Anjem Choudhary, Muslims Against Crusades. Photo credit: Darkroom Productions, http://www.flickr.com/photos/darkroomproductions/6140688017/in/photostream/
Home Secretary Theresa May banned the Islamic extremist protest group, Muslims Against Crusades, on Wednesday, days ahead of its planned Armistice Day protest, making being a member of the organization or supporting them in anyway a criminal offense.
May, in a statement released on the Home Secretary’s website, said, “I am satisfied Muslims Against Crusades is simply another name for an organisation already proscribed under a number of names including Al Ghurabaa, The Saved Sect, Al Muhajiroun and Islam4UK. The organisation was proscribed in 2006 for glorifying terrorism and we are clear it should not be able to continue these activities by simply changing its name.”
The group achieved notoriety last year when one member, Emdadur Choudary, burned two plastic poppies, symbols of the blood spilled by British troops in wars since World War I, during the two-minute silence on Armistice Day. Choudary was fined £50 for his act, a penalty that Prime Minister David Cameron and many other declared far too lenient. Last month, Tory MP Mike Freer called on May to ban the group after he claimed he was threatened by a dozen or so protesters who stormed a London mosque where he was meeting with constituents.
Muslims Against Crusades disband in response, claim victory. According to a statement on the group’s website, it has now officially disbanded, as of 10 November, and its planned “Hell for Heroes” protest, scheduled for 11 November, will now no longer proceed. But, the now-defunct group continued, “The intended banning of Muslims Against Crusades by Home Secretary Theresa May is a great victory for Islam and Muslims and highlights the sheer hatred the British government has towards sincere Muslims who wish to peacefully speak out against policies that are (from every angle) anti-Islam and anti-Muslim.” The statement lashed out at the poppy and Armistice Day as “fig leaves behind which war crimes committed by serving British soldiers are covered and justified” and “tools” to “garner sympathy for the ruthless British Armed Forces”.
