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Mayor of London |London Assembly|Media Centre
Uniting communities, defeating terrorism The Mayor
has joined with Liberty, key Muslim and Sikh organisations,
community organisations, faith leaders, MPs, trade
unionists, lawyers and opinion-formers to encourage
public debate on proposed governmental measures
to oppose terrorism. Signatories to the statement
believe that some of the proposals risk alienating
those sections of the community whose co-operation
is essential to combatting terror.
The campaign plans to lobby ministers and MPs
explaining that there is grave concern amongst
the overwhelming majority of the communities whose
co-operation is essential to identify and defeat
terrorists and their supporters.
The follwowing people will be speaking at the
meeting
Ken Livingstone
Shami Chakrabarti
Sir Iqbal Sacranie - Secretary General, Muslim
Council of Britain
Frank Dobson MP
Sadiq Khan MP
Gareth Reid - Met Black Police Association
Amrik Singh - Sikh Federation UK
Statement
`Only united communities will defeat terrorism
and protect civil liberties.`Our lives, rights
and freedoms are precious and we will not surrender
them. We stand united in our refusal to be defeated
by those who seek to indiscriminately murder people
of all faiths and races in our country.
`We support the police and measures against those
who plan, support or carry out such terrorist
attacks. However, a number of the security measures
which the government has said it is considering
risk criminalising or excluding people who condemn
terrorist attacks and whose cooperation is indispensable
to the work of the police in fighting terrorism.
`We believe that the fight against terrorism requires
a broad consensus around its means and the involvement
of all communities to isolate and defeat those
who would use terror to divide us.'
Signatories
Ken Livingstone Mayor of London
Shami Chakrabarti Liberty
Sir Iqbal Sacranie Muslim Council of Britain Rt
Revd Peter Price Bishop of Bath and Wells Mohammed
Sawalha Muslim Association of Britain Amrik Singh
Sikh Federation (UK) National
Council of Gurdwaras Confederation of
Indian Organisations (UK) Colin Slee Dean of Southwark
David Prentis General Secretary, UNISON Paul Kenny
General Secretary, GMB Billy Hayes General Secretary,
CWU Keith Norman General Secretary, ASLEF Kat
Fletcher President, National Union of Students
Margaret Lally Deputy Chief Executive, Refugee
Council Gareth Reid Met Black Police Association
Kate Hudson Chair CND Federation of Irish Societies
Federation of Students Islamic Societies UK Islamic
Mission National Assembly Against Racism 1990
Trust
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