Derby Gurdwara Terror Attack – Breakdown and Reaction

On the morning of May 25 a UK Gurdwara was attacked by a Muslim individual, causing “thousands of pounds of damage”. Here we share a breakdown of what happened and reactions from Sikhs, authorities, media and more.

LATEST UPDATE (July 6):

Mohammed Ibrar, the perpetrator of the terror attack on Derby Gurdwara, may be charged with attempted murder for his rampage.

During his attack, after vandalising Gurdwara property, Ibrar went to a nearby shop where he stabbed a man of Polish decent. As such, a charge of attempted murder is currently being reviewed by lawyers for the Crown Prosecution Service.

Read more on his first court appearance here – https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/derby-news/derby-sikh-temple-knifeman-face-4259193.

LATEST UPDATE (June 1):

Sikh and Muslim groups of Derby issued a joint statement showing solidarity. You can read more on this and see the statement by clicking here.

Similar statements have also been released by the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front via whatsapp circulation, as well as the Leicester Council of Faiths (released via PDF), who also came together to back support for the attack to be investigated as a terror attack.

LATEST UPDATE (May 29):

A press release from Derbyshire Police saw Chief Superintendent David Cox say he will “be pursuing a thorough investigation to glean a greater understanding of the circumstances around the motives” following calls from Sikh groups to investigate the incident as a terror attack.

Read the full statement below.

STARTS

A man has appeared at court in connection with an alleged stabbing and a burglary at a Sikh temple.

Mohammed Ibrar (31), of Cromwell Road, Derby, has been charged with wounding with intent and burglary. He appeared before Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court this morning and was remanded into prison custody.

Police were called just before 8.40am on Monday 25th May to reports that the Guru Arjan Dev Sikh Gurdwara in Stanhope Street had been broken into. 

Another call came in minutes later to say that a man had been stabbed inside the Polanica shop, in Normanton Road, Normanton.

On arrival, officers found a 41-year-old man with injuries. The man was taken to the Queen’s Medical Centre for treatment and was later discharged.

Chief Superintendent David Cox said: “I know this is a very upsetting incident not only because this is a place of worship but because the alleged actions of the individual involved have a wider impact across the Sikh community.

“I met with members of the community yesterday and had a number of productive conversations about issues and concerns.

“It is clear that there is some concern that this incident may be linked to terrorism. I would like to make it clear that this is a live and ongoing investigation, which limits what I am able to say, but there is nothing at this stage to suggest that this is the case. We will, however, be pursuing a thorough investigation to glean a greater understanding of the circumstances around the motives that led to any alleged offences. 

“We will remain in close liaison with the Crown Prosecution Service and we will keep them appraised of any new evidence, which should come to light as the investigation continues.

“I would, again, like to thank those members of the community who assisted the police on Monday.

“This incident is being treated as a hate crime. Throughout the last few days we have been in continued dialogue with the Sikh community, and local officers will be more visible in the area to make sure both those associated with the Guru Arjan Dev Gurdwara and the wider community feel safe.”

ENDS.

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Meanwhile, more Sikh groups came forward to add to calls to have the attack addressed as an act of terror, led by the Sikh Federation UK yesterday. The Sri Guru Singh Sabha Watford Gurdwara committee joined in calls, whilst TV channel Khalsa TV Global also featured various voices echoing the sentiments.

LATEST UPDATE (May 28):

A Sikh Council UK statement revealed that “categorising this incident as burglary was also raised at the Sikh forum meeting with the Met Police” whilst saying the incident needed to be “reviewed under terrorism legislation”, sentiments echoed by Sri Guru Singh Sabha Southall committee, management of two of the biggest Gurdwaras outside of India.

The Khalsa Jatha group of Central Gurdwara Shepherd’s Bush (London, UK) highlighted the attacker acted based on “the same political motives as the attacker in Derby” and relayed their own experiences, saying “we have suffered numerous acts of vandalism in our past, what has happened in Derby is not mere vandalism”.

You can read these statements here.

