Streets of resentment and fear

Jennifer Carlile Reporter • Profile • E-mail

WALTHAMSTOW, England - At the Walthamstow market, more than a half mile of vegetable and clothing stands said to be the largest in Europe, Pakistani Muslims buy and sell goods alongside Hindus in saris, Africans in traditional dress, black Caribbeans, eastern Europeans and Anglos.

An outdoor photo exhibit titled “1,000 faces of Walthamstow” shows off portraits of the community, and men dressed as Beatles pass out flyers.

But behind the proud multicultural façade, fears lurk. And few Muslim residents are ambivalent about the inescapable fact of Thursday’s sensational arrests in the war on terror.

Walthamstow, a well-worn, busy east London town, was home to nearly half of the suspects in the plot to blow up trans-Atlantic airliners.

“After the arrests (the Pakistani Muslims) weren’t out this morning; they weren’t here to set up their market stalls,” said Terry Johnson, a job training provider, who lives just down the road from one of the houses that was raided by police Thursday.

NBC VIDEO East London Muslims react Aug. 12: Walthamstow residents speak about the alleged terror plot and how they're being treated by non-Muslims. NBC News’ Rehema Ellis reports. MSNBC

In this racially mixed town, many Pakistanis, who are the largest ethnic group after Anglos, feel targeted by the wider community. But suspicions, fears and conspiracy theories are high on both sides of the racial and religious divide.

After the call to prayer Friday at Jamia Masjid Ghousa, Walthamstow’s central mosque, the mayor and a local councilor were eager to make statements to curious journalists, stressing the peacefulness of the community and its willingness to work with police on the investigation.

A father’s shame
A man named Hanif spoke on behalf of six of the suspects and one of their wives, who was reportedly being held by police along with her 6-month-old baby. He said the father of three suspects — Umair Hussain, Mehran Hussain and Nabeel Hussain — wanted to tell the world that his sons are innocent students. His oldest, Umair, had just attained a degree in information technology and was looking for work.

“Their future has been ruined,” he said through Hanif.

“He lived on that road for 20 years and never upset any neighbors, but now he feels he’s been degraded and insulted by this, and his children are innocent,” said Hanif, who did not give his last name, as he spoke on behalf of Fazal Hussain, whose three sons were taken into custody.

Jennifer Carlile / MSNBC.com Fazal Hussain, left, cries Friday as he tries to speak about his three sons who were arrested in anti-terror raids in Walthamstow, East London, England.

In a back room at the mosque Hussain tried to speak for himself but was too distraught to raise his voice above a whisper.

Others at the mosque, especially those younger, were not willing to accept the arrests.

Umer Akhtar, 17, said he doubted the police had any evidence to warrant the arrests and that “it could happen to anyone.” His friend Yasir Razzak, 25, said, “If you’re a Muslim, you’ve got a 99 percent chance of it happening to you.”

“The last two shootings they’ve been wrong, so why should we believe it’s true now?” said an older man, referring to the police killing of a young Brazilian following the July 7, 2005, London transport attacks, and the recent shooting of a man in a botched Forest Gate raid.

“It’s got nothing to do with Muslims; they’re trying to take people’s attention away from Israel,” he said, declining to fully identify himself.

“It’s just a big conspiracy against Muslims, and I’ll never believe it.”

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