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Hatun Tash, a regular speaker at London’s Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park was today stabbed in the middle of the Corner in broad daylight. On Sunday 25 July 2021, the Corner had been drenched in heavy rain for most of the day, the numbers present were therefore much lower than would normally be expected on a July Sunday afternoon.

Whilst small groups huddled together trying to keep dry under the trees, at around 3:30pm an individual lunged at Hatun, punching and stabbing her with a knife. The male attacker, wearing a large black hooded robe (thobe) immediately ran away dropping and leaving the knife at the scene. A police car that had been parked at the perimeter of the Corner, seeing the commotion drove to chase the attacker as he tried to leave the park down one of the pathways leaving the Corner towards Marble Arch.

It is not yet known whether the police managed to catch him before he escaped from the park. A large number of police, including armed officers, arrived at the Corner within ten minutes. With bloodied wounds on her face and hand, Hatun was helped to an ambulance by police. The attacker’s knife was taken by the police following regulars at the Corner keeping watch over it.

Hatun, fled to Britain to escape persecution in Turkey following her conversion from Islam to Christianity. She has been attending Speakers Corner for many years. She has been a fierce critique of Islam during her time at the Corner and has suffered intimidation, threats, sexual assaults and physical assaults at the Corner in recent years.

On 25 October 2020 she was knocked unconscious at the Corner (story here). The regular Islamic Dawah teams at Speakers Corner have focussed much of their rhetoric on Hatun, particularly in regard to her showing of Charlie Hebdo front covers of depicting Mohammed.

Since the retirement of the regular appointed police officer at Speakers Corner, PC Steve Barnes, concerns have been expressed about the lack of police presence. Violence has broken out at the Corner most weeks during the last two months, with fights mainly occurring between Shia and Sunni Islamic factions at the Corner.

There has also been concern about police inaction following previous attacks on Hatun. The last physical attack on her was followed by her being forcibly removed from the Park by police and her attacker left unchecked. Hatun was on this occasion kept in police custody for 20 hours and then released without charge or explanation.

A subsequent written explanation of the reasons for her custody was never received. This lack of police presence on the ground, combined with the rhetoric from the Dawah teams, today resulted in a regular who exercises her lawful right to free speech at the bastion of free speech, Speakers Corner, being stabbed and the future exercise of free speech jeapardised. Within an hour of the attack, a number of videos and comments have appeared online gloating about the attack:

Regulars now fear the aftermath of the attack. Rumours have already circulated that following the ending of his conditions, Anjem Choudary or his adherents may target Speakers Corner. Though Choudary has not himself previously attended, some of his followers such as Ricardo McFarlane (Abdul Hakim) and the London Bridge attacker Khuram Butt, have previously been regular attendees.

Concerns also exist that following this violent attack the Corner may be closed. In recent months, section 29J of the Public Order Act has been highlighted to the Police. Following an intervention by the House of Lords, this section was added to ensure that the new hate speech laws did not hamper the ability to criticise or ridicule religious belief

Brave woman.

This might force the UK to finally take action. And by that I mean institute even more ridiculous anti-knife measures. (It’s the knife and not the knifer, dontcha know?)

Oh, and here’s an example of how crazy the UK has become. There is actually serious talk about banning all knives with a point in them.

From the link below:

“Church leaders, with support from police, victims, and psychiatrists, penned an open letter to the government, arguing that domestic knives should be redesigned with rounded tips to reduce the number of life-threatening stabbing injuries. They reportedly argue that pointed blades aren’t even needed in this day and age, given that we have forks to eat with.”

https://www.rt.com/uk/469503-pointed-knives-banned-proposal/