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October 23, 2006

UK: Was Mosque Attack Caused By Politicians?

On Friday night (October 20), as Muslims in the Eccles Mosque on Liverpool Road, Salford in Greater Manchester, were engaging in the last Juma prayers before the end of Ramadan, four individuals entered the building. The strangers then set about attacking individuals inside. The news is carried by the Telegraph, the Manchester Evening News, BBC, Ananova and the Press Association via 24 Dash.com.

Police were called to the mosque around 9.30 pm, Three members of the congregation had suffered minor injuries, and one was taken to Hope Hospital and was discharged shortly afterwards.

A 37-year old man from Eccles, and a 19 year old man from Davyhulme in Trafford were arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated assault, under sections 37 and section 49.

Geoff Wessell, a chief inspector at Salford Criminal Investigation Department, said: "Greater Manchester Police take crimes of this nature extremely seriously and a thorough investigation is currently under way. I would appeal to members of the local community in and around Eccles to remain calm, behave responsibly and let police deal with the incident and those responsible for it."

Members of the mosque were shocked when the attack began. A witness said: "One man's head was cut open and quite a few other people were injured. It was frightening. They were shouting racist abuse and fighting anyone they could find."

A mosque spokesman said that the trouble began after a drunken youth with muddy footwear entered the mosque and began "causing trouble". Members of the congregation then talked to him and escorted him to the door. The spokesman continued: "We thought that was the end of the matter. However, when the worshippers were leaving, the same person, along with two older men, approached the door of the mosque and started attacking the worshippers, including the imam."

"The police are treating this incident as racially motivated. They were very efficient and quick to respond," the spokesman claimed.

About two weeks ago, cars outside the mosque were attacked.

The politicians who have recently been criticizing the use of the face-veil (niqab) by Muslim women have been blamed by some in the Muslim community.

Mohammed Shafiq of the Manchester youth group the Ramadhan Foundation, said: "This is another example of Muslims being attacked and persecuted - and the responsiblity lies with the politicians who have been on a feeding frenzy attacking Muslims and giving ammunition to thugs' hatred towards us."

"The responsibility for this lies with the likes of Jack Straw, Phil Woolas and others who believe it's open season on Muslims. We used to see attacks on the street but now we're seeing them in the mosques - people even go into a holy place and attack us. People are extremely fearful now, especially the elderly people. People think they might be attacked on the way to the mosque or even inside while they're praying."

"The police are dealing with the situation and that should be enough for us. So far it does not look like an organised campaign. The police have told me that no pattern of attacks has emerged and I have told people that," Shafiq said.

Phil Woolas, who had condemned Aishah Azmi, the schoolteacher at a Church of England School who insisted on wearing a veil during classes, denied that politicians were to blame. He said: "Any such attacks are appalling. But I don't accept politicians' comments are to blame for this. That would imply there haven't been attacks before which, of course, there have been."

Yesterday, the head of the Commission for Racial Equality, Trevor Phillips, warned that the debate about the veil would lead to race riots.

Phillips' comments are reported in the Sunday Telegraph, Daily Mail and BBC. He was quoted in the Sunday Times as saying that : "All the recent evidence shows that we are, as a society, becoming more socially polarised by race and faith....In many of our cities things cannot get any worse."

He had written an article:

"So I welcome the debate. The problem with it so far is that it has been conducted in the wrong place between the wrong people and about the wrong things. I had no concerns about Jack Straw's initial careful expression of concern about the wearing of the veil in his surgery. After all, this was as much a comment about him and his generation as it was about the niqab. It may be that people like Straw have greater difficulty coping with the social gap that not seeing someone's face undoubtedly creates; for the internet generation, who can conduct entire relationships through a computer screen, this may not be quite the same kind of barrier. Either way, it was entirely reasonable for him to express his discomfort."

Straw's comments could have liberated us to say that sometimes we don't like the way others behave, without turning it into an accusation about their faith or race. The so-called Muslim leaders who initially attacked Straw were wrong. They were overly defensive and need to accept that in a diverse society we should be free to make polite requests of this kind.

Then something went wrong. This important but fragile piece of ground that needed a gentle, nuanced discussion about how we talk to each other with respect in a diverse society turned into what the political folk call an air war, fought on TV studio couches and radio phone-ins across the land."

Phillips said that the debate had grown quite ugly, and warned of the possibility of race riots on Britain's streets. He later appeared on BBC TV, on its "AM" show, and again claimed that the debate about the veil had started courteously but had deteriorated. He said: "We need to have this conversation but there are rules by which we have the conversation which don't involve this kind of targeting and frankly bullying."

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis agreed with the thrust of Phillips' premise. He said: "Trevor Phillips is right. It is absolutely necessary that we have this debate but it is also absolutely necessary that it takes place in a civilised manner."

Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, claimed: "We are very disappointed but, given his poor track record on this issue, not entirely surprised that Trevor Phillips, as the chair of the Commission for Racial Equality, made no reference whatsoever to the attacks against Muslims and their institutions across the country that have accompanied this so-called debate. We have seen veils being forcefully pulled off Muslim women, a number of mosques subjected to arson attacks, and Muslim individuals, including an Imam in Glasgow, badly beaten up by thugs. This cannot be described as being merely a 'debate'."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at October 23, 2006 5:36 AM

Comments

Posted by: FreedomSeeker33 at October 23, 2006 1:09 PM

Posted by: Janie Doe at October 23, 2006 2:49 PM

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