Early Sunday, British authorities confirmed they are treating a devastating fire at a mosque on the southern coast as a suspected arson and a hate crime, prompting immediate investigations.
Emergency services rushed to the Peacehaven mosque late Saturday night, responding to calls received just before 10 p.m. According to Sussex police, the blaze caused significant damage to the building’s main entrance and a vehicle parked nearby, though thankfully, no injuries were reported.
This incident unfolds against a backdrop of intense public anxiety, coming just days after a brutal terrorist attack at a Manchester synagogue on Thursday. It also highlights a troubling surge in anti-Muslim hatred across Britain.
Tariq Jung, who leads the local nonprofit Brighton and Hove Muslim Forum, revealed that individuals were inside the mosque at the time of the fire on Saturday evening but managed to evacuate safely.
“They were incredibly fortunate to escape with their lives,” Mr. Jung stated in a Sunday phone interview, emphasizing the gravity of the situation.
Jung expressed profound shock, not only over the Manchester attack—which saw two lives tragically lost when an assailant drove into worshippers before launching a knife attack—but also regarding the suspected arson at the mosque on Saturday.
“Worshippers enter sacred spaces seeking peace, atonement, and to offer prayers for themselves and their families,” he remarked. “The thought that someone would seek to kill, shoot, stab, or set their place of worship on fire is simply unfathomable to them.”
Following the synagogue tragedy, British police had already intensified patrols across Manchester and heightened security at Jewish cultural and religious sites nationwide. On Sunday, Sussex police confirmed they, too, have boosted their presence at the mosque arson site to offer community reassurance.
“We fully acknowledge the deep concern this incident has created within the community, and the profound impact it will have on the Muslim population,” the official police statement conveyed.
Both antisemitism and anti-Muslim sentiment have seen a disturbing increase over the past two years, a trend exacerbated since the October 2023 assault by Hamas militants on Israeli civilians and the subsequent Israeli military operations in Gaza.
A report released in February by Tell Mama, an organization monitoring anti-Muslim hatred, highlighted over 6,000 anti-Muslim incidents across Britain in 2024, marking the highest figure in the group’s 12-year existence.