LONDON: The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) has added its voice to the growing list of those accusing The Sun newspaper of deliberately using Nazi terminology in attacking Muslims, claiming it could incite further Islamophobic attacks.
Writing in The Sun, the UK’s most widely read newspaper, one of the paper’s leading writers Trevor Kavanagh declared the country had a “Muslim Problem.”
The phrase drew obvious comparisons to “The Jewish Problem” — an expression used in Nazi Germany prior to the Holocaust, which left millions of Jews dead.
The backlash has seen over 100 UK MPs write to The Sun complaining about the language used, and the Board of Deputies of British Jews and Tell MAMA — a group that measures anti-Muslim attacks — complain directly to the Independent Press Standards Organization (IPOS).
Miqdaad Versi, assistant secretary general of the MCB, claimed that using such a phrase was grossly alarming at a time when hate crimes against Muslims are on the increase.
“The fact that a national newspaper columnist asks readers for a solution to the ‘Muslim Problem’ is truly disgusting,” Versi told Arab News.
“It appears the editors believed it was appropriate to use Nazi-like terminology about Muslims, showing the serious challenges we face in the UK.
“In the United Kingdom, there has been a rise in Islamophobia and hate crime, with 40 neo-Nazis currently being investigated for fears they are plotting terrorist attacks against Muslims.
“In this climate, such a column is not only irresponsible but downright dangerous.”
In an article about immigration following the Newcastle sex abuse scandal — in which Asian men were convicted of abusing young girls — Kavanagh laid the blame squarely on Islam, writing: “Muslims are a specific rather than a cultural problem”. He concluded by asking “What will we do about The Muslim Problem.”
MPs from across the political spectrum reacted by putting their names to a latter calling for the article to be retracted and asking whether Kavanagh’s position at The Sun is now tenable.
“It is shocking that in the 21st century a columnist is using such Nazi-like terminology about a minority community,” the letter to The Sun editor Tony Gallagher read.
“Muslims currently face threats from far right and neo-Nazi groups in the UK and your publication of this article can therefore only be seen as an attempt to further stoke up hatred and hostility against Muslims.”
The Sun, however, rubbished accusations of Islamophobia and using Nazi-like terminology, claiming Kavanagh was simply “drawing links between immigration, religion and crime.”
“We strongly reject the allegation that Trevor Kavanagh is inciting Islamophobia,” a Sun spokesperson told Arab News.
“He is reflecting the links between immigration, religion and crime in the context of a trial of largely Pakistani sex gangs.
“Any suggestion that this article is promoting Islamophobia is a deliberate misreading of a very serious subject. Furthermore, it was never the intention that other elements of the column would be equated to Nazi-like terminology.”
Speaking earlier to Arab News about the sex grooming scandal, Neil Chakraborti, an academic who sits on the advisory board of Tell MAMA, said it was “simplistic” to blame Muslims as a whole for such sickening crimes.
“While it’s understandable that there’s a lot of anger and emotion following such a case, to label a particular community as culpable because of their skin color is simplistic,” Chakraborti said.
“The problem is more multi-layered and complex than that. After such crimes we all need in some way to take ownership.”
‘Muslim Problem’ article could incite hate crime, UK group warns
‘Muslim Problem’ article could incite hate crime, UK group warns
What to know about the search for the Brown University shooting suspect
- The video from more than hour before the attack shows the suspect running at times in quiet residential streets near campus
PROVIDENCE, R.I.: With the Brown University shooter still on the loose Tuesday, authorities released new video of a suspect and police fanned out to Providence schools to reassure parents, kids and teachers as investigators pushed for new evidence that might help them crack the case.
Here’s a look at what to know about the attack and the search:
Search on after new video and description of suspect
Authorities released a video timeline and a slightly clearer image of the man suspected in Saturday’s attack in an engineering building classroom, where two students were killed and nine were wounded. The video from more than hour before the attack shows the suspect running at times in quiet residential streets near campus.
In videos previously made public, the suspect’s face was masked or turned away and authorities were only able to give a vague description of him as having a stocky build and about 5 feet, 8 inches (173 centimeters) tall.
The gunman fired more than 40 rounds from a 9 mm handgun, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.
Police have asked the public for tips, and said they had received about 200 by Tuesday. Col. Oscar Perez, the Providence police chief, asked the public Tuesday to look at their camera systems in the area where the person was walking to review any footage that goes back a week.
Authorities on Sunday released a different person of interest after determining he wasn’t behind the attack, which happened in a first-floor classroom where students were cramming for an exam. Providence police spokeswoman Kristy dosReis said the man’s detention didn’t affect the ongoing investigation.
Police fan out to local schools
Tensions remain high in Providence. Ten state troopers were assigned to support the local police sent to beef up security at schools, district Superintendent Javier Montañez said. The district said it canceled after-school activities, sporting events and field trips this week “out of an abundance of caution.”
The attack and the shooter’s escape also have raised questions about campus security, including a lack of security cameras, and led to calls for better locks on campus doors. But some said what they called the real issue needs to be addressed.
“The issue isn’t the doors, it’s the guns,” said Zoe Kass, a senior who fled the engineering building Saturday.
Authorities have said that one reason they lacked video of the shooter was because Brown’s older engineering building doesn’t have many cameras.
University defends response
Brown President Christina Paxson defended the university’s response, saying it was deeply committed to the safety, security and well-being of its students. She also said the campus is equipped with 1,200 cameras.
“I have been deeply saddened by people questioning that,” she said Tuesday. “As time goes on, there is a natural instinct to assign responsibility for tragic events like this. Anxiety here is very natural, but the shooter is responsible.”
Paxson said the university has two security systems. One system is activated at a time of emergency and sent out text messages, phone calls and emails that, in this shooting, reached 20,000 individuals. The other system features three sirens across campus, but Paxson said that would not be activated in an active shooter situation.
“Those get activated when there is a broad scale emergency, and we want people to rush into buildings,” she said. “In the case of an active shooter, activating that system could have caused people to rush into Barus and Holley.”
When pressed by a reporter who noted the university website says the sirens can be used when there is an active shooter, Paxson reaffirmed she didn’t think it would be used in that situation.
“It depends on the circumstances and where the active shooter would be but you don’t want to ever get people rushing into buildings that might be the site of an active shooter,” she said.
Details about the victims emerge
Two of the wounded students had been released from the hospital as of Tuesday, Brown spokeswoman Amanda McGregor said. Of the seven others, one remained in critical condition, five were in critical but stable condition and one was in stable condition, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said.
One of the wounded, 18-year-old freshman Spencer Yang of New York City, told the New York Times and the Brown Daily Herald there was a scramble after the gunman entered the room. Yang said he wound up on the ground and was shot in the leg.
The students who died were MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, an 18-year-old freshman from Brandermill, Virginia, and Ella Cook, a 19-year-old sophomore from a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama.
Jacob Spears, 18, a freshman from Evans, Georgia, was shot in the stomach, “but through sheer adrenaline and courage, he managed to run outside, where he was aided by others,” according to a GoFundMe site organized for him.
Durham Academy, a private K-12 school in Durham, North Carolina, confirmed that a recent graduate, Kendall Turner, was wounded.
