8-hour standoff at UK gurdwara, 55 held

Fifty-five people were arrested on Sunday after an eight-hour-long armed protest in the West Midlands region of England where a gang of 20-30 sword-wielding men stormed a gurdwara, apparently opposing a mixed-race marriage.

Specially-trained officers from the Warwickshire police are still believed to be inside Gurdwara Sahib in the town of Leamington Spa to negotiate with the other men.

Fifty-five people have been arrested after an eight-hour armed protest at the gurdwara, BBC reported.

“The report was received at 6.47 am after a group of between 20 and 30 men entered the gurdwara. This is currently being treated as aggravated trespass and at this time we believe that it is an escalation of an ongoing local dispute,” a police spokesperson said.

“We believe that some of the men are in possession of bladed items and as such armed officers have been deployed to the scene. Officers are inside the temple to negotiate a peaceful resolution,” he added.

However, the spokesperson said several of the weapons seized were kirpans, ceremonial daggers that are carried by Sikhs as an act of faith.

“We would like to reassure people that this is not being treated as a terrorist incident,” he said, adding that religious leaders in the temple were working with officers to negotiate a peaceful resolution.

“There are police cordons in place around the temple and we would ask that people avoid the immediate area while the incident is resolved,” he said.

Jatinder Singh Birdi, a former treasurer at the gurdwara, said a marriage between a Sikh and non-Sikh couple was due to take place. However, whether the protest was against the alliance or not is still unconfirmed.

“There have been tensions that have been going on for a couple of years with some people objecting to mixed marriages in taking place in the gurdwara,” he was quoted as saying by BBC.