British Muslims reacted with a mixture of concern and defensiveness to the latest terror alert and arrests. Raw memories of the Forest Gate fiasco and last year’s Stockwell shooting tempered their response. Sir Iqbal Sacranie, of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: “We applaud the action of the police in taking appropriate action to avert a tragedy but what is really required now is to be aware of the appropriate facts on which their action was taken. There is a danger of stigmatising a whole community. We should not allow certain sections of the media and politicians to use the opportunity to carry out a diatribe against us. We need to know the facts.”

Guardian, 11 August 2006