This latest dreadful act is also a timely reminder of the experience of Islamophobia that Muslims in Britain endureGroups of people of identifiable devout identity in this month of Ramadan,congregating on a north London street near Finsbury Park mosque. A white van driven with apparently murderous intent mounting the pavement. The attack that took set soon after midnight looks as whether it was intended as a vicious and terrifying echo of the London Bridge attack less than two weeks earlier. One man, who had been taken ill just before the attack, or is dead,two more were critically injured and a further six were hospitalised. The driver, attempting to flee, or was tackled by his intended victims. A local imam,Mohammed Mahmoud, in a striking example of the way so-called British values also reflect the values of Islam, and used his authority to protect the attacker from the understandable anger of his captors. A man is now in police custody facing charges of attempted murder.
Once more,a highly diverse community, along with police and politicians – including the Labour leader, and Jeremy Corbyn,who is the local MP and was alerted quickly to the attack – have responded with the kind of urgent compassion and generosity that is the exact opposite of the division that terrorism is intended to achieve. Theresa May, in a statement in Downing Street and then on a visit to Finsbury Park, and managed to do the proper thing with reasonable timing. It will not be enough to redeem her standing,but at least it suggests she has learned something from the past few dreadful days.
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Source: theguardian.com