London's police chief welcomes anti-terror plans

Saturday, 6 August 2005 12:00 AM

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair has welcomed new anti-terror measures proposed by the Prime Minister in the wake of the July 7th London bombings.

New anti-terrorism measures outlined by Tony Blair on Friday include plans to exclude or deport foreigners who encourage terrorism.

Sir Ian told Newsnight the police had already identified "specific people" they want to target under the proposed new laws, but said he was not aware of any specific mosques that police would be looking to close down for encouraging extremism.

"What we are looking for is the people who are influential in spreading hate - that's the key," he said.

"We certainly aren't attempting to go after everybody who has got an opinion with whom we disagree."

Sir Ian, emphasising each case would be examined carefully by detectives, said the new anti-terror measures fulfilled most of the requests for new powers made by police to the prime minister last week.

Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy has warned the government not to let public mood dictate legislation in the wake of the London bombings and indicated his party may break the cross-party consensus that has emerged following the attacks by not supporting the proposed laws.

"There is a worried mood in the country, and rightly so, about the problems and dangers being faced and the terrible events that have taken place," Mr Kennedy told BBC News .

"But you can't just legislate by mood. You have also got to legislate introducing means which actually set out what you are trying to achieve," he added.

Defending the proposals, which also include plans to make it an offence to "justify or glorify terrorism" and close down mosques and bookshops found to be condoning it, Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer claimed the measures could prevent future attacks.

"If you are saying things that encourage people to become suicide bombers, that should be against the law," he said.

"It is not against the law at the moment, that's why we need more legislation for it."

Conservative leader Michael Howard said his party had been calling for the measures for some time and stressed it was important to maintain a "united front" in response to the terror threat.

Meanwhile, a prominent Muslim cleric has claimed that the prime minister's plans to tackle Islamic radicalism are comparable to Adolf Hitler's demonisation of the Jews in pre-war Germany.

Dr Mohammed Naseem, chairman of the Birmingham Central Mosque, told Today that Mr Blair was "not very wise" to propose action against extremist Muslim preachers following the London bombings.

The cleric caused previous controversy by questioning whether Muslims were responsible for the July 7th attacks and suggesting that terror network al-Qaida may not exist.

Tags: