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Stickers recently posted around Tower Hamlets in east London read: ‘Arise and warn. Gay free zone. Verily Allah is severe in punishment’.
It has been suggested that the stickers were placed around the area – including outside gay bars The George & Dragon and The Joiners Arms, along Whitechapel High Street and outside a school – by extremist group Islam4UK.
However, Jack Gilbert of LGBT forum Rainbow Hamlets suggested that the stickers had actually been placed by members of the far-right English Defense League, in order to stir up tension between the Muslim and gay communities.
A spokesperson for Tower Hamlets Council said that the borough’s Hate Crime Team, alongside local police, are investigating the incidents.
