Muslims Told Not to Help Police

A local newspaper reported on a disturbing meeting in Dundee. At the meeting, Osama Saeed from the Muslim Association of Britain, told Muslims that it was their job to resist police involvement in their community. He said:

What Special Branch are doing is isolating the Muslim community. There is no extremism in Dundee - they are barking up the wrong tree. My message to the police is '‘lay off,'’ but my message to the Muslim community is we have got to be stronger in our defiance of this.....

The police are doing their jobs and their job is to push the boat out and push the limits they can push. Our job is to resist that, and resist that we must.

Whether or not there is extremism in Dundee is a matter for the police to decide. If Mr Saeed is confident in his assessment then he would encourage Muslims to help the police as much as possible to show the lack of any extremism. In fact, by calling on Muslims to deliberately avoid helping the police he is showing exactly how much extremism there is in Dundee; especially when he tells them it is their job to resist any investigations.

A community under the spotlight removes that focus by showing that there is nothing to see, not by closing all the doors; that just creates more suspicion.

Hat Tip: USS Neverdock. He also tells of his own experience from living in that area.

UPDATE: A leading member of the Muslim community in Dundee has denounced Saeed's call. He told reporters:

I don’t think it is a responsible statement from Mr Saeed. He doesn’t know Dundee. Dundee Muslims are well integrated into the community, and we don’t have any problem whatsoever. I haven’t even met this person, and I don’t think he represents the Muslim residents of Dundee.

However, he didn't just suffice with the usual, MCB-style, "they're not representative, they are not helpful". He actually went the full distance:

Our message is loud and clear — obey the law of the land. If there is criminal activity, or somebody doing something wrong, then we are not going to tolerate it. If it was my own son behaving badly then he would be punished.

We need more Muslims to stand up and tell their community to obey the laws and inform police if criminal or terrorist activity is taking place. Not like the MCB that object to any suggestions that Muslims should be made to tackle extremism.