Car crashes into crowd near UK mosque in hate crime; 3 injured
London: A car crashed into a crowd near a mosque in the UK in a suspected hate crime incident which left three persons injured, prompting Scotland Yard to launch a probe.
The Metropolitan Police were called to the Al-majlis Al-Hussaini Muslim prayer centre in Cricklewood to reports of the collision with a "number of pedestrians" on Oxgate Lane.
Two people in their twenties suffered minor injuries and a man in his fifties remains in hospital as he is treated for a serious leg injury.
"This incident is not being treated as terror related but the hate crime aspect of the collision is being looked at by detectives as an aggravating factor," a Met Police statement said.
A spokesperson for the Hussaini Association, which had been holding a series of lectures at the mosque, said: "We are in deep shock at such an attack taking place on our community.
"We remain proud to live in a diverse and tolerant society and as such we remain unintimidated".
The car failed to stop at the scene and enquiries are underway to trace the driver and occupants, the police said.
Just before the collision, the Islamic centre had been informed of occupants in a car behaving anti-socially, drinking and allegedly using drugs.
The occupants of the car three men and a woman all aged in their mid-twenties were asked to leave the private car park.
The car then drove around the centre and the occupants were involved in a confrontation with a large group of people visiting the centre. Some witnesses reported hearing the phrase "dirty Muslims" being hurled from inside the
vehicle.
"Words were exchanged and comments of an Islamophobic nature were allegedly made by the group in the car," the Met Police said.
The car then reportedly sustained minor damage by some of those outside the centre. It proceeded to make off at speed, colliding with three individuals as it left.
No arrests have been made in the case so far as police appealed for information from the public.
"We are treating this incident very seriously and a number of enquiries are underway to trace the car and those involved," said Detective Sergeant (DS) Kelly Schonhage from the Met Police's local Brent division.
