The suspects
Masked men doused an East Sussex mosque’s doors with flammable liquid and set it on fire on Saturday in a racist arson attack.
The torrent of racism—pushed by the fascists and far right and legitimised by Labour—is to blame.
A mosque volunteer said that worshippers had only just left after evening prayers, and there were two people still inside.
The worshipers managed to escape as fire engulfed the entrance. A volunteer at the mosque said the attackers “came in balaclavas and sprayed gasoline on the entrance and the few steps”.
The racists also burnt a car outside the mosque. The volunteer added, “They threw something at it and the vehicle blew up. The fire reached the entrance to the mosque. It’s clearly a targeted attack.”
Fascists celebrated the attack. Nazi James Goddard shared a video of the attack to his over 60,000 followers with the caption, “Maybe God is starting to punish the Muslims for their many crimes against humanity.”
These are the real intentions behind those raising the St George’s Cross wherever they go. They try to hide behind a veneer of respectability, but racist violence is the reality of their views.
The Labour MP for Peacehaven, Chris Ward, posted on X, “This violence and hatred has no place in our peaceful, tolerant local community. We will root it out and we stand in solidarity with all affected.”
But Labour have played a part in enabling a political climate where racist hate can fester and grow. From Keir Starmer’s “island of strangers” speech to the continuous scapegoating of migrants and Muslims, Labour pushes racism.
And Reform UK, with its MPs claiming that whole cities “have essentially become Muslim” due to immigration, builds on that and fuels fascist and racist thugs.
The arson attack on the mosque comes after a horrific attack on a synagogue in Manchester last week where two Jewish people were killed.
The British state, mainstream media and supporters of Israel seized on that horror to demand the Palestine movement stop its marches. They claimed the mass demonstrations against genocide were “hate marches” that fuel antisemitism.
In reality, antisemitism is on the rise but it’s driven by the very same far right forces that want to burn mosques.
Where are the calls from Labour to ban far right marches after the mosque attack? Where are newspaper columns denouncing genuine hate marchers for fueling violence?
Anti-racists have to build unity against the far right and build a bigger movement to turn the tide.
Plus: 500 on Leeds unity march
Far right is still a threat
Fanning the flames of Islamophobia and racism is hardly restricted to the far right
