Calls for UK fast over Bush visit
An influential British Muslim think tank has called on Muslims and non-Muslims to mark President George Bush’s state visit to the UK with a day of fasting.
The Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) has called for 20 November to be a day of fasting for Muslims and non-Muslims, to show solidarity with people around the world who have been a victim of American foreign policy.
”We call on people to abstain from food and water for the day and to show solidarity with the countless victims of George Bush’s administration around the world, and those who continue to suffer hunger, illness, disease and death as a result of US policies,” said a MAB spokesperson.
Visit
The president’s planned visit to the UK has outraged large sections of the UK’s population.
Peace activists and Muslim groups are calling for the president’s state visit to be cancelled and say that thousands of people will take to the streets in protest.
”It is unacceptable that Britain should play host to a US president who has been instrumental in causing the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq through direct aggression,” the spokesperson added.
The Stop the War Coalition, a national umbrella group that brings together anti-war campaigners in the UK, has claimed a first round victory in trying to prevent the state visit from going ahead.
Aljazeera.net revealed how representatives from the organisation said plans for the president to travel down the Mall with all the pomp and ceremony of a state visit had been cancelled over fears that demonstrators would hold an angry protest.
Bush also had been due to address parliament, but anti-war MPs had threatened to boycott the session, which would have caused embarrassment to the government.
Ramadan
Bush’s visit to the UK coincides with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset.
MAB is calling on non-Muslims also to abstain from food and water to show solidarity with those who are suffering in the world.