Today at Mayors Question Time (MQT), l was able to raise my concerns about sectarian tensions in London between Sunni & Shia with the Mayor directly on the back of my colleagues Joanne McCartney question on whether the government is doing enough to protect Londoners from potential terrorism arising from the conflict in Syria & Iraq?

Last year in May, l raised my concerns with the Met about an incident along the Edgware Rd involving Anjem Choudhary & his mob. It was dealt with as a public order offence when it was clearly more then that as it involved the incitement of religious hatred against Shia’s. Please see my previous blog at the time on the matter. I have also heard from Regents Park mosque concerns about anti-Sunni preaching from Shiekh Al-Habib. I wanted to be reassured that the counter-terrorism strategy dealt with such Muslim sectarianism given the Mayor at least knew the history of the battle of the camel and usefully input into the debate. Please see above video clip to see the response.

Such an emphasis would also be useful for the Prevent programme, as the reality is that going to Jihad for Isil would mean getting involved in such sectarian battles. As Professor Neumann from King’s College London point’s out, far from defending people against oppressors, foreign fighters are likely to be fighting or oppressing other Muslims – men, women and children too!

I hope that’s a useful contribution to the focus of the counter-terrorism efforts.