"There can be no doubt that we are already witnessing an increasingly bigoted anti-Muslim climate being fostered in Britain," Abdul Bari said.

CAIRO — A British Muslim leader blamed anti-veil remarks made by former foreign secretary Jack Straw for a racist attack on a veiled Muslim woman in Liverpool on Friday, October 6, as the Muslim umbrella organization in Britain said such statements give ammunition to anti-Muslim campaigns.

"I put the blame squarely and without any hesitation on Jack Straw," Akbar Ali, the ex-chairman of the Liverpool Islamic Institute, was quoted as saying by the BBC News Online.

Ali, who was involved in the campaign to free Liverpool hostage Ken Bigley in Iraq, said the attack was no coincidence, saying Straw should have known better.

"He's a responsible member of the government and is in a constituency with a large number of Muslims - he should have known better than make such a statement."

The woman's veil was torn from her face by a man shouting racist abuse in Liverpool, a day after Straw called for Muslim women in Britain to remove their veils.

Merseyside policemen, who say the attack was a hate crime, met Muslim leaders on Saturday to hear their concerns.

In a regular column Thursday, October 4, in his local newspaper, the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, Straw expressed discomfort at talking to someone he could not see.

But in a follow-up interview with BBC radio on Friday, he broadened his remarks to suggest that the veil had become a symbol of separateness between ethnic groups.

Asked if he would prefer that women did not wear veils, he said: "I'm not talking about being prescriptive but with all the caveats, yes, I would rather."

Intolerance

The main Muslim umbrella body in Britain, the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) has blasted Straw's call as giving ammunition to anti-Muslim campaigns.

"The Muslim Council of Britain is concerned that the comments made yesterday by such a high-profile figure as Jack Straw may play into the hands of those who are intolerant of Muslims and Islam," said the MCB in a statement on its website.

"There can be no doubt that we are already witnessing an increasingly bigoted anti-Muslim climate being fostered in Britain," said MCB Secretary-General Muhammad Abdul Bari.

"Recent weeks have witnessed several arson attacks against mosques and assaults on Muslim individuals around the country. Jack Straw’s comments will hardly help," he added.

The MCB warned that Straw's comments will further undermine civil liberties in the European country.

"There may be a difference of opinion on niqab (face-veil), but we have to respect a woman’s right to choose to adopt it," the MCB said.

Straw's comments have already drawn widespread condemnation from British Muslims and lawmakers.

British lawmaker and Respect party leader George Galloway said that Straw was effectively asking women to "wear less", calling on Straw to resign.

Removal Backed

British newspapers, however, backed Straw's call, arguing that the move would help Muslim integration into society.

"It is perhaps understandable if Muslims feel under siege at the moment," said The Sun newspaper, Britain's biggest-selling daily.

The daily claimed that the Muslim isolation was instrumental in fueling extremism at home and abroad.

The Times newspaper said "community relations might be improved by genuine face-to-face contact."

The veil "precludes a basic form of human contact in a way which the Sikh turban or the Buddhist robe" does not, it added.

The Daily Telegraph said Straw had "touched a raw nerve" by focusing on such an emblematic symbol of Muslim life but that "integration can't be achieved behind the veil".

Some 97 percent of around 10,000 readers of the Daily Express said they wanted a ban on the veil to "help safeguard racial harmony".

On Friday, October 6, some 93 percent of people who took part in a BBC radio survey of listeners supported Straw's comments.

Straw's comments were the latest in a recent wave from politicians of all sides on Muslim integration into society, which has been high on the political agenda since the July 7, 2005 attacks on London's transport system.