LONDON: Anti-Muslim crimes in the British capital have increased fivefold since the London Bridge terror attack, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said Wednesday, warning that police would take a “zero-tolerance approach.”
“Provisional statistics for 6 June show a 40 percent increase in racist incidents, compared to the daily average this year, and a fivefold increase in the number of Islamophobic incidents,” the mayor’s office said in a statement.
It said 54 racist incidents were recorded on Tuesday, compared to a daily average of 38 so far in 2017.
Twenty of them were anti-Muslim incidents, well above the 2017 daily average of 3.5.
“This is the highest daily level of Islamophobic incidents in 2017 to date,” the statement said, adding it was higher than levels reached after the November 2015 attacks in Paris in which 130 people were killed.
On his Facebook page, Khan called on Londoners “to pull together, and send a clear message around the world that our city will never be divided by these hideous individuals who seek to harm us and destroy our way of life.”
He also warned that “just as the police will do everything possible to root out extremism from our city, so we will take a zero-tolerance approach to hate crime.”
Eight people were killed on Saturday when three Islamist extremists mowed down people on London Bridge before going on a stabbing spree in nearby Borough Market wearing fake suicide vests.
The three attackers, Khuram Butt, Rachid Redouane and Youssef Zaghba, were then killed by police.
The Daesh jihadist group later claimed responsibility.
Anti-Muslim crimes spike in London after attack: mayor
Anti-Muslim crimes spike in London after attack: mayor
FBI foils Daesh-inspired New Year’s Eve attack plot
- Christian Sturdivant,18, charged with attempting to provide material support to foreign terrorist organization
- Investigators say he shared plans for the attack with an undercover FBI employee
CHARLOTTE, United States: The FBI said Friday it disrupted a New Year’s Eve attack plot targeting a grocery store and fast-food restaurant in North Carolina, arresting an 18-year-old man who authorities say pledged loyalty to the Daesh group.
Christian Sturdivant was charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization after investigators say he shared plans for the attack with an undercover FBI employee posing as a supportive confidant.
Sturdivant was arrested Wednesday and remained in custody after a federal court appearance Friday. An attorney representing him Friday did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Another hearing was scheduled for Jan. 7.
The alleged attack would have taken place one year after 14 people were killed in New Orleans by a US citizen and Army veteran who had proclaimed his support for Daesh on social media.
The FBI has foiled several alleged attacks through sting operations in which agents posed as terror supporters, supplying advice and equipment. Critics say the strategy can amount to entrapment of mentally vulnerable people who wouldn’t have the wherewithal to act alone.
Searches of Sturdivant’s home and phone uncovered what investigators described as a manifesto detailing plans for an attack with knives and a hammer, FBI Special Agent in Charge James Barnacle said at a news conference Friday.
“He was willing to sacrifice himself,” Barnacle said.
US Attorney for western North Carolina Russ Ferguson said the planned attack in Mint Hill, a bedroom community near Charlotte, targeted “places that we go every day and don’t think that we may be harmed.”
Worried he might attempt violence before New Year’s Eve, the FBI placed Sturdivant under constant surveillance for days, including on Christmas, Ferguson said. Agents were prepared to arrest him earlier if he left his home with weapons, he said. “At no point was the public in harm’s way.”
The fact that Sturdivant encountered two undercover officers while allegedly planning the attack should reassure the public, Ferguson said. He declined to identify the grocery store and restaurant cited in the complaint, citing the ongoing investigation.
If convicted, Sturdivant faces up to 20 years in prison, according to court documents.
An FBI affidavit says the investigation began last month after authorities linked Sturdivant to a social media account that posted content supportive of Daesh, including imagery that appeared to promote violence. The account’s display name referenced Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the former leader of the extremist group.
Some experts argue that Daesh is powerful today partly as a brand, inspiring both militant groups and individuals in attacks that the group itself may have no real role in.
The affidavit says Sturdivant had been on the FBI’s radar in January 2022, when he was a minor, after officials learned that he had been in contact with a person in Europe the FBI says was an Daesh member, and had received instructions to dress in black, knock on people’s doors and commit attacks with a hammer.
At that time, Sturdivant did actually set out for a neighbor’s house armed with a hammer and a knife but was restrained by his grandfather, the affidavit says.
The FBI in Los Angeles last month announced the disruption of a separate New Year’s Eve plot, arresting members of an extremist anti-capitalist and anti-government group who federal officials said planned to bomb multiple sites in southern California.
Other Daesh-inspired attacks over the past decade include a 2015 shooting rampage by a husband-and-wife team who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California, and a 2016 massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, by a gunman who fatally shot 49 people.
