Police vow to clamp down on anti-Muslim backlash
Duncan Campbell
Monday July 2, 2007
The Guardian
Police chiefs and senior politicians moved to reassure Scotland's Muslim communities yesterday amid fears of a backlash after the terrorist incident at Glasgow airport.
As police waited to question the two men arrested after the failed car bomb attack, the justice secretary, Kenny MacAskill, said neither was "born and bred" in Scotland. "Any suggestion to be made that they are homegrown terrorists is not true," he said.
Strathclyde's Assistant Chief Constable John Neilson won applause as he addressed a meeting at Glasgow central mosque. "The people we have in custody came to Scotland a short while ago to seek work," he said. "Other than that, I can't tell you - but I'm sure the community in Glasgow in particular will be reassured. These are not your young people."
Police said two minor incidents of racist abuse had been reported since the attacks but promised to clamp down on any backlash.
Nevertheless, the apparent arrival in Scotland of the sort of terrorist violence that has brought mass casualties and devastation to other parts of the UK prompted a great deal of reflection yesterday.
Mohammad Sarwar, the Labour MP for Glasgow Central, told BBC Radio Scotland's Sunday Live: "This is a big surprise to all of us, because we were not expecting this type of incident in Scotland. This is the first incident that has happened in Glasgow and everybody is shocked."
Mr Sarwar said constituents had been threatened since the incident. But he said there was no evidence that any of Scotland's imams or mosques had been fomenting hatred. "The message is moderate and liberal," he said. "Glasgow airport is used by a vast majority of Muslims and people of all faiths. This attack was an attack on all of us, on our city and our communities."
Osama Saeed, Scottish spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain, said there had "not been a peep of extremism" in Scotland to date, adding: "You hear about individuals and groups in London and elsewhere in England, but there has been no presence of this here."
Scotland's first minister, Alex Salmond, also said the attack was out of character. "Scottish society is very strong, with a strong sense of community," he said. "In Scotland, the Muslim community is part of the fabric of society, and is hugely important for social life, and this community link will remain strong."
Scotland's most obvious link with international terrorism occurred 20 years ago when Pan Am flight 103 crashed on to Lockerbie and killed 270 people.
But more recently, in 2002, seven men were questioned by anti-terrorist detectives after a month-long surveillance operation which raised fears that an Islamist support cell was being established.
Three were arrested in Edinburgh, when more than 50 armed officers raided a number of flats in the Leith area. Four others were held in west London by officers from Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch but no attacks materialised and fears that Edinburgh's massive, open-air New Year's Eve celebrations might be targeted proved unfounded.
One theory being examined yesterday by terrorism specialists was that Scotland could have been chosen as a target because it is the home of the new prime minister. David Capitanchik, of Aberdeen University, told the Sunday Mail: "Ever since this al-Qaida related terrorism became a problem, I said we couldn't afford to be complacent in Scotland. I am hoping this means that people will be equally aware as they are in England."
Scotland was largely untouched in the IRA years despite the presence, particularly in the west of the country, of supporters, quartermasters and fundraisers for Republican and Loyalist paramilitary groups. The strategy of the Republicans was to seek targets either associated with the UK establishment - members of the government, army recruiting centres, the City - or those likely to cause huge disruption, such as the London underground.
Police vow to clamp down on anti-Muslim backlash
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