Katie Hopkins forced to apologise after inaccurate Finsbury Park mosque comments

Far-right commentator forced to acknowledge various contributions award-winning mosque makes to community

Former Sun columnist had wrongly linked worshippers with attack on police

(Getty)

Katie Hopkins has been forced to publicly apologise and correct an inaccurate statement linking Finsbury Park mosque with a violent incident.

After police officers were attacked several streets away from the north London mosque on 7 May, Ms Hopkins tweeted CCTV footage accompanied by a caption wrongly implying worshippers were responsible for the violence.

The mosque’s lawyers approached the Apprentice contestant turned far-right commentator, who eventually removed the tweet, but only after it had garnered thousands of likes, shares and views.

On Monday, after reportedly informing the mosque that she would prefer to settle the matter outside of court – having filed for insolvency in 2018 following a costly libel against food columnist Jack Monroe – Ms Hopkins published a statement on her Instagram and Parler pages. She was recently banned from Twitter for violating its policy on “hateful conduct”.

“Having now been informed of the factual inaccuracies of that tweet, I am perfectly happy to correct the record to reflect the fact that the incident was not occurring outside Finsbury Park mosque but two streets away in Blackstock Road,” the former Sun columnist said.

"I am genuinely sorry for any offence or hurt felt by Finsbury Park Mosque for this clear factual error and I am happy to put the record straight.

“Furthermore, it could be inferred from my Tweet that the aggressors in the altercation with the Metropolitan police were members of the Finsbury Park mosque. I offer my sincere apologies to the Mosque for this incorrect inference and the offence or hurt caused by it.”

Ms Hopkins was forced to acknowledge the multiple contributions made by the mosque within the wider community, particularly during the pandemic, such as distributing meals and PPE to NHS staff, providing food parcels to vulnerable residents and setting up a bereavement hotline.

It came within hours of her claiming on Parler that “England will fall to Islam within the decade", as she wrote in support of Donald Trump.

The mosque, which said it had been “stunned” by Ms Hopkins’s “very hateful and very divisive” tweet, welcomed her apology.

“Finsbury Park Mosque wishes to reiterate its focal role of establishing harmony, positive relationships and prosperous networks, throughout the area of London which it resides, and which is renowned for its multi-cultural, multi-faith and diverse nature,” mosque representatives wrote on Facebook.

The mosque had years ago been linked to extremist cleric Abu Hamza and had been a target for far-right hate, but has long been a drastically changed place, switching management in 2005 and winning various awards for its services to the community.

“Over the past 15 years, Finsbury Park Mosque has won numerous awards pertaining to community work, community cohesion, diversity and multi-culturalism, thanks to its population of several thousand worshippers, friends and supporters from across the religious, cultural and racial spectra,” the mosque’s statement continued.

“At a time of deep division within our society and the prominence of hate, suspicion and fear due to an array of reasons, Finsbury Park Mosque wishes to remind everyone of our personal and collective responsibility to not only speaking truth, but doing all we can to bridge those divides and to bring our people and our communities closer.”