London: In a shocking video that emerged from UK’s Leicester city, a police officer was seen behaving rudely with an elderly Hindu priest and other community members, who had gathered to celebrate the Ganesh Chaturthi festival.
The more than a minute-long video was shared on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday by Insight UK, a Hindu advocacy group, which said the priest was “pushed around” and “manhandled”.
Identifying the cop as Adam Ahmed of Leicester Police, the group said that he used “excessive force against peaceful Hindu devotees”.
“Last night (September 19) Officer Adam Ahmed of Leicestershire Police used what we believe is excessive force against peaceful Hindu devotees celebrating #GaneshChaturthi. Hindu priest manhandled by Officer Adam Ahmed of @leicspolice,” Insight UK wrote on X.
Last night Officer Adam Ahmed of Leicestershire Police used what we believe is excessive force against peaceful Hindu devotees celebrating #GaneshChaturthi.
Last year's attacks and now this.@leicspolice – Do Hindus in #Leicester not have the right to celebrate our festivals? pic.twitter.com/afytajTqfK
— INSIGHT UK – Leicester (@INSIGHTLeicestr) September 19, 2023
“We condemn the actions of the officer and believe that the actions by Mr Ahmed were uncalled for,” the group wrote in a post along with the video.
While the police officer can be heard saying to the priest, “I just need to talk to you”, a Hindu devotee, who called the priest, “Shastri ji” is seen telling the officer, “shame, shame on you. Do not touch our priest. Stand back… He is an old man”.
In several videos of the incident, which emerged later, a woman can be repeatedly heard on the video telling the cop “do not touch our priest”.
So far, the Leicester Police or administration has not issued any statement relating to the incident, which comes exactly a year after Hindu-Muslim clashes in the city, following an India-Pakistan cricket match.
At least, 47 persons were arrested in what the police had described as a “series of disturbances”.
