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BNP is linked to petition against new 'megamosque'
Last updated at 09:07am on 20.07.07Right-wing extremists have manipulated a Downing Street petition to stir up racial hatred over the building of a "megamosque" in east London, an investigation can reveal.
More than 270,000 people have signed a petition on the Number 10 website that calls for the scrapping of plans to build Europe's largest mosque close to the main site of the 2012 Olympics.
Tablighi Jamaat, the Islamic sect behind the mosque, has been accused of having links to Islamist terror groups, prompting a concerted campaign to block the project.
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Controversial: an early design for the proposed new mosque in east London.
But the Daily Mail's sister paper, the Evening Standard, has learned that the anti-mosque campaign has been infiltrated by the British National Party, which has told its members to sign the Downing Street petition. The petition was originally posted on the No 10 site by a Right-wing extremist called Jill Barham.
Ms Barham writes an online blog under the name English Rose, where she has laid claim to being author of the petition. The blog has links to several Right-wing and extremist websites.
Anti-fascist campaigners claim Ms Barham is a close friend of Chris Hill, a notorious BNP activist based in Lancaster. The involvement of fringe extremists from the North-West in what is essentially an east London planning matter has caused alarm and will lead to criticism that Downing Street should have blocked the petition over its use of inflammatory language.
The petition, which closed yesterday with 277,040 signatories, states: "We, the Christian population of this great country England, would like the proposed plan to build a mega-mosque in east London scrapped. This will only cause terrible violence and suffering and more money should go into the NHS."
Mayor Ken Livingstone condemned the petition for stirring up vitriol. "It is quite clear that this piece of vicious BNP propaganda, based as usual on entirely fabricated information, is solely designed to damage good community relations. It is wrong that such invented and falsified petitions provide a platform for those who would like to use them to create tensions among Londoners."
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Wasteland: the site where Tablighi Jamaat wants to build the mosque
The BNP today admitted orchestrating a campaign to get its members to sign the petition. An email had been sent out to supporters with links to the petition on the Downing Street website.
The party used a similar tactic to try to influence a poll on the Evening Standard's website that had simply asked: "Are you in favour of the £100million mosque?"
The poll was withdrawn after the discovery of the extremists' attempts to manipulate the outcome.
BNP leader Nick Griffin said: "We have publicised the petition on our website encouraging people to sign and we have had a small part to play in that [reaching 270,000 signatures]. We also had an email campaign to get our people to sign it."
Asked whether he was aware of the English Rose blog or if Ms Barham was a BNP activist, Mr Griffin said: "Even if I knew who she was I wouldn't tell you. She may be involved in the BNP at a local level but I just don't know. I can neither confirm nor deny." The website of Lancaster United Against Fascists says that it believes the BNP's local candidate, Chris Hill, is a friend of Ms Barham. The group said today its inquiries indicated Ms Barham ran two websites English Rose and Cry For Freedom, both of them which it described as "rabidly anti-Islamic".
The success of the petition has been seized on by protesters as evidence of the strength of opposition to the mosque.
Newham councillor Alan Craig, a member of the Christian People's Alliance, issued a press release yesterday highlighting the petition's success, although he refused to sign it and admitted he was "wary of the exact wording". He is leading the local campaign against the mosque, planned for an 18-acre site at Abbey Mills next to West Ham Underground station. Mr Craig accused Tablighi Jamaat of being divisive because of its extremist, separatist beliefs.
The French intelligence services have called Tablighi Jamaat "an antechamber of fundamentalism". Two of the 7 July suicide bombers allegedly attended the group's HQ in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.
Abdul Rashid Bhatti, spokesman for the Abbey Mills Mosque, said today: "Ken Livingstone has exposed the petition for what it is, and we thank him for that. Both in the language used and in the total lack of truth, we are disappointed that people have been so misled for purposes other than genuine public debate. Tablighi Jamaat is a mainstream, non-political Muslim organisation seeking to go about its faith in a peaceful manner."
Reader views (15)
I FINK BNP ARE JUST RACIST
- Jay, LONDON
BNP should be banned by government as a racist organisation.
- Kaz, portsmouth, uk
Be a positive example and let history speak of you in the greatest respect and not with enjoyment that you are no longer here.
- Anon, UK
I start by thanking all the children of Adam and Eve for demonstrating their opinions. All organisations are a mere need for being part of an entity. But what is the bigger picture? Control! This can be understood in all languages, race and religions and it has been the cancer of humanity since the beginning.
The proposed development for a place of worship has created so much anger and animosity one should ask why is the people against a space of holyness. Have the Muslim people of Britain or the world given any justifiable reason for this? I myself am a student of religions and I look upon life’s tests as what is the real message here.
Blocking an architectural masterpiece is blocking development and progress for civilisation. Embrace the ideas and guide each other, you are all the best teachers of each other. The right wing groups are not bad people just confused, and misguided they only speak what they see physical in front of them. They have not been proven wrong that a religion Islam stands as one and behaves in the principle of all is equal and stand as one unison, so not all the blame can be sheered upon them. But using words of hate and pain this has never been accepted from the times of Moses, and with all the greatest holy persons that have walked this green earth, may god guide them in their hearts.