The Sikh Press Association have requested a statement from Derbyshire police on whether the crime will be investigated as an act of terror, especially in consideration of the motive matching that of a recent ISIS attack.

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The Sikh Press Association’s Senior Press Officer Jasveer Singh spoke of his “shock” at the lack of media coverage on the incident.

“It is quite a shock to discover that such a serious case could be overlooked by the press. This is one of the most brazen attacks on the Sikh faith in UK history and as of yet not a single mainstream media organisation has covered the story. Comparatively, the types of Sikh stories we have seen make front page news or receive immediate coverage really leave a lot of questions as to what it takes for Sikh issues to make the news.

“We have to ask, if a Muslim man were to attack a church and stab someone, would media be so silent?”

In other news, the local NHS service staff began a fundraiser to pay to fix the damage caused by the attacker. Read more on this here.

LATEST UPDATE (May 26):

The latest statement on the issue from Guru Arjan Dev Gurdwara Derby said they were “astonished” about the decision made by police to label the decision a burglary, also pointing out the incident “clearly meets the requirements for a terror related offence”. Following this, three hours later Derbyshire police released a statement (see below) saying they were now treating the incident as a hate crime.

Read the statement by clicking here.

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A statement from the Derby Gurdwara’s Council echoed the Guru Arjan Dev Gurdwara words, also highlighting “It is clear the attacker acted with the intent to murder”, whilst also making four demands to police in regards to the incident, which included the police “treating the incident as an act of terror”.

Read the full statement by clicking here.

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Derbyshire police released a statement later the same day on the arrest of the Gurdwara attacker, named as 31-year-old Mohammed Ibrar who is being charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm based on his stabbing of a Polish origin man in a shop just minutes after his Gurdwara terror raid. Regarding the charge for the Gurdwara attack, the statement clarified, “This is being treated as a hate crime”, a change from the police’s original statement which labelled the attack on the Gurdwara a burglary. The statement also noted “the alleged actions of the individual involved have a wider impact across the community.”
The police, following criticism from local community figures for misinformation regarding the incident (getting the name of the Gurdwara and the address wrong in their official statement), finally deleted their mistaken social media post after leaving it up for 23-hours.
Read the statement in full here- https://www.derbyshire.police.uk/news/derbyshire/news/appeals/south/2020/may/man-appears-at-court-in-connection-with-an-alleged-stabbing-and-a-burglary-at-a-gurdwara/.

Original article released on May 25
On the morning of May 25 at approximately 9am (UK time) Guru Arjan Dev Gurdwara of Derby posted about being “attacked” and asked for information about the perpetrator (pictured below).

Another post with an official statement said the attack happened around 6am, when the Gurdwara would have been open for attendance of sevadaars (selfless servants) that use Gurdwara facilities to help provide meals to the wider community. Images of CCTV footage shared by the Gurdwara’s social media page showed a man wearing what can be described as traditional Muslim men’s wear, along with various pictures of the damage he had caused, seemingly with bricks and a car-jack he was carrying. According to reports from KTV, the man smashed his way through a glass door to enter the Gurdwara and cause more damage. The man then fled without encountering any sevadaars that were present.

The man also left a note which illogically referred to issues in Kashmir as a reason for the attack. Kashmir is currently under military lockdown by the Indian state, an issue which many Sikhs have actually spoken out about, showing solidarity with the plight of the Kashmiris. However, Kashmir, a Muslim majority disputed territory between Pakistan and India, also has a long history of anti-Sikh Islamic militancy too.

Attacking the Gurdwara based on Indian state oppression against Kashmir seems particularly idiotic given the fact the Gurdwara supports the Khalistan movement, for a free Sikh homeland in India, a movement similar to sentiments of many Kashmiri activists.

Some commentators have also suggested the timing of the attack may be linked to celebrations of Guru Arjan Dev Ji Maharaj’s Shaheedi (martyrdom), which is being marked on May 26 and Whom the Gurdwara is named after. Guru Arjan Dev Ji famously stood against religious tyranny imposed by the Islamic rulers of what is now India during the 1600s. As the news spread through social media, Sikhs across the world shared their shock and sadness at the vandalism and targeting of a Gurdwara that had been involved in providing langar (communal kitchen service) to hundreds of locals daily.

