Members of a far right group "invaded" Crayford Mosque and demanded "sexist" signs be removed.

Britain First activists marched into the North West Kent Muslim Association mosque in the High Street at around 1.15pm yesterday.

Led by former Swanley BNP councillor Paul Golding, they confronted members of the mosque over the building’s separate entrances for men and women.

A statement on the group’s website under the headline "Britain First Activists invade Crayford mosque", said: "Islam treats and views women as second class citizens.

"Britain First Kent battalion activists entered the big mosque in Crayford to inform the Imams that they have exactly seven days to remove sexist signs from outside their building, or we will.

"Britain First will not allow Islam to drag our standards back to the 7th Century."

Mr Golding resigned as the BNP’s Sevenoaks District councillor for Swanley St Mary’s ward in March 2011.

 

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Crayford Mosque. 

He attempted to organise a demonstration against the signs in May last year on behalf of another far right group the English National Resistance but it was cancelled.

Syed Alam volunteers at the mosque, which has signs reading ‘Brothers only’ and ‘Sisters only’ above two gates either side of the main door.

He said five men and one woman from Britain First entered the mosque without removing their shoes and stayed for up to 10 minutes berating a handful of members who were there.

Mr Alam told News Shopper: "They are filthy people creating trouble in our society.

"They were quite lucky because if they had come earlier there would have been lots of people finishing their prayers and there could have been real trouble.

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The offending signs. 

"They were very aggressive and threatening. The signs are our religious policy.

"They are making trouble for nothing. We have been here since 1997 and we have good relations with local people."

A post on Britain First’s Facebook page claims Mr Golding was arrested over the incident.

But police said no one has yet been detained after officers were called to “reports of a disturbance”.

A spokesman said: “The incident is being investigated by detectives from Bexley Community Safety Unit to establish whether any offences have been committed.

“Officers from the local Safer Neighbourhoods Team are carrying out additional patrols in the area.”

Demonstration planned

A new group Dartford Against Britain First is planning to demonstrate against a Britain First roadshow event in Dartford this Saturday (July 19).

Member Gabriel Forcella-Burton said: "They want to use this meeting as a springboard to help them to grow their movement, both in the local area and nationally.

"We, as Dartford residents, find it unacceptable that fascists are being given a platform to spread their message of hatred and intolerance in our town and we intend to peacefully oppose them in order to show Britain First that their racism and Islamophobia are not welcome here.

"I hope that all Dartford residents will join us.”