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The Muslim Council of Britain condemns the openly Islamophobic rhetoric broadcast at the so-called “Unite the Kingdom” rally on the 16th of May. Statements such as Tommy Robinson’s calls that “it’s time for many Muslims to leave this country,” that he “would stop Islam,” are not political speech – they are incitement. History teaches us, painfully and repeatedly, that language demanding the removal of an entire group from its home is the language that precedes ethnic cleansing and genocide.
The United Kingdom is our home. British Muslims have helped build this country, served it, taught in its schools, healed in its hospitals, and protected it in uniform. We will not be told to “go home” – not now, not ever.
We ask a simple question of the authorities, political leaders, and broadcasters: why is this rhetoric tolerated and even defended when it comes to Muslims when the equivalent, directed at any other group, would rightly be met with prosecution, condemnation, and unequivocal political consequence?
We call on the Government, the Home Secretary and the Metropolitan Police to apply the law equally, to investigate these statements as clear speeches inciting hatred, and to make clear that the dehumanisation of British Muslims has no place in our country
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