#WeStandTogether

From “ONE VOICE” in Brighton & Hove

Communities across Brighton & Hove stand together as One Voice

Following the incident at the Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre in New Zealand early this morning, the city’s One Voice Partnership strongly condemns this act of violence on innocent people.

We do not tolerate violence against innocent people, wherever it takes place. Together we speak with one voice against extremist perspectives and terrorist actions in the city and elsewhere.

The incident at the Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre in New Zealand has deeply shocked and saddened us all. We send our deepest sympathies to the families of those who have lost their loved ones, those who have been injured, and all affected communities. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.

We praise and reiterate the advice given by our Muslim community leaders ‘please don’t watch the distressing video and importantly please do not share the manifesto and other information as sharing would also assist in promoting the attackers message further and promoting hate further’.

The Brighton & Hove ‘One Voice Partnership’ reaffirms that communities, council and police stand together in solidarity with our Muslim communities following the tragic incident in Christchurch, New Zealand. We stand firm that these acts of violence, Islamophobia and hate must not go any further. We stand together to counter the threat from the far right.

It’s now even more important for all our communities to demonstrate that we will not let any terrorist action divide us and continue our great tradition of unity and respect for all. We must look out and care for each other and ensure that individuals, communities and places of worship are not singled out in our city.

One Voice Partnership urges all our communities to stand together as one to stop these acts of violence and hatred from carrying on further and work together to stop Islamophobia, racist and other hate incidents.

The leaders of the political groups have issued a statement available here

As a sign of respect the flags will fly at half-mast today and over the weekend at the town halls.

Reporting Suspicious Activities

Co-operation between the public and the police is the greatest asset in tackling the challenge the UK faces from terrorism. Sussex Police and Brighton & Hove City Council are asking all residents and communities to remain aware to and to report any suspicious behaviour or activity immediately by

• calling the confidential anti-terrorist hotline on 0800 789 321
• or 999 in an emergency.

You can also report online to Sussex Police at sussex.police.uk/contact-us/report-online.

For further information and support, go to http://www.safeinthecity.info/getting-help/preventing-terrorism-and-extremism or http://www.gov.uk/ACT .

Reporting Hate Incidents and Seeking Support

One Voice members urge everyone to be aware and are encouraging residents and communities to report any racist, religiously motivated or other hate incidents within our communities. Please report hate incidents at: http://www.safeinthecity.info/getting-help/racist-incidents

If you are worried or concerned about how the incident has affected you or any of your communities, please do advise me (Nahida.Shaikh@brighton-hove.gov.uk) and we will ensure that together with other statutory partners we will respond to community concerns.

About One Voice…

Brighton & Hove Council facilitates One Voice meetings with community activists and representatives from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities in the area. The One Voice programme is based on empowering communities by ensuring positive media messages on local BME communities, developing community resilience against extremism, ensuring joint working to support cohesion and integration and facilitating these communities to come together to celebrate shared values around promoting inclusion, pluralism and partnership working.