14 members of Britain’s Conservative Party are suspended after racist and anti-Islamic statements were posted on social media, UK newspapers reported.
“TURF MUSLIMS OUT OF PUBLIC”
A list of comments made by those claiming to be Conservative Party members were compiled in a Twitter feed, included one that for Muslims to be “turfed out of public office”, one for the UK government to “get rid of all mosques”, and one with a photograph of a bulldozer with “free mosque removal service” written on it.
A post in the Facebook group supporting Rees-Mogg, which showed a map of all mosques in Britain, provoked several hostile responses, including: “This is not a Muslim country” and “We’re just letting the takeover happen”.
SPOKESPERSON DENIED THE CLAIMS
A Conservative Party spokesperson said the Facebook group was “in no way affiliated with the Conservative party”, but it had identified “some people who are party members and they have been immediately suspended, pending further investigation”.
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) said that the scale of Islamophobia “at all levels of the party is astonishing.” The MCB spokesperson added: “We’ve seen MPs, councillors and members engage in bigotry that should have no place in a modern Conservative Party. Yet the constructive call by Muslim communities for an independent inquiry into the issue has been ignored again and again. Instead we hear excuses, denials and the responses we would expect when there is an institutional problem. We call again for an independent inquiry, and hope the call will now be heeded”