COPYCAT FEARS
Police guard UK mosques after 49 worshippers slaughtered in New Zealand terror rampage
Patrols have been stepped up in cities as Muslims gather in mosques for traditional Friday prayers
SECURITY at mosques across Britain was stepped up today as experts warned a New Zealand-style massacre could happen here.
Police increased patrols at mosques and offered safety advice over fears of a copycat attack in the UK by neo-Nazis.
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New Zealand shooter Brenton Tarrant named Darren Osborne, the Right-wing fanatic who drove into a crowd of Muslim worshipers outside a mosque in Finsbury Park, North London, in June 2017, as one of his inspirations.
Floral tributes to the Christchurch victims were yesterday laid outside the mosque, where Osborne killed father-of-six Makram Ali, 51.
Osborne, 49, of Cardiff, was jailed for life with a minimum recommendation of 43 years in February last year.
A vigil was last night due to be held for the New Zealand victims at the mosque where Osborne struck.
Mohammed Khozbar, General Secretary of Finsbury Park Mosque, described the Christchurch attack as “deeply shocking.”
He added: “It is beyond imagination what has happened, innocent people being massacred in that way on their way to pray.”
Mr Khozbar, 52, said he believed shooter Tarrant was trying to encourage other fanatics, adding: “He wanted to tell the Muslim community that you are not safe anymore and to be careful.
"It is shocking that the killer admired Darren Osborne who attacked here at Finsbury Park mosque.
"This man wanted to send a message, he put the footage live on Facebook, which in my opinion he wants to ask people to duplicate what he did.”
But Mr Khozbar added: “From the Muslim community itself, I can say we are resilient and we will not be intimidated by what happened and we will continue with our lives as normal.
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New Zealand candlelit 'Stand Against Hate' vigil held in London to honour those killed in the mosque terror attack
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"Of course we will take extra precaution and safety, but we will not let these people make us live in fear - like we are not safe in our country."
The shockwaves of the attack raised fears of further strikes by Right-wing extremists and tit-for-tat atrocities by jihadists.
Colonel Richard Kemp, former chair of the Government’s Cobra Intelligence Group, responsible for coordinating the work of the security services, warned a New Zealand-style attack was possible here.
He said: “These horrific attacks against so many innocent worshippers in their mosques are grotesquely comparable to the numerous jihadist attacks we have seen around the world on churches and synagogues.
“Of course, places of worship are obvious soft targets for people intent on killing people from specific ethnic or religious sections of society.
“In 2017 we saw a crude attack on Finsbury Park mosque here in London by a deranged individual using a vehicle as a weapon.
“But more sophisticated murders such as the New Zealand attacks using guns and explosives are also possible.”
Col Kemp went on: “It is much more difficult to obtain firearms here in the UK than in many other places — but by no means impossible.
“And commercial explosives can also be obtained, although home-made bombs are more likely.
“A New Zealand type attack is therefore possible here and has long been considered in police planning and preparations.
What we know so far:
- At least one gunman opened fire at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, at 1.40pm local time on Friday
- 49 people have been killed - 41 at Masjid Al Noor Mosque, 7 at Linwood Masjid Mosque and 1 died at hospital
- 48 people were rushed to hospital with gunshot wounds and 20 are in critical condition
- The killer is believed to be Brenton Tarrant, an Australian who published a chilling 74-page manifesto before the rampage
- Cops arrested three men and a woman - initial reports of one wearing a suicide vest were incorrect
- Police defused improvised explosives found on nearby booby-trapped cars
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“This attack becoming reality however will lead the police to step up their protection against similar attacks in the UK.”
He said the rise of neo-Nazi terrorism was placing further strain on police and intelligence agencies “already heavily overstretched with thousands of known jihadists already in the UK and more returning as the Islamic State collapses.”
The former security chief added: “This will add to their challenges and is yet another reason why the government should strengthen our laws and act more harshly against terrorists.”
London’s mayor Sadiq Khan, tweeted his condolences to the victims of the attack, and said there will be "highly visible" and armed police around mosques in the capital.
"I want to reassure the Muslim communities in London. I have been in touch with the Met Police,” said the Mayor.
“There will be highly visible policing around mosques today, as well as armed response officers, as Londoners go to pray.”
Elsewhere in the UK, police in Scotland and Wales also said they would step up patrols near mosques.
In France - which is home to Europe’s largest Muslim population - Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said he has ordered patrols and reinforced surveillance of places of worship "as a precaution”.
In New York, police officers carrying assault weapons were deployed outside the Islamic Centre of New York.
And in Los Angeles a patrol cars were positioned at the Islamic Centre of Southern California.
Meanwhile, British counter-terrorism cops yesterday offered assistance to Kiwi colleagues.
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Met Police assistant commissioner Neil Basu, in overall charge of counter-terror policing in the UK, said: “We are monitoring events in New Zealand closely and send our condolences to all those affected.
“Our international network of UK counter terrorism officers will be ready to support our counterparts in New Zealand in responding to and investigating this appalling attack.”
He continued: “Today we will be stepping up reassurance patrols around mosques and increasing engagement with communities of all faith, giving advice on how people and places can protect themselves.”
MI5 took over the lead role in combatting the emerging threat of extreme Right-wing terrorism late last year.
The threat posed by neo-Nazis was highlighted when Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death by white supremacist Thomas Mair in Birstall, West Yorks, in June 2016.
In the wake of the MP’s assassination, the group National Action was proscribed in December 2016, the first extreme Right-wing group to be banned since 1940.
However, sources stressed that the threat from Islamic terrorism still outweighs that posed by neo-fascists.
Four extreme Right-wing alleged terror plots have been thwarted in the UK since March 2017, compared with 13 Islamist plots.
There are currently around 100 investigations into extreme Right-wing activity, compared with 600 into suspected jihadists.
However, Met Police chief Mr Basu told MP’s last year that Islamist and extreme Right-wing terrorism were inciting each other.
He told a Commons select committee: “There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that the two ideologies, both perverse, are both feeding each other.”
Mr Basu said he believed the situation was “worse and growing” and that a big rise in hate crime is a “proxy indication” of that.
A report last year from a respected UK political think tank, the Henry Jackson Society, found there was a four-fold increase in far-right terrorism between 2016 and 2017 in the West.
But in only four per cent of cases were the attackers known to the authorities – compared with more than half of Islamist terrorists being on the radar.
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Commenting on the New Zealand attack, Dr Alan Mendoza, Executive Director of the Henry Jackson Society said: “We have seen a disturbing year on year rise in far-right extremism globally, and this has now manifested itself in atrocities like the Christchurch mosque attacks and the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.
“We don’t yet know the specifics of this case, but it is already clear that the Christchurch attackers were motivated by a deep and open hatred of Muslims and that this appears to have been their gateway into violence.
“What is sadly apparent is that these incidents are becoming more common, and as a result our societies will need to redouble efforts to prevent future occurrences of such hatred.”
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Enhanced police presence at many UK mosques to offer reassurance to worshippers following the Christchurch terror attack
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