A crackdown has been ordered after worshippers were faced with revellers urinating up the side of their mosque.

Congregation members at Rawtenstall’s Shah Jalal Jamia masjid and Islamic Centre arriving for services in the early hours have been confronted by the menace.

And community worker Saful Islam said that the situation is becoming more urgent with the upcoming arrival of Ramadhan.

Police in Rossendale have pledged to take action on those caught short outside the Longholme Road mosque.

Mr Rahman, who works with the Positive Start charity, said that elders at the mosque, arriving for 4am prayers, had been concerned about the number of people urinating against the building.

“We have the start of Ramadhan on July 21 and there will be an increase in the number of people attending at 4am,” he told a Rawtenstall forum meeting.

“There will be a potential clash and it would be good to have a meeting with this before the matter escalates.

“At the end of the day it is a place of worship and the elders can get scared and they don’t want to come.”

Sgt Mick Blackburn, of Rossendale Police, said: “It is absolutely despicable. The neighbourhood team will not be patrolling at that time but there are officers about at that time and I will raise it with those units.”

By Pete Mcgill