The school in Blackburn
The gates of Markazul Aloom School in Blackburn Google maps

Police are treating as a possible hate crime an incident where two pigs heads were left outside an Islamic school in Lancashire.

Police said one head was left by the gates and the other thrown over the walls of Markazul Uloom boarding school in Blackburn between the night of Friday 18 December and the morning of Saturday 19 December.

In Islam, eating pork is forbidden.

Chief Inspector Sheena Tattum, of Blackburn Police said that officers had carried out a thorough search through CCTV.

"This is being treated extremely seriously and we understand the concern of incidents like this, while thankfully rare, can cause in the community," she said.

Abdul Hamid Qureshi, chairman of the Lancashire Council of Mosques told the BBC: "These [the students] are not people who have done any harm to anybody."

He added that the act was a "provocation and a crime".

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