UK Muslims Urged to Boycott Police

"From today until this 'terroristisation' of the Muslim community is stopped immediately I believe all Muslims should withdraw their support," said Ridley.

"From today until this 'terroristisation' of the Muslim community is stopped immediately I believe all Muslims should withdraw their support," Yvonne Ridley, a journalist and member of the political party Respect, told a gathering Tuesday evening, June 6, in east London, where the high-profile operation happened, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Ridley, a patron of Stop Political Terror, told the meeting she wanted people "to boycott the police and refuse to cooperate with them in any way, shape or form", prompting applause from the audience.

The campaigner added that a police boycott by British Muslims would hamper what she felt was already flawed information gathering.

Scores of largely Muslim locals packed a community centre near the brothers' house on Tuesday evening to hear speeches criticizing police and government tactics by John Rees, Respect National Secretary; Moazzam Begg, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee and Ridley.

Anger at police treatment of British Muslims is growing in Britain after Mohammed Abdul Kahar, 23, who was shot in the shoulder, and his brother, Abul Koyair, 20, have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in a terrorist chemical plot in a raid carried out by 200 policemen last Friday, June 2.

Both have vehemently denied involvement in terrorism.

Senior counter-terrorism officials told The Guardian Tuesday that the intelligence that led to the raid was wrong and based on a single apparently uncorroborated source.

Both men remain in custody but neither has been charged and investigators at the property on Lansdown Road have seemingly failed to find any evidence of a possible terrorist plot.

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.

March

"People in the community are angry about the raid, they are angry about the shooting, they are angry about the lack of evidence," said Rees.

"The purpose is to unite and make sure we get the message that no one should use this as an opportunity to divide our wonderful and very colorful community," said lawyer Abdurahman Jafar, who is involved in the protest.

"People in the community are angry about the raid, they are angry about the shooting, they are angry about the lack of evidence and they are angry that the two men have been detained for so long without charge," added Rees in statements to AFP.

Rees drew comparisons between Friday's operation and the horrific police shooting of an innocent Brazilian man in the aftermath of last year's July 7 attacks on the London transport network.

"There is, at the very least, the gravest possible grounds for concern and the most pressing need for people to voice their misgivings if two innocent people are shot by the police in the same city in less than 12 months," he said.

Several people quizzed by AFP after the meeting pledged to shun the police and join in the protest rally.

"Action speaks louder than words. People will ignore them," said Hanif Patel, 46, a railway engineer who moved to Britain from India 32 years ago.

His friend, Ahmad Khan, a 47-year-old delivery man originally from Pakistan, said of London's Metropolitan Police: "I have very little faith in them."

British Muslims told The Independent on Tuesday that they considered leaving the country as they no longer felt safe following the raid.

They warned that the incident would fan hatred among the minority and that that "trust could break down" if police failed to explain last Friday's raid.