Furious parents protest over ‘Prophet Muhammad cartoon shown in class’

Police descended on a school today as dozens of furious Muslim parents protested outside after a teacher allegedly showed caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad during a religious education lesson.

Batley Grammar School in West Yorkshire had to delay its opening and told pupils to stay at home amid chaotic scenes at its gates, as headteacher Gary Kibble ‘sincerely apologised for the great offence to the community’.

Parents began gathering at 7.30am outside the co-educational free school and could be heard chanting – with about 20 to 30 pupils also milling around outside the gates, one of whom gave a speech.  

By the afternoon, the Huddersfield Examiner reported that the crowd remained outside the school – which was founded in 1612 by a Christian, the Reverend William Lee – and the road was shut in both directions.

Mufti Mohammed Amin Pandor, a local Muslim scholar, told the crowd that the teacher had been suspended, which was later confirmed by the school – and police began threatening protesters with Covid fines after midday.

Muslims make up around a third of the population in Batley, a historic market and mill town in the Kirkless region which was the constituency of Labour MP Jo Cox who was murdered by a Right-wing extremist in June 2016.  

Alumni from the school, which serves Halal-approved food in the canteen, include Innocent Smoothies founder Richard Reed, Ginetta Cars owner Lawrence Tomlinson and prominent 18th century theologian Joseph Priestley. 

Batley Grammar School’s most recent Ofsted report in 2015 stated that almost three-quarters of its 990 pupils are from minority ethnic groups, which is ‘very high compared with the national average’. 

Today’s protest comes five months after teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded on the street near his school in Paris by an Islamic extremist last October after showing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to his students. 

The killing shocked the country and led to a fresh debate about freedom of speech and the integration of France’s large Muslim population. It also brought back memories of a wave of Islamist violence that started with the Charlie Hebdo massacre, sparked by the same cartoons in the satirical magazine in 2015 when gunmen killed 12 people.

Mr Kibble said in a letter to parents: ‘The school would like to thank the parents who contacted us on Monday, March 22 highlighting concerns with a resource used in an RS [religious studies] lesson that day.

‘Upon investigation, it was clear that the resource used in the lesson was completely inappropriate and had the capacity to cause great offence to members of our school community for which we would like to offer a sincere and full apology.’

He added that the school had taken ‘immediate action’ to investigate what had happened, including the removal of the resource from materials and the suspension of that lesson content from the scheme of work. 

Mr Kibble continued: ‘As an additional precaution, we will undertake a formal review of the RS curriculum to ensure no other resource or statement is inappropriate and take appropriate action as needed.’

He also told how the school was now investigating the matter ‘using formal processes and we are grateful for the support of the local authority’. 

With parents gathering outside the school, it sent them all a text message to say: ‘Due to the disturbance outside of school, if your child has not already set off please keep them at home as school will be starting at 10am.’

The protesters were demanding the resignation of the teacher, with organisers asking anyone attending to do so in their vehicle if possible. Officers were guarding all school entrances but the protest appeared to be peaceful. 

Mufti Mohammed Amin Pandor, a local prominent Muslim scholar who is director of the Peace Institute, told the crowd outside this morning: ‘What has happened in the school, we are appalled. 

‘Look at what we do as a community, and you’ll understand our stance. What has happened is totally unacceptable and we have made sure that the school understands that. The school is preparing a statement.

‘So our discussion is they prepared a statement and we weren’t happy with the statement, so we said no, the statement needs to be worded in this way. Some people think I tried to stop you guys from coming.

‘I don’t know where that information is from, so that’s between whoever has spread that rumour and Allah. So that’s nothing to do with me. This is a democratic country, you can protest. It’s your right to protest. 

‘Somebody called me last night and said there’s a protest for tomorrow, what should we do? I said we, as a group, have got a different stance, we want to work with the school. 

‘But if anyone wants to exercise their democratic right, you are here. So let’s move on. So what’s happening? 

‘The school is going to issue an apology, issue a statement. We have asked for amendments on the statement to say that they are very apologetic and they apologise. All the resources that were used have all been pulled out. 

‘The teacher has been suspended, the teacher has been suspended. Now then, you cannot sack him. 

‘You guys are professional, you know you can’t just dismiss someone like that, they have due process.

‘So he’s been suspended, OK, he’s been suspended. Now we’ve asked for an investigation, an investigation to be independent, and we have asked also that some of us get onto the investigation panel.

‘So this is what we’ve asked for. So whether they do it or not, we can’t force them, but they’re investigating. And then we’re going to work with the school to make sure in future things like this don’t happen.’

Dr Paul Stott, associate fellow at the Henry Jackson Society think tank, told MailOnline: ‘Secondary schools have a duty to introduce pupils to contentious ideas and debates, as part of a process of teaching children how, rather than what, to think.

‘Schools in the UK must not concede policy to angry mobs at the school gates or to so-called community leaders.

‘The school’s censorious approach appears to be the exact opposite of the approach in France, where demands to sanitise classroom discussions by Islamist campaigners were resolutely rejected by the government, following the hideous murder of teacher Samuel Paty.’

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said at about midday: ‘We are aware of a small demonstration at the school, which is still ongoing. Local neighbourhood officers are in attendance.’

Police cordoned off Carlinghow Hill in both directions and the 213 bus service was diverted via Batley Field Hill. 

The school, which has 990 pupils, was rated ‘good’ in its last Ofsted inspection. It used to be an all-boys school until girls were admitted into its sixth form in 1988 and it then became fully co-educational in 1996.