Mosque leaders ask protesters to step back after school takes action in Prophet Mohammed row
Mosque leaders in Batley have encouraged would-be protesters to back down from continued demonstrations outside a school at the centre of a row over the showing of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed.
Last week Batley Grammar School suspended a teacher who showed pupils the image, which parents said had been taken from the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, as part of a Religious Studies class.
The teacher has apologised after showing students the cartoon, and head teacher Gary Kibble said the image was “totally inappropriate”. The teacher has been suspended pending an independent formal investigation.
Some protesters had vowed to keep gathering outside the school until the teacher was sacked. But some local mosque leaders told the Telegraph that following conversations between parents, the teacher and the school they were encouraging would-be protesters to stay away.
The school’s half term holiday begins tomorrow which has dissuaded some protesters. Some local mosque leaders said they have been sending messages to the local Muslim community discouraging them from taking part in the protests following the school’s announcement that it would launch a formal investigation into the incident.
Akooji Badat, chairman of Snowdon Mosque, said: “We’re working together with the parents and the teacher, and the school have been kind to all the sectors by suspending the teacher so there’s no real cause for a peaceful protest outside the school. The school has done its job and cooperated well with us.”
A petition set up by a student at the school in support of the teacher has attracted more than 50,000 signatures.
Around 50 protesters gathered outside the school last week and more than 20,000 people have signed a rival petition calling for the teacher to be sacked.
A protester read out a statement outside of the school on Friday, in which he said: "The teachers have breached the position of trust and failed their duty of safeguarding, and this issue must be addressed as a matter of urgency.
"We do not accept that the school has taken this issue seriously, given that it's taken them four days to merely suspend only one of the teachers involved."
In a statement issued on Thursday, the school said: "The school unequivocally apologises for using a totally inappropriate resource in a recent religious studies lesson. The member of staff has also given their most sincere apologies.
"We have immediately withdrawn teaching on this part of the course and we are reviewing how we go forward with the support of all the communities represented in our school.
"It is important for children to learn about faith and beliefs, but this must be done in a sensitive way. "The member of staff has been suspended pending an independent formal investigation.
"The school is working closely with the governing board and community leaders to help resolve the situation."
Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said: "I was disturbed to see scenes of people protesting outside the school - that is not right.
"We shouldn't have teachers, members of staff of schools feeling intimidated, and the reports that a teacher may even be in hiding is very disturbing.
"That is not a road we want to go down in this country, so I would strongly urge people who are concerned about this issue not to do that."
