Racial attacks mark town tension

Sarfraz Sarwar's home has been attacked twice

Death threats and buildings daubed with swastikas are marking growing racial tensions in Basildon.

Pork, forbidden in the Koran, has been tied to the doors of a hall where the town's Muslims pray every Friday and excrement smeared on the paths.

Sarfraz Sarwar's home, which doubles as Basildon's Islamic Centre, has been attacked twice.

Essex Police are investigating all the attacks but so far, no arrests have been made.

Death threats have been daubed on the wall of Mr Sarwar's home and bricks and paint thrown through the windows.

"I said 'May God forgive them, whoever has done that, because they were not of their right mind and it is a sickness and we just have to take the sickness out of these people somehow," he said.

The hall where Muslims pray has been targeted

But with tensions growing Mr Sarwar said he was planning to return to his native Kenya.

It is not only the Muslim community which is being targeted.

In Laindon, 16 youths armed with baseball bats terrified families at the Afro-Centre last month.

Solomon Ogundipe, who runs the centre, said it was very frightening.

"The doors were barricaded -we didn't know what was going on.

"It was panic, you could feel it in the air. Everyone was scared because we did not know what they were going to do. The could have petrol-bombed us," he said.

Clive Mardner, of Essex Racial Equality Council, said unless both sides could be brought together, no progress would be made in easing the tensions.

Police said a mindless minority "hell-bent" on causing distress and destruction was behind the attacks and that type of behaviour simply would not be tolerated.