Clash of Civilizations Update from Britain — or rather, Acquiescence to Islamic Customs by Supine Dhimmis Update. From AFP, with thanks to Sr. Soph:
LONDON – A Muslim woman police officer refused to shake hands with her force’s chief, police said Saturday, amid a new row in Britain over religious customs and professional duties.
The officer was granted the exemption for religious reasons at a graduation ceremony where newly-qualified recruits met Sir Ian Blair, the head of London’s Metropolitan Police force, a police spokeswoman said.
The officer, who has not been named, reportedly refused out of respect for a strict school of Muslim faith which dictates that a woman must not shake hands with, or kiss, a man other than her husband or close relative.
The “request was only granted” in order not to spoil what is a key event, the police spokeswoman said.
She said that Sir Ian, Britain’s most senior police officer, questioned her refusal to shake his hand, but the officer insisted she put her duties above her personal beliefs unless she had a choice to do otherwise….
A senior police source told the Mail On Sunday that “Sir Ian was informed on his arrival of the officer’s request” during the graduation ceremony on December 21.
“This has never happened before and he was bloody furious. But he agreed to go along with it so as not to cause a scene,” the source was quoted as saying.
Bloody furious, eh. But above all, Sir Ian, avoid a scene.
It is not just Muslims who avoid shaking hands in certain circumstances. But it is only Muslims who have a ready-made replacement for the whole panoply of societal norms, and many of them in Britain are quite obviously determined to impose that replacement upon the country as a whole.