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December 4, 2005
UK: Twenty Thousand Attend Islamic "Peace Rally"
The BBC and the Times reported that 20,000 attended a conference held at the Excel Centre in London on Sunday. The conference was organised by the cable station, the Islam Channel.
The conference was entitled Global Peace and Unity, and was attended by Ken Livingstone, London's mayor, Tarique Ghaffur, the Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner, and the Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer. One of those speaking was Sir Iqbal Sacranie (pictured), secretary general of the Muslim Council for Britain (MCB).
Sir Iqbal said that the government's proposals, contained in the new anti-terror Bill being discussed in the Lords, was "the single most dangerous piece of legislation." On the clause to temporarily close mosques which had been allowing incitement in their sermons, he said it would "criminalise an entire community for the criminality carried out by a few."
"You cannot have the power of a government to close down a mosque. Who's next in line?" he said.
Sher Khan of the MCB said the conference fulfilled a "very important need to clarify to the wider community that British Muslims are part and parcel of the wider community."
Tariq Suwaidan, a Kuwaiti Muslim scholar told the audience "We totally refuse to be looked upon as terrorists and we totally refuse that these people represent us - they don't." He added that the terrorists were the "enemies of Islam."
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at December 4, 2005 11:49 PM
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