Posted on 03/16/2008 12:31:40 PM PDT by Stoat
An Anglican priest is in hospital after he was beaten up and insulted in what appears to be a “faith hate” assault by Asian youths.
Canon Michael Ainsworth, 57, was kicked and punched in the head and left with deep cuts, bruising and two black eyes in the grounds of his historic church in east London after he asked three Asian youths there to be quiet.
The attack at the 18th-century St George in the East Church in Stepney follows a number of apparently anti-Christian attacks in recent months in the same area.
Alan Green, area dean for Tower Hamlets, said: “It was a nasty cowardly attack. There were several groups in the churchyard and two from one group attacked him and the other group came and helped him back to the house.
“He was kicked and punched in the head as he lay on the ground, I believe that what was shouted was ‘you f****** priest’ before they attacked him.”
A Metropolitan police spokesman said: “The suspects are Asian . . . and the incident is being investigated as an alleged faith hate crime.”
The church had previously been targeted when a brick smashed a window during a service. Allan Ramanoop, a member of the parochial church council, said: “On one occasion, youths shouted: ‘This should not be a church, this should be a mosque, you should not be here’.
“The youths are anti-Christian. It’s terrible what they have done to Canon Ainsworth. We’ve never had violence like that before.”
A parishioner raised the alarm after the attack on March 5, but the youths had fled by the time police arrived.
The church was consecrated in 1729 and designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, a pupil of Sir Christopher Wren. It was severely damaged during the blitz but rebuilt in the 1960s.
Ainsworth was discharged from hospital but has now gone back in. Yesterday, he was visited in St Bartholomew’s hospital by his wife Jan, who is also a priest as well as being the Church of England’s chief education officer.
She said her husband was concerned publicity about the attack could fuel inter-faith tensions. “He does not want the level of fuss and attention. I think he feels it’s quite difficult in the local area.”
The Met recorded an upsurge in attacks against Muslims after the July 2005 bombings in London. There are also numerous attacks against Jews but, according to police statistics, relatively few Christians are attacked because of their faith.
Rector beaten up 'over his faith' - Telegraph
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BBC NEWS England London London bishop's horror at attack
Vicar beaten in faith hate attack The Sun HomePageNews
One of the assailants reportedly shouted “f***ing priest” during the attack.
Canon Micheal Ainsworth was in hospital last night after being attacked in his church yard by youths
There, fixed it
Asian = Muslim (in Britain)
Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Filipino, Korean, and other Asians are gonna have to stop the wussy media from describing hateful radical muslims as Asians.
Not really. The term "Asian" in Britain refers to not only Orientals but Indians, Pakastanis and Middle Easterners as well.
Religion has nothing to do with it
Soooo....do you think it was Indians, Pakastani’s or Middle Easterners (generic) who attacked this Vicar? Or MUSLIMS? I get your point....but, my point is they refuse to say MUSLIMS!
Indeed.....the 'venerable' BBC didn't even include any of the verbal quotes in their astonishingly abbreviated 'coverage', and only mentioned "Asian" in the very last paragraph. That's one of the reasons why I included several sources and an addendum to the title in this post....you have to read several sources to put the picture together on this story.
Hmmm, where are all the posters from England who told me off, the other day ,how much better off England was than America on this problem....(crickets chirping...).You are done over their, stick a fork in Great Britain, I mean Little Britain.
You are displaying as much will to survive as Olmert does for Israel.Get fitted for the the Burka.And nice signing of the “No Criticism” of China for the Olympics.
Bangladeshi Muslim
Oh but this is just an isolated incident! /s
My new favorite hymn: Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition.
My new favorite hymn: Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition.
Enoch Powell was right.
vaudine
KenHorse was pointing out that “Asian” means “Indian” or “Pakistani” or “Bangladeshi” in the UK. It does not in itself mean Muslim. I am sure that KenHorse realizes these yobs are Mulsims by what they shouted at the Anglican minister.
I saw an inspiring multi-part program (Discovery channel? Not sure) on SAS survival techniques, taught and hosted by SAS commandos....very entertaining and very impressive. It seems that this Parish may indeed need to enlist their help one day. "sigh"
I'm noticing that several of the 'news' articles on this story mention that 'calls have been made' to the senior muslim 'leadership' in the area for an official condemnation, but no response from them yet as far as I've seen.....
Sadly, our British Friends don't have that option. They might try cricket bats at the moment, but if that proves to be an effective defense their Government will most likely ban them
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