Swindon Hindu community march in protest against temple raids

Hundreds of members of a Hindu community have marched in protest at vandalism and theft at their temple.

The Swindon Hindu Temple, on Darby Close, was broken into recently for the fifth time since May. The main altar was vandalised during the break-in.

Worshippers have started sleeping at the building overnight to prevent further thefts.

Some 300 people marched silently through the town earlier in what organisers called a peace march.

In the most recent raid, thousands of pounds was stolen from collection boxes at the building.

The marchers, many of them carrying placards with the message "my temple, my pride", walked through the main shopping area in Swindon.

The temple management have also moved sacred deities from the premises and taken them to a secret location to prevent them being stolen or broken.

Temple chairman Pradeep Bhardwaj said: "The idea [of the march] is to showcase what we have given to this town but at the same time to express our outrage as to what has happened to our peaceful community.

"If we want to live in a modern society, how can we live with things like these?"

A petition signed by more than 1,000 people is calling for a "permanent, secure and safe place of worship" for Swindon's Hindu community.

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