Tuesday, July 12 2005 18:46 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

London: Five people have been arrested on suspicion of attempting to bomb a Gurdwara and another person has been charged in connection with hoax calls in a place of worship as police continued a crackdown on perpetrators of racist "revenge" attacks in UK following the London bombings.

The five were arrested for their suspected involvement in an attempt to petrol bomb the Gurdwara in Belvedere in southeast London, police said today (July 12, 2005).

They also said that another individual has been charged in connection with hoax calls in a place of worship, but did not give further details.

London police had earlier admitted that there had been a number of racially and religiously motivated hate crimes in the wake of terror bombings on Thursday that left at least 52 people dead and 700 injured.

Incidents of arson and criminal damage have also been reported at mosques at several places, including those in Tower Hamlets and Merton in London and Telford, Leeds, Bristol and Birkenhead.

Scotland Yard has vowed to deal "robustly" with such incidents, which have prompted concern in the Muslim community.

Admitting that there had been several apparent revenge attacks on ethnic groups in the capital since the terrorist attacks, Deputy Assistant Commissioner of police Brian Paddick said yesterday, "We need people from every community to report incidents to the police of any faith hate crime and any other hate crime. Police will deal with these offences robustly."

"We will not tolerate a small minority of people who are using these tragic events last Thursday to stir up hatred.

Londoners are not attacking each other. They are being united by this terrible tragedy and we need to make sure we all stick together," he said.

Paddick was speaking after a meeting at which senior police officers, members of the Greater London Assembly and more than 200 community representatives from around the British capital participated.

Paddick said the officers had updated delegates on the police response to the bombings, and listened to their concerns.

"We thanked them for being calm and being patient. We know some people are feeling vulnerable and we want to reassure those people that we are there to protect them."