While in London there is preferential housing for “Asians,” in the Welsh Assembly posters warning people to be watchful for terrorist activity have been removed for fears that they’ll offend Muslim sensitivities. From icWales, :
A STORM erupted last night after the National Assembly decided to remove police anti-terrorism posters from its headquarters because they were considered insulting to Muslim women.
Two Plaid Cymru AMs said the posters were unacceptable because they depicted two eyes between a black background that looked like a Muslim head scarf.
But last night Assembly authorities who agreed to remove the posters were accused of ‘political correctness gone mad’ as it was pointed out that the eyes were not those of a terrorist, but of someone being alert to danger.
The bilingual posters appeared at the Assembly offices in Cardiff Bay over the Easter recess. They carry the South Wales Police logo above a message headed ‘Life Savers’ that urges people to be vigilant and gives details of a telephone anti-terrorist hotline. AMs saw them when they returned from their break this week.
The poster image also appears on South Wales Police’s website.
Plaid Cymru AM Jocelyn Davies complained about the posters at a closed meeting of the business committee yesterday and Deputy Presiding Officer Dr John Marek agreed to put the matter to the house committee. By the end of the afternoon, all the posters which had been put on noticeboards by officers from the police unit stationed at the Assembly had been removed.
Detective Chief Superintendent Geoff Cooper, head of South Wales CID, said, “This is a national poster campaign which has been distributed across the UK by the Metropolitan Police, and South Wales Police has produced a bilingual version which is currently being circulated throughout the force area.
“The posters have been designed to reassure the public and to request their help in reporting anything suspicious to us.”
A police source said, “The objection to this poster is very bizarre. So far as we are aware this is the only complaint there has been across the UK.
“The eyes are not supposed to represent a terrorist – they are meant to depict someone who is being alert to the danger of terrorism. That’s the whole point of it”
Monmouth Tory AM David Davies said, “It’s political correctness gone mad. This poster has been displayed across the UK and nobody else has taken any offence. I think it’s absolutely ridiculous and just goes to show that it is often not members of ethnic minority communities who make a fuss, but middle-class white liberals who should know better.”
Ms Davies, the Plaid AM for South Wales East, said, “A member of our support staff first saw the poster and decided to take it down. Later my colleague Leanne Wood decided to take down all those she could see. I raised the matter at the end of the business committee because the eyes on the poster clearly look like those of a Muslim woman.
“I appreciate that the message is supposed to be about making people vigilant and that they eyes are meant to depict someone being alert. Nevertheless, at first glance they do look like a Muslim woman wearing a headscarf and the subconscious implication is that she could be a terrorist.
And that, of course, is utterly inconceivable, eh?