A Harrow charity reportedly had to abandon its board elections after police were called to a “disturbance” at its headquarters.

Officers were dispatched to the Sri Lankan Muslim Cultural Centre (SLMCC) on Saturday, April 29, after a dispute apparently erupted between two factions wrestling for control of the group.

SLMCC is currently under investigation by the Charity Commission after some board members raised concerns about its governance.

The fracas briefly thwarted the elections, but the Times understands they went ahead online a short while later and saw all trustees who had expressed concerns removed from their posts.

The charity's website and the Charity Commission's website now show updated lists of trustees, with the Charity Commission showing the date of the new appointments as May 1.

The Times has seen a series of videos shot at the centre, in Whitefriars Avenue, on Saturday.

Outside, the charity’s then-assistant treasurer Mohammed Shan was filmed before the meeting saying he was part of “the governing body”, some of whom had concerns about the elections.

He said they had obtained “a legal opinion” that the elections were “invalid” and his group had spent months raising concerns without response.

“We are not here to cause problems,” he said. “Our concerns haven’t been listened (to), so that’s why we are here – to publicly show our concerns.”

The dispute continued inside, where men were filmed telling the protestors that “the majority” wanted the elections to proceed and if they didn’t like it, they should go to court.

As witnesses tried to film the chaos, some had phones grabbed or slapped out of their hands.

“That’s an assault!” one man cried as his camera was grabbed.

Met Police were called shortly before 5.40pm with “reports of a disturbance at a community venue”.

Officers arrived within seven minutes but nobody was arrested.

We uncovered a rift at the charity in February, when our questions over SLMCC’s continued fundraising for a stalled development project elicited two separate replies.

One, signed by SLMCC’s secretary, two trustees and two assistant treasurers (including Mr Shan), said: “This organisation has serious governance issues.”

A separate reply came from the charity’s president Segu Razeen, saying the majority of SLMCC’s 15 trustees were unaware of any governance issues.

We approached the charity for comment on the election "disturbance", but received no reply.