Elham Asaad Buaras

Two men were arrested and bailed until April 29 after a severed pig’s head was cable-tied to the gates of a Portsmouth Muslim school.

A Nazi swastika had been drawn on the head, which was left at the gates of the Madani Academy on January 21. An offensive term had been written about Allah on it. Shocked parents and staff discovered the head after arriving at 8.30am.

Madani Academy’s Head Teacher, Muhammad Luthfur Rahman, told The Muslim News, “We tried not to expose the incident to our pupils.”

But he said it was not the first time the school has been targeted by Islamophobes. “We have experienced similar attack twice over the past three years; once on an occasion where a pig’s head was stuck on the gate and another incident where a bucket of pig’s blood was poured over the entrance door,” he said.

He thanked “local MPs, politicians, city council, Hampshire constabulary and people of Portsmouth for their support towards us.”

In a statement to The Muslim News a Hampshire police spokesman confirmed that, “A 22-year-old-man and a 24-year-old man, both from Portsmouth, were arrested on suspicion of racially/religiously aggravated intentional harassment/alarm/distress-words/writing.”