A video has surfaced from United Kingdom’s Leicester city showing a police officer seen behaving badly with a Hindu priest and other members of the community. These people had come to celebrate the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi.
The video which went viral on X on Tuesday shows a Hindu advocacy group, which said the priest was “pushed around” and also “manhandled.”
The policeman has been identified 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.
“We condemn the actions of the officer and believe that the actions by Mr Ahmed were uncalled for,” the group posted 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 surfaced 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 about the incident, which comes exactly a year after Hindu-Muslim clashes in the city, following an India-Pakistan cricket tie. Then, 47 persons were arrested in what the police has described as a “series of disturbances.”