Press Release – Baroness Warsi visits Leicester

On Monday 7th April 2014, the Federation of Muslim Organisations (FMO) in partnership with St Philip’s Centre and the Centre for Hate Crime Studies at the University of Leicester, Bishop of Leicester, hosted Baroness Sayeeda Warsi. The event was restricted to 40 key people representing a cross section of faith and community organisations in Leicestershire. The event was titled an integration roadshow to help the Minister gauge thoughts and opinions. A range of questions were put forward including the role of the media, women empowerment, the UK impact of the Indian elections, proposals for legislation to ban caste discrimination, the banning of khat, the use of virtual autopsy, hate crimes etc.

Suleman Nagdi of the FMO who chaired the event, expressed the concerns of the FMO affiliates in relation to the report entitled ‘Tackling Extremism in the UK’ (4th December 2013) which was poor in content, doesn’t appropriately deal with far right extremism, concerns of charitable giving and concerns from Imams about their autonomy to deliver sermons.

Overall the event was a success as it gave people an opportunity to speak to the Minister and explored ideas about how government and communities need to work together. We are grateful to Baroness Warsi for taking the time to visit Leicester in her very busy schedule.

ENDS

Suleman Nagdi