LONDON – A member of parliament described how he was ushered into a safe room at
a London mosque by staff after receiving death threats by a group of extremist
Islamists.
Conservative MP Mike Freer was meeting with constituents at
the North Finchley Mosque last Friday when a radical group calling themselves
“Muslims Against Crusades” posted on its website threats encouraging Muslims to
attack the parliamentarian.
RELATED:UK university holds 'anti-West' week under 'justice' guise'Anti-semitism down in UK in first half of 2011'Last year, Labor MP Stephen Timms was stabbed
by a Muslim constituent at a meeting in East London. Prior to Friday’s meeting,
the Muslim Against Crusades group stated on their website that the attack on
Timms should serve as a “piercing reminder that their presence is no longer
welcome in any Muslim area.”
“We warn Mike Freer and every other MP in
Britain that their presence is no longer welcomed in any Muslim area and that
examples such as Stephen Timms should serve as a piercing reminder of this,” the
extremists wrote on their website.
The group held a protest outside the
mosque while a number of protesters managed to get into the meeting.
“One
of the protesters sat at a table where I was dealing with a constituent and was
abusive,” he said.
Freer, who is not Jewish, said he was called a “Jewish
homosexual pig” and staff at the mosque then decided to take him into an
adjacent office for his own protection until police arrived.
The
representative of the neighborhoods of Finchley and Golders Green – who is a
member of Conservative Friends of Israel and vice-president of the All-Party
Parliamentary Enquiry into Anti-Semitism – played a prominent role in the
campaign against Palestinian activist Raed Salah’s visit to the UK in
June.
“Given this man’s history of virulent anti-Semitism, will the home
secretary ban him from entering the UK?” Freer said in Parliament in July. “The
UK Border Agency has made a very serious error in letting this man walk through
passport control.”
Speaking to
The Jerusalem Post, Freer, who is also
very involved in multi-faith work, emphasized that it was a small and
unrepresentative group behind the unrest and that the mosque had no connection
to them.
“I wish to make it clear that the events in no way reflect the
views of the mainstream majority at the North Finchley Mosque,” Freer said. “The
incident was cause by an extreme group not connected to my local
community.”
Freer said that he has a good relationship with the
management of the mosque and has frank discussions about an array of issues with
them.
“On some issues we disagree and on many we agree, they take the
view that dialogue is important and they respect my role as MP serving the
community and my continued work engaging local communities,” he told the
Post.
“For many years I have worked on improving interfaith relations and
locally our faiths live harmoniously. We must not allow a small, extreme group
from outside the area to divide us,” he added.
A Police spokesman said:
“Officers attended North Finchley Mosque at 4:10 p.m. on Friday after a
disturbance by protesters inside the building. There were no
arrests.”
Freer has asked Home Secretary Theresa May to take action
against the extremist Muslims Against Crusades group.