By Our Special Correspondent
LONDON: British Muslims face deadly ‘spectacular' terrorist attacks from the extreme right ‘designed to kill people', fears Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command.
According to a report in the Guardian on Monday, the counter-terrorism unit has moved officers to beef up its monitoring of the extreme right's potential to stage attacks.
Commander Shaun Sawyer told a meeting of British Muslims concerned about the danger posed to their communities that police were responding to the growing threat.
Mr Sawyer said of the far right: ‘I fear that they will have a spectacular ... They will carry out an attack that will lead to a loss of life or injury to a community somewhere. They're not choosy about which community.'
He said the aim of any attack would be to cause a ‘breakdown in community cohesion'.
Mr Sawyer told the meeting that more of his officers needed to be deployed to try to thwart neo-Nazi-inspired violence.
He said the terrorist threat posed by Al Qaeda remained the unit's priority, but said of its far-right section: ‘It is a small desk ... we need to grow that unit.'
The Guardian quoted sources as saying that while they believed the neo-Nazi terrorist threat had grown, they had no specific intelligence of an attack.
‘There is an increased possibility of violence from the far right. There is a trend,' said one senior source, adding that the ideology of the violent right was driven by ‘people who don't like immigration, people who don't like Islam. We're seeing a resurgence of anti-Semitism as well'.
Similar warnings about the terror threat of the far right have been issued in America recently.
In April, an internal report drawn up by the US Department of Homeland Security warned of a possible rise in violent rightwing extremist groups fuelled by the recession and hostility over the election of the first black president.
The report said threats from white supremacist and violent anti-government groups had been largely rhetorical so far, but a prolonged economic downturn could create a fertile recruiting environment for rightwing extremists.
British Muslims have been a particular target of neo-Nazi propaganda, and groups representing them say they have felt increasingly vulnerable after the Al Qaeda attacks on London in July 2005.
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Abu Nasr
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Dr. Marwa El Sherbiny, Muslim woman stabbed 18 times to death Dr. Marwa El Sherbiny Egypt and the Muslim world mourns 'headscarf martyr' A Muslim woman Dr. stabbed 18 times to death in a Dresden courtroom was three months pregnant, reported German newspaper Bild on Friday 3rd July 2009. The body of Dr. Marwa Al-Sherbini, savagely murdered in Dresden courtroom, Germany by a terrorist neo-nazi man convicted of insulting her religion, has been taken b More..ack to her native Egypt for burial. Dr. Sherbini had sued her killer after he called her a "terrorist" because of her headscarf. Axel W and Dr. Sherbini and family were in court for him to appeal against a fine of 750 euros ($1,050) for insulting her in 2008, because she was wearing the Muslim headscarf. The stabbing happened July 1, just before Dr. al-Sherbini was to give her evidence. During the struggle, other bystanders were also injured and police fired a shot. Dr. Al-Sherbini died in the courtroom. Husband Elwi Okaz is also in a critical condition in hospital, after being injured as he tried to save his wife. The 28-year-old attacker was overpowered and is now under investigation for manslaughter, a spokesman for the Dresden prosecutor’s office said. Martyr DR. Marwa Al-Sherbini, was a 32-year-old Egyptian pharmacist based in Germany, she was stabbed 18 times under the court ceiling and with the presence of the German police. She has been living in Germany for years with her husband, the Egyptian academic Elwi Ali-Okaz, who is studying scholarship through Menufiya University’s institute of Genetic Engineering in Germany. Medics were unable to save Dr. Sherbini who was three months pregnant with her second child. Her three-year-old son, was with the family in court when she was murdered. Newspapers in Egypt and the Muslim world have expressed outrage at the case, asking how it was allowed to happen and dubbing Dr Sherbini "the martyr of the Hijab". Senior Egyptian officials and German diplomatic staff attended the funeral in Alexandria along with thousands of mourners. After reviewing the story and the different opinions on it, how do you feel towards such a criminal act? Do you expect angry reactions from Muslims in Germany, and/or Europe? As a human being ─ regardless of your color, or belief, what will be your own reaction towards such a savage act? |
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