Of the Londoners known to have been caught up in the Syrian war, it is striking how many hail from the neighbourhoods around Ladbroke Grove and Westbourne Park. One counter-terrorism expert told the Standard earlier this year that he had noticed the clustering in North Kensington, and recent events have confirmed it. But no factor that links the names immediately suggests itself. Among them are young men from both Arab and North African families; some are said to come from devout households, others not; a handful attended the same fashionable state school but years before any problems emerged; some of them have been involved in political activism, others not at all. If anyone might understand the cluster, though, it is those who run the Al Manaar mosque, formally called the Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre. It was purpose-built for the area’s sizeable Muslim community and opened by Prince Charles in 2001. And there is evidence — from tweets, court statements and the testimony of friends — that most of the local young Muslims caught up in Syria of late were worshippers at Al Manaar, with differing degrees of regularity. (4)
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 07:59:42 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015