A PICTURE TELLS A THOUSAND WORDS

Regardless of whether or not you agree with the message behind this particular piece of performance art in the centre of Birmingham earlier this week, surely we must all defend the right of all individuals to peaceful protest? Unfortunately the officers of West Midlands Police saw things differently after apparently receiving a number of complaints about the above stunt. The young lady on the griddle and the pretend chef were campaigning for more people to become vegetarians, but were threatened with arrest if they did not stop their protest.

The problem seemed to surround the scantily clad nature of the female activist and an officer told a reporter from the Post that there were ‘a lot of children milling around’. However, the young lady was not naked and was not doing anything obscene, but merely lying there as part of the act. Advertising boards across the land have featured the bikini-clad likes of Myleene Klass on them, so what was so different here? Ah, yes, we are in Birmingham.

This is the city where such posters are defaced in Muslim areas, either being torn down or all the flesh being painted over. This is the city where Salma Yaqoob, the female Muslim Respect candidate for Sparkbrook & Small Heath at the last general election, incensed local Islamists for daring to take out an expensive advertising board in Sparkhill with her face uncovered. And what do we see in the picture above? Look again and you will see a great contrast, a clash of civilisations in the heart of England.

Behind the two veggie activists we can see what appears to be a Muslim lady, covered from head to toe. Is the growing dominance of Islam here in Brum what really strove the police to intervene? Tellingly, the female activist was quoted by the Birmingham Post as having said: “We have been to Manchester and Liverpool and we have had no problem there.”

Manchester and Liverpool do not have the thoroughly enriching honour of Muslims constituting one fifth of their population. Manchester and Liverpool do not have the honour of being served by a police force that protects Muslim extremists.

Perhaps Sir Paul Scott-Lee has advised his officers to engage in a crackdown on all scantily clad women. Next stop Broad Street!