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Issue 268, Friday 26 August 2011 - 26 Ramadan 1432 Riots: Impact of riots on Muslims and Ramadan By Hassan Joudi
Haroon Jahan 21, and brothers, Shahzad Ali, 30, and Abdul Musavir, 31, were killed when a car ploughed into them. The deliberate hit and run incident occurred at 1.15am on August 10, Dudley Road, Winson Green area of Birmingham, on a night where many West Midland cities saw widespread looting. The men, of Pakistani origin, were protecting local shops in their area, after leaving their local mosque. Speaking to the media, father of one of the victims, Tariq Jahan, said “I started CPR on my own son, my face was covered with blood, my hands were covered with blood. Why? Why? I miss him, I miss him deeply.” Fears of racial tensions momentarily threatened the city, but a heavy police presence contributed to peace in subsequent nights. Appeals for calm by Tariq Jahan also drew praise in the House of Commons, with Leader of the Opposition, Ed Milliband, describing him as “the true face of Britain” and Prime Minister, David Cameron, saying Jahan’s words were “incredibly brave”. 68-year-old Richard Mannington Bowes was attacked while trying to stamp out a fire in Ealing, west London, leaving him with fatal head injuries. An unnamed 26-year old man was shot in the head in Croydon, south London following a car chase involving three vehicles. Violence first erupted in Tottenham, north London, following the shooting of 29-year-old Mark Duggan by a police officer in controversial circumstances on August 4. Over the weekend riots erupted in Croydon, Lewisham and Hackney areas of London, culminating in the worst night of violence on August 8. Clashes with police, looting in broad daylight and arson attacks scarred parts of the city, as police officers, fire fighters and ambulances struggled to cope with the simultaneous yet widely-spread criminal activity throughout the night. All annual leave in the Metropolitan Police was cancelled and extra support drafted in London from 30 other English police forces, surging their number to 16,000 at its peak. “Copy-cat” violence sprung up in Birmingham, Bristol and Liverpool on August 8 too. Manchester, Wolverhampton, Nottingham and other English cities saw similar scenes on August 9. By August 10 a degree of order had returned to most cities, and so far 1730 individuals have been arrested and over 1000 charged by the Metropolitan Police. Cleanup operations were quickly organised in the wake of the riots. Hastily created websites and Facebook groups announced meeting points at various locations the following morning, for locals to meet up, bring brooms and duct tape, and help clear their streets. The total expected insurance payout for all the damages is expected to be around £200m. The Government has promised that uninsured shopkeepers and homeowners can be compensated under the Riot Damages Act, and extended the claims period from 14 to 42 days. Muslim shopkeepers were among the thousands of shopkeepers across England who suffered losses due to looting. In response to the police’s seeming inability to stop the violence and looting on the night of August 8, vigilante groups organised themselves to defend premises of their shops and faith communities. In Southall, west London, volunteers manned the Abubakr Mosque overnight and took shifts of 4-6 hours long to stand guard during the day. “At least we had to be 100% ready, as long as these things are going on, we had to safeguard our mosque,” Aftab Khan, who was among the volunteers, told The Muslim News. Mosque committee members held a meeting with the Sikh community at Ramgarhia Sikh community centre on August 9, to coordinate strategy and agree to help each other if necessary. The night before criminals tried to break into Anwar Jewellers and an O2 shop opposite the mosque entrance on Southall Broadway, but they only managed to damage the shutters before mosque volunteers approached them and they ran off. Worshippers at East London Mosque (ELM) also felt the impact. Small groups of rioters were attacking the Shell petrol station and other shops on Whitechapel Road on the night of August 8, according to local residents. Worshippers young and old exiting the mosque saw the violence and chased rioters away down the road, and the police only arrived after the situation had settled. Shopkeepers from the Turkish community got together with clubs, knives and other weapons on the night of August 8 in Dalston, east London. Kemal, a local shop assistant, told The Muslim News that the shop keepers