My local gurdwara has been vandalised in derby, if anyone knows any information please get into contact with the gurdwara ❤️ pic.twitter.com/RSxXR7xXuI

— Bhav (@bhavreetkd) May 25, 2020

Very sad to see an attack on any place of worship. Thoughts are with the Derby sangat who have been providing 500 meals a day from Guru Arjan Dev Gurdwara ???? #HateCrime

— Preet Kaur Gill MP (@PreetKGillMP) May 25, 2020

Thanks to widespread highlighting of the situation, by approximately 10am the same morning the perpetrator was arrested. A Guru Arjan Dev Gurdwara Derby statement on the arrest told Sikhs “we should not malign the whole Muslim community for the incident”. Sikh sevadaars (selfless servants) that had gone to Derby to stand with the Gurdwara following the attack captured the moment the man was arrested in the local area.

By approximately 1pm Derbyshire police had reported the incident online, although their post on Twitter was full of mistakes. Strangely, even though these mistakes were highlighted to them, the Tweet has not been deleted, nor have the mistakes been acknowledged. The incorrect information was even supplied to the local press, who again had to be corrected by local community figure and Sikh mental health advocate Kalwinder Singh Dhindsa.

Delete this Tweet and have another go ????

Gura ???????? Guru Arjan Dev.
Temple ???????? Gurdwara.
Cromwell Road ???????? Stanhope Street.

I'm guessing you probably gave all these wrong details to the @derbyshire_live. Who no doubt printed them…wrong too ????????‍♂️@SikhMessenger

— Kalwinder Singh Dhindsa ????* (@KhalSir) May 25, 2020

What seems particularly strange about the police’s statement is they called the incident a burglary, when sources from the Gurdwara such as Iqbal Singh Cheema a member of the committee and local councillor, have explicitly stated there was nothing stolen and the attack was clearly politically motivated and thus by definition a terror attack. The Sikh Press Association have questioned the police on the source of claiming this incident was a burglary, rather than at least a hate-crime or something akin.

In another sinister twist, the same man is being linked to a stabbing that happened in a nearby Polish shop around the same time, resulting in a 41-year-old left unconscious with stab wounds, reported by Derby Telegraph later that afternoon. Some pointed out that the Derby media coverage of the incident failed to include information about the much publicised note that was left, and instead stuck to the police’s “burglary” narrative.

Theres an angle to this that hasn’t been covered by Derby Telegraphy, there was a note left at the scene that points to a political motive. @DerbyPol treating this as a ‘burglary’ and not reporting on the note is insulting.
????: @ActivistsUk https://t.co/hvMf4Dm3nA pic.twitter.com/qP2fcK1yux

— NSYF (@theNSYF) May 25, 2020

Speaking to Sikh activist and social reform group Sikh Youth Birmingham at the site of the issue, local Muslims stated “it was definitely an act of terror” and condemned the attack and spoke of solidarity with the Sikh community. A local Muslim faith leader of Derby Jamia Mosque also condemned the incident via social media, echoing Gurdwara comments that there was no communal tensions. They highlighted how they too have been victims of vandalism in recent months. The Muslim Council of Britain joined Muslim community efforts to condemn the incident.

This is an appalling hate crime on a Gurdwara. It is important that local communities come together and show solidarity against this cowardly attack on a place of worship. The perpetrators should face the full strength of the law. @SikhFedUK https://t.co/LD3YOiCUJJ

— MCB (@MuslimCouncil) May 25, 2020

A final statement on May 25 by the Guru Arjan Dev Derby Gurdwara group called for “respect among all our communities in Derby”.

In good news regarding the incident, Sikh owned UK Glazing Systems company have replaced the damaged windows for free, whilst Sikhs from across the UK came to Derby to show support for the Gurdwara.

Sikh PA will provide updates on the situation as it unfolds.