LONDON – The London Police has decided to maintain a 24-hour guard outside key Islamic institutions following suspected overnight arson at a Muslim boarding school on the outskirts of London. According to school Principal Mustafa Musa, intruders started the fire in the teaching area.
The decision to boost the police presence outside Islamic centres also comes after a dramatic spike in attacks against Muslim individuals and groups, which have gone up to some eight incidents a day.
Communal tensions have been rising in London and other parts of the UK after the cold blooded murder in broad daylight of an off duty British soldier, Lee Rigby, who was killed by two Islamic converts of Nigerian origin.
Justifying the attack, which was captured on video, one of the attackers was heard saying: “The only reason we have killed this man today is because Muslims are killed daily by British soldiers. And this British soldier is one … By Allah, we swear by the almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone.”
Despite strong and immediate condemnation by Muslim leaders and others in the UK, random reprisals have been spreading against the UK’s Muslim community.
Last week fire destroyed an Islamic centre in the upmarket London suburb of Muswell Hill. Muslim leaders are now sufficiently concerned about the rising tensions to consider installing transparent fences around mosques, window wire screens and thickened security doors.
A few days earlier activists working for Faith Matters, an organisation that works to reduce extremism, said how there had been more than 100 incidents after Rigby’s murder. A spokesman for Faith matters told the BBC: “What’s really concerning is the spread of these incidents. They’re coming in from right across the country.”
“Secondly, some of them are quite aggressive; very focused, very aggressive attacks. And thirdly, there also seems to be significant online activity… suggesting coordination of incidents and attacks against institutions or places where Muslims congregate.
Senior London police commander Simon Letchford said in a radio interview: “Clearly this is a time for Londoners to come together after the tragic murder of Lee Rigby and we would encourage people to remain calm, to provide information to us on anybody who they believe is carrying out these criminal acts.
“We will do everything we can both to protect premises but also to bring to justice those who break the law.”
“We have had a number of attacks and assaults but on the whole it tends to be name calling, normally against individuals who are at a particular location or wearing a particular style of dress which draws attention to them.
“We can’t allow these sorts of incidents to divide us. I would encourage people to report concerns to the police, to work with us, and collectively as Londoners we will defeat these individuals.”
Earlier, Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe confirmed there would be an increased police presence around risky locations. “We will maintain a 24/7 guard of uniformed officers at sites we consider to be at greatest risk,” he said.
The latest suspected arson attack, which has resulted in the arrest of four teenagers, was launched against the £250 per month (Rs 21,000+) Darul Uloom London boarding school, established in 1988 with the aim of producing “great scholars and Huffaz (people who have memorised the Koran) to preserve and transmit the eternal message of Allah”.
The school says it tries to help children to explore and develop their Islamic identity “as a natural part of their mental, emotional and personal development.”
Six Islamists sentenced for plotting to attack UK rightwingers
London: Six Al-Qaida inspired British men were on Monday handed jail terms of nearly 20 years each for plotting a deadly attack on a rally by a rightwing party in June last year. The six men had earlier pleaded guilty to engaging in preparation for acts of terrorism and targeting an English Defence League demonstration in Dewsbury last year with homemade bombs, guns and knives. — PTI
Random reprisals
Communal tensions have been rising in London and other parts of the UK after the cold blooded murder in broad daylight of an off duty British soldier, Lee Rigby, who was killed by two Islamic converts of Nigerian origin
Despite strong and immediate condemnation by Muslim leaders and others in the UK, random reprisals have been spreading against the UK’s Muslim community
