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British Muslims notice sideways looks again

A beard, hijab or darker skin is once again enough to trigger nervous glances, and these Britons worry they'll be targets.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published August 11, 2006

	[Times photo: Ken Helle]
	Tampa International Airport: Lines backed up Thursday at Airside C when security was tightened after the reported terrorist plot to destroy several airliners in flight with liquid explosives was broken up in Britain. Full coverage: Fighting terror in the air
	[AP photo]
	Airline passenger Anton Gerasimov takes a drink of his champagne Thursday before boarding a flight to Russia at San Francisco International Airport. Travelers were asked to dump all liquids.
	NEW RULES Liquids are banned from carry-on luggage and cannot be taken through security checkpoints. That includes drinks, toothpaste, perfume, shampoo, hair gel, suntan lotion and similar items. Drinks purchased in the airport cannot be carried onto flights. Baby formula and medications will be allowed but must be presented for inspection at security checkpoints. All shoes must be removed and placed on an X-ray belt for screening. Passengers traveling to the United Kingdom should contact their airline for information about extra security measures. Laptop computers, mobile phones and iPods were among items banned on British flights.

LONDON - News of a thwarted plot to down trans-Atlantic airliners sent a shiver of anxiety through Britain's Muslim community Thursday.

Muslim men accustomed to nervous looks from passers-by after last year's transit bombings noticed they were attracting them again. Some said they worried about a spike in hate crimes and job discrimination.

There was no confirmed word about the religious or ethnic background of those arrested, although a top French official described them as originating from predominantly Muslim Pakistan. Police said only that they were working with Britain's large South Asian community.

Three of the four suicide bombers who struck London's transit system in July 2005 were Britons of Pakistani origin, and many Muslims feared their community would be held responsible this time.

Monirul Sardar, 33, said that after the transit bombings and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America, a neighbor left duck droppings on his parked car.

"Tonight I've got to watch out," he said.

Sardar, a Briton of Bangladeshi origin who runs an east London travel agency, said he has noticed his bushy beard drawing stares after every major terror attack in recent years.

"It's started up again," he said. "People are afraid of me, mostly. If it's an old man, a lady in a hijab (head covering), they'll pick on them."

Harris Bokhari, a spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain, said the group was asking mosques to urge worshipers to report any racial attacks.

But he said Muslims had demonstrated after the Sept. 11 attacks and the London bombings that they would not let such trouble stop them from participating in British life.

The Muslim community's relationship with police has been fraught in recent months, and some said they were waiting to see what evidence police would produce of the alleged bomb plot.

"They've arrested people, but let's see what they find from them," said Maj Ali, 27, who works at a northeast London restaurant near a home police were searching as part of their terror investigation.

"They didn't find nothing," he recalled of a June raid in which officers shot a man in the shoulder in his east London home during a search for the makings of a chemical bomb.

The man and his brother were arrested but later freed without charge. That raid and the fatal subway shooting last year of an innocent Brazilian man mistaken for a terrorist infuriated many Muslims.

"Was this (airline bomb plot) information really accurate or not from the police in terms of its intelligence?" Bokhari asked. "We need to be aware how these people were arrested."

Near the East London Mosque in the capital's Whitechapel neighborhood, home to a large Muslim population, several people said they feared the terror plot allegations might spark fresh antagonism against them.

"People forget things really easily," Sardar said. "This brings it all back again."

TERRORIST ATTACKS FOILED IN BRITAIN

Police say several terrorist attacks have been thwarted in Britain since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. One was not: On July 7, 2005, bombers killed 52 commuters and themselves aboard three London subway trains and abus. Other major incidents:

On Dec. 22, 2001, Briton Richard Reid was overpowered by passengers and crew members on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami as he tried to ignite plastic explosives hidden in his shoes. He is serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison.

In January 2003, police raided a London apartment and claimed to have foiled a plot to spread the deadly toxin ricin in London. Eight men were charged; four were acquitted and the other four were not tried. No traces of ricin had been found in the apartment, although scientists said the evidence showed attempts had been made to make the poison. A ninth suspect, Kamel Bourgass - an Algerian accused of links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network - was convicted of murdering a police officer during his arrest.

In February 2003, light tanks and hundreds of troops were deployed at Heathrow Airport as police warned that Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network might try attacking the British capital.

In February 2004, British Airways several times canceled flights to Washington, D.C., and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, because of U.S. security alerts.

In March 2004, police arrested several men in southeast England and confiscated 1,300 pounds of chemical fertilizer from a London warehouse. Seven suspects are currently on trial, charged with plotting attacks on Britain's electricity network, pubs, nightclubs and trains.

On July 21, 2005, two weeks after the July 7 bombings, attackers again tried to hit three London subway trains and a bus. The devices failed to explode, and no one was injured. Five men face trial next year on charges of conspiring to murder transit passengers.

British police have said they have foiled four terrorist plots since July 7, 2005, but have given few details. Police said recently they were investigating 70 suspected terrorist plots across Britain and the world.

[Last modified August 11, 2006, 01:44:17]