A man has been arrested on suspicion of arson after a mosque and a Sikh temple in Leeds were set on fire, in what police have described as linked hate crimes.

The 42-year-old was arrested at an address in the city on Tuesday night after fires were started at the front doors of two buildings early that morning.

Police were called to the Jamia Masjid Abu Huraira mosque in Beeston at 3.42am on Tuesday morning, where the main door had been deliberately set on fire with a flammable liquid.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze before it had a chance to spread, and damage was confined to the door and surrounding brickwork.

At 4.19am, staff at the nearby Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha gurdwara called the police reporting that someone had set fire to the front door around 30 to 40 minutes earlier. The fire triggered a smoke alarm and was quickly extinguished, causing damage to part of the door and a pillar.

Speaking on Tuesday, Det Insp Richard Holmes, of Leeds District CID, said: “We are treating both these incidents as linked given the closeness of the locations and the similar times that they have occurred.

“While our investigation is still at a relatively early stage, we do believe these premises have been specifically targeted as places of worship and we are treating both incidents as arson and hate crimes.”

In a statement on Wednesday, following the arrest, Holmes said: “We are continuing to liaise with our colleagues in the local neighbourhood policing team who are maintaining an increased presence in the area and having regular contact with key representatives from the communities affected to keep them updated and to reassure the wider community.”

In a statement, Leeds’ Racial Justice Network criticised the lack of national media coverage of the incident, saying it revealed “a lack of concern for Muslim and Sikh lives and reminds us that the terrorist label (and public outrage) is only reserved for black and brown people”.



“These attacks follow on from racist and fascist … marches in Leeds and Manchester at the weekend and reflect a resurgence of far-right racism,” they said. “Whilst we believe that the far right are still in the minority, there is a real need for the solidification and growth of anti-racist movements. With our allies across the country, the Racial Justice Network will be a part of it.”