British Soldiers Burn In Hell...

A relative of mine just posted this as her facebook status:

Today muslims broke the 2minutes silence in Central London with holding banners "British Soldiers Burn In Hell" & with the burning of a poppy... KICK ALL THE DISRESPECTFUL BASTARDS OUT OF THIS COUNTRY!!!! copy and paste this if you agree

This is my response:

I don't agree with the banners at all- to say that about anyone who has died is disrespectful and shameful. However I can understand their reason for protesting and why they feel so strongly about the issue. This might go some way towards explaining it:

"On 11th November 2010, commonwealth countries will join together in a moment of silence to commemorate the sacrifices of their civilians and armed forces during times of war. For over a century these events have gone uninterrupted, as millions of people continue to reflect on the casualties of modern warfare.

Unfortunately, the bitter reality of Remembrance Day is that the majority of people (who participate in it) are blissfully unaware of the hidden truths behind this very distasteful event. Put simply, Remembrance Day is a symbol of imperialism and everything that is wrong with democracy and man-made law.

As Muslims, we can poignantly remember the victims of (British) military intervention, the bullets fired and the bombs dropped, the lands occupied and the resources stolen and in light of this find it very difficult to remember the perpetrators of such crimes without much anger and hostility.

The British military are currently at the forefront of some of the harshest campaigns against Islam and Muslims, and furthermore have played a crucial role in cementing economic and strategic interests that rob large Muslim populations of vital resources.

In light of this, Muslims against Crusades have organised an emergency demonstration, to highlight these injustices and to furthermore ensure that on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, this message is heard loudly and clearly."
From the website muslimsagainstcrusades.com.

I suppose they are so bitter and resentful because they are remembering the many women, children and men murdered by British troops in muslim countries while British people are remembering the soldiers themselves. But, of course, that certainly doesn't mean that they have a right to desecrate the memorial service. It's also important to note that it wouldn't really be possible to kick muslims out of the UK as that would be confusing muslims with immigrants and many muslims are British citizens and many British citizens are muslims and therefore have a valid and intrinsic place in our society. British soldiers who are also muslims have also died in combat in recent years. But I do totally agree that the way these people are demonstrating is very crude, provocative and aggressive. Two wrongs don't make a right and all that... They should have tried to explain and describe their point of view and educate people about why they feel this way rather than insult dead soldiers which only creates more hostility and breeds ignorance and anger. That's how I feel anyway, but I think this is too long to paste as my status... :)