community-based, non-corporate, participatory media
(mp3) interview: mosque fire bombed in liverpool
by vincent / blast furnace radio
Friday, Jul. 15, 2005 at 3:16 PM
eirene@telerama.com 1-888-NOTOWAR
AUDIO IS LOCATED AT >>> http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=13262
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/07/11/news/bias.php
Muslims feeling the sting of a backlash
By Lizette Alvarez The New York Times
TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2005
BIRKENHEAD, England Sitting on a downtrodden block of boarded-up shops,
the Shahjalal Mosque is no more than a small room off the street, with an
apartment above; it is as unassuming as it is popular among Muslims in
Wirral, just across the Mersey River from Liverpool.
JBut early Saturday morning, long after the tenant upstairs had gone to
bed, someone tried to set it on fire. The attempt did not succeed, mostly
because the fire department responded quickly. But the fire scorched the
front door, smoked out the inside and drove out the tenant, who was
rescued by firefighters.
JThe police are looking for two young men, one on a bicycle, who were seen
in the area just before the fire.
JNow a police officer patrols outside the tiny mosque, just to be safe.
J"We are facing two fronts," said a Bengali worshiper at the mosque, who
like the other men who came to pray, said he was too fearful to provide
his name. "We are facing the terrorists and also the backlash. We were
surprised by this. This is a nice community, a small community."
JMuslims throughout Britain are beginning to feel the disturbing
repercussions of the terrorist attack Thursday on London, said Azad Ali,
the chairman of the Muslim Safety Forum, which is tracking the incidents
and working with the police and the community to respond.
JIn the span of a few days, at least four mosques, including the one here,
have been fire-bombed, and others have seen their windows smashed and
their doors damaged. Some have had racist graffiti scrawled on their walls
and, in one case, a mosque was hit by bloody pig parts, a particular
offense in a religion that eschews eating pork, Ali said.
JMany mosques now have police officers posted outside, particularly during
prayer hours.
article continued on website >>>
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/07/11/news/bias.php
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