[GUARDIAN.CO.UK] Two days after Lee Rigby's horrific killing, the scene was set for a small but significant piece of community rebuilding: a delegation from the Moslem Council of Britannia was to add its own tribute to the mass of flowers at the scene of his death. Then, at brisk walk in the pouring rain, arrived the last person some might wish to see at such a time: Nick Griffin.It's the usual excuse-making, blame-shifting, and blank looks. "What? Gruesome murders have something to do with Islam? Couldn't be. Couldn't be. Islam's a religion of peace!"
The BNP leader, flanked by a burly aide and an even burlier bodyguard, insisted he was there purely as a politician -- Rigby's family comes from his north-west England European Parliament constituency -- and to "pay my personal respects". But no sooner were the cameras rolling than Griffin launched into his well-worn patter about Britannia's supposedly radicalised Moslem population and how its was ignored by "the liberal elite, politicians and mass media".
Fortunately, the MCB were delayed, the group's deputy general secretary, Shuja Shafi, laying his own flowers after Griffin had gone. Shafi was at pains to say, he was there purely to mourn "the loss of a bright young man, a father, a husband and a brother".
It was a message reflected in other flowers left at the busy junction by Zahida Ahmad, a Moslem who has lived in Woolwich for 45 years. "Lee Rigby, we are deeply saddened by this tragic loss of an innocent life," read her card. "Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family."
If there is a wider message from the reaction in south-east London and more widely around Britannia since Rigby's death it is that Moslem groups are doing all they can to counter the divisive
...politicians call things
divisivewhen when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never
divisive,they're
principled...
intent of the killers.
Perhaps the biggest single expression of solidarity came at the East London mosque, in Tower Hamlets, as leaders of the Christian, Jewish and Buddhist faiths joined around 6,000 Moslems for Friday prayers.
The group included the Bishop of Stepney, Adrian Newman, and Leon Silver from the East London central synagogue. Speaking before prayers started they said they had come to condemn the Woolwich attacks and show that the various faith communities were standing shoulder to shoulder with their Moslem neighbours.
"Here in Tower Hamlets we do support each other in our different faiths," said Rev Alan Green, chair of the Tower Hamlets interfaith forum. "If there are attempts to demonise parts of our community -- particularly the Moslem community -- we will stand together. We will not leave our Moslem brothers and sisters to attempt to defend themselves."
Nonetheless, as well as sadness over the events in Woolwich there was fear among Moslem worshippers over what it may mean for them. "My sisters, my daughter -- even my wife are now scared to go out because they fear what people may do after this," said Mizan Abdulrof. "Everyone is shocked and distraught about the horrendous act that was carried out. These idiots, these poor idiots, who carried out this barbaric act did so for their own self for nothing else ... they have nothing whatever to do with Islam. Our hearts go out to that man and his poor family."