Months after Islamists ran riots in the Leicester City of England, the UK’s Secretary of State for Communities Michael Gove has ordered an independent review into the targeting of the Hindu community.
In a press release on Friday (May 26), the UK government informed that the independent review has been commissioned to probe the cases of vandalism, assaults and attacks on properties and places of worship in Leicester in September 2022.
Former Minister for West Midlands, Lord Austin, has been appointed as the Chair of the review. He will head an independent panel of experts to understand the origins of the unrest perpetrated by the Islamists in Leicester and ways to prevent such targeted attacks.
https://t.co/mrGR1YFFrC
— Chris Blackburn (@CJBdingo25) May 26, 2023
The UK launches an independent review into #Leicester unrest. A good development. Communities battling each other need to be investigated properly.
The panel will study the facts of the case, present its analysis and provide practical recommendations. It will also share ideas and proposals to strengthen local social cohesion among communities.
While speaking about the matter, Michael Gove remarked, “Leicester has a proud history of community cohesion, which makes last year’s disorder all the more shocking and upsetting. This review will build a thorough understanding of the specific events that took place and what can be learned from them.”
He emphasised that the UK government will not tolerate attempts to foster violence against people or religious groups. Lord Austin stated, “Communities living and working together have formed some of the most vibrant societies across the country and cities such as Leicester have proud histories of tolerance and diversity.”
Leicester City Mayor welcomes the decision of the UK government
“This makes the scenes we witnessed in Leicester last year all the more worrying and it is therefore so important that we listen to people in Leicester to get to the bottom of what happened and why,” he added.
Meanwhile, Leicester City Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby, had also welcomed the decision of the UK government. “I would want Leicester and other cities to be able to learn from its findings and to understand what needs to be done to ensure that our community cohesion is never again threatened in this way,” he claimed.
Interestingly, Solusby had met Islamist Majid Freeman, who was at the helm of the Leicester disinformation campaign and helped him set the narrative in favour of the perpetrators.
Think tank found no evidence of RSS, or Hindutva gangs in Leicester
In November 2022, a UK-based think tank debunked the false claims made by Islamists about the presence of ‘RSS terrorists’ and ‘Hindutva extremist organisations’ in Leicester city.
The disinformation was peddled by Islamists to rationalise their targeting of the Hindu community and camouflage their acts of aggression as violence perpetrated in self-defence.
The Henry Jackson Society (HJS), founded in 2005, released a 39-page report [pdf] on November 3 and concluded that the false allegations had exposed the Hindu community in Leicester to hate, vandalism and assault.
“Contrary to press reports at the time, the investigations did not find Hindutva extremist organisations operating in Leicester, but instead discovered a micro-community cohesion issue falsely presented as an issue of organised Hindutva extremism and terrorism,” the summary of the report read.
HJS emphasised, “It finds that false allegations of RSS terrorists and Hindutva extremist organisations active in the UK has put the wider Hindu community at risk from hate, vandalism and assault.”
“Some members of the Hindu community in Leicester imposed a voluntary curfew, some relocated to stay with family or friends until they felt safe to return, while still others were unable to return to work owing to fears for their personal safety,” it further added.
