Attack on one is attack on all

Sheer futility of mosque outrage

THE TEARS of sorrow rolling down the cheeks of a forlorn firefighter epitomised the nation’s sombre mood at this desperately challenging time.

Tears wept in memory of the victims of last week’s Grenfell Tower inferno and all those who could not be saved by the heroic emergency services, they also represented a country’s despair as it tried to comprehend the latest terrorist attack against this country’s cherished liberty.

As his colleagues linked arms, this show of solidarity by firefighters was, in a painful coincidence of timing following the horrific events early yesterday outside Finsbury Park Mosque in north London, a visible and heartfelt demonstration that an attack on one is an attack on all.

Terrorism is terrorism, as Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, said so emphatically, and this outage – a van driver deliberately ploughed his vehicle into a group of Muslims as they came to the aid of an individual taken ill – is just as indefensible as the recent atrocities in London and Manchester.

Just as there’s no place for the pernicious Islamist extremists who seek to divide Britain’s multicultural communities, there’s no place for the Islamophobia which appeared to motivate the perpetrator of this latest assault on human decency.

Here is the irony – and sheer futility of it all. The victims were members of a mosque which had actively taken part in The Great Get Together over the weekend in which people of all faiths, ages and background came together to condemn all extremism and honour the celebrate the life of Jo Cox exactly one year after the Batley and Spen MP was murdered by a neo-Nazi.

They were individuals who had disassociated themselves from the radical cleric Abu Hamza whose violent theology, preached at Finsbury Park Mosque, led to him being deported following a protracted legal battle led – and won – by Theresa May.

And they are fortunate to have a heroic imam, Mohammed Mahmoud, who pleaded for calm and allowed his body to be used as a human shield so the suspected terrorist could be protected from the fury of onloookers before the police arrived at the scene.

To her credit, Mrs May alluded to this in her latest Downing Street statement, now a tragically regular occurrence, before she made a personal visit to Finsbury Park Mosque to show that she, too, is standing shoulder to shoulder with all peaceseeking Muslims at this tense and traumatic time.

Indeed, the Prime Minister spoke for all when she said that the freedom to practise religion in peace is one of the unshakeable bonds of citizenship which symbolise the United Kingdom before adding: “It is a reminder that terrorism, extremism and hatred take many forms; and our determination to tackle them must be the same whoever is responsible.”

While the immediate priority is increasing security at mosques as the holy month of Ramadan comes to an end, the Government must not allow Brexit – or other difficulties – to stand in the way of renewed efforts to fight extremism and all hate crimes. And, in the meantime, it falls to the rest of Britain to show that extremists will never undermine a country that will always be proud to be defined by the strength of its communal bonds.