Streeting: Grooming gangs rhetoric could lead to UK version of NZ mosque attack
Streeting: Grooming gangs rhetoric could lead to UK version of NZ mosque attack
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Wes Streeting has warned of the dangers of vilification in regards to grooming gangs, pointing to the 2019 mosque massacre in New Zealand as what the result could look like for Britain if “entire communities” are “tarred with the same brush”. In March 2019 Australian far-right extremist Brenton Tarrant opened fire in two mosques in the city of Christchurch, on New Zealand’s south island.
A total of 51 people were killed and a further 89 were injured, making the atrocity New Zealand’s worst-ever mass shooting. Tarrant livestreamed the atrocity on the social media platform Facebook, with his weapons and ammunition adorned with white supremacist symbols.
One clip of ammunition clip had the “For Rotherham” scrawled upon it; seemingly a reference to the child sexual exploitation scandal uncovered in the UK town. In an interview with the Guardian, the Health Secretary said he had “no difficulty or qualms” in calling out the “sickening” crimes of sexual abuse gangs in the UK.
He also criticised the “well-meaning, but ultimately fundamentally misguided and warped views of political correctness” of police and council agencies that let down thousands of children who desperately needed their protection. The Ilford North MP said: “At the same time, there are people in my community who have either Pakistani heritage or look different, who are now more fearful today than they were before.”.
