Tooting residents have roundly condemned attacks made on Sadiq Khan by Donald Trump during his address to the UN General Assembly yesterday, in which the US President claimed Khan was a ‘terrible mayor’ who wants London ‘to go to sharia law’.
Trump, addressing the UN for the first time in six years, claimed that London had been ‘so changed’ and accused Khan – the first Muslim mayor of a Western capital – of steering the city towards being governed by sharia law, an Islamic legal system.
Rebutting Trump’s comments, the Mayor of London said that he was living ‘rent-free’ in the President’s head – and branded him ‘racist, sexist, misogynistic’ and ‘Islamophobic’.
These comments are the latest in a long-running feud between the pair which originated in 2015, before the President’s first term, when Khan publicly criticised Trump’s call to ban all Muslims from entering the US.
Residents and business owners in Tooting – Khan’s birthplace and former constituency – have slammed Trump’s comments about the mayor.
Anu, a 27-year-old shopkeeper in Tooting Broadway’s off-licence, said: “There is not a shred of evidence that Khan wants to bring sharia law to the UK. It’s stupid.
“Keir Starmer should have stuck up for Khan. You have to look after your own country, you cannot just let random Americans come in and criticise.”
Another resident, a 28-year-old nurse named Layla, said: “You can have your doubts about Sadiq Khan – I don’t think he is the greatest mayor – but to claim that he wants to bring sharia law here is a big statement to make. It’s clearly not the case.
“There are many Muslims here, I’m Muslim. We understand that we’re living in a Western country, no one wants to bring that here.
She continued: “If we had a Jewish or Hindu mayor, Trump would not keep bringing up their religion or this law. His comments towards Sadiq Khan are Islamophobic.
“Trump has singled out one city in a country nowhere near his. It is a scapegoat to divert from dealing with his own problems.”
Similar criticisms of Trump were echoed in a statement to the Londoners by Tooting’s current MP, Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, who said: “This is a man who consistently spouts the most lurid and nonsensical statements on a now-daily basis.
“From a man whose experience of London is limited to the limousine between his private jet and a five-star hotel, I find it hugely rich as an actual Londoner to hear this nonsense.”
Numerous Labour MPs, such as Health Secretary Wes Streeting, have also hit back at Trump’s claim as unfounded.
Within Tooting’s street market, other residents contested the implication that Khan was trying to impose foreign law over London.
EJ, a 44-year-old man currently unemployed, said: “Khan was born and raised here. He is a Londoner, he is English.
“We can all have gripes with crime rates or other issues in London but I do not think Khan has done anything in the way of trying to bring in some kind of sharia law.”
In a statement referencing Trump, the Mayor of London’s spokesperson said: “We are not going to dignify his appalling and bigoted comments with a response.”
Featured image credit: Flickr
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