A concerned member of the public has allegedly been warned by police not to use language that can be interpreted as “prejudicial” and “intolerant” of Islam after expressing concerns over an increase in violence from members of the Muslim community.
The individual, a regular at Speakers’ Corner in London’s Hyde Park for 30 years, wrote to the Metropolitan Police following the recent stabbing of a Christian woman in the area.
Hatun Tash was reportedly punched and stabbed in the face and hand on Sunday after a Muslim male objected to Tash’s preaching, as well as, apparently, her Charlie Hebdo t-shirt.
Police seemingly downplayed the attack on the 39-year-old Christian apologist, tweeting about their presence at the scene “after a woman sustained a minor slash injury.”
Following the stabbing, the concerned citizen informed police of “many hot-headed Muslim males” of “North African and Middle Eastern origin,” who are gathering at Speakers’ Corner every Sunday, and “physically assaulting” members of the public, including other Muslims.
The email, which was shared on Twitter, read:
As a regular visitor to Speakers Corner in Hyde Park for the past 30 years, I would like to respectfully ask if the Metropolitan Police are monitoring the activities of the many hot headed Muslim males gathering at the corner every Sunday.
Week after week, I, and many other regular visitors to the corner, observe people of North African, and Middle Eastern origin, physically assaulting other members of the Islamic religion and only last Sunday 25 July, I together with numerous other people observed an Islamic male, stab a Christian female speaker in the face, then running away, with police in hot pursuit.
Speakers Corner has become a place for Islamic hotheads, and I am afraid, a possible breeding ground for terrorism in the future.
Do the police have any plans to monitor more intensely, the scary place that Speakers Corner has, sadly become?
Akshay Chibber, Detective Inspector and Staff Officer to Commissioner Cressida Dick allegedly responded, warning the concerned citizen that the language in the email could be interpreted as prejudicial and intolerant of Muslims.
“I have to advise you that your email contains a number of referrals interpretable as prejudicial and intolerant, based on a person’s religious or other origin,” the email said.
Chibber then warned that if the concerned citizen’s language does not change, police would no longer respond.
“Any further correspondence that alludes to such language will not be responded to,” the email went on to say.
Chibber’s email read:
Further to your email below, while I am sorry to read of the escalation in public order and other offending in and around Speaker’s Corner – I have to advise you that your email contains a number of referrals interpretable as prejudicial and intolerant, based on a person’s religion or other origin. Any futher correspondence that alludes to such language will not be responded to.
As for your concerns around escalation of violence, this is something that local officers from Met’s Royal Parks Operational Command are very aware of and work hard to police, while maintaining both the right to protest, as well as prevent offences of causing harassment, alarm and distress.
Chibber then advised the concerned citizen to visit the Met Police website for guidance on how to report a crime.