Thousands of well-wishers, led by Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, gathered outside Finsbury Park tube station on Friday night to pay respect to the victims of the Christchurch terror attack.
The inter-faith vigil, which heard from representatives of the Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities, took place just 100 metres from the scene of the terrorist incident that left one Muslim man dead and another 12 people injured in 2017.
In his tribute to the 50 Muslim worshippers who were killed in New Zealand, Mr Corbyn said: “When any of us are attacked, we’re all attacked. Today, we stand in the deepest sympathy and solidarity with those people in Christchurch.”
“This was an Islamophobic attack on people peacefully going about their right to pray and assemble, in exactly the same way that a crazed person killed Makram Ali just down the road from here in 2017.”
Toufik Kacami, chief executive of Muslim Welfare House, said: “I saw the attack here a year and a half ago and I know the terrible feelings of sadness they must be feeling [in Christchurch].”
“A man said to this attacker ‘hello brother’ as he came into the mosque. He was then shot dead. It is terrible. But it is great to see so many people here now, all together here against racism and Islamophobia.”
In his extremist manifesto, New Zealand shooter Brendan Tarrant expressed his admiration for Darren Osborne, the man behind the Finsbury Park attack, who is now serving a life sentence.
Tarrant also referenced President Donald Trump and anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson in the 74-page document he published online outlining his beliefs.
Mr Corbyn rebuked right-wing nationalism by saying “those people that try to scapegoat minorities, they create a message of hate, they create an atmosphere of hate and at the end of it they’ve created more hate, more distrust and more racism”.
This month, Islington Council became one of the first local authorities in London to officially adopt the All Party Parliamentary Group’s (APPG) definition of Islamophobia towards British Muslims.
The APPG’s findings stated: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.”
Referencing the decision, Mr Corbyn added: “We are Finsbury Park, we are a multi-cultural society, we are a multi-ethnic community and we’re all the stronger for all of that.”
Speaking at the Friday night memorial event Rabbi Herschel Gluck, founder of the Muslim-Jewish forum, said: “What happened in Pittsburgh, what happened in New Zealand, what happened on Highbury Corner is a wake-up call to all of us. We have to stand up and we have to change things.”
In 2017, Islington council endorsed the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism. Last year, the Labour Party followed suit after coming under fire for equivocating over adoption of the IHRA’s definition.
The vigil was organised by the campaign group Stand up to Racism (SUTR). Weyman Bennett, the group’s convenor, told Islington Now: “Mr Corbyn’s speech was a very powerful message. People need to speak out as we have a very short time to stop the arguments around anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and racism.”
The head of the Islington division of SUTR, Richard Holborow, added: “This demonstration is so important because it shows the diversity of this area is the way to answer the very real challenges and divisions we’re going to have to face up to.”
In response to a small group of people shouting fascist abuse at the vigil’s attendees, Mr Holborow simply said with a wry smile : “I didn’t hear them at all so they made no impact.”
