‘Hate crime’ attack on Sikh family home on wedding day

U.K Police say they are treating an attack on the home of a Sikh family whose daughter was about to marry a man from a different religion as a hate crime.

The door of the terrace house in Coventry was damaged and its windows were smashed early on Saturday.

The family members, who asked not to be named, said they were targeted because a daughter was due to marry a Hindu man in a Sikh temple later that day.

The wedding later went ahead peacefully, as planned.

The family said they had been threatened in the weeks leading up to the wedding by some “hardline” Sikhs, who were unhappy about non-Sikhs getting married in one of the religion’s temples, known as gurdwaras.

They said the people had also made aggressive calls to the gurdwara where the wedding was due to take place.

‘Very frightening’

The father of the family told BBC Asian Network that at about 01:30 BST on Saturday he heard the glass in the house’s front windows shatter.

He said: “It went ‘bang, bang, bang’. It was very frightening.”

The family were given a police escort to and from the gurdwara for the wedding.

The bride’s older sister said the family had been put through “some quite horrendous things” in the run-up to the wedding.

“Mixed faith marriages have been going on from the start,” she said.”What’s the problem now?”

In a statement, West Midlands Police said: “Police are investigating the criminal damage as a hate crime and are treating this as a priority.

“Police have had a presence at the address over the weekend and are continuing to support the family.”

Source:www.bbc.co.uk