An estimated crowd of 5000 Muslims converged on Trafalgar Square in London on Saturday as a kind of counter-protest to the brazenly anti-American/anti-European protests of the previous week. According to observers, the whole thing appeared to be carefully planned to portray rank-and-file British Muslims as peace-loving, loyal British subjects, right down to a sea of British Union flags.
This seems an admirable message, but one that will probably not resonate. And whether these particular people are sincere or not is beside the point. Most of the Muslim-led governments throughout the world have either condoned or even sponsored the recent violent protests against the West. Watching rioters in Beirut and Gaza trampling and burning American flags in fits of rage over a Danish cartoon points to a different agenda.
Staged events like the one in Trafalgar Square won’t do much to put the brakes on the juggernaut of Islam. Unless Muslims who claim to want peace take very serious and very public action against the radicals among them, their gestures are worthless.