Imam praised as hero for preventing mob violence
A YOUNG Muslim cleric has been praised for preventing an angry mob from attacking the suspected Finsbury Park terrorist whose van had ploughed into worshippers returning from latenight Ramadan prayers.
Mohammed Mahmoud, 30, was yesterday named as the cleric who saved the man – later named as Darren Osborne, 47, from Cardiff – moments after his white rental van had mown down members of the congregation.
Mr Mahmoud’s north London mosque described him as the “hero of the day” and credited him with “preventing further injuries and potential loss of life” after Mr Osborne was surrounded by a crowd.
The cleric and a handful of others managed to shield Mr Osborne and fend off an increasingly angry mob, ordering them not to touch him.
He said: “A group of people quickly started to collect. Some tried to hit him, either kicks or punches. By God’s grace we managed to surround him and to protect him from any harm. We stopped all forms of attack and abuse towards him, that were coming from every angle.”
Mr Mahmoud, the imam at the Muslim Welfare House on Seven Sisters Road in Finsbury Park, had only just finished prayers soon after midnight on a sweltering summer night when the incident occurred.
He said: “A brother came in, quite panicked, and said that somebody had run over a group of people. So we rushed out and found 15 to 20 people on the scene tending to the injured.
“When he got to the scene only a few hundred yards from the Welfare House, the driver of the van that had mounted the kerb and ploughed into several people had already been seized and was being held down by three men. But as a crowd quickly gathered, others began to try to kick and punch the man.”
Mr Mahmoud said those restraining Mr Osborne struggled to protect him.
“[They] couldn’t hold him down and push back people trying to hit him, so we pushed the people back trying to hit him,” he said.
“It wasn’t me alone, there were a group of brothers who were calm and collected and managed to calm people down and to extinguish any flames of anger or mob rule that would have taken charge had this group of mature brothers not stepped in.”
They flagged down a police van and urged officers to take Mr Osborne for his own protection.
Mr Mahmoud said he had told police: “There’s a mob attempting to hurt him. If you don’t take him, God forbid, he might be seriously hurt.”
He added: “We pushed people away from him until he was safely taken by police into custody and put into the back of the van.” Mobile phone footage showed Mr Mahmoud shouting at the mob to “stay back” and shielding Mr Osborne with his body as police officers loaded him into the back of a van.
Another witness, Hussain Ali, said: “The leader of the mosque said, ‘You do not touch him.’ He was sitting and holding him like that.”
Ben Wallace, the security minister, praised the restraint of the congregation after the attack.
Toufik Kacimi, the chief executive of the Muslim Welfare House, described Mr Mahmoud as “hero of the day”.
He told the London Evening Standard: “He was the one who contained the guy and held him up until the police came and took him away.”
Mr Mahmoud’s sister, Marian, said: “We are so proud of him.
“He heard the crash and ran to the scene immediately.
“He is a hero. He wanted the man brought to justice. He is a peaceful, good Muslim his actions don’t surprise us. He does not want more violence.”