Muslim community groups have chided a senior outgoing counter-terrorism police chief for claiming that they “create and exploit grievances and isolation”.
Mark Rowley, in his outgoing speech as the national lead for counter-terrorism policing and an assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, launched an extraordinary attack against Muslim community groups Cage and Mend, which he described as "so-called representative bodies".
Rowley said the threat from militant attacks would only subside once a "whole society response" to extremism was adopted but warned about the increasing threat of far-right extremism. Police have foiled four attempted far-right attacks since the Westminster attack in March, he said.
Rowley also praised senior government appointees, including the heads of the schools and charities regulators for their role in combating the “chronic threat” of extremism, as they continue to face criticism for singling out Muslims.
And he proposed measures "to confront the twin challenges of terrorism and extremism", including the suggestion that children of people convicted of terrorism-related offences should be taken into care.
"I wonder if we need more parity between protecting children from paedophile and terrorist parents," he said.
In a speech to the right-wing Policy Exchange think tank on Monday evening, Rowley said that “the days of securocrats alone successfully addressing our national security challenges are history".
“My key premise is that the acute threat from terrorism will only be tackled when the whole of society can respond to the chronic threat we face from extremism,” he said, adding that the media, local councils and the private sector all had a part to play.
"A deeply concerning characteristic is how both far right and also Islamist terrorism are growing allowing each side to reaffirm their grievances and justify their actions."
Rowley criticised Mend, the anti-Islamophobia organisation, for “seeking to undermine the state’s considerable efforts to tackle all hate crime” and blamed Cage for characterising the Prevent counter-terrorism policy as an “attack on Islam.”
Mend said they were “deeply disappointed” with Rowley’s comments before mounting a defence of their record.
“We wholeheartedly refute this allegation and find it deeply troubling and inaccurate,” Mend CEO Shazad Amin said in a statement.
“We worked tirelessly with police forces in order to successfully get Islamophobic crimes recorded as a separate category of crime by around 20 police forces.
“We have worked to empower communities to report Islamophobia to the police, ensuring that crime is recorded correctly and justice is served through the criminal justice system.”
In a statement, Cage said that Rowley's speech amounted to a "tired rehash of tried and failed models".
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