HOME Secretary John Reid was denounced as a ‘tyrant’ on a visit to east London yesterday, where he delivered a speech against ‘Islamic extremism’.
A man, named by reporters as Abu Izz-e-din, formerly Trevor Brooks, heckled Reid, condemning him for coming to east London where Muslims had been arrested in armed police operations. He described the Labour minister as ‘a tyrant’.
‘They raid Muslim houses and drag people to the police station,’ he said.
‘Do you know how many Muslims have been arrested? Over a thousand.
‘They don’t have a dialogue with you when they knock your door down at four in the morning and come into your bedroom where you’re sleeping with your wife.
‘Shame on you for coming to listen to him.
‘Yes I am trying to disrupt this meeting. If your house was raided, you’d be just as irate as I am.’
Security guards ordered the man out of the building at Leyton Cricket Club.
Later another man demanded ‘Free the Muslim hostages’ and ‘End the war on Muslims’.
Outside protesters held up protest cards saying: ‘John Reid go to hell’.
‘I see this as a group of people using terrorist methods to impose their will on others,’ Reid later said.
Another questioner wanted answers about the stopping and searching of young Muslims, asking how the community was supposed to keep a check on them when they were being constantly targeted by the authorities.
As Reid tried to wind up the question and answer session, he was challenged by another questioner, who said: ‘the more I’m getting to know the government, the more I worry not just about Afghanistan, Chechnya, Palestine, Iraq and of course the impending war on Iran that is being thought of . . . what about the Muslims who are being incarcerated in Belmarsh prison, without any sentence, without any sort of charge?’
