LONDON: On Tuesday September 1, a 30-year-old Muslim man was assaulted whilst leaving mosque in Tooting, London. The attack came one day after 67 year-old Ekram Haque was brutally murdered outside Idara-e-Jafferiya mosque while standing outside it with his three-year-old granddaughter who was unhurt. Police have declared that both the attacks were racially motivated and were carried out by two separate groups of black youths and according to police are unrelated. Haque was retired, but he had been enjoying looking after Miriam, his granddaughter, his son told the Wandsworth Guardian who said that “he looked after her in the week. I hope that it gave him some happiness.†Despite claims that Tooting is seeing a rise in racial friction, Tooting Member of Parliament Sadiq Khan said in an interview with the Wandsworth Guardian that “I have lived in Tooting all my life. I work and shop here and in my opinion we do not have an inter-racial problem.†Demonstration against Islam The English Defence League attempted to participate in a protest organized by “Stop the Islamification of Europe” (SIOE) in Harrow, London on Friday September 11. The demonstration, which coincided with the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York as well as the Muslim Holy month of Ramadan, was aimed to protest the construction of a new five-storey mosque, the largest of its kind in England. However, after a few scuffles broke out between the 16 participants of the anti-Islam protest who turned up and the 1000 anti-fascist demonstrators, the former were quickly stopped in order to stop the SIOE protesters from sustaining any serious injuries. The anti-fascist protest continued and despite the overwhelmingly peaceful nature of the protest, a minority of protesters ignored calls for a peaceful demonstration and resorted to violence, throwing bricks and bottles at the police, who were clad in riot gear. 10 people were arrested in total and nine under the suspicion of carrying an “offensive” weapon. BM