ran after rioters during the night, and stood guard during the day. Police officers later advised them not to take the law into their own hands, but they replied that if police would not protect their property, they had to do it themselves. O2 shop owned by Asad Hamir in Tottenham, £50,000 worth of good were looted and over £100,000 of damage done to the shop. “Thankfully my shop was insured and will be able to get back to normal soon,” Hamir told The Muslim News. Thieves broke into Iraqi-owned Dubai Jewellers in Kingsbury, north-west London, on August 8, taking thousands of pounds gold jewellery and men’s watches. With Maghrib (sunset) prayers and iftar (breaking the fast) meals beginning around 8.45pm and continuing into the night, many mosques had Ramadan services disrupted as riots occurred nearby, often as worshippers were leaving the mosque. Masjid as-Sunnah on Tottenham High Road is opposite an Aldi store which was set on fire by an arson attack, while worshippers were inside the mosque. Extended closure of the main road meant no access for worshippers on August 7. Less than expected turnout to iftars was a common sight, as would-be attendees stayed at home to avoid potential danger. Mustafa Arif told The Muslim News: “Attendance for tarawih (night extra) prayers at the London Central Mosque was down - especially amongst women.” Many mosques cancelled some regular programmes out of precaution. Speaking to The Muslim News, Youth Coordinator at Masjid Ayesha, Tottenham, Areeb Ullah , said, “We had to cancel it [Saturday youth club] for fear of youth not being able to get home, or getting curious and going to view the riots.” In Ealing some male worshippers at the West London Islamic Centre & Jamia Masjid stayed overnight on August 8 until fajr (dawn) prayers, in case rioters from the nearby high street approached the premises. Announcements were also made before tarawih prayers, telling worshippers to keep youth away from the violence, and reminding that buying any looted products was haram (forbidden). While many mosques continued their events as scheduled, some decided not to take the risk. In south London, Hyderi Islamic Centre shut for two nights on August 9 and 10. Regular worshipper Sarfraz Jeraj said, “From Tuesday morning the text messages went out to everybody, plus the mosque answer phone [carried the message].” Fearing for their safety, female worshippers at East London Mosque were told not to come and their entrance was locked on August 9. No other changes to the Ramadan programme were made, but more visible stewards were positioned in and around the mosque to reassure people. Zubair Nawaz of University of Salford Islamic Society in Salford, Greater Manchester, told The Muslim News their daily iftar was temporarily called off for two nights, as university buildings shut early ahead of expected riots. Birmingham’s weekly “Flashmob Feed the Homeless” in the Bullring shopping complex on August 10 was cancelled. Would-be attendees were told via Facebook posts to take any food they were planning to bring and share to homeless centres instead. The “Manchester Iftar with the Homeless” in Piccadilly Gardens also cancelled that week, where up to 1000 youths had been rioting, but promised to continue the following week. International Muslim students were told by their embassies to stay away from affected areas. Saudi Arabian PhD student Razan Baker said, “It was honestly terrifying not knowing what would happen or when…It’s really sad because to a certain extent London was considered safe.” Accountancy student Mohammed Ashraf Haziq, who had arrived from Malaysia a month before on a scholarship, was the victim of a shocking mugging caught on amateur video. After being held up at knife point and losing his bicycle, in Barking, East London, a second group, while pretending to help him, rummaged through his backpack, stealing his wallet, phone and PSP games console. The incident sparked the online campaign “Let’s Do Something Nice for Ashraf Haziq”. Speaking at a press conference after undergoing a three hour operation for a broken jaw, Haziq said, “I was really sad for them because amongst them there were children.” However he added that he held no ill-feeling towards his host country and he still felt “great” about Britain. Related Article: Hail Muslims for their response to riots 25,000 mourn death of three Muslims murdered in Birmingham riots |
After having his jaw broken a dazed and confused Ashraf Haziq was helped to his feet by a group of youths who then proceed to one by one open and steal the contents of his rucksack