Following Theresa May's decision to ban the entry of Zakir Naik, one of the main speakers at next Saturday's Peace Convention, it is not clear whether the Convention will go ahead. It may be postponed until Naik's entry is secured or may go ahead with a video link.
Meanwhile the EDL have claimed the ban as a victory and said they are switching their action on the 26th to Barking where there is a council by-election.
The Muslim Council of Britain and the Convention organisers have issued statements condemning the Home Secretary's ban on Naik who has been pilloried for being a 'hate preacher' on various blogs using various quotations attributed to him. The Islamic Research Foundation today issued a long press release taking each quotation in turn and giving the full context. I have reprinted this as a page on this site so that readers can make their own judgement.
However, for me the main issue is that whatever the pretext, it is important that we make it clear that the English Defence League are not welcome in Wembley. We have a successful multicultural community that of course is not perfect, but where people get along with friends, neighbours and work colleagues of all sorts of backgrounds. We do not want to see that community disrupted and divided by people who thrive on feeding prejudice, stereotypes and discontent.
Brent and Harrow UAF will be holding an organising meeting next week to discuss developments and I will post any further news on this site.
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