Arrests across UK and attacks on Muslims

Separate the people. Divide the people. Make them fight each other. Sigh... so predictable.

--Mike Ruppert

Attacks on Muslims soar in wake of Woolwich murder

Anti-Muslim incidents, online and in person, increase from a handful to 150 since Wednesday as arrests are made across UK

the Guardian,

24 May, 2013

Anti-Muslim attacks in Britain have soared since Wednesday's murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich.

Faith Matters, an organisation that works to reduce extremism, said it had been told of about 150 incidents in the last few days, compared to between four to eight cases before Wednesday.

Fiyaz Mughal, the director of Faith Matters, said incidents were happening on the streets and online. "What's really concerning is the spread of these incidents. They're coming in from right across the country," he told the BBC.

"Secondly, some of them are quite aggressive; very focused, very aggressive attacks. And thirdly, there also seems to be significant online activity … suggesting co-ordination of incidents and attacks against institutions or places where Muslims congregate."

Police have reported several arrests since Wednesday. Benjamin Flatters, 22, from Lincoln, was arrested on Thursday after complaints were made to Lincolnshire police about comments made on Twitter that were allegedly of a racist or anti-religious nature.

A second man was visited by officers and warned about his activity on social media, according to the police.

The charge comes after two men in Bristol were arrested and released on bail for making alleged offensive comments on Twitter about the murder. A 23-year-old and a 22-year-old, both from Bristol, were held under the Public Order Act on suspicion of inciting racial or religious hatred.

Detective Inspector Ed Yaxley of Avon and Somerset police said: "These comments were directed against a section of our community. Comments such as these are completely unacceptable and only cause more harm to our community in Bristol."

Two men will appear at Thames magistrates court on Saturday charged with religiously aggravated threatening behaviour over an incident in an east London fast food restaurant on Thursday.

Labourer Toni Latcal, 32, and plasterer Eugen-Aurelian Eugen-Beredei, 34, both from London, were arrested following the incident at 9.15pm on Thursday. Latcal was charged with religiously aggravated threatening behaviour and causing criminal damage, while Eugen-Beredei was charged with religiously aggravated threatening behaviour.

In Hastings, Adam Rogers, 28, of Kingsman Street, Woolwich, was arrested on Friday and will appear at Brighton magistrates court on Saturday accused of sending an "offensive, indecent or menacing message" online.

Woolwich attack: MI5 'offered job to suspect'

MI5 asked Woolwich murder suspect Michael Adebolajo if he wanted to work for them about six months before the killing, a childhood friend has said.

BBC,

25 May, 2013

Abu Nusaybah told BBC Newsnight his friend - one of two men arrested after Drummer Lee Rigby's murder in south-east London on Wednesday - had rejected the approach from the security service.

The BBC could not obtain any confirmation from Whitehall sources.

Abu Nusaybah was arrested at the BBC after giving the interview.

Newsnight reporter Richard Watson said after the interview had concluded he left the studio to find officers from the Metropolitan Police counter terrorism unit waiting to arrest Abu Nusaybah.

The Met confirmed a 31-year-old man had been arrested at 21:30 BST on Friday in relation to suspected terrorism offences and search warrants were being executed at two homes in east London.

The arrest was not directly related to the murder of Drummer Rigby, it said.

The soldier was killed in front of dozens of people near Woolwich Barracks, where he was based, on Wednesday afternoon.

Mr Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, who was also arrested at the scene, remain in hospital after being shot by police.

'Bugging me'

In his Newsnight interview, Abu Nusaybah said he thought "a change" had taken place in his friend after a trip to Kenya last year.

He said Mr Adebolajo had told him he travelled there "to study", but instead, was part of a group rounded up by "Kenyan troops" and interrogated in a prison cell.

During his detention he said he was "beaten quite badly", Abu Nusaybah said, and in his opinion, his friend had also been subjected to sexual abuse, although he was too "ashamed" to say exactly what happened.

Floral tributes have been left at the scene of the killing

After this, he became withdrawn "and less talkative - he wasn't his bubbly self", Abu Nusaybah said, adding: "His mind was somewhere else."

