Fact-check: Muslim man thrown out of London’s Wembley Stadium for namaz offering?

A minute-long video clip where a man wearing a bandana gets punched by security personnel is widely circulating on social media. In the video, we can see a group of men arguing with each other. They get physically aggressive while the security tries to stop them. This goes on for over a minute until a man in the bandana gets knocked out by security personnel present at the scene.

This video clip is being shared with the claim that the man in the bandana wanted to offer namaz inside the Wembly Stadium and had created a menace until he got knocked out by former British Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Julius Francis. This claim is widely circulating on Twitter.

Journalist and author Rakesh Krishnan Simha shared this clip on Twitter with the caption, “Muslim man wanted to do namaz inside Wembley Stadium, UK. Watch how former British Heavyweight Boxing Champion Julius Francis (who fought Mike Tyson) dealt with the troublemaker. Sau sunaar ki, ek lohar ki.”

Muslim man wantedto do namaz inside Wembley Stadium, UK. Watch how former British Heavyweight Boxing Champion Julius Francis (who fought Mike Tyson) dealt with the troublemaker. Sau sunaar ki, ek lohar ki. pic.twitter.com/ObKZR00Ayi

— Rakesh Krishnan Simha (@ByRakeshSimha) June 22, 2022

The clip was also shared by various other Twitter users with the same claim.

So this guy wanted to do Namaz in Wembley Stadium in London.

Is it so difficult to understand that Stadium is not a mosque?

Do they really need to get punched to understand that?

Maybe, Yes 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/z2XpS9rbx7

— Niranjan Mohanty (@NiranjanPapun) June 23, 2022

The video clip is also circulating on YouTube with the same claim and has over 2000+ views.

Red flag with the location

We started with determining the location of the incident. Using Google Earth Pro, we found that the altercation took place at these coordinates 51°33’37.89″N, 0°16’47.23″W, outside the BoxPark restaurant in Wembly.

The distance between BoxPark restaurant and Wembly Stadium is 0.41 kilometres. This is a red flag as the claim suggested that the man wanted to pray inside the Wembly Stadium, however, one can clearly see the fight taking place outside BoxPark.

News reports about the fight

According to a report by Lad Bible, the incident took place on June 11 at the BoxPark restaurant in Wembley, after a group was escorted out of the premise by security and one male customer had become involved in a confrontation. It is alleged that the male customer hurled abuses and attempted to spit on customers and staff. The chronological timeline of the incident is not mentioned, however, the confrontation led Julius Francis, the security personnel, who is also the former British Heavyweight to step in and knock out the customer.

The report by Lad Bible also features a statement from the Metropolitan Police according to which the police decided to drop the case after reviewing relevant CCTV footage and speaking to all concerned parties.

The full statement reads, “We are aware of footage circulating on social media showing an incident involving security staff and a member of the public outside Boxpark in Wembley. The incident took place shortly after 17.00 hrs on Saturday 11 June. Officers were called and attended the venue. A group had been ejected and one male customer had become involved in a confrontation with security staff. Officers have spoken to all parties involved and have reviewed relevant CCTV. No further action will be taken in relation to the incident involving the security guard and male customer.”

It is important to note that the statement by the police does not mention anything about namaz. Moreover, the statement says that a group was evicted and not just one man. We can clearly see in the viral video clip that the man was accompanied by a bald man in a striped t-shirt.

Following the incident, CEO Roger Wade of BoxPark had also put out a statement on LinkedIn in support of Julius Francis. Wade’s statements give us a peek into the timeline of the events and what led to the knockout. The statement can be read here.

In a subsequent post, CEO Roger Wade thanked people for the overwhelming support regarding the incident, and he encouraged other founders to do the same – support their employees in difficult circumstances as it is the “right thing to do”. The LinkedIn post can be read here. Both the statements from the CEO of BoxPark don’t mention anything about namaz.

The aftermath of the altercation

We found another video where we can see the police arrest the alleged aggressor i.e., the man in the bandana.

The aftermath dude got arrested 😂 pic.twitter.com/6oV5WwS03E

— Rozart (@rozart_producer) June 18, 2022

We geolocated the video to the Wembley Park Station Car Park, at these coordinates – 51°33’49.31″N, 0°16’55.19″W. The distance between the site of the altercation and the site of the arrest is 0.39 kilometres.

According to The Irish Sun, both the police and Francis’ employer were investigating the incident, however, both probes have now been dropped. Speaking to TMZ, Julius confirmed that his Security Industry Authority (SIA) licence has been suspended and he plans to appeal to revoke the suspension.

He said, “The SIA have suspended my licence to work so I can’t work at the moment, so I’m just trying to get that sorted and then hopefully back on the doors as soon as possible, get back to work as soon as possible.”

Alt News found the social media of the alleged aggresor and confirmed his identity using a clandestine method. We are not naming the individual to preserve his identity. However, Alt News can confirm that the individual is not a Muslim.

To sum it up, an altercation took place between a man and security personnel outside BoxPark Restaurant in Wembly. The male customer and his friends were escorted out for alleged unruly behaviour. Neither the police’s statement nor the statement of the CEO of BoxPark mentions anything related to namaz.