Top police officers have criticised plans to allow the shutting down of places of worship such as mosques suspected of inciting extremism. In their response to proposals to give courts the power to close such premises, police warned there were better ways to deal with the problem. Assistant Chief Constable Rob Beckley of the Association of Chief Police Officers said it was a “blunt tool”. “This proposal might be seen as an attack on religion,” he said.
The government is also considering banning the radical Muslim group Hizb ut-Tahrir. ACC Beckley told Today: “They proclaim themselves to be against violence – what we need to do is test that but not just automatically ban them because there are some radicals within their organisation.” He added: “Extremism and radicalism, where it is not an offence – we don’t want to drive that underground.”
Robert Spencer is not happy: “So fair and foul an example of dhimmitude and wrongheadedness I have not seen.”