British Muslim rights groups and ordinary faithful said they felt singled out by a tough new anti-terror law unveiled on Wednesday, labelling the planned legislation divisive and rushed. While there is agreement on the need to prevent would-be British jihadists from joining the ranks of the Islamic State group, there is also unease over the government’s hardline strategy.

“For us to live in the same community and work together, we have to fight together. I think these laws will separate us,” said Fatima Ali, 46, a nurse. “I think they were made too hastily,” she said.

Britain has around 2.8 million Muslims, making up 4.4 percent of the population, and many are concentrated in London in ethnically diverse areas like Whitechapel where Ali works.

The area is home to the East London Mosque, billed as the city’s oldest and as serving the country’s largest Muslim congregation. Stalls line the streets near the mosque selling headscarves and long robes, and most shops nearby sell either Halal food or Islamic books.

A short walk down the road is Aldgate tube station, site of one of a series of coordinated bombings that killed 52 people in London in 2005, carried out by four radicalised young Muslim men.

“I don’t think they can stop the terrorists with this law,” said market trader Mohammed Ali, 55, against a backdrop of multi-coloured and sequined cloths. “This law targets the Muslim community…. Just because one part of the community is criminal, it doesn’t make the whole community criminal,” he said.

The new laws would increase surveillance and relocation for people identified as Muslim radicals, force universities to bar extremist preachers and toughen laws against would-be jihadists planning to leave for Iraq and Syria and those returning.

There is broad support from the main parties in parliament for the draft Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill, which also includes the establishment of a civil liberties panel to monitor implementation. But campaign groups like Liberty, the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) and CAGE have already come out against the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill, defining it as hasty and counter-productive.

“The new anti-terror drive seems to be more geared to creating otherness in our society than security,” IHRC chair Massoud Shadjareh told AFP. “I don’t think there has been any consultation with the Muslim community,” he said, adding: “The consultation seems to be only with a narrow group of people who think like the government.”

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The main threat to UK home security is presented by young alienated Muslims who are under constant surveillance and harassment by the government, but not those citizens who went to Syria or Iraq and came back, political commentator Chris Bambery told RT.

RT: MI5 is worried that extremists are plotting to kill a police officer on the streets of the UK. Is there really a way to prevent such an attack?

Chris Bambery: MI5, MI6 are among the most sophisticated security services in the world, working hand-in-hand with the CIA, the NSA and other American security agencies and they have a track record of stopping this. Britons spend millions of pounds on this and on surveillance. We are one of the most surveyed states in the world, the highest number of CCTV cameras in any country in the world. Yes, it can be stopped.

The question here is that for over a decade under the supported “war on terror” we have seen legislation being passed which simply makes things which were previously illegal, illegal again. It is if you murder someone anywhere in the world, it is murder. You don’t need extra legislation to make that murder again. What we have discovered is not that we just rushed through this legislation but sneaked inside it clauses which allow for instant surveillance on social media, telephone calls, and erosion of liberty.

And the police officers have said this has been going on, this is the price that has to be paid. Well, this has been going on for over a decade, and regards the so-called “war on terror,” and prior to that in terms of what was happening in Northern Ireland and the struggle against the republicans. So we have seen an erosion of civil liberties in this country.

The current scare is about supposed jihadists returning from Syria and Iraq to wage war on our streets. May I just ask this? These people went to Syria, they were under surveillance from MI5, MI6 since the moment they left their home and they are under surveillance from the Turkish secret intelligence at the moment they arrived in Turkey and travelled through it, British intelligence knows who they are, they are not just going to come up to Heathrow Airport and be welcomed back into the country. If they are guilty of war crimes, in they are guilty of murders, there are already laws to apply, and we don’t need new laws. What the threat here is, if there is any threat, is from alienated young Muslims in this country. Tony Blair was warned of this back in 2003 when he took us into the invasion of Iraq, that the domestic terrorism would be the blowback as a consequence of that. Therefore, you have to turn and see that it is the British policy which is to blame.

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Muslim leaders say they will consider another site for a mosque in Dudley in a bid to halt a costly legal battle with the council.

They want to have fresh talks with council chiefs, despite their plans for a mosque on land off Hall Street getting the go-ahead earlier this week.

Dudley Muslim Association is locked in a legal battle with Dudley Council over the land earmarked for the 52-ft high mosque. Despite winning planning permission the group won’t be able to build unless they win a Court of Appeal hearing, which will rule on the council’s bid to buy back the land.

The dispute has so far gone on for seven years and is next in court in February.

But today, Dr Khurshid Ahmed declared he wanted a sit-down with council bosses and said he would consider an alternative mosque site. He said: “I would like to see the council reflect on the whole issue and look at a number of options. One option is to continue the court hearing, which will be costly and will not solve community division, it could escalate it further.

“Second option is the council backs off from the court case and allows the community to build the mosque. The council have a third option where they can negotiate with all sides to find a viable resolution, which I think would be the sensible way forward.

“To continue with the case would cause a lot of expense on behalf of the tax payers, as well as for the Muslim association, we would rather spend the money on a mosque than solicitors. I would not rule out an alternative site if that was acceptable. For the sake of the community, if there was an alternative acceptable to the Muslim community, we would be more than happy to consider it.”

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Defend Democracy in Tower Hamlets

Stop the witch-hunt of Mayor Lutfur Rahman

A community meeting on Wednesday 12th November at the Waterlily, 69-89 Mile End Road, London E1 4TT, at 6pm

Confirmed speakers:
Ken Livingstone, George Galloway, Christine Shawcroft Labour NEC, Alex Kenny (NUT) Kate Hudson (Left Unity) John Rees (People Assembly) Lindsey German (Stop the War Coalition) Sabby Dhalu (UAF), Aaron Kiely (NUS National Exec) and many more