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London Mayor criticizes ties with Saudi Arabia |
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Sunday, 01 July 2007 |
London Mayor Ken Livingstone called on Britons yesterday not to demonise
Muslims after a double car bomb plot was foiled in the capital, amid fears of a
Islamist terror threat.
At the same time he criticised Britain over its ties with Saudi Arabia, which he
said had fuelled intolerance in the past through its Wahhabist form of Islam,
creating a "major problem."
"In this city, Muslims are more likely to be law-abiding than non-Muslims and
less likely to support the use of violence to achieve political ends than
non-Muslims," he told BBC Radio.
"They have played a good and active and growing role in creating a
multi-cultural society," he added.
He noted that terrorist acts had been carried out in London over the years by
various groups including for example far-right groups. For years the British
capital was wracked by violence by the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
"All I am interested in as mayor is that we try to prevent all acts of violence
whether it is by a disaffected young member of the (far-right) BNP (British
National Party), whether it is by an Islamist or a Wahhabist supporter," he
said.
It was crucial to understand "that that doesn't mean that all white men are
potentially a threat to society any more than all Muslims are," he added. But he
criticised the British government's ties with Saudi Arabia, saying it remained
unclear if Riyadh had stemmed huge amounts of funding which he said flows from
the country.
"We have got to understand that when we talk about the Wahhabi strand of Islam,
which is very intolerant, our major problem in dealing with it is that it flows
out of Saudi Arabia," he said. He said Wahhabi was the official religion of the
Saudi royal family, and noted that Riyadh was one of the main buyers of British
arms.
"For a very long time, politicians at national level were refusing to be
sufficiently critical of the fact that the Saudi regime didn't clean up its
act," he said.
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