The council’s head of democratic services, John Williams, has been receiving anonymous hate mail implying death threats.
The hate mail is in response to Williams’ appeal last month to non-Muslim councillors, asking them to refrain from eating during the month of Ramadan, in order to respect Muslim councillors who are fasting this month.
Non-Muslim councillors were sent an email asking them to refrain from eating during meetings held in September until the breaking of the fast at sunset. Though proponents of this request have since said their previous email was misleading and what was really meant was that non-Muslim councillors to not eat the special iftar meals provided to fasting councillors at sunset.
The row has been picked up by ‘Islamophobic extremists’ who directed a hate campaign directly to Williams. Some of the hate mail came from France. Police have asked all 51 councillors to be on alert.
Further information can be accessed here. See previous blog on this issue here.
The councillor seems to be a remarkably incompetent communicator if he managed to create an ambiguity between non-Muslim councillors not eating until sunset and refraining from eating the iftar meals. It was not just picked up by Islamophobic extremists but by many people increasingly irritated by the way many members of the Muslim community seems to expect the host community to make adjustments to their rules rather than vice versa. I do not condone any hate mail or threats but I feel people have a right to inform the councillor of their opinion on what appeared to be a courtesy too far. I realise there are fascists and political extremists around trying to exploit the dissatisfaction many feel with an increasing Islamic presence in the UK. The situation is not helped by the refusal of main stream parties to discuss the subject realistically. [...] Islamophobic is a tendentious and politically loaded term to use for such a critical attitude.