Home Secretary Reid heckled During Speech To Muslims

Extracted from Yahoo News

LONDON (Reuters) - A heckler who accused police of "state terrorism" interrupted a speech to Muslim leaders by Home Secretary John Reid on Wednesday.

The demonstrator shouted at Reid, calling him an "enemy of Islam" and attacking the government's anti-terrorism policies before being led away by police and stewards.

"How dare you come to a Muslim area. I am here to disrupt the meeting," said the man, who later identified himself as Abu Izzadeen. "Shame on all of us for listening to him."

Reid was forced to interrupt his speech on the need for Britain's Muslims to do more to root out possible extremists. A second heckler also briefly disrupted the speech in east London.

Izzadeen told reporters outside that Prime Minister Tony Blair's "cronies" were not welcome in the area, saying: "They can all go to hell."

The meeting was held in the east London suburb of Leyton which has a large Muslim community, but one which is nevertheless outnumbered by other religious groups.

Reid shrugged off the incident and said the protesters should have stayed to debate their concerns properly.

"We must never allow ourselves to be intimidated or shouted down. This is not a new experience for me," he said.

Reid's speech was intended to reflect government frustration that Britain's Muslim communities are not doing enough to combat radical elements in their midst.

Blair has repeatedly stated that the police and security services alone cannot defeat terrorism and that they need the help of Britain's 1.7 million Muslims.

Since the July 2005 suicide bomb attacks on London's transport system killed 52 commuters, police say they have foiled five other plots involving British Islamists.

Last month, detectives said they had disrupted a plan by suicide bombers to blow up trans-atlantic airliners using liquid explosives. They have since charged 17 Britons in connection with the suspected plot.

Reid told the meeting that Muslim parents had to look out for "tell-tale" signs in their children's behaviour and confront them or "risk losing them forever".

"There is no nice way of saying this," Reid said.

"There are fanatics who are looking to groom and brainwash children in these communities. And they're grooming them for one thing: to kill themselves in order to murder many others."

Senior Muslim leaders and politicians have pointed the finger of blame at Britain's foreign policy for causing extremism, saying the government had put civilians in Britain and elsewhere at greater risk, a charge London fiercely rejects.

"You can't change government foreign policy by acts of terrorism in the UK," Reid said.

Ahmed Versi, editor of the UK-based Muslim News said Reid's call for parents to "spy" on their children suggested all Muslims were potential terrorists.

"What is he asking Muslim parents to spy on? To watch when they are ever late and then report suspicions to anti-terrorist police to intervene and have them interrogated for 28 days? It is a pure farce," Versi said.

Relatives of the four Britons who carried out the July 7 London bombings have spoken of their ignorance and shock at learning their children were involved in the plot.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
John Reis is correct. More needs to be done by the Muslim communities to address the recruitment problems of fanatics, but at this can’t be done without help from the government and security agencies - there needs to be greater communication between the communities and the government. Dr Reid made the right step made in difficult times.

He is also correct when he said that “Foreign policy cannot be changed by acts of terrorism” but he should also take note that when the government doesn’t listen to what the public is saying and provides the public with false information (WMD in Iraq), desperate people lose hope and tend to take desperate actions. Lets not forget the peaceful anti-war protests all over the world in 2003, where in london, 2 million protesters gathered in Hyde Park - Did the government listen to the people?