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Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Tenth Arrest In Jihad Slaughter Of UK Soldier Lee Rigby

Tenth Arrest In Jihad Slaughter Of UK Soldier Lee Rigby

May 27, 2013

Lee Rigby murder: Police make tenth arrest

A tenth person has been arrested in connection with the murder of soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich.

The 50-year-old man was arrested in Welling, south-east London, on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder.

Police also confirmed an address in south-east London is being searched.

Meanwhile the shadow home secretary said the government must put "more effort" into fighting the "murderous narrative" of hate preachers.

Four of those arrested have been bailed, two released without charge and four remain in custody over the killing on Wednesday.

Two suspects, Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22 - both Britons of Nigerian descent who are understood to be converts to Islam - remain in custody in hospital in a stable condition after being shot and wounded by police at the scene after the killing.

The Metropolitan Police said the men would not be questioned until they had been discharged from hospital, and the time they had spent under arrest so far would not count towards the maximum amount of time they could legally be held without charge.

Questions are still being raised over what British authorities knew about the suspects before the killing.

On Sunday the Foreign Office confirmed it had given consular assistance to suspect Mr Adebolajo when he was arrested in Kenya in 2010.

Kenyan government spokesman Muthui Kariuki told the BBC he was believed to have been preparing to fight with Somali militant group al-Shabab, and was handed over to "British security officers".

'Violent path'

The government also last week announced a new taskforce will look at whether extra powers are needed to tackle radicalisation.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper welcomed this but also said ministers should "rethink" changes made to the Prevent Strategy, set up under Labour to counter radicalisation.

She said more should be done by the government to support community organisations working to "prevent radicalisation and extremism in the first place".

"That includes backing community leaders who can counteract the extremists' message of hatred with moderation and mainstream Muslim views to stop people being drawn down a violent path.

"The taskforce should also heed the calls from youth workers to look more carefully at the links between violent extremism and gang activity - something that was raised with us by community leaders in Woolwich last week," she said.

On Sunday Mrs May told the BBC One's Andrew Marr the government would consider if it was necessary to introduce new laws to tackle extremism.

With regards Prevent, she said the government had already made improvements, including a new programme designed to reach beyond "extremists" to those not immediately at danger of radicalisation - people she described as "further out".

She also said it was "essential" police and intelligence agencies had access to information such as emails and internet data to help counter extremism.

EDL march

Elsewhere supporters of the far-right English Defence League (EDL) marched in central London, pushing through a police cordon on their way to Trafalgar Square.

More than 1,000 EDL protesters, some of whom chanted "there's only one Lee Rigby," gathered near Downing Street.

A smaller group of anti-fascist demonstrators gathered opposite them.

In other developments:

  • Downing Street has said Prime Minister David Cameron, who has been criticised by newspapers for going on a week-long family holiday to Ibiza, has officials with him and is being kept fully informed about the investigation
  • Police are investigating after two monuments in central London - the Animals in War memorial in Park Lane and the RAF Bomber Command memorial in Green Park - were defaced with the word Islam in red spray paint
  • Humberside Police have arrested two people after a fire broke out at the Grimsby Islamic Cultural Centre on Sunday night. No-one was injured and the force said it was "too early to speculate why the fire was started"

On Sunday members of Mr Rigby's family visited the scene of the killing and saw many thousands of flowers laid in his memory, and hundreds more floral tributes have been left since.

The family laid flowers at Woolwich Barracks, where Mr Rigby was based.

They then crossed the road to look at the exact spot where he was killed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-22679755

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