MURDER MISCLASSIFIED

It appears that a gang of young, British street thugs has attacked and killed a Muslim man guilty of nothing more provocative than going to the neighbourhood shops. Police are not willing to speculate on the reason for the attack, refusing to classify it as Islamophobic:

Superintendent Dave Colbeck, of Nottinghamshire police, said: "It would be inappropriate to comment on the possible motive.

"It is a localised incident and we are not looking at it as anything other than an isolated incident."

Azad Ali, of the Muslim Safety Forum, is certain of the motive:

"You can't class this as racist, there was no racist abuse shouted at him, it was Islamophobic.

"It is good the police have made arrests. We are disappointed that they have misclassified it, especially after all the advice to be more alert to Islamophobic hate crime."

No matter, there is no excuse for an attack like this. As for Azad Ali's reaction, he could have at least made a passing reference to the "root causes" of such crimes.