Car hits pedestrians outside UK mosque in suspected hate crime

LONDON: Police in London launched an investigation Wednesday into a possible hate crime after a car hit a crowd outside a mosque, injuring three people. The collision, in Cricklewood in north London in the early hours of Wednesday, followed the occupants of the car allegedly directing “comments of an Islamophobic nature” at the group, according to the Metropolitan Police. The incident left a man in his 50s hospitalised with “a serious leg injury”, while two other men in their 20s suffered minor injuries, it added.

Officers are working to trace the driver and occupants of the car — three men and a woman, all aged in their mid-20s — which fled the scene. “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,” the Met said in a statement. The incident began when security at the Al-Majlis Al-Hussaini Islamic centre learned the people in the car were “behaving anti-socially, drinking and allegedly using drugs,” police added. The vehicle occupants were asked to leave the private car park, sparking a “confrontation” with a large group of people outside the centre. “Words were exchanged and comments of an Islamophobic nature were allegedly made by the group in the car,” the Met 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.”