A British soldier was butchered to death in London by two Muslim men. One of them is recorded on an amateur camera saying, "Fight them as they fight us, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth". He goes on to say, "We apologise that women had to witness this" and that "remove your governments, they don't care about you". The final statement being "you will never be safe" is the most troublesome.
This incident immediately led to several attacks on Mosques, most notably in Kent and Essex. Overnight the English Defence League (EDL) protesters clashed with riot police, chanting anti-Muslim slogans. The Muslim Council of Britain immediately issued a statement, condemning the horrific and barbaric attack on a British soldier.
One eyewitness that wished to remain anonymous explained, "I was walking my dog and heard some shouting about 50 yards from me. A man was running down the road and being chased by a car. The car then screeched to a halt and two men got out one had some kind of sword. They literally swung at the other guy's head. The armed police turned up and there were some shots. We were told to go home and now they won't let us out. We're in lockdown. There actually now seems more activity than there was before. I can hear helicopters and there are police officers with guns." (Source)
The Home Secretary Theresa May summons a meeting of Cobra, the government's emergency response committee in Whitehall, to evaluate the current situation and respond adequately.
These two lone attackers are the Islamist equivalent of Anders Breivik, the Norwegian fascist terrorist. The British-Muslim community condemns their actions, and the facts behind the incident still remain murky. Who were these young men, and were they self-radicalised? If so, we must examine how they have become radicalised, which preachers (if any) are the cause of their radicalisation.
Within the Muslim community, there is a great sense of 'fear' and 'anxiety' because of this incident. Too often, an entire community is tainted by the actions of a few within it. The British government must put a lid on potential reprisals against the Muslim community, whether it is attacks on Mosques or verbal assaults by far-right groups. In instances where our country is going through a tough situation, we should stand united and not divided.
Our responsibility as British citizens is to make sure that we know the roots of such radicalisation, and the effective ways of ending it. We can only do this if we all work together, and not against each other.