royal castle, suffered damage to an outer wall in the firebombing, while the windows of dairy trucks and a makeshift mosque were smashed.
The paper said tensions have been growing between residents and the owners of the dairy, who have allowed workers and visitors to pray in an office building pending the outcome of their application to turn it into a mosque.
In a statement, Thames Valley Police said that the petrol bombing was linked to ongoing disorder "involving groups of predominately Asian and white youths who have gathered in the area over the past three evenings."
Three people have been arrested following the clashes and 22 people have been stop-checked by officers in the area, they added.
The dairy's director, Mohammed Azan, said police were called on Wednesday night after three youths came to the premises and threatened to return with guns.
"This has been going on for one-and-a-half years but it has been getting worse since last night.
"In the daytime, three youths came and said they would come back with guns and would shoot us," he told the Press Association news agency.
The agency quoted an unnamed local resident saying: "When they acquired the dairy, we were told that the prayer room would only be used for employees but then he (the owner) started inviting all and sundry."
Windsor is famed for its castle - where Queen Elizabeth II spends weekends - as well as pretty riverside walks and nearby Eton College, the elite school where Princes William and Harry were educated.
Pockets of Asian immigrants also live there and the town is just a few miles away from Slough, which has one of the highest percentage south Asian populations in Britain.
- AFP
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