The incident happened in the early hours of June 6 and destroyed the building
Shankill Gospel Hall was completely destroyed following the blaze(Image: Justin Kernoghan/BelfastLive)
A man has been arrested in connection with a report of racially-motivated arson at a former gospel hall in Belfast.
The arson attack at the former Shankill Gospel Hall in the early hours of June 6 destroyed the building, which had recently been bought in order to turn it into a shop.
Police have confirmed a 45-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the incident, but has since been released on police bail.
A PSNI spokesperson said: “Police have arrested a man in connection with a report of racially-motivated arson at a Gospel Hall on the Shankill Road on Saturday, 6th June.
“The 45-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday, 24th June. He has since been released on police bail to allow for further enquiries.
“Officers continue to investigate this report. Anyone with information is asked to contact police using our witness appeal form at https://reporting.psni.police.uk/appeals quoting reference 187 06/06/26 or call us on 101.
“Information can also be provided anonymously to the Crimestoppers charity on 0800 555 111 or online at www.crimestoppers-uk.org.”
Gaurav Jindal, the entrepreneur who lost everything when his business in the former gospel hall was destroyed, said he is in a “terrible situation” as his property has now been targeted with racist graffiti.
Weeks after the arson attack, the property has been targeted again by racists who have written “p***s out” graffiti on the building.
Speaking to Belfast Live following the latest incident, Mr Jindal said he noticed the graffiti after visiting the premises with police. He said he would not go there without an officer present due to his fears.
He said: “I don’t know what to do after everything that has happened. It has left us in a terrible situation where we have lost everything and are trying to talk to the various departments about what we can do to move forward. But at the moment we do not know how we are going to recover.
“I was visiting the property with officers when I saw the graffiti that had been written there saying “p***s out” and see that we have been targeted again.”
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