alonzomourning23
CAGiversary!
- Feedback
- 26 (100%)
Religious hate crimes, mostly against Muslims, have risen six-fold in London since the bombings, new figures show.
There were 269 religious hate crimes in the three weeks after 7 July, compared with 40 in the same period of 2004.
Most were verbal abuse and minor assaults, but damage to mosques and property with a great "emotional impact" also occurred, police said. Met Police Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur said he had never seen so much anger among young Muslims.
Communities were particularly frustrated by the increased use of stop-and-search and the new "shoot-to-kill to protect" policy of dealing with suicide bombers, he said.
"There is no doubt that incidents impacting on the Muslim community have increased."
And he warned: "It can lead to these communities completely retreating and not engaging at a time when we want their engagement and support."
Mr Ghaffur revealed that in the first three days after suicide bombers killed 52 people and injured 700 more, there were 68 "faith hate" crimes in London alone.
Racial profiling
A spokesman for the Muslim Safety Forum, an umbrella group which works closely with the police, said the figures reflected the increase in calls to their members about abuse and attacks since the London bombings.
"It's something we've been saying for a few weeks now but it's good to see senior police managers like Tariq Ghaffur have got up and actually said it," spokesman Tahir Butt said.
"Although police are talking about a zero tolerance policy the test is how effective that is at ground level when you go in and report a crime," Mr Butt added.
Faith hate crimes are currently prosecuted under anti-racism legislation, but a bill to create a new offence of incitement to religious hatred is currently going through the Houses of Parliament.
The bill, which has attracted criticism from many quarters, has passed its Commons stages but is set to get a rocky ride in the Lords.
The alarming figures emerged as Home Office minister Hazel Blears held the first in a series of meetings on Tuesday with Muslim community groups across the country. Those meetings come amid increasing concerns that young Muslims are being targeted by police in stop-and-search operations.
Ahead of the meeting, Ms Blears pledged that Muslims would not be discriminated against by police trying to prevent potential terror attacks.
She insisted "counter-terrorism powers are not targeting any community in particular but are targeting terrorists".
She also opposed police use of racial profiling, saying stop and searches should be based on good intelligence, not just skin colour.
Mr Ghaffur also revealed that the specialist unit dealing with serious and organised crime had lost 10% of its staff to the bombings inquiry.
'Stretched'
Between 300 and 473 of Specialist Crime Directorate detectives have been seconded at any one time since 7 July.
As a result Mr Ghaffur said key leads would be followed up but proactive work on major murder inquiries had "slowed to a trickle".
These include the 2004 murder of Amelie Delagrange, linked to five other attacks on women in south-west London, and the 1992 murder of Rachel Nickell on Wimbledon Common.
"The Met is stretched," he said. "There may be longer term implications if this level of activity continues." Last week Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair revealed the anti-terrorism investigations were costing £500,000 a day.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4740015.stm
Muslim leader urges hijab caution
A leading Muslim figure has suggested Islamic women stop wearing hijab head scarves, amid a rise in hate crimes.
Dr Zaki Badawi, head of the Muslim College in London and chairman of the Council of Mosques and Imams, issued the advice amid a wave of race attacks.
There were 269 crimes in three weeks after the 7 July bombings, compared with 40 in the same period of 2004.
Dr Badawi said "a woman wearing the hijab... could suffer aggression from irresponsible elements". Most of the hate crimes reported were verbal abuse and minor assaults, but damage to mosques and property with a great "emotional impact" also occurred, police said.
Dr Badawi said: "In the present tense situation, with the rise of attacks on Muslims, we advise Muslim women who fear being attacked physically or verbally to remove their hijab so as not to be identified by those hostile to Muslims.
"A woman wearing the hijab...could suffer aggression from irresponsible elements. Therefore, she ought not to wear it. Dress is meant to protect from harm, not to invite it."
He said the Koran justified abandoning the hijab, saying it should help Muslim women be "identified and not molested", but if it led to harassment the ruling was it should not be worn.
Dr Badawi is seen as a moderate Islamic leader.
'Communities retreating' Met Police Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur said he had never seen so much anger among young Muslims.
Communities were frustrated by the increased use of stop-and-search and the new "shoot-to-kill to protect" policy for suicide bombers, he said.
"There is no doubt that incidents impacting on the Muslim community have increased."
And he warned: "It can lead to these communities completely retreating and not engaging at a time when we want their engagement and support." Mr Ghaffur said there were 68 "faith hate" crimes in London alone, in the first three days after the 7 July attacks which killed 52.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4742869.stm
As new figures show religious hate crimes - mostly against Muslims - have risen six-fold in London since the bombings, one woman relates how the events of 7 July have led to her becoming a target of hostility.
Lina Rohim says she and her family had lived an uneventful life in east London before the bombings of 7 July.
"I've never had any problems round here, especially because the majority of people round here are Muslims - but there's a good mixture of black, Asian and white," the mother-of-two says.
She went unnoticed about her daily tasks in the anonymity generally enjoyed by Londoners but that all changed, she says, with the Tube and bus bombings of 7 July. Lina wears the hijab, a traditional head covering worn by many Muslim women.
But she says since 7 July her adherence to her faith has led to her being the target for abuse.
"Wearing the hijab increases my problems. Because we are dressed like this people can spot us, if I didn't wear the hijab nobody would be able to tell whether I was a Muslim."
Since 7 July she has had to endure people staring, pointing and making comments about Muslims and bombers, she says.
'Muttering'
She attempts to ignore comments and "dirty looks" wherever possible, Lina adds, but a recent incident which led to her 3-year-old daughter being injured has left her shaken.
The trouble began as she travelled on a bus with her daughter and six-year-old son.
"A middle-aged woman with a trolley got on and problems started the moment she saw me. As soon as she got on she was staring at me and muttering about Muslims.
"When she went to get on she deliberately trapped my daughter's hand between her trolley and a handrail my daughter was holding," Lina recalls.
More abuse about Muslims followed when she remonstrated with the woman, Lina says, but in spite of her daughter's screams and the woman's abuse, nobody else on the bus came to her aid.
"There were loads of people on the bus but nobody intervened to help me, they just kept staring at me," she says.
But Lina says in spite of the fact her hijab marks her out from the crowd she intends to continue wearing it. "The hijab is part of my faith, the way a Muslim women should be dressed when she's outside, I wouldn't consider not wearing it," she says.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/4742729.stm
ed in the head liberal you can't stay on topic no matter what, they throw out bait and you jump on it like the retard you are. 