LONDON: Prime Minister David Cameron was urged to intervene Wednesday after a British Muslim family was prevented from flying to the United States for a visit to Disneyland.
The family of 11 was stopped from boarding their flight to Los Angeles at London’s Gatwick airport on Tuesday last week by immigration officials.
Mohammad Tariq Mahmood, who was traveling with his brother and nine of their children, said the officials gave no reason for blocking their travel plans.
But he told the Guardian newspaper he believed it was because US officials “think every Muslim poses a threat.”
“Because I have a beard and sometimes wear Islamic dress, I get stopped and asked questions,” Mahmood added in comments to the BBC. “I feel that is part of the deal of flying.” The family has also been unable to secure a refund for the cost of the flights — around £9,000 (12,000 euros, $13,400).
Mahmood’s local lawmaker in London, Stella Creasy of the main opposition Labour party, has asked Cameron to look into what happened.
Cameron’s Downing Street office confirmed that the prime minister would respond to Creasy’s request.
“Online and offline discussions reverberate with the growing fear that UK Muslims are being ‘trumped’ — that widespread condemnation of Donald Trump’s call for no Muslim to be allowed into America contrasts with what is going on in practice,” Creasy wrote in Wednesday’s Guardian.
“We should do more than shrug our shoulders at secretive American security policies that leave our constituents in such limbo.”
The US embassy in London and Britain’s Home Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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British Muslim family barred from flying to Disneyland
British Muslim family barred from flying to Disneyland
Obama deplores lack of shame after Trump racist monkey clip
- The video shared on Trump’s Truth Social account on February 5 sparked censure across the US political spectrum
- White House initially rejected “fake outrage” only to then blame the post on an error by a staff member and taking it down
WASHINGTON: Former US president Barack Obama criticized a lack of shame and decorum in the country’s political discourse, responding Saturday for the first time to a post on Donald Trump’s social media account that depicted him and first lady Michelle as monkeys.
The video shared on Trump’s Truth Social account on February 5 sparked censure across the US political spectrum, with the White House initially rejecting “fake outrage” only to then blame the post on an error by a staff member and taking it down.
Near the end of a one-minute-long video promoting conspiracies about Trump’s 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, the Obamas — the first Black president and first lady in US history — were shown with their faces on the bodies of monkeys for about one second.
Obama responded to the video for the first time in an interview with left-wing political podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen released Saturday.
“The discourse has devolved into a level of cruelty that we haven’t seen before...Just days ago, Donald Trump put a picture of you, your face on an ape’s body,” Cohen said in the interview.
“And so again, we’ve seen the devolution of the discourse. How do we come back from a place that we have fallen into?“
Without naming Trump, Obama responded by saying the majority of Americans “find this behavior deeply troubling.”
“There’s this sort of clown show that’s happening in social media and on television, and what is true is that there doesn’t seem to be any shame about this among people who used to feel like you had to have some sort of decorum and a sense of propriety and respect for the office, right? That’s been lost.”
Obama predicted such messaging will hurt Trump’s Republicans in midterm elections, that “ultimately, the answer is going to come from the American people.”
Trump has told reporters he stood by the thrust of the video’s claims about election fraud, but that he had not seen the offensive clip at the end.
The video shared on Trump’s Truth Social account on February 5 sparked censure across the US political spectrum, with the White House initially rejecting “fake outrage” only to then blame the post on an error by a staff member and taking it down.
Near the end of a one-minute-long video promoting conspiracies about Trump’s 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, the Obamas — the first Black president and first lady in US history — were shown with their faces on the bodies of monkeys for about one second.
Obama responded to the video for the first time in an interview with left-wing political podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen released Saturday.
“The discourse has devolved into a level of cruelty that we haven’t seen before...Just days ago, Donald Trump put a picture of you, your face on an ape’s body,” Cohen said in the interview.
“And so again, we’ve seen the devolution of the discourse. How do we come back from a place that we have fallen into?“
Without naming Trump, Obama responded by saying the majority of Americans “find this behavior deeply troubling.”
“There’s this sort of clown show that’s happening in social media and on television, and what is true is that there doesn’t seem to be any shame about this among people who used to feel like you had to have some sort of decorum and a sense of propriety and respect for the office, right? That’s been lost.”
Obama predicted such messaging will hurt Trump’s Republicans in midterm elections, that “ultimately, the answer is going to come from the American people.”
Trump has told reporters he stood by the thrust of the video’s claims about election fraud, but that he had not seen the offensive clip at the end.
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