UK: Man arrested after entering mosque with ax during Tarawih prayer

A man in his 40s was arrested on Tuesday evening after entering Manchester Central Mosque in the Rusholme area while allegedly in possession of several weapons, including an ax and a knife. Greater Manchester Police intervened around 8:40 p.m., after being alerted by volunteers present on site who had noticed the suspicious behavior of two individuals during the Tarawih prayer, a nighttime prayer characteristic of the nights of Ramadan.

. Around 2,000 worshipers were inside the place of worship at the time of the incident. According to the authorities, the man arrested is suspected of carrying an offensive weapon and possession of class B drugs. No injuries were reported and no explicit threat was made against the faithful. A second individual, also reported for suspicious behavior, is still being sought.

Although the police say they are working in conjunction with the counter-terrorism services in the north-west of England, the incident has not yet been officially classified as a terrorist act – a position contested by mosque officials. Manchester Rusholme MP Afzal Khan denounced to the BBC “the consequences of the stigmatization of Muslims by certain far-right politicians”, citing a worrying Islamophobic climate.

Investigators are continuing to analyze video surveillance images to determine the exact circumstances of the incident and identify the second man. This incident comes against a backdrop of an increase in hostile acts targeting Muslim places of worship in the United Kingdom. Without having been formally qualified as terrorist at this stage, the intrusion of an armed individual into the heart of a mosque in the middle of the nighttime Ramadan prayer raises questions about the differentiated treatment of certain security threats. For many association and political leaders, this type of event fuels a growing feeling of insecurity among the faithful, against a backdrop of the trivialization of stigmatizing speeches against Muslims in public debate.