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by Our News Desk
BRITAIN was subjected to the bitter taste of Donald Trump’s divisive rhetoric yesterday as the US billionaire spewed forth his bigoted take on the Brussels bombing.
In an interview for ITV’s Good Morning Britain, the Republican presidential hopeful claimed it was a “big problem” that Muslims were “absolutely not reporting” suspicious activity.
Police, political and religious leaders united to debunk and condemn his claims as baseless.
Mr Trump was tackled live on TV by Muslim Council of Britain assistant secretary general Miqdaad Versi, who said his comments are “just not true.”
Mr Versi said: “What we have to recognise is when some of these statements are made that fuel this idea of bigotry and really fuel the thing that terrorists themselves want — that Muslims are apart from the West and cannot be seen as equal citizens — these things are not good for our society.”
Senior counterterrorism police officer Neil Basu said Mr Trump was “wrong” and playing into the hands of terrorists by demonising Muslims.
And Tory Home Secretary Theresa May condemned the comments as she updated the Commons on the response to Tuesday’s terrorist outrage.
But Ms May and Prime Minister David Cameron were themselves criticised over their rhetoric on immigration by a senior European human rights official.
Nils Muiznieks, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, condemned the pair for using the “language of criminalisation” and called for politicians to stop using the phrase “illegal immigrant.”
An early day motion has been submitted in protest against Ukip’s attempt to score political points in the EU referendum from the Brussels attacks.