Heckler disrupts Reid’s speech
A protestor has disrupted John Reid’s speech on rooting out extremism, saying he should be “shamed” by the actions of the police towards Muslim people.
The home secretary was speaking in Leytonstone in London’s East End when the man condemned the British government as “enemies of Muslims”.
The heckler, Abu Izzadeen, is reportedly a former member of the banned Abu Ghurabaa group. He said he was “absolutely furious” with the way British Muslims had been treated and questioned how Mr Reid “dare” come to an area where so many – “over a thousand” Muslims had been arrested.
Police and stewards led Mr Izzadeen away, before removing another protester who also interrupted the speech.
He slammed the government as “barbaric” and anti-Muslim after being led away brandishing posters one of which said: “John Reid you will pay!”
Mr Reid said in response: “I was making the very simple point that however sensitive these issues are, we must never allow ourselves to be intimidated or shouted down.”
The incident comes in the wake of concern among the Muslim community that British foreign policy is to blame for escalating extremism.
In his first speech to the Muslim community since becoming home secretary in May, Mr Reid was talking about how radicalisation could be tackled.
“Our fight is not with Muslims generally” but part of a “struggle against extremism”, he insisted.
The fight against terrorism is to protect values common to Britain and Islam, he said, adding there was a “conflict of values” between “terrorists on one side” and most of “modern civilisation” on the other.
“Our battle is with those terrorists who have no respect for human life, equality or the democratic process,” he added.
There were many similarities between “our values” and those in the Koran, Mr Reid said, stressing: “There is no democracy and fairness in terrorist values.”
Urging parents to watch vulnerable children closely, he argued that “the public perception of the Islamic faith has too often been hijacked”.
He asked parents to keep a close eye on their children, warning: “There is no nice way of saying this but there are fanatics who are looking to groom and brainwash children, including your children.
“Look for the telltale signs now and talk to them before their hatred grows and you risk losing them forever.
“In protecting our families, we are protecting our community.”
Noting the al-Qaida attacks that have killed Muslims all over the world, Mr Reid stressed the “means which they [extremists] use will be indiscriminate”.
After the July 7th attacks last year, a task force was set up to tackle extremism.
But counter-terrorism operations – including the shooting of an innocent man in east London in June – have led some Muslim people to feel they are being targeted.
And Tony Blair said earlier this year that the government alone could not root out extremism in Muslim communities and needed the help of the Muslim community in doing so.
However, three Muslim MPs last month claimed in an open letter that the government’s approach was wrong, and condemned it for its foreign policy, claiming Britain’s role in the Middle East had given “ammunition to extremists”.
John Reid dismissed the letter – which was also signed by 38 organisations including the Muslim Council of Britain – as a “dreadful misjudgement”.
The Conservatives said Muslim extremism was “a problem for all of us”.
“While John Reid’s remarks are relevant he is in danger of repeating what the prime minister has already said – that Muslim extremism is a problem for the Muslim community,” argued shadow attorney general Dominic Grieve.
Noting that only three out of 64 recommendations from task force had been implemented, he condemned the government for failing to “show any real leadership on this issue”.
He added: “They have proved happy to pursue grand, headline grabbing gestures, but have not delivered when effective action was required.
The government has not shown itself able or willing to do the grinding, difficult work of eradicating the root causes of this problem.”
