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Blair: Public mood is shifting
05/08/2005 12:55 - (SA)
London - British Prime Minister Tony Blair outlined plans on Friday to "exclude and deport" foreigners deemed to promote violent acts of terror.
At his last news conference before going on his summer break, Blair said new grounds for deportation would include fostering hatred, advocating violence to further a person's beliefs or justifying or validating such violence.
He said the Human Rights Act would be amended if necessary to make the deportation of people involved in inciting terrorism more straightforward. a
"The rules of the game are changing," the prime minister said.
The new powers, developed in the wake of the London bombings, would make it easier for police to prosecute so-called "preachers of hate" in and around the country's mosques, according to the government.
Blair said that anyone involved in terrorism would be refused asylum in Britain.
The prime minister gave assurances to British Muslims, saying the measures were "in no way whatever aimed at the decent law-abiding Muslim community in Britain".
He said the measures were directed at extremists who do not represent Islam.
Home Secretary Charles Clarke already has the power to ban individuals from the United Kingdom if they are deemed a security threat.
The planned new measures were welcomed on Friday by Ian Blair, the chief of Scotland Yard who is leading the investigations into the July 7 train and bus bombings in which 56 people died.
"It may have been better if it was done before, but let's do it now", said Ian Blair.
The "difficulty" so far had been over how to deport people to "places where they may suffer oppression", said the police chief.
He believed the British public would support the tougher measures.
"Well, I think the public mood is shifting. I'm sorry, but this is England, Britain, and we don't want this fomenting of terrorism to go on", Blair said in a TV interview on Friday. - Sapa-dpa
- SAPA
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