The Times - UK (2020-08-01)

the times | Saturday August 1 2020 2GM 11

News

Grinch who stole Eid, say Muslims

Council of Britain, said that the

changes had been announced with

“shockingly short notice”.

As a Muslim lawyer threatened to

challenge the decision, anecdotal re-

ports suggested that restrictions on

inter-household contacts would be

impossible to police and widely flouted.

A Conservative MP blamed the rise

in infections rates on sections of the

Muslim community that, he said, were

“not taking the pandemic seriously”.

Craig Whittaker, the MP for Calder

Valley in West Yorkshire, said the “vast

majority” of infections in nearby Hali-

fax were in people of Asian heritage.

Marsha de Cordova, the shadow

equalities secretary, said his comments

were disgraceful.

Andy Burnham, the mayor of Great-

er Manchester, said that it was not a

good idea to make sweeping generalisa-

tions. “I don’t think those comments

are helpful at all,” he said. “It’s a ques-

tion of supporting all communities and

giving clear messages to them.

“As an MP [Mr Whittaker] should be

challenging the government to make

sure that support is being provided and

that his local council has the resources

on the ground to do the contact tracing

that the national system is missing.”

Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive

of the Ramadhan Foundation, a youth

organisation in Greater Manchester,

accused Mr Whittaker of racism. He

said that the restrictions, announced

on social media at 9.16pm on Thursday,

would have “a massive impact on the

British Muslim community”. He added:

“Families had already travelled to their

loved ones’ homes. People had already

been to the shops to buy their Eid meal.

For the government to make that an-

nouncement on social media, without

any regard for British Muslims, was an

appalling abuse of its power.”

Yahya Birt, an academic, tweeted an

image of Mr Johnson captioned “the

Grinch who stole Eid”. He said: “This

government is trolling the Muslims of

the north. Two households in a bubble

can meet in a pub but not in a garden or

home?”

Over the past week Blackburn has

had the highest rate of infection in

England, at 78 cases per 100,

people. Its director of public health

noted that although according to the

2011 census 67 per cent of the popula-

tion was white, 79 per cent of recent

cases had been in “people from a south

Asian background”.

Zaffer Khan, head of the community

group One Voice Blackburn, said that

the late notice had caused “a great deal

of anger”. He added: “Boris has effec-

tively cancelled Eid... a lot of goodwill

was lost very quickly.”

At Manchester Central Mosque staff

arrived at 5am to ensure safety. Volun-

teer security guards manned entrances

and checked temperatures.

The criticism was not universal, how-

ever. Mohammed Nushai, from a

mosque in Bradford, echoed Mr Whit-

taker when he said there were “people

within our community who are not

taking coronavirus seriously enough”.

He told Mail Online: “A lot of people

have been visiting relatives and friends

and attending events in each other’s

homes with very little thought of keep-

ing themselves safe.”

The military should be on standby to

intervene as local lockdowns com-

pound tensions, threatening disorder

not seen since the 2011 riots, the gov-

ernment’s scientific advisers warn.

Mass protests, illegal raves and in-

creases in racism, inequality and un-

employment are among the issues

combining to raise the risk of disorder,

according to a report by the Sage advi-

sory group published yesterday.

The police are ill equipped to cope

and military assistance is likely to be

needed if widespread rioting were to

break out, the report delivered at a

meeting on July 2 added.

The potential disorder could be on a

greater scale than the summer riots

that spread across England in 2011,

massively increasing the threat to

public health from coronavirus, it said.

It also said that the Muslim festival

Eid al-Adha could be “problematic in

the context of a localised lockdown”.

The Police Federation in West York-

shire criticised the “haphazard an-

nouncements by the government”,

adding that the officers were struggling

to get to grips with the latest changes.

The Sage report warned of “a high

Q&A

What steps are being

taken nationally?

Changes planned for

today including allowing

indoor performances

and opening bowling

alleys, casinos and

skating rinks are off.

Wedding receptions are

called off, though

ceremonies can go

ahead. Face coverings

will be mandatory in

indoor public spaces

from August 8.

What are the new

regional restrictions?

People in large parts of

northwest England

and Yorkshire cannot

meet outside their

households, at home or

in pubs and restaurants.

Why these areas?

Public Health England

and the Joint Biosecurity

Centre look at cases per

100,000 people, the

proportion of tests that

are positive and how

well an area is doing

against predictions.

If I live in these areas

can I meet people

outside? Yes. You can

still meet six people in

outdoor public places,

or more from no more

than two households.

Can I still go to a pub

or restaurant? Yes, but

not with anyone outside

your immediate family.

What happens if I

break the rules? New

laws will allow police to

issue fines, starting at

£100 and doubling for

subsequent offences.

Can I still go on holiday

to an affected area?

Yes, but you cannot

socialise indoors so

staying with friends or

family is not allowed.

Can I still leave the

area for a holiday? This

seems to be allowed,

but you cannot visit

someone else’s home.

You can go to pubs and

restaurants only with

your own household.

Can I still go to work?

Yes. Wherever you live,

you can go to work.

were allowed to go ahead for the festival of Eid but traditional family gatherings were banned across a swathe of the north

News

Be ready to call in

army, warn advisers

risk of civil disorder across multiple

sites, with serious implications for

public health”. It said that as the sum-

mer goes on police will also have to bal-

ance the threat from protests against

HS2 expansion, climate change dem-

onstrations and anti-capitalist rallies,

the cancellation of Notting Hill Carni-

val, illegal raves, a possible resurgence

in terrorist activity and further far-right

and Black Lives Matter protests.

It highlighted the depletion in officer

numbers since 2010 and warned that

budget cuts had drastically reduced the

number of holding cells available.

The authors drew on data indicating

that the pandemic had disproportion-

ately affected minorities and increased

inequality. It said that ethnic minorities

were over-represented in data on fines

and convictions in relation to corona-

virus legislation.

BJ Harrington, the chief constable of

Essex, speaking for the National Police

Chiefs’ Council, said: “Policing has a

highly trained capability to respond to

public order and we regularly test and

improve our ability to mobilise.

Throughout the pandemic police have

engaged with communities to under-

stand the issues affecting them and to

keep them safe.”

John Simpson Crime Correspondent

DANNY LAWSON/PA

Analysis

F

or a

government

preoccupied

with reviving

the economy,

the surge in cases was

at least the right kind

of problem (Chris

Smyth and Oliver

Wright write). Matt

Hancock, the health

secretary, said that

chains of transmission

were not the result of

people going to work

or venturing out to

pubs. The issue was

families visiting each

other in their homes.

Mr Hancock said he

regretted that the

virus thrived “on the

sort of social contact

that makes life worth

living”. The guidance

says that people can

go to work and eat out

with their own

households.

Ministers said that

NHS Test and Trace

data gave a rationale

for restricting social

life rather than

economic activity.

Contact tracing shows

that the “vast

majority” of infected

people had been

seeing friends and

extended family.

Concern that

communities were

defining “household”

as aunts, uncles and

cousins pushed

ministers to a stricter

ruling: “Your

household — as

defined in law — is

only the people you

live with.”

Ministers hope to

avoid a more

extensive lockdown. If

successful, it could

become a model for

winter. Ministers want

to be “smart” about

further restrictions

rather than taking a

blanket approach.

The government

was criticised for

announcing the

changes late last night

on social media.

Ministers were aware

that families were

planning to celebrate

Eid al-Adha. It was

feared that gatherings

would spread the

virus. Mr Hancock

said that prayers in

Covid-secure mosques

could go ahead but

that there was no safe

alternative to

stopping gatherings at

home.