Enquiries are ongoing to further establish the circumstances, and extra patrols have been deployed in the area to reassure the community. Senior officers are working closely with local community leaders, to identify those family members who will be most affected. In the coming days we will engage further with the Muslim community who will have been particularly impacted by this horrendous crime.
If anyone has information or witnessed the criminal damage take place, please contact police.
Cllr Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council, said:
Our thoughts are with the families of those whose graves were desecrated, I cannot imagine how they must be feeling at this moment.
This is a very serious incident, and we continue to work closely with Hertfordshire Police to inform family members and bring the perpetrators to justice. I encourage anyone who thinks they have information that will help the investigation to call the Police on 101.
It looks as though Muslim graves have been targeted, in what appears to be an Islamophobic hate crime. There is absolutely no place for hate or discrimination of any kind anywhere, but particularly in London – a city where everyone is welcome and our diversity is one of our greatest strengths.
We will reinstate the damaged name plaques and return Carpenders Park Lawn cemetery to a peaceful, quiet place of remembrance as quickly as possible, once the Police have finished their investigation.
Further information from Brent Council:
• Up to 100 graves were desecrated, including the graves of children and babies. We understand this happened on Saturday.
• Brent Council has been working with the police over the weekend to
make sure everyone who needs to be is contacted, and that work will
continue today.
• Hertfordshire Police are treating this as a hate crime.
• Carpenders Park Lawn cemetery is located in Watford but owned by Brent Council.
• Given this horrific incident, Brent Council will now be working
closely with the Police to put in place any extra security measures
needed to protect the area.
A relative affected writes;
After hearing the news of graves being desecrated at Carpenders Park cemetery, it was the most gut wrenching feeling. My husband is recently buried in this cemetery and the anxiety and feeling of nausea till we reached the cemetery I can’t begin to describe how my family and I felt. Thankfully my husband’s grave was unaffected but to see the destruction of children’s graves was callous and pure evil. How are these people allowed to get away with this? It’s incomprehensible. My husband is buried there I was too upset to write this till I saw from my own eyes.
In a statement released this afternoon Brent Green Party said:
Carpenders Park Law Cemetery Desecration of Muslims Graves.
Brent Green Party express our solidarity with the Muslim community and call for a full investigation on the basis that is an Islamophobic hate crime totally alien to Brent's values as an inclusive community.
The Lawn Cemetery is a general burial place with different sections and non-Muslims have also been affected by the news and have expressed sympathy. This is one comment in reaction to this article beig posted on Next Door.
This is terrible. Carpenders Park Cemetery is a peaceful resting place for our loved ones of different faiths. I hope they catch the people that did this. Unfortunately it does not have cctv. Both my parents and family friends are buried there. It has a calming feel to it. I have been visiting for over 30 years and I have never heard of this happening before.
12 comments:
Shameful action by a bunch of cowards. Prompt action needed from Brent to make good the damage and reassure the families and wider community.
Cemeteries up and down the country get vandalised, often by kids, and is part and parcel of living in this country. This doesn’t necessarily mean it is a coordinated attack against then as muslims per se, as opposed to obnoxious people generally. If we look at Paddington old cemetery the damage is done by dog owners. When this happens, we dust ourselves off and tidy up.
As grave markers are wood, which have been pulled up, could even be council staff who have run over them. There’s no graffiti
We heard about this this morning from one of a councillors, a Muslim. It's horrifying.
Anon 19.13 and 19.15 I think the statement by the police who are investigating the incident speaks for itself. We should not minimise an incident that had had such an impact on a section of our community. The evidence is clear that it was only one section of the lawn cemetery that was targeted.
how true
good point, could be kids
Well if we are going with what the police say;
“Chief Superintendent Jon Simpson, from the Local Policing Command, said: 'This is an abhorrent incident and one that will understandably spark an emotive reaction in the community.
'We are continuing to work closely with our local community leaders and our partners at Brent Council, which owns the site, to identify those families who have been affected but we appreciate that this will take some time.
'At this stage, we are keeping an open mind as to the nature of this incident and in the coming days we will continue to engage with our Muslim communities to provide support and reassurance”
- they are keeping an open mind.
Cllr Butt has not kept an open mind and is fanning flames of ‘hate’ and persecution when there is no evidence for this. The images show their grave markers are just sticks, in contrast to typical graves which are granite and less easy to kick. So there are other potential reasons.
this has been going on up at Carpenders park for a long time my nan and grandads grave was smashed up before Christmas and things go missing off my sons grave all the time. This is not a new thing.
The grave council workers that are employed by Brent council up there smash up all the graves with their equipment when cutting the grass this has been a regular argument of mine every year for the past 4 years with the workers every summer this happens and every time my sons grave gets destroyed I have replace it all and the workers take no responsibility at all for their carelessness neither do Brent council when I phone and complain!!! Katie Morris
The cemetary does not have very good reviews at all re maintenance of the grass areas.
Brent's Carpenders Park Lawn Cemetery, and other Brent cemeteries, have specific rules regarding memorials and other items. Only horizontal bronze or bronze resin plaques are allowed for permanent memorials, and no upright memorials are permitted. Temporary markers are allowed for a limited time but are removed when the grave is set to lawn. Other items like boarders, chippings, coverings, trees, shrubs, and glass objects are also prohibited
Hmmm if we look at those photos the grass looks to be recently cut! Time to send the editor of wembley matters up for an investigation!
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