The Muslim Council of Britain on 10 June welcomed the decision by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe to ‘increase police presence around locations that might be at risk’ across all boroughs of London. The decision comes after yet another suspicious fire at an Islamic institution, the DarulUloom School in Chislehurst. Earlier in the week, an Islamic centre in North London was destroyed in a suspected anti-Muslim arson attack, and many more centres attacked across the country.
Welcoming the move, Farooq Murad, MCB Secretary General said: “There has been dozens of incidents of Islamophobic hate crimes, and it is important for us to have a national response to complement the excellent local police actions in certain parts of our country…. Many of our fellow Britons, including the family of the victim, have reached out to Muslims to repudiate the reprisals made since the tragic murder. Just as the vast majority of British Muslims condemned the Woolwich murder and insisted the horror was contrary to the teachings of Islam.”