To show bombers ‘we don’t support you and we’re angry’

Muslims are expressing their outrage at the London bombings on an anti-terror website set up by a Croydon man.
Muhammad Payne set up www.notinthenameofpeace.com because he felt he had to do something to show extremists their views were not shared by the overwhelming majority of British Muslims.
Up to 9,000 hits per day are being received by the site. Reams of messages and photos have been posted by people of all faiths rejecting acts of terror.
Mr Payne, 29, of Kenley, who converted to Islam six years ago, said: “It is saying to those who would support and perpetrate these acts that we don’t support you and this is not the right way to go about addressing grievances.
“It really angered me that this could happen in London, where my wife and all my friends work, and that fellow British people were responsible.
“I felt something had to
be done, but what could I do? So I decided to set up a web site in order to get a grass roots demonstration going – in defiance of acts of inhumanity.
“If normal people from your own neighbourhood express these sentiments, that has a lot more power than the words of politicians.”
Mr Payne, whose Purley-based business Kwintessential provides training in cultural diversity, said he had also taken action
because he had detected an undercurrent of suspicion towards Muslims since the bombings, which he warned could seriously damage community relations.
Croydon police said the bombings had not resulted in an increase in hate crimes reported across the borough.
“We are continuing to
provide additional patrols in and around transport links and vulnerable sites, including the borough’s three mosques,” a spokesman said.
“We are urging the community to remain vigilant and report anything suspicious to the police.”
Police were keeping in regular contact with
community leaders in order to provide reassurance, she said.
A spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain said: “Another word for Islam is ‘peace’.” She welcomed Mr Payne's website as a
“positive development”.
Lal Hussain, secretary of the Muslim Cultural Welfare Association of Sutton and leader of the Muslim Community Centre in Ruskin Road, Carshalton, where Mr Payne worships, said it was important to build bridges between faiths.
He said: “Condemnation is not enough. There is a lot more the Muslim community and wider community must do. We are starting with the children to make sure youngsters are not influenced by extremists.”
He added he had set up internet-based radio station voiceofasia.co.uk which gave a voice to Muslims.