Muslim leaders in a West Midlands town say there should be a public inquiry after police raided a mosque.

Officers used a battering ram to break into the prayer room of the Ghausia Jamia Mosque in Lye, near Stourbridge, on Thursday morning.

An Afghan couple and their two children had taken refuge in the mosque 28 days ago after the Home Office began deportation proceedings against them.

Farid Ahmadi, 33, and his wife, Feriba, 24, are thought to be in a detention centre at Heathrow Airport.

'Mosque violation'

Their children Hadia, six, and, Seear, four, are in hiding with friends of the family.

They were due to be deported to Germany on Friday but they have won leave to seek a judicial review into the handling of their deportation.

They are being treated like criminals, like terrorists

Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui

Campaigners lobbying for the family to be allowed to claim asylum are demonstrating outside the Manchester offices of the immigration minister, Beverley Hughes, on Saturday.

Muslim groups and the family's supporters have heavily criticised the police action at the mosque.

After the raid there were protests by 40 people outside Lye police station and a number of people were detained.

West Midlands Police held a meeting with representatives of the mosque on Thursday night.

Among those at the meeting was Abdul Qadas, a local conservative councillor.

He said: "As far as I am concerned the religious place, our mosque, has been totally violated by the Home Office.

'Future prevention'

"They have disgraced our religion and it should not have happened.

"We have to allow the police and the Home Office to come up with some sort of solution as to why this happened and how in future, events such as this can be prevented."

The Ahmadis and friend Soraya Walton

Sergeant Andy Pugh from West Midlands Police said that all the questions and points raised at the meeting would be addressed within the next couple of days.

A Home Office spokesman said: "We are aware of the sensitivity of entering a mosque and the decision was not taken lightly.

"But we believe we had no option."

However Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, leader of the self-styled Muslim Parliament of Great Britain, said he was worried about the way the family were treated.

"You have a family trying to find shelter for a little while and they are being treated like criminals, like terrorists."

'Welcome refugees'

Salman Mirza, who works for a West Midlands-based asylum charity, said the decision to send riot officers armed with batons had highlighted the "brutal face" of government asylum policy.

"Even the Israeli army did not enter the Church of the Nativity when there was a siege.

The raid prompted protests on the streets

"What happened yesterday was over the top.

"We want to say to Beverley Hughes tomorrow that refugees fleeing from regimes such as the Taleban should be welcome here."

The Ahmadi family have been living in Lye near Stourbridge for the past year after fleeing the Taleban.

They were smuggled illegally into the UK from Germany on the back of a lorry after leaving Afghanistan.

The family does not want to return to Germany because it says it suffered racial abuse there.