Police warned to adjust Olympics in UK to Islamic rules

Police are warned of Ramadan tensions during Games

Specialist advice is being given to Scotland Yard on how to reduce tensions between police and Muslims during the London Olympics because of growing concerns about the Games clashing with the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast during the day, The Times has learnt.

Experts will also warn the Metropolitan Police to ensure that the planned commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the massacre of Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists at the Munich Games does not offend local and travelling Muslims.

The recommendations have been made by inter-faith advisers to Scotland Yard, where antiterrorism police are preparing to combat any possible Islamic terrorist threat to the Games.

Community tensions in the lead-up to the games have already been raised by a controversial Muslim movement, Tablighi Jamaat, which plans to build Britain’s largest mosque and Islamic complex near the 2012 Olympic stadium site.

Michael Mumisa, an Islamic scholar, and one of four experts hired by Scotland Yard who began training the police this week on inter-faith issues, said that the commemoration of the 11 Israeli athletes, killed by Palestinian militants from the Black September Organisation at the 1972 Munich Games, could become a national security threat if it was not managed properly and was perceived by Muslims to be “hijacking” the Games.

Edward Kessler, executive director of the Woolfe Institute, which deals with inter-faith dialogue, teaching and research, said that police needed to have a “minimum level of faith literacy” to help them deal with religious issues during the London Games. Dr Kessler said: “During Ramadan you’re going to have a lot of tired, hungry, less evenly tempered people because they haven’t eaten for 18 hours.”

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Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

5 Replies to “Police warned to adjust Olympics in UK to Islamic rules”

  1. YOUR STUPID IDIOT, MORON! THE POLICE ARE NOT IN CHARGE OF THE OLYMPICS SO HOW CAN THEY BE WARNED TO “adjust Olympics in UK to Islamic rules”? COULDNT YOU THINK OF A CLEVER HEADLINE? NEO-NAZI!

  2. LONDON METROPOLITAN POLICE AND CAMBRIDGE SCHOLAR DISCREDIT RICHARD KERBAJ’S FALSE REPORT:

    MET POLICE DENY OLYMPIC TERROR FEARS
    DATE: 29.10.08
    Updated: 10:29

    The Met Police have rejected a national newspaper’s claims that Ramadan coinciding with the 2012 Olympics has increased the security threat.

    It has also not been reported that the Times’ claim that an Islamic scholar allegedly warned the paper that the timing of the games could create a security threat is unfounded.

    Sheikh Michael Mumisa, of the Woolf Institute of Abrahamic Faith, told the News he said nothing of the sort, and that journalists must act responsibly.

    Chief Inspector Andy Goldstone from the Met Police Olympic Security Directorate agrees there should not be a problem.

  3. LONDON METROPOLITAN POLICE AND CAMBRIDGE SCHOLAR DISCREDIT RICHARD KERBAJ’S FALSE REPORT:

    MET POLICE DENY OLYMPIC TERROR FEARS
    DATE: 29.10.08
    Updated: 10:29

    The Met Police have rejected a national newspaper’s claims that Ramadan coinciding with the 2012 Olympics has increased the security threat.

    It has also now been reported that the Times’ claim that an Islamic scholar allegedly warned the paper that the timing of the games could create a security threat is unfounded.

    Sheikh Michael Mumisa, of the Woolf Institute of Abrahamic Faith, told the News he said nothing of the sort, and that journalists must act responsibly.

    Chief Inspector Andy Goldstone from the Met Police Olympic Security Directorate agrees there should not be a problem.

  4. Thank you Juliet. It would be good to have a source for that. I certainly hope you are correct. Thanks for posting this rebuttal.

  5. Richard Kerbaj’s TIMES ARTICLE EXPOSED AS A FABRICATION!!!

    Dog-whistle journalism: http://www.mwaw.net/2008/10/30/dogwhistle/The Times, Ramadan and the London Olympics

    BY Dave Crouch

    Grumpy Muslims in 2012 Olympics terror shock! When Muslims are feeling tired and hungry during Ramadan they present a terrorist danger, alleges the Times.

    The story is so pathetic that it barely warrants serious discussion. But it’s there in the Times. On page 4. And the article is typical of so much media reporting of Islam.

    The paper published this “news” item on October 27 under the headline “Police warned of Ramadan tension during 2012 Games”.

    The story claimed that Scotland Yard was concerned that the 2012 Olympics in London would “clash” with Ramadan, making it harder to “reduce tensions between Muslims and police” during the Games.

    Instead of offering any proof, however, that a religious festival could present a problem for police, the Times article switched in its second paragraph to speculation about terrorism. The 40th anniversary of the shoot-out at the Munich Olympics – in which 9 Israeli hostages died after they were taken hostage by Palestinians – meant there was an “Islamic terrorist threat” to the 2012 Games, the paper said.

    Only then did the story returned to Ramadan and the London Olympics. It quoted the head of the highly respected Woolf Institute of Abrahamic Faiths that the police would need some basic training to deal with religious issues that might arise during the Games: “During Ramadan you’re going to have a lot of tired, hungry, less evenly tempered people because they haven’t eaten for 18 hours.”

    The implication is clear: tired, hungry Muslims are more likely to lose their temper and… commit a terrorist attack on the Games.

    MWAW contacted Dr Ed Kessler, head of the Woolf Institute. He wrote back that he was “very unhappy” with the Times article, which “failed to depict the conversation” that he had had with the paper’s reporter. He said it was “sensationalism of the worst kind” and was “inaccurate in its reporting about the Olympics, Ramadan and the proposed Munich commemoration”.

    Dr Kessler has written to the Times to complain, but the paper has yet to publish his letter.

    The Times’ method is clear: take a bit of flimsy information from the police, slap on some unrelated speculation about terrorism, throw in a quote – torn out of context – from a respected source to make the piece appear reasonable, and let the reader draw their own racist conclusions. The article is constructed to make it appear that fasting during Ramadan makes Muslims more likely to commit a terrorist atrocity.

    This is dog-whistle reporting: the article is couched in reasonable language but sends out a clear message that Islam is dangerous.

    It is because of reporting of this kind that MWAW is holding its conference this year on Islamophobia.

    This entry was posted on Thursday, October 30th, 2008 at 12:36 am and is filed under U.K., Editorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. http://www.mwaw.net/2008/10/30/dogwhistle/