He also said Mr Adebolajo was "stopped" upon his return to the UK from Kenya and was later "followed up by MI5" who were "knocking on his door".

He was "basically being harassed", Abu Nusaybah said.

He added: "His wording was, 'They are bugging me - they won't leave me alone.'

"Initially they wanted to ask him if he knew certain individuals.

"But after him saying that he didn't know these individuals, what he said was they asked him if he would be interested in working for them.

"He was explicit in that he refused to work for them but he did confirm he didn't know the individuals."

Reporter Richard Watson said that, in general terms, it was not out of the ordinary for the security service to approach people for information or even to act as covert sources.

Mr Adebolajo, 28, originally from Romford, east London, and fellow suspect Michael Adebowale, 22, of Greenwich, south-east London, had been known to MI5 for eight years, Whitehall sources told the BBC on Thursday.

'Devoted father'

Two women, aged 29 and 31, arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder, have been released without charge, but a man, 29, remains in custody.

Speaking about the fight against the rise of the extremist ideology, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police Sir Peter Fahy told the BBC there had been a "steady stream of plots", which had on the whole been foiled by police.

But he said the police and the security services were "particularly concerned" about people travelling from Britain to conflict areas such as Mali, Syria and Iraq and the increase in extremist websites.

Since the murder there has been an sharp increase in the number of in anti-Muslim incidents, according to the organisation Faith Matters, which works to reduce extremism.

Drummer Lee Rigby's family paid tribute to him in an emotional news conference

Before the attack about four to eight cases a day were reported to its helpline, but the group said more than 150 incidents had been reported in the last few days, including attacks on mosques.

On Friday, Drummer Rigby's wife Rebecca, the mother of his two-year-old son, said she had been aware of the dangers of her husband serving in countries where there was armed conflict, including Afghanistan, but added: "You don't expect it to happen when he's in the UK. You think they're safe."

She said: "I love Lee and always will. I am proud to be his wife. He was a devoted father to our son Jack and we will both miss him terribly."

Drummer Rigby's stepfather, Ian Rigby, said: "We would like to say 'Goodnight Lee, rest in peace our fallen soldier. We love you loads and words cannot describe how loved and sadly missed you will be'."

Mr Rigby added that his stepson "adored and cared a lot for his family, he was very much a family man, looking out for his wife, young son Jack, younger sisters, whom in turn they looked up to him".

Ex-MI6 chief admits ‘UK incapable of stopping home-grown terror’

A former head of Britain’s foreign spying apparatus (MI6) has acknowledged that the security forces lack the required capability to prevent atrocities like the Woolwich murder.

Press TV,

25 May, 2013

Richard Barrett said preventing such terror attacks was “incredibly hard”, admitting that the UK forces are virtually powerless to stop such crimes like what happened in a southeast London street last week, when two assailants attacked a trooper and hacked him to death in broad daylight.

Killers Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale were both known to MI5, Britain’s domestic spying apparatus, but were classed as fringe figures who did not merit full scale monitoring.

MI5 chiefs are facing tough questions about how much was known about the two men and when they were last “on the radar”.

But Barrett, ex-head of counter-terrorism at MI6, believes there was little MI5 could have done to prevent the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby, the trooper killed in Woolwich attack.

“I think it is incredibly hard to stop,” he said. “When does a person who expresses radical views, who joins a radical group, flip over to be a violent extremist? To find the signals, the red flags as it were, I think is enormously hard.

“I should imagine that these two people themselves probably didn’t have any intention to commit a crime like this until relatively recently before they did it.”

“They must have had some indication that these guys were a problem in order to note their names. But it is one thing to note their names, it is quite another thing to take invasive action to track their movements”, added Barrett.

Lord Blair, former Metropolitan Police Commissioner, said there were “thousands and thousands of people who listen to extremists”.

MI5 and MI6 must go after the most dangerous suspects who travel abroad for terrorist training, he said. “The Security Service (MI5) has limited resources. They must prioritise people who are most likely to move from being interested in violent extremism to carrying it out.

“Even if you have the resources to do it, you have to have a very high level of suspicion to put surveillance on them. What are you monitoring? Lots of people have very odd views”, Lord Blair added.