Demo fears outside Britain’s largest mosque
By Jon Ashford
Britain’s largest mosque is set to be the site of numerous demonstrations as rival groups clash in protests this Friday, on the anniversary of September 11th.
Some are concerned it may lead to riots similar to those that occurred recently in Birmingham at a rally held by the English Defence League (EDL).
Protesters from Stop Islamisation Of Europe (SIOE) will descend on the busy mosque – situated in Harrow, north-west London – where between 200 and 300 Muslims are expected to be in attendance, during the Islamic festival of Ramadan.
A SOIE spokesperson told politics.co.uk: “We are not a racist group; look at our website, our motto is racism is the lowest form of stupidity”.
“This is an annual thing we do to commemorate the victims of the 9/11”, the spokesperson said. “We think mosques are a viable and worthy place to demo.there is evidence that half of all England’s mosques are radicalised.”
“We are against Islam which we regard as the nastiest form of totalitarianism.”
Haroon Sheikh, chairman of the Harrow central mosque, appealed to the local authority to stop the protest, but police authorities approved it.
Unite Against Fascism (UAF) plans to demonstrate at the rally as well, to show support for the Muslims.
Talking to politics.co.uk a spokesperson for the UAF was damning in his condemnation of the demo and the motivations behind it.
“The name of the anti-Muslim group staging this protest has changed constantly, but basically they are just a connected group of malcontents,” he said.
“These groups claim they are not racists but we don’t really believe any of this.
The language and arguments used by these groups clearly express bigotry and hatred of Muslims.”
The UAF hope to attract diverse support to their rally, in an effort to highlight the multicultural nature of Harrow’s community.
The EDL may also attend, in support of SIOE. Most recently the EDL staged a rally in Birmingham, which triggered ugly riots between their supporters and young Muslims.
Although EDL are no longer promoting the demo on their website, the group’s Facebook page still lists the rally.
The Metropolitan police said they would deliver “an appropriate policing response”.
“We will attempt to work with all the protests taking place to ensure the safety of local citizens.”
