A Gurdwara in Edinburgh has praised the response of Scottish authorities, and said they have been flooded by support from across communities, following an arson attack on the premises early on Tuesday morning. The attack has triggered calls for more concerted action from the British government against anti-Sikh hate crime.
The incident was swiftly condemned by senior politicians, while police in Edinburgh on Wednesday said they had arrested a 49-year-old man as part of their investigation into the fire. First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon described the incident as “appalling”. ”An attack on any individual or community because of their faith or race is an attack on all of us. The Sikh community are a wonderful and valued part of Scotland’s diverse society,” she said.
No one was injured in the incident, which is being treated as a hate crime by police. “Someone tried to burn down the front door. There’s a lot of internal smoke damage,” the Gurdwara said in a Facebook post on Tuesday. Vijay Singh, general secretary of the Gurdwara, said the damage had been less severe than had initially seemed apparent and had mostly been confined to the front of the building. They regained access to the property on the day itself.
The Gurdwara, which is housed in a former church, and runs regular free food stations in the city, was last the subject of an attack in 1989, said Mr. Singh. “We have a very good relationship with the local community and see this as an isolated incident,” he added. However, others pointed to wider concerns. “We note a concerning series of attacks against Sikhs in recent years,” tweeted one of Glasgow’s largest Gurdwaras, following the attack.
The incident also triggered concern from anti-racism and anti-hate groups as well as senior members of the British Sikh community who suggested the attack was part of a larger picture of incidents in the U.K., and beyond, where members of the Sikh community had been caught up in growing intolerance, particularly towards Muslims. In June, a Gurdwara and a mosque in the city of Leeds were set on fire in arson attacks that were also treated as hate crimes by police.
“The abuse is all too common,” said Lord Indarjit Singh of the Network of Sikh Organisations, who added that he believed that attacks on Sikhs were likely to be underestimated, because they were often conflated with Islamophobia, and because the wider rightward drift of politics and intolerance of “the other”. He called for a greater recognition from the U.K. government of the rise in attacks on Sikhs and strategies to help tackle the problem, including through an update to the government’s Hate Crime Action Plan.
“Sikh places of worship attacked. Synagogues need security from far right & IS inspired extremists. Mosques are increasingly becoming fenced off with cameras. This is NOT what we want for our country,” tweeted TellMAMAUK, a group that monitors anti-Muslim attacks following the attack on the Gurdwara.
“We are really humbled by the kind of support we have received — from the council, the public, politicians, emergency services,” said the Gurdwara’s Mr. Singh, who added that they had also been contacted by temples, mosques and by Jewish and Christian leaders from across Scotland and beyond who had expressed solidarity. “The reaction we have seen shows the compassion of the local community and will in the long term encourage more community cohesion and has left us more united than ever before.”
