Beware! Don't head to rumors: Mosque wasn't attacked in UK's Leicester
Leicester City in the United Kingdom witnessed clashes between Hindu and Muslim communities.
By Md Mahfooz Alam Published on 22 Sep 2022 3:11 AM GMT
Hyderabad: Leicester City in the United Kingdom witnessed clashes between Hindu and Muslim communities after cricket fans poured onto the street in large numbers to celebrate India's victory against Pakistan in the Asia Cup on 28 August.
Following this, tension flared up between the two communities. On September 17, an "unplanned protest" was taken out in the city. Leicestershire police issued a statement that 18 people were arrested on Sunday night to deter further unrest. A 20-year-old man was sent to jail for 10 months and a total of 47 arrests have been made so far.
Amidst the clashes, fake news with the potential of causing unrest in the city has been doing the rounds on social media. A Twitter user posted a video and claimed that "Hindu terrorists attacked a mosque and four cars were damaged." In the video, people with their hoods up and faces covered can be seen raising the slogan of "Jai Sri Ram and VandeMatram."
Fact Check
NewsMeter ran a keyword search to find out about the attack on the mosque, but we didn't come across any such report in the UK Media.
On further searching, we found a tweet by the Leicester Police debunking the claim of an attack on the mosque and appealing to people to only share true information on social media.
"We've seen reports on social media that a mosque is being attacked. Officers on the ground have confirmed this is not true. Please only share information on social media you know to be true," police tweeted.
We also found an article by The Spectators that "Fake news is fuelling trouble on the streets of Leicester." It reported that the Leicestershire Police promptly debunked the rumor about the attack on the mosque. Similarly, police also debunked the falsehood that a Hindu man had tried to kidnap a Muslim girl in the city.
"As tensions continue to rise, it won't be surprising if we see the police having to address more of these wild rumors," the article said.
Hence, the claim about the attack on the mosque is false.
