Anti-Muslim Incidents Soar Across Britain After Wednesday’s Murder in London
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Posted
Saturday, May 25, 2013
In the days following the murder of a British soldier in London,
there has been a huge spike in anti-Muslim incidents, according to an
interfaith charity. Faith Matters, an organization that works to reduce
extremism, says it has received 162 calls on its helpline since
Wednesday’s attack, a sharp increase from the six calls it receives on
an average day. The incidents range from name calling and abuse on
social media, to the painting of graffiti, attacks against mosques, and
pulling off women’s headscarves in the street. The director of the group
told the BBC
that what is most concerning is “the spread of these incidents” that
are “coming in from right across the country.” Some of these attacks
“are quite aggressive, very focused, very aggressive attacks,” Fiyaz
Mughal said.
Police have arrested several people since Wednesday, including three
men who were detained for allegedly making offensive comments on Twitter
and two men who will be charged with threatening behavior at a fast
food restaurant, details the Guardian.
Meanwhile, British police arrested a man who described himself as a
friend of one of the suspects after he gave an interview to the BBC
Friday night. Abu Nusaybah told the BBC that one of the two men
arrested after the murder Wednesday had been approached by Britain’s
domestic intelligence service. According to Nusaybah, Britain’s MI5
approached Michael Adebolajo about six months ago and asked him whether
he wanted to work for them. He rejected the offer. The BBC was not able
to confirm the offer that allegedly happened after Adebolajo returned
from a trip to Kenya. The police entered the BBC offices and waited for
the interview to conclude before arresting Nusaybah, a BBC staffer tells
CNN.
Scotland Yard claims the arrest is not directly related to the Woolwich
murder investigation, only noting that the 31-year-old man was wanted
on terrorism charges.
Labels: Britain, Immigration, Terrorism
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