By Ruth Halkon, Reporter

The Somali community centre gutted by fire in the early hours of yesterday morning will rise from the ashes, Barnet Council has vowed.

The leader of Barnet Borough Council, Councillor Richard Cornelius has said the council had “no alternative” but to rebuild to Somali Bravanese Community Centre in Coppetts Road, which was destroyed in a suspected arson attack.

Cllr Cornelius said: “I want this site to be a reminder of how the communities in Barnet battle against intolerance and I have no intention of leaving a hateful scar on the landscape.”

He added the council would be working hard to find a temporary home for the Somali community centre, which is currently helping prepare children for their maths and English exams in three weeks’ time.

He said: “The council is co-ordinating offers of help to the Bravanese community and our priority now is to find them a home.

“It’s been heartening how our communities have all been universally appalled by this hateful act and have come together to demonstrate how alien this is to Barnet.”

Greater London Authority representative for Barnet and Camden Andrew Dismore, who visited the site along with Shadow Environment Secretary Hilary Benn this morning, said how delighted he was Cllr Cornelius had promised to rebuild.

He added: “I met Richard at the scene this morning and asked him if he would rebuild the site. I’m very impressed at the commitment the council has made to rebuild and to find a temporary site for the community in the meantime.

“If we don’t do that the people who perpetrated this act will have won and we can’t have that.”

He added Mr Benn had been “shocked” by the scale of the damage, but impressed by the way individuals and organisations have rallied around the Somali community with offers of help, particularly the rabbi of the local synagogue.

Mr Dismore said: “The criminals who did this may have destroyed the bulding, but the community has survived and will rebound from this. Everyone is carrying on in a normal, civilised way.

“The perpetrators have done the opposite of what they intended in bringing the community together rather than dividing it.”

Source: Times Hendon & Finchley