Vol. 81/No. 30 August 14, 2017
Manchester: Protests hit arson attack on mosque
The arsonists had smashed a window in the back of the mosque, poured in an accelerant, and started the fire. Three classrooms used by children were destroyed and the rest of the building was severely damaged. No one was inside at the time.
“Those who did this think we are going away,” Monsurat Adebanjo-Aremu, secretary of the Nasfat Manchester branch, told the Militant. “But we are not. We’re staying.”
“This is a blow to the whole community the mosque is a part of,” she said. “We have a drop-in center for everybody to come in and activities for children in the area.”
Neighbors brought food and water to mosque members after the attack, she said. And there have been a few hostile comments as well.
The mosque has been attacked several times. In September 2014, a minibus belonging to the mosque, used to carry children and the elderly, was set on fire. A year later a second fire was put out before it caused any damage. The surveillance cameras set up by the mosque have been destroyed four times, and two pig’s heads had been thrown inside.
“We are bitter at the police. When our bus was burnt, they didn’t take it seriously,” Adebanjo-Aremu said. “A police officer came and took the details and then we didn’t hear anything from them. And no one was charged.”
The march wound through the Manchester working-class suburb of Newton Heath where the mosque is located. Participants included not only people from the Nasfat and other mosques, but a Christian priest, a Sikh, Jews, Communist League members, members of the Manchester City Council, area residents and other working people.
A banner reading “WeStandTogether” led the march and many participants wore T-shirts saying, “Islam is for peace. Say no to terrorism. Say no to bullying. Say no to hate crime. Nasfat Manchester.”
“I came to express my solidarity with Nasfat,” said Jay Charara, who joined the march along with three others members of the Jewish Representative Council. “In the Jewish community we understand the effect of hate crime. The firebombings in Prestwich are still in our mind.”
In early June, 10 days after an Islamic State supporter carried out a terror bombing that killed two dozen people at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, two kosher restaurants in Prestwich, a Jewish area in north Manchester, were gutted by firebombs.
“Whoever did this didn’t count on a march like this happening,” Abiola Ojo, former chair of Manchester Nasfat, told Communist League member Pete Clifford. “We’re determined our mosque will stay here.”
“The police and government will focus the blame for this attack on Caucasian people living in the area. They’ll try to draw our eyes off our common class interests and divide us against each other,” Clifford said. “My party explains the dog-eat-dog capitalist system is in the midst of a deepening crisis today, and working people need to unite and support each other, so we can chart a road to fight back against the devastating conditions we all face.”
Some groups on the left echo the rulers’ efforts to blame Caucasian workers for the attacks on Muslims, Clifford said. “The mosque is isolated in a poor area with an active far right,” the Socialist Worker said, as if this meant they were responsible for the attack. The article also cited the “high level of unemployment” and “few migrants” in the area as causes. The presence of a British flag and a rightist slogan in a neighborhood window is also presented as evidence.
But when campaigners for the Communist League went door to door in the working-class and predominantly Caucasian area near the mosque, to introduce the League and discuss the arson attack, they found broad opposition to the assault on the mosque. They also found a few workers who were critical of the mosque being located in the area.
The CL members also went to show solidarity with striking building maintenance workers nearby, and discussed the arson at the mosque. Keith Morris, one of the strikers, decided to visit the mosque and donated £50 ($66). “I gave the strike pay that I received for that day to show my sympathy and support,” he said.
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