More Asians searched after London bombing

The number of Asian and black people being searched in London streets by police increased more than 12 fold after the July 7 bombings, The Guardian newspaper reported on Saturday.

In the two months after three underground trains and a bus were bombed, more than 10,000 people were stopped and searched by the Metropolitan police under the anti-terror act. However, none of the searches resulted in an arrest or a charge related to terrorism.

Police figures indicated that Asian people were already more likely than their white fellow Londoners to be stopped even before the terrorist attacks, but the bombings made them more vulnerable.

According to Metropolitan Police figures, 2,405 Asian and black people were stopped while walking, compared with 196 last year. The increase is more than twice the rise recorded by the police for white people searched in the two months after the attacks.

The Terrorism Act 2000 allows a police officer to search someone in a vehicle or who is walking if it is believed necessary to prevent terrorism.

Between July 7 and September 5 this year, 27 percent of the people stopped in the street by police were Asians, who make up 12 percent of London's population. Half of those stopped were white, who make up 63 percent.

Police have denied targeting ethnic groups. But after July 7, street stops on whites increased fivefold compared with the same period of 2004 whereas for Afro-Caribbean and Asian people, they increased 12 fold.

The July 7 attacks were carried out by Britons of Pakistani descent while the failed July 21 attacks led to people of African origin being charged. Police have been accused of ethnically profiling suspects, for stopping people merely because of the way they look.

Azad Ali, chair of the Muslim Safety Forum, said: "People are being stopped if they fit a certain profile, such as being Asian looking and carrying a rucksack, or are driving in a potentially sensitive area. They can stop people but it has to be based on intelligence. It (The Terrorism Act) alienates the very communities the police need to get onside."

Metropolitan police authority member Peter Herbert said: "This means the police are not using their information from intelligence properly, because they are too busy making random stops, which deter no one and which alienate large numbers of people and wastes time and resources."

Source: Xinhua