The plans for this mosque should go ahead as it will not be just a place of worship but an arsenal for liberation.
- Anon, UK
Do not fall for the attempts by the BNP and others who simply cannot accept graciously that they have been defeated (probably just as they failed themselves in life too and always blame someone else!). We are lucky to have such a huge investment on such a grand scale without a penny of public money being spent on it and from world class architects, this place will be stunning! All I can see are the positives as I have my eyes wide open unlike the few whingers who should now leave the matter to rest now that planning process is over! Why shame yourself further in a lost cause as all the other arguments are weak!
- Zm, East London
How, exactly, has the BNP manipulated this petition? It doesn’t have anywhere near 270,000 members, so the vast majority of signatories must be from ordinary members of the public who have reasons to be concerned about the building of such a huge mosque. So, what else could the BNP have done to influence the result? Well, at worst, they merely found a way to bring its existence to the notice of many people, but what’s wrong with that? Was it supposed to be kept secret? As no one who signed-up to the petition did so with a gun at their head, it can only be concluded that they are all genuinely against the building of the mosque.
Ken Livingstone, rightly or wrongly, backs the building of the mosque. That 270,000 people are against it is something that doesn’t sit well with Ken. He therefore cries ‘foul’ and blames the BNP for ‘manipulating’ the vote. What really rankles with Ken is that so many people - two hundred and seventy thousand of them - are against his pet project. He’s irritated that so many people refuse to share his vision. What an ego that man has!
- Bob Hossack, St Austell, UK
I have no time for the BNP; but they have a point. If reports of the mosque are true, a mega-mosque in London is inappropriate at best and provocative at worst. Regardless of whose money were to pay for it, the British government and its relevant departments should take the very logical line that no mega-mosque can be even considered in London until a cathedral is permitted in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia! (Remember; King Abdullah is the current Guardian of the Holy Shrines of Islam, and any Christian structure in Saudi is absolutely proscribed.
- Mike Franklin, Uttoxeter, UK
Strongly opposed to the Mega-Mosque, I too deplore these proposals and would gladly add my name to the petition if only it were still open. Indeed, the politically "correct" welter of simplistic attempts to daub every voice raised against them in colours presumed to be discredited by association with the BNP, are thoroughly spurious.
- John Jay, Walton on Thames, UK
Mosques of such size cause a huge concern and suspicion and in the the great capital of London; surely building the mosque would cause a 'multi-cultural society' to drift apart causing further violent acts and social tension!
- Phil, Torquay
I and probably some 200,000 non BNP people signed the petition. Many of my business friends & colleauges whom hold succesful positions in property, finance & banking signed this petition.
If Boris Johnston wants to be Mayor of London he should scrap these plans as MILLIONS of non Muslims are against this outrageous building.
This is based on cost of public money & the pandering to a minority by a few "politically correct" minority, who are looking to aquire the Muslim vote.
Build a Church to demonstrate what the 60,000,000 British people from all faiths really respresent. Not what 2m only stand for.
- Stuart Gibbons, London N2
You just know that they'll steamroller the plans through, using the few right wing signatories as 'evidence' that only 'racists' object. Throw the term racist around and everyone just hides.
- Scott, Forest Gate, London
I am absolutely horrified at the ignorance of the suggestion that this was racist! First of all... how can it be a racist act? When did
Muslims become a race? Secondly, there are actually genuine concerns when one considers how little control the Government has exerted on radical imams. I think Ken Livingstone has simply shown that he is completely out of touch with the feelings of most Londoners. This mosque is not needed nor wanted.
- R Barker, London, UK
I do believe that the BNP had nothing to do with this petition and it is just another way of attacking the party from a bunch of lying cheating politicians, who seem to be able to wriggle out of anything. The BNP are wrong in what they believe but at least they are up front and you know what they stand for, which is more than can be said for Blair and his cronies. I honestly believe that there is very little to choose from between any of the rubbish that we have now got at the helm. This mosque should not be built in the centre of the games area or anywhere else in this country. Try building a large church in any of the Middle East countries and see what happens.
- Stephen D., London England.
Petitions have been completely devalued. It used to be that people had to go door to door or canvas in the street to collect signatures and those who signed had to give home addresses. Online you can use auto-filling tools to enter your details and submit them without a thought in a matter of seconds.
And in response to Jane - maybe the quarter of a million can't be dismissed as racist, but don't you think that a large number of them have been manipulated by the emotive language? The petition is designed to play on the public's fears - there's no evidence that it'll cause violence and suffering.
What is clear, though, is that anyone who associates themselves with the BNP is unashamedly announcing their racist values and beliefs - I've often thought that it is the ignorant, intolerant and prejudiced that we should kick out of this country, not immigrants and their descendants.
- Brian, Birmingham
BNP or no BNP people will not sign a petition unless they want to to. Over a quarter of a million people have opposed this building. They must not be dismissed as racist.
- Jane, London
