Posted on 08/10/2006 7:53:58 PM PDT by Alouette
LONDON - News of a thwarted plot to down trans-Atlantic airliners sent a shiver of anxiety through Britain's Muslim community Thursday.
Muslim men accustomed to nervous looks from passers-by after last year's transit bombings noticed they were attracting them again. Some said they worried about a spike in hate crimes and job discrimination.
The suspects were believed to be mainly British Muslims, at least some of Pakistani ancestry. Three of the four suicide bombers who struck London's transit system were Britons of Pakistani origin, and many Muslims feared their community would be held responsible this time.
After an evening meeting of community leaders in east London, a spokesman for the Waltham Forest Islamic Association said one of those arrested was a woman in her 20s, who has a 6-month-old baby. Imtiaz Qadir said he knew other people who had been taken into custody in the raids.
"I know five of the men very well and they are really respectable young Muslim men," Qadir added. "I am totally shocked. I don't believe they've done anything to warrant this."
Monirul Sardar, 33, a Briton of Bangladeshi origin who runs an east London travel agency, said he'd noticed his bushy beard drawing stares after every major terror attack in recent years.
"It's started up again," he said. "People are afraid of me, mostly. ... If it's an old man, a lady in a hijab (head covering), they'll pick on them."
Harris Bokhari, a spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain, said the group was asking mosques to urge worshippers to report any racial attacks.
But he said Muslims had demonstrated after the Sept. 11 attacks and the London bombings that they would not let such trouble stop them from participating in British life.
The Muslim community's relationship with police has been fraught in recent months, and some said they were waiting to see what evidence police would produce of the alleged bomb plot.
"They've arrested people, but let's see what they find from them," said Maj Ali, 27, who works at a northeast London restaurant near a home police were searching as part of their terror investigation.
"They didn't find nothing," he recalled of a June raid in which officers shot a man in the shoulder in his east London home during a search for the makings of a chemical bomb.
The man and his brother were arrested but later freed without charge. That raid and the fatal subway shooting last year of an innocent Brazilian man mistaken for a terrorist infuriated many Muslims.
"Was this (airline bomb plot) information really accurate or not from the police in terms of its intelligence?" Bokhari asked. "We need to be aware how these people were arrested."
When one home was raided Wednesday night, neighbors said unmarked police cars lined the busy street in Walthamstowe, east London. About 20 officers broke down the door of a three-story yellow and white building and searched its first-floor apartment with flashlights.
Neighbor Wendy Phillips, 31, said the men who lived in the home had paid for it in cash — unusual in expensive London — and just moved in last month. A white and red "SOLD" sign still stood in front.
"It's scary when it's on your doorstep," Phillips said. "You start wondering who you're living next door to."
Amar Singh, 17, stood on the corner across the street from the house talking animatedly with friends about the alleged plot.
"I'm shocked," Singh said. "This is usually a quiet area."
___
Associated Press Writer Katie Fretland contributed to this story.
Once Islam takes out New York City or Atlanta with a nuke, Muslims here will really be in trouble.
We need to work hard to ensure the moonbats don't regain power, or we are all toast. Too many don't realize the stakes.
Oh My! I'm going to report your insensitivity to Mayor Bloomberg!
No more Walls , no more Sorry's, no more Chances!
We need to tell all Muslims:
If you are innocent speak out against the guilty.
If you are guilty You will die
If you do nothing You will die!
Islam is a Mafia of sorts. One negative comment black lists the entire family. Typical behavior related to cultic or occultic foundations.
They're lucky it didn't happened... they could have got more than just stares... it could've cost their lives too..
Absolutely dead on. Reasonalble Muslims could put and end to this madness if they would grow a backbone and speak out.
Islamofanatics are doing exactly what their koran taught them. The moderates are not very good muslims, but at least they sympathize with the actions of their fascist bretheren.
Didn't they find "martydom tapes' of two of the men?
the families of all those who advance the terrorist agenda should be held directly accountable as well :
Loss of citizenship , stripping of all possessions and ownerships of businesses , immediate deportations back to lands of origins up to 2 generations back , no appeals .....
Yes, I know what this sounds like . I am not suggesting death
camps or even any sort of incarceration . Just send them 'home' empty handed . It would be a policy that would send an irrefutable powerful message . They want to kill themselves?
We can hardly stop them . But would they want to doom their entire families to such misery ? I really doubt it.
They NEED a backlash...maybe they'd stop supporting the wrong team, so to speak.
That would imply that people had stopped looking suspiciously at Muslims. If that is the the case, the British people are fools. Muslims must always be looked at with great suspicion.
The extremists should be killed without mercy.
Always in denial and always the victim.
Really I meant, why isn't the media searching out those stories.
We know the media loves stories about Christians leaving their church because it is too conservative or fundamentalist.
Muslims could supply a lot of those type stories, especially the women.
At one time the media did like the female circumcision stories, but now they don't run those because it would boost anti Islam awareness.
AP must have this story on a template ready to go. They put this story out less than 24 hrs after the latest terrorist act.
..and how about this? The muslims nest themselves among us in every crook and corner (nanny) -- like cockroaches and then cry to hog-heaven, about being exposed to "western culture".
Like, the 9/11 bombers-killers, who went to bars and drank and partied before ....they... did their murderous deed.
The Muzzies where I work had a real tough time looking your's truly in the eye, today.
Heh!!
Then my lord, EXPOSE the cancer amongst you!!! Nobody is going to suspect anymore if you, muslims, seriously wanna join the civilized society... Simple, isn't it?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.