Demonstranter utenfor Batley Grammar School den 26. mars 2021. Stillbilde: The Telegraph / YouTube.

Muslimske ledere i West Yorkshire advarer Storbritannias statsminister Boris Johnson om at landet vil «bli som Frankrike» hvis regjeringen ikke krever respekt for islam etter karikatursaken ved Batley Grammar School.

Ifølge imam Adil Shahzad i Bradford vil advarselen bli gitt i form av et brev til statsministeren, skriver Sunday Times.

Shahzad er redd for at andre lærere vil vise frem Muhammed-karikaturer:

“All we ask for is a bit of respect,” Shahzad said, adding: “If one teacher can do it, another teacher can do it five years down the line, and we do not want this to be the case. Otherwise we are not responsible for the actions of some individuals.”

I verste fall kan neste skritt bli et forbud mot burkaen, mener Bradford-imamen:

“We’re hoping that the school will do the right thing,” Shahzad said, “and they will set the right precedent because if this is the first case, which it is in this country, then it’s very likely that we will follow the route that France has taken, for example, or other European countries where firstly it’s ‘let’s insult the prophet’, then we’ll start banning the burqa.”

Flere foreldre sier at de vil flytte barna til islamske skoler hvis læreren som viste klassen en Muhammed-karikatur kommer tilbake.

“If they don’t do anything about it, I’ll have to move my child out of here,” Farooq Hussain, 35, a company director said. He has a six-year-old at the school, and another child due to start in September. “A lot of the parents will probably do that,” he added. “We’ve got our own schools that teach everything they teach as well, Islamic schools.”

Another parent, Muhammad, 40, has three children who are pupils. He said he did not want to heap blame on the school, which he has been pleased with, but wanted the matter to be taken seriously.

Noen foreldre til elever ved Batley Grammar School foreslår at en lokal imam kan ta over religionsundervisningen ved skolen.

En muslim som kjenner familien til den suspenderte læreren – og firebarnsfaren – som er gått i dekning, sier at de er hyggelige mennesker:

Jamal Alterk, 42, an aviation worker, said he got on well with the family. “They’re decent,” he said. “I think what happened is not with any intention or any racism or anything like that.”

“We are Muslim,” Alterk said. “At Eid they would give us Eid Mubarak cards for the kids, and even sweets, halal sweets for the kids.”

En nabo av læreren forteller at «asiatiske» tenåringer hadde oppsøkt hjemmet hans:

“They knocked quite a few times and they tried the handle,” she said, adding that one had been on a bicycle, while the other two were on foot.

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