We posted a couple of weeks ago about the appearance of “shariah-controlled zone” posters in the Waltham Forest area of East London. There was some speculation in the comments on that post about whether these posters were authentically Islamic, or whether they were perhaps put up by anti-jihad activists trying to discredit Muslims. And they did seem somewhat more explicitly fundamentalist than most Muslim propaganda, with the possible exception of the ravings of the notorious firebrand Anjem Choudary.
Shortly after our first-hand report appeared, a British tabloid published an article with a photo of a Muslim putting up similar shariah-zone stickers in public places. That article, however, mysteriously disappeared from the web not long afterwards.
Now The Daily Mail has published an article with photos of the same young man and his stickers. According to the Mail, Anjem Choudary is indeed the man behind the campaign:
‘No Porn or Prostitution’: Islamic Extremists Set Up Sharia Law Controlled Zones in British Cities
By Rebecca Camber
Islamic extremists have launched a poster campaign across the UK proclaiming areas where Sharia law enforcement zones have been set up.
Communities have been bombarded with the posters, which read: ‘You are entering a Sharia-controlled zone — Islamic rules enforced.’
The bright yellow messages daubed on bus stops and street lamps have already been seen across certain boroughs in London and order that in the ‘zone’ there should be ‘no gambling’, ‘no music or concerts’, ‘no porn or prostitution’, ‘no drugs or smoking’ and ‘no alcohol’.
Hate preacher Anjem Choudary has claimed responsibility for the scheme, saying he plans to flood specific Muslim and non-Muslim communities around the UK and ‘put the seeds down for an Islamic Emirate in the long term’.
In the past week, dozens of streets in the London boroughs of Waltham Forest, Tower Hamlets and Newham have been targeted, raising fears that local residents may be intimidated or threatened for flouting ‘Islamic rules’
Choudary, who runs the banned militant group Islam4UK, warned: ‘We now have hundreds if not thousands of people up and down the country willing to go out and patrol the streets for us and a print run of between 10,000 and 50,000 stickers ready for distribution.
‘There are 25 areas around the country which the Government has earmarked as areas where violent extremism is a problem.
‘We are going to go to all these same areas and implement our own Sharia-controlled zones.
‘This is the best way for dealing with drunkenness and loutishness, prostitution and the sort of thug life attitude you get in British cities.’
The former lawyer added: ‘This will mean this is an area where the Muslim community will not tolerate drugs, alcohol, pornography, gambling, usury, free mixing between the sexes — the fruits if you like of Western civilisation.
‘We want to run the area as a Sharia-controlled zone and really to put the seeds down for an Islamic Emirate in the long term.’
[…]
Choudary said he was organising a protest against the Far Right in Waltham Forest this weekend following last Friday’s killing spree in Norway by anti-Islamic gunman Anders Breivik.
‘I do believe a Norway-style attack could happen here.’
Scotland Yard is investigating, and “moderate” Muslims have gone on the record protesting that the campaign is being conducted by a tiny minority of extremists, and “is not representative of these communities.”
Read the rest at the Mail’s website.
Hat tip: Gaia.
