LONDON (AP) — U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday condemned a suspected arson attack on a mosque in an English coastal town, which police were investigating as a hate crime. No one was injured.
The fire on Saturday night came two days after two men were killed when a knife-wielding assailant attacked their synagogue in Manchester on the holiest day of the Jewish year, in what authorities have called a terrorist assault. One of the victims was accidentally shot by an armed officer as he and other congregants barricaded the synagogue to block the attacker from entering.
Starmer’s spokesperson said that the prime minister was “appalled by the arson attack in Peacehaven.”
“As the home secretary said, attacks against Britain’s Muslims are attacks against all Britons and this country itself,” the spokesperson said, adding that “anti-Muslim hatred has no place in Britain.”
Emergency services responded to reports of a fire at the Peacehaven Mosque at around 9:45 p.m. (2245 GMT) Saturday. The front entrance of the mosque and a vehicle parked outside were damaged, but no one was injured, according to Sussex Police.
Footage from the incident, released Sunday by police, shows two balaclava-clad people approach the front door of the mosque, before spraying accelerant on the entrance and igniting a fire.
Detective Inspector Gavin Patch said police were treating the fire as arson with intent to endanger …