September 09, 2009

Harrow Mosque calls for 9/11 protest to be banned

Harrow Mosque has called for a 9/11 protest to be banned just days after fresh violence in Birmingham saw 90 arrests.

Stop the Islamisation of Europe (SIOE) is holding a rally outside the building, in Station Road, on Friday and Unite Against Fascism (UAF) supporters will hold their own counter-demonstration alongside it.

The English Defence League (EDL), which clashed with anti-fascists in Birmingham on Saturday, at one point advertised the event on its website. The rally is promoted on EDL's group on social networking website Facebook and there are fears the weekend's violence could be repeated in Harrow.

Haroon Sheikh, chairman of Harrow Central Mosque, said: “We would request that the local authority and the police try to put a stop to it. The concern we have is with a large congregation. It's very difficult to control what people would want to do on the day. We would have 200 to 300 people coming here for prayers on a Friday. Emotions will be high if it's provoked, but we will have the police and we will have stewards here.”

SIOE say they are not racist and will not tolerate racism at the rally, but describe themselves as Islamaphobic, saying it is “the height of common sense”. Both SIOE and UAF say they intend to protest peacefully.

The Harrow Times has asked the English Defence League (EDL) for clarification about whether their members will attend the protest and is awaiting a response. The Harrow Times has requested a response from Harrow Police and Harrow Council and is awaiting a reply.

Harrow Times

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have you notice how all of this is escalating?

Anonymous said...

Hey those racist folks are just going to go and pick on isolated singles in a area heavily crowded by them, they have to resort to even robbing own their grannies , they must of felt full of shame when they never even got near the mosque, lol. they must of been singing racist songs on the bus on the way there, and then went back with their tails tucked behind their legs, making excuses, lol. But it was was wrong to fight them, they are all just poor folks just about on the breadline, with single mothers, with 7 kids, who have seven dads, all on benefits.