statement<\/a> from the mosque said the man also had a hammer and a knife.<\/p>\nHe added that the approximately 5,000 worshippers inside the mosque were asked to evacuate and that about 15 police cars showed up at the scene. Nobody was injured during the incident.It is understood the second man was not apprehended by police, who are appealing for anyone with information about the incident to come forward.<\/p>\n
Supt Simon Nasim, of City of Manchester Central district, said: \u201cYesterday evening officers attended a local mosque after it was reported that two men were acting suspiciously and carrying an offensive weapon while people were worshipping during the holy month of Ramadan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have swiftly arrested one individual and officers are working to locate the second man. No threats were made and thankfully no one was injured.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou may notice an increased presence of patrols in the area while our inquiries continue. Please feel free to chat with our officers and let them know your concerns,\u201d Nasim added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no place for weapons on our streets and we are committed to ensure all our communities feel safe to worship in peace and go about their daily lives without fear. Anyone committing such offences will be dealt with in accordance with the law.\u201d<\/p>\n
Videos circulating online on Tuesday night showed a heavy police presence outside the mosque, which is located in the Victoria Park area of the city. By Wednesday morning the mosque was quiet, with no visible police presence. Most neighbours said they had not seen or heard any signs of a disturbance.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the mosque said volunteers had spotted a suspicious bag and escorted one of the men who had entered the mosque into a side room.<\/p>\n
The statement read: \u201cAll relevant information and CCTV footage has been passed on to the police who are continuing their investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Muslim community in the UK has experienced a notable rise in threats and hostility over recent years. The increase in Islamophobic incidents is a serious concern, and greater resources are urgently needed to address this growing and real risk.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will continue to cooperate fully with the police and urge all mosque attendees to remain vigilant. Congregants are advised to travel in groups where possible and to ensure that children are not left unattended.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe swift and responsible actions of our volunteers played a crucial role in containing the situation. Without their intervention, the consequences could have been far more serious.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe normally go to the Mosque every night,\u201d said Maryam Khan, who lives close to the mosque. \u201cThis is the one night we didn\u2019t end up going.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s really sad,\u201d she added. \u201cIt\u2019s really sad and really horrible to feel unsafe even in a Muslim-dense area. It almost feels like every year there\u2019s something. Whether it\u2019s here, whether it\u2019s down south, there\u2019s always something going on.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis feels very, very safe and that\u2019s why we love it here,\u201d she added. \u201cBut we\u2019re definitely thinking twice about going anywhere alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s such a disgusting thing to do because [Ramadan] is such a sacred month for us,\u201d she said. \u201cViolence has never, ever been a part of our religion. No matter what anyone says, it has not got anything to do with our values, and in fact, it is something that is so horrible and terrible and scary.<\/p>\n
\u201cLiving in the UK, to be honest, we\u2019re kind of just always aware that something could happen and something might happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Manchester Rusholme MP, Afzal Khan, said: \u201cI am deeply concerned about the incident that occurred at Manchester Central Mosque last night. \u201cThankfully, everyone is safe, no one is hurt, and Greater Manchester police have arrested one of the suspects.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the consequence of far-right politicians scapegoating Muslims. This is Islamophobia, plain and simple.\u201d<\/p>\n
The reports of the attempted attack come a week after Ramadan began and the day before constituents in south-east Greater Manchester are due to vote in Thursday\u2019s Gorton and Denton byelection, with Labour, the Greens and Reform UK all vying to take the seat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police in Manchester have arrested a suspect after he allegedly entered Manchester Central Mosque with an axe and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444794,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-444793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}