Mayor Ken Livingstone urged Britons on Saturday to refrain from demonising Muslims after a double car bomb plot was foiled here amid fears of an Islamist terror threat. He also criticised Britain over its ties with Saudi Arabia, which he said had fuelled intolerance in the past through its Wahhabist form of Islam. “In this city, Muslims are more likely to be law-abiding than non-Muslims and less likely to support the use of violence to achieve political ends,” he told BBC Radio.
He said various groups had carried out terrorist acts in London over the years, including far-right groups and the Irish Republican Army. “All I am interested in as mayor is that we try to prevent all acts of violence whether it is by a disaffected young member of the (far-right) British National Party, or by an Islamist or a Wahhabist supporter,” he said. He made it clear that this did not mean all white men were potentially threats to society any more than all Muslims were. But he criticised the British government’s ties with Saudi Arabia, saying Riyadh could still be funding terrorist groups in Britain. |