FROM THEOPINIONATOR:

Yet again we have another instance of supposed racism  against muslims in Britain - or in this case against muslim cemetary headstones - but is it?

Headline reads:

MUSLIM GRAVES SMASHED IN SOUTHALL

the article states:

DOZENS of Muslim graves have been vandalised in what police believe is a racist attack in a Southall graveyard. Several headstones were pushed over at the cemetery in Bridge Road, and flower pots and fencing around graves were also damaged on around 40 plots at the site. Some damage was also done to Christian graves at the site. Police say they are treating the damage, which was reported at around midday yesterday, as racially motivated.

Clearly the newpaper headline omitted the fact that Christian graves were also vandalized. Of course this doesn't stop the police from their usual MO of immediately jumping to the conclusion that this was a "racially motivated" attack against muslims -( ignoring the fact that Islam is a religion/politicial ideology rather than a race).

True to form a muslim expresses outrage & fans the flames:

A LOCAL Muslim man has condemned the vandals who smashed dozens of graves in a Southall cemetery over the weekend. More than 40 graves of Muslims were wrecked on Saturday night when vandals pulled out headstones and smashed vases and gates around various grave sites. Dalawar Chaudrey, whose father is buried in the cemetery on Bridge Road, said the damage was a “callous calculated act”. He said: “I was there yesterday and it was just a callous calculated attack to coincide with the very holy month of Ramadan when everybody’s fasting. “This is an outrageous and unacceptable attack on our community. People have paid a lot of money to have their relatives buried there, and this is not acceptable.” The restaurateur, who owns Chaudrey’s TKC in Southall Broadway, said there had been a campaign going on for three years to get Ealing Council to clean up the area. He said: “We have been on to them about problems of prostitution and drug use and drinking down there. But nothing has been done. “We need regular patrols, CCTV and they need to replace the wall there with a metal fence so people can see into the graveyard. This attack just adds insult to injury.”

It should come as no surprise that Mr. Dalawar Chaudrey and the author of the article, Alex Hayes, both neglect to mention the vandalised Christian headstones. Doing so would throw a "monkey wrench" into the premise that the vandalism was a plot specifically against muslims "calculated" to target the end of Ramadan. It is also interesting that Mr. Chaudrey goes on to complain about problems of prostitution and drug use near and in the cemetary but fails to connect the same to the vandalism - again to do so contravenes Islamophobia.

Mr Chaudrey is not alone as the leader of the Ealing Council - Councillor Jason Stacey also jumps onboard the Islamophobia and Racism Express to reap some political capital from the incident by issuing his own statement :

THE leader of Ealing Council has slammed vandals who targeted a series of Muslim graves at a Southall cemetery over the weekend. Councillor Jason Stacey has described the attack on Saturday evening, which saw 40 graves in the Muslim section of the Bridge Road cemetery wrecked, as “utterly despicable”. He said: “It is utterly despicable that someone should break into a cemetery and desecrate graves. This incident has caused great upset, not only for the relatives of people buried there, but also for the wider community. “Grave markers and commemorative vases in the Muslim area of the cemetery were vandalised and we are assisting police in their investigation into the incident. “Council officers will be on site all day today clearing up the damage and returning all grave markers to their rightful place as quickly as possible.”

Search as you might - readers will not find any mention of the vandalised Christian headstones. Clearly that fact is unimportant and again doesn't feed into the newspaper's stories proclaiming racism/Islamophobia. The idea that the vandalism may have been directed against Christians or both religions is never considered nor is the OBVIOUS - that the headstones fell prey to a random act of vandalism with no particular intent other than to do damage.