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"I am aware that in mounting this operation we have caused disruption and inconvenience to many residents in Newham, and for that I apologize," said Hayman.
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CAIRO — British police have apologized to the
Muslim minority for last week's anti-terror raid on a house in east
London, which resulted in the arrest and shooting of an apparently tow
innocent Muslim brothers and undermined the minority's trust in the
police establishment as they felt unjustly targeted in the anti-terror
drive.
"I am aware that in mounting this operation we
have caused disruption and inconvenience to many residents in Newham,
and for that I apologize," Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman of
the Metropolitan Police said in an official apology published by The
Independent newspaper on Friday, June 9.
Appealing for calm, Hayman said: "We must all
pull together in a tolerant manner. This isn't the time for conflict
and anger."
Hayman said senior police officials would meet
Muslim minority leaders to discuss tactics and examine whether things
could have been done differently.
"There was a difficult balancing act between
officers' safety and public safety and those we would come into
contact with in the house. It would be difficult to see how we could
reduce the level of officer attendance and equipment," he said.
Hayman said he understood that some communities
"may be feeling confused or indeed, angry" but he insisted
anti-terror operations were not targeted against any particular
community, race or faith.
Two British Muslims, Mohammed Abdul Kahar, 23, his
brother Abul Koyair, 20, have been arrested on suspicion of
involvement in a terrorist plot after a dramatic anti-terror swoop on
their home in Forest Gate, east London, which saw the shooting of one
of the pair in his shoulder.
The two brothers have strongly protested their
innocence.
The swoop on the house in Lansdown Road was ordered
after a police informant gave information about the preparation of a
portable device containing cyanide that had been built and was ready
to be used.
Growing Anger
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The heavy presence of police inflamed Muslim anger in Forest Gate.
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Police say the search of the house is only one
strand of their investigation and they will soon switch to other
avenues of inquiry.
British Muslims in Forest Gate say police have
added insult to injury as they have not eased their
"blockade" and kept on searching suspected passers-by under
the Terrorism Act.
Now the heavy police presence has inflamed their
anger.
"Maybe it was my stubble, or maybe it was my
rucksack. I threw my bag down in front of them because that is all I
could do to show my anger," Sikander Khalid, 28, told The
Independent of his police encounter experience.
The Pakistani-born young man was running to get to
work when he found himself surrounded by policemen, who stopped and
frisked him.
"Is this what they mean by being calm? Of
course I'm angry and of course I'm going to be at the protest that's
going on to tell the world that we are human, and we shouldn't be
punished for being Muslim. What they did last Friday has made me mad
and I hope people fight back."
Many Muslims in Forest Gate are determined to show
their anger at a protest rally Sunday, June 11, organized by a
coalition of Muslim groups.
"The heavy-handed tactics of the police are
proving counterproductive. Instead of increasing security,
high-profile 'terror' raids have only spread more fear. The
anti-terror legislation is eroding all of our civil rights," a
spokesman for the protest told the daily.
The Independent reported on June 6 that many angry
Muslims were considering to leave Britain feeling no longer safe
following the high-profile raid.
British lawmakers warned that anti-terror police
raids risk to harm relations with the Muslim minority in the country,
estimated at some 1.8 million people.
They said if the raids turned out to be mistaken
Muslims would feel "confronted and embattled."
Although forensic specialists have been examining
the site for almost a week, it soon became evident that they were
unlikely to find anything incriminating.
Senior officers admit they have almost given up
hope of finding chemicals on the site, The Independent said.
Counter-terrorism officials told the Guardian on
Tuesday, June 6, that the intelligence that led to the raid was wrong
and based on a single apparently uncorroborated source.
British police have already endured almost a year
of harsh criticism, including accusations of a cover-up, since
officers gunned down an unarmed Brazilian on a subway train suspecting
him to be a bomber last year.
