Extremists' march plan is a national insult

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, normally so restrained in his language, must have been incandescent with rage to describe the proposed march through the town of Wootton Bassett by Islamic extremists as "offensive" (your report, 5 January).

Does he not realise this is a matter of national pride and honour and should not be shilly-shallied over and viewed merely as a pre-election issue that risks the loss of Muslim votes?

All party leaders, along with heads of the moderate Muslim community, should join in condemning this blatant insult and announce that it simply will not take place. Anything short of this will be unacceptable to the British people and, incidentally, will play straight into the hands of the British National Party.

WALTER J ALLAN

Colinton Mains Drive

Edinburgh

AE Noon (Letters, 5 January) states that "this is a free country, and freedom of speech is allowed", but then says a proposed march by Muslims through Wootton Bassett "is a step too far".

You can have one thing or the other. Who decided AE Noon could be the final arbiter of public demonstrations? As far as I know, Islam4UK has set out in precise terms why it believes it should be allowed to protest against the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians in Islamic countries.

Whether we agree with that or not, it is a fact that many of the deaths will have been caused by the soldiers (alive or dead) who are being repatriated through RAF Lyneham, so it would be a logical place to try to illustrate that there are two sides to this conflict.

BARRY LEES

Denholm Street

Greenock

Anjem Choudary's planned anti-British parade through Wootton Bassett illustrates the hypocrisy of extreme Islam. In many Muslim countries, such a provocative demonstration would be mercilessly crushed if anyone dared even plan one, and Mr Choudary would no doubt approve.

Such blatant double standards indicate a troubling mindset, where issues are assessed not by the even-handed application of moral principles, but by the automatic assumption that Muslims are the victims/freedom fighters/martyrs in every one of the world's many conflicts where Muslims neighbour non-Muslims.

RICHARD LUCAS

Cowan Road

Edinburgh