Fear of backlash against British Muslims grips UK

The murder of a soldier in south London on Wednesday has prompted fears of a backlash against British Muslims after the English Defence League staged an impromptu rally in the capital and two mosques were attacked.

The BNP leader, Nick Griffin, has also reacted to the killing with provocative tweets calling for a protest in Woolwich and claiming thecrime is the result of ‘mass immigration’. Farooq Murad of the Muslim Council of Britain said the EDL’s rally in London on Wednesday night was cause for concern.

‘When attacks like these happen there’s always the danger of far-right extremism also raising its head,’ he told the BBC. ‘I think any form of extremism, any form of encouragement or incitement to violence, is something we stand firmly against.’ The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, stressed that the murder should not be viewed as a religiously motivated crime.