Jeremy Corbyn joins street iftar to mark Finsbury Park mosque attack anniversary

Jeremy Corbyn joins street iftar to mark Finsbury Park mosque attack anniversary
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn broke fast with members of the Muslim community in North London on Tuesday to commemorate the second anniversary of the Finsbury Park mosque attack
2 min read
22 May, 2019
Corbyn broke fast with members of the Muslim community in North London. [Getty]

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn broke fast with members of the Muslim community in North London on Tuesday to commemorate the second anniversary of the Finsbury Park mosque attack.

Father-of-six Makram Ali, 51, was killed when far-right extremist Darren Osbourne ploughed his van into a crowd outside the north London mosque on June 19, 2017.

Twelve other worshippers were injured.

Corbyn joined the daughter of Ali, Ruzina Akhtar, at a community street iftar outside the mosque, where he offered a message of unity.

"I want our children to grow up in a world of diversity of wonder and of beauty, but if they grow up in a world dominated by discrimination and hate, then their lives will be less exciting, their lives will be less imaginative, and above all the collective problems we face cannot be solved,” Corbyn said.

Tuesday marked the 17th day of Ramadan and the second anniversary of the attack, according to the Islamic lunar calendar.

Akhtar later addressed the gathering, calling for communities to stand united against "terrorists and racists who set out to divide us".

Abdirahman Ibrahim, 31, was also present. He was hit by the van driven by Osbourne and helped apprehend the perpetrator while also tending to the victims.

He suffered anxiety, PTSD, and hyper vigilance following the attack.

Osborne, from the Welsh capital Cardiff, was in February sentenced to life in prison with a minimum 43-year term.

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