Regards, Ivan
Posted on 07/16/2005 3:44:05 PM PDT by MadIvan
About 500 faith-hate and race-hate crimes — ranging from arson attacks on mosques to Muslim women being spat at in the street — have been reported in Britain since the London bombings, writes Dipesh Gadher.
According to police sources, about 200 of these incidents are deemed significant enough to have potential repercussions within communities.
They include mosques being set alight in Birkenhead, Merseyside, Telford, Shropshire and Leeds.
“We have definitely seen a spike, but these are not co-ordinated incidents,” said Assistant Chief Constable Rob Beckley, head of the Association of Chief Police Officers’ community tensions team. The authorities normally deal with about 50-60 similar incidents a week.
Beckley said police forces were “busting a gut” to respond to the crimes and were making swift arrests in many cases. However, he remained concerned that “a catalytic incident” could trigger something far more serious, such as a full-blown race riot.
Muslim leaders have called for calm and have unequivocally condemned the London attacks. But last week they were criticised for failing to do enough to confront extremists within their own community.
“We have reached a dangerous crossroads and the direction we choose will prove to be a defining moment in our history,” said Shahid Malik, the Labour MP for Dewsbury, home to one of the bombers.
“The knowledge that the bombers were British Muslims . . . has sent us a signal we can no longer ignore, that there is indeed an ‘enemy within’,” he said. “The battle for the soul of the community has begun.”
Tony Blair has invited Muslim leaders to a “crisis” summit on Tuesday to help him “pull up this evil ideology by its roots”.
Under new laws, preachers such as Yusuf al-Qaradawi — who has condoned child suicide bombers — denied entry into America and other European Union countries would face automatic exclusion from Britain.
Charles Clarke, the home secretary, is reviewing his powers to deport foreigners and impose specific conditions on asylum seekers. A separate consultation is just ending on whether imams coming to Britain should have a professional qualification and understand English.
A counter-terrorism bill due in the autumn will create a new offence of “glorifying or endorsing” terrorism. Two further offences being drawn up by the Home Office will mean extremists who provide or receive terrorist training would face prosecution, as would those committing “acts preparatory to terrorism”, such as fund-raising or providing safe houses.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
"Faith-hate"?
If the Muslims feel they are not liked sufficiently, they might begin decrying the activities of their more enthusiastic members.
Or they could simply go back from whence they came.
I can see how a person might lose faith in a process that responds to the bombings with making criticism of Islam illegal.
I don't see that, Ivan.
A bunch of politicans will do a little, and then there will be a pause until the next attack.
Welcome to the joys of multi culturalism.
You may not agree, but my sense of propriety suggests it's not on to spit on women and firebomb private property, even if it is a mosque.
Do I approve of the government's actions? No...they've been too soft on the imams and too hard on free speech. Is that, however, an endorsement of mob violence? No.
Regards, Ivan
Remember folks... In order to make the koran two-ply, just tear out two pages at once.
I'm hoping the spirit of King Richard will invigorate the "final" Crusade.
Read the article - legislation is being proposed to clamp down on the imams based on their activities being "hate based".
I do wish people would read the bloody thing before commenting on it.
Regards, Ivan
Legitimate criticism. In fact, this is a world-wide problem and the main reason so many folks don't buy into the "it's just a small group of extremists who've hijacked Islam" bullsh/t.
I'm not. King Richard the Lionheart was a Frenchman who regarded England as his cash cow; he once said he would sell London if he could find a buyer.
Regards, Ivan
Gee, I wonder why?
;)
Or they could simply go back from whence they came.
Sadly enough it's the third option they wish to coddle.
Look at the bright side with an air of irony.
Their agenda has been stifled to point of complacency to the ill informed.
That headline is really exciting. Great news.
I must say that having read quite a few articles about the multitude of Muslims in England, and their propensity to "speak out" about their beliefs,
have made me nervous for you and snugs, (and any other Brit freepers) for a long time...I see that Blair is trying to close that barn door, after the terrorists got out...
kind of like we have had to do here.
But, I have decided that both countried need to make it POLICY to profile from now on....and if the Muslim community doesn't like it, maybe THEN the so-called "good" Muslim leaders will finally speak out...
Until then, I am afraid that more such attacks will happen here and there...and I am so sorry for what ya'll went through last week.
Then you missed the point of my post.
[Maybe you posted your comment without fulling reading my post.]
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