The Muslim News - Police Islamophobic attitude at the pro-Israeli rally condemned

Issue 157, Friday 31 May 2002 - 18 Rabi' al-Awwal 1423

Police Islamophobic attitude at the pro-Israeli rally condemned

By Ahmed Versi

A Muslim journalist, interviewing Jewish and Christian demonstrators, was forced to stop the interviews and made to join a Muslim/Palestinian demonstration on May 6. The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) expressed “serious concern” at the “heavy handedness of the police towards the Muslim journalists who was doing his duty.” The police acted Islamophobically - “just because he was a Muslim journalist,” a spokesman said. Other Muslims were beaten up under the watchful eyes of the police, who neither came to their rescue nor apprehended the perpetrators.
The incident happened outside St Martins-in-the- Fields Church where Jewish and Christian counter demonstrators against the pro-Israeli rally were standing. The Muslim News journalist, Muhammed Sajjad, was interviewing Jewish demonstrators who gave him leaflets on a forthcoming pro-Palestinian demonstration. A Jewish Community Services Trust (CST) official, who had been following him for some time, “sprung on me and asked why I had the leaflets advertising against Israel,” he said. He called police officers, who, without inquiring who he was or what he had in his hand, accused The Muslim News journalist of “trying to distribute inflammatory material and provoke an incident”. The police officer refused to listen to Sajjad that he was a journalist and interviewing for the paper. Instead, he was bluntly told to join the anti-Israeli Muslim demonstration. The police officer told him, “We don’t care if you are a journalist. You are a Muslim and must go to the Muslim demonstration.” He escorted Sajjad to the pro-Palestinian demonstration and asked two police officers to ensure he did not leave the enclosed area.
Earlier, Sajjad was refused entry into Trafalgar Square to cover the speeches by the CST, even though he showed them his press accreditations. “He called me a ‘Muslim scum’ and to told me ‘to get out of the area’,” said Sajjad.
Muhammed Zuraiki of Palestinian origin and Hasan ‘Ukra of Iraqi origin were approaching the pro-Israeli demonstration at Trafalgar Square. “Eight big, big guys set upon us”, related Hasan. “Do you wanna fight”, the gang asked them. “We tried to ignore them and walked along, but they continued to taunt us. We were set upon. Muhammed was hit on the lips and I was hit on the side of my head with my flagpole,” said Hasan. He claimed the police “just stood by and did nothing”.
Two Muslim women, wearing hijabs, Razia and Zaynab, went to the rally early. They were near the ‘lion’s end’ of Trafalgar square “when we found we were surrounded by 12 police officers,” said Razia. They asked them to move away and go to the Muslim area of the demonstration. “We told them we had come to listen to the speeches but they insisted we had to move,” related Zaynab. However, they managed to return and joined the Jewish crowd. The police officers came and told them to leave as “we have been told you should leave”. Razia said: “The Jewish people around us, to whom we were talking, told the police that we were not doing anything wrong and that they should allow us to stay. But the police refused and we had to leave.”
The Muslim Lawyers Committee (MLC) are considering launching individual actions against the Met Police “because of the unacceptable conduct of Police Officers against Muslims and or people they identified as Muslims”. The spokesperson for the MCB said they were also going to take up the matter with the Metropolitan Police.

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