Britain’s ‘hotbed of extremism’ faces new threat FEATURE 02/03/2011

Britain’s ‘hotbed of extremism’ faces new threat

FEATURE

02/03/2011
LUTON — Its concrete-laden town center looks an unlikely spot for a clash of civilizations, but Luton has emerged as the battlefield for tensions between radical Islam and Britain’s far-right.

Efforts by this drab commuter town north of London to shed its image as an extremist hotbed suffered a setback in December when local resident Taymour Abdelwahab blew himself up in a botched suicide attack in Stockholm.

Luton, where around 15 percent of the population of nearly 200,000 are Muslim, was also the departure point for the four suicide bombers who killed 52 persons on London’s transport system on July 7, 2005.

Now the anti-Islamist English Defense League (EDL), which formed in Luton two years ago amid simmering communal tensions, will hold a march in the town on Saturday that is expected to draw thousands of supporters..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110203com7.html