UK town stuck with 'hotbed of terrorism' tag

The sight of police officers standing guard outside the terraced home of Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly revived unwelcome memories for Luton.

As reporters and TV camera crews gathered on the nondescript road, Muslim residents gathered to watch their town thrust once more into the spotlight. When one man asked an officer what was going on, he was told, "you'll have to watch it on the news".

Luton has long been saddled by the suggestion that it is a hotbed of terrorism. The now-banned extremist Muslim group Al-Muhajiroun was based there and it is where the July 7 bombers met before they launched their attacks on London's transport network in 2005.

The news that the 28-year-old man who carried out a suicide bomb attack on the streets of Stockholm had studied at the University of Bedfordshire and was living in the Biscot area of the town added to that characterisation.

But Luton's image reached a new low this week as it appears to have acquired a similar association with far-right extremism.

When the English Defence League (EDL) decided to invite pastor Terry Jones - the American preacher who had planned to hold an international day of Koran burning - to Britain, it was to a rally in Luton. He intends to use his platform at the rally, on February 5, to talk "against the evils and destructiveness of Islam".

The Home Secretary, Theresa May, says she is still considering whether to allow Jones into the country.

The polarisation of extreme views in Luton is perhaps inevitable. The EDL claims it was sparked into formation by extremist activities in the town. Stephen Lennon, the group's founder, is from Luton and this year said: "We didn't let the IRA recruit on the streets of England when we were at war with them. So why were Islamic extremists allowed to recruit in Luton?"

A flashpoint came in March when members of the Royal Anglian Regiment were abused by Muslim protesters as they returned from duty in Iraq. A small group of protesters waved banners declaring the soldiers "Butchers of Basra".

Two months later another demonstration took place, this time against those who had organised the first march. This time 500 protesters, calling themselves the United People of Luton, took to the streets waving banners which read "No Sharia Law in the UK".

But while it may appear to be a town divided, many of those who live here disagree.

Inayat Bunglawala, from the Muslim Council of Britain, lives in Luton. "There is a small group of Muslim extremists who have managed to get themselves untold amounts of media coverage and there is also the EDL who claim they formed in retaliation to the protests which greeted the soldiers returning from Iraq," he said.

"But Muslims in Luton are fed up with the very unfair image of the town as a terrorist hotbed. Yes, we've got a few crazies, but they are just a small group of loudmouths who should be prosecuted when they step out of line."

Bunglawala accepts that extremist activities feed into an anti-Muslim rhetoric in Luton, one that will be articulated by Jones should he be allowed to visit. But banning him, he fears, will play into the hands of far-right extremists. "It will be used as 'evidence' that the Government is caving in to Muslim pressure," he said.

Peter Adams represents Churches Together - a body of Luton's churches - on the Luton Council of Faith Leaders. Speaking about the town's links to extremism, both Muslim and far-right, he said: "Neither of these reflect the reality of life in the town ... Obviously we do have extremists and we do have two different views in the town that are extreme, but these people and these views are right on the margins.

"Yes, there are groups of young people from either side who will face off ... but that is no different to an all-white community with a gang problem."

- Independent