HUNDREDS OF MUSLIMS SYDNEY JOIN PROTEST AGAINST TERROR RAIDS

Sydney, 24 Dhulqa’dah 1435/19 September 2014 (MINA) – Hundreds of Muslims in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, conducted demonstrations rejecting acts of terror by the police against them.

Signs reading “terror raids cannot break the spirit of Muslims” and “stop terrorising Muslims” were waived by about 10 people among the 200 who rallied in western Sydney to demonstrate against a series of pre-dawn anti-terrorism raids.

The protesters met outside Lakemba train station on Thursday night for the snap action, organised via social media.

About 50 people were watching from across the road, Australian SBS quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

The event was promoted under a banner featuring the hardline organisation Hizb Ut-Tahrir and is calling on the Muslim community to “stand as one”.

“Women, children should be safe from the terror,” they chanted.

The atmosphere was calm with most people arriving and greeting friends and acquaintances before quietly congregating in a little park next to the train station.

The rally comes after after 15 people were detained during Australia’s largest counter-terrorism operation.

“We’re not hear to disrupt security,” told the speaker Uthman Badar.

“Muslims are as much concerned about security and peace as everyone else.”

The Muslim community would be “fools” if they were deceived by the spin being used to politicise security issues, he added.

He said the raids were about creating the “hysteria” needed to make the Muslim community scapegoats.

“We reject the terror laws, they only serve American wars,” the crowd chanted before Mr Badar added that western foreign policy was responsible for terrorism.

“We’re not fools. We know what the intent with all of this is,” he said.

An incensed young man who said his mother was punched by police as the family’s home was raided on Thursday morning yelled at the crowd to “wake up.” (T/ R03/P3)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)