Fundamentalists to defy ban on march

A Muslim fundamentalist organisation dedicated to the establishment of an Islamic state in Britain is pressing ahead with plans for a mass demonstration in central London despite being banned from marching.

Al-Muhajiroun, which has openly boasted of support for Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network and trained British Muslims to fight against coalition forces in Afghanistan, is planning a "Rally for Islam" in Trafalgar Square on 25 August.

It hopes to use the march to recruit new members, and has place posters around London to attract support for the event. Leaders of the group, whose spiritual head, Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, has been investigated by Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist unit, insist the march will go ahead despite a ban from Mayor Ken Livingstone and the Greater London Authority.

Anjem Choudary, UK leader of Al-Muhajiroun, said: "It's a public space, there are going to be thousands of people there anyway. Ken Livingstone has his own agenda - people are just being anti-Islam and anti-Muslim."

Although the Greater London Authority has no powers to prevent the staging of peaceful demonstrations, a spokesman stressed that Al-Muhajiroun held extreme views and had a track record of staging rallies calculatedto cause offence and distress. She said: "At previous rallies, they have expressed anti-Jewish and homophobic comments that would be insulting to a lot of people."

Anti-terrorist officers at Scotland Yard are known to work closely with the Home Office in an effort to ensure that demonstrations and rallies by known extremist groups pose no threat to public order or are not used to incite racial hatred.

A spokesman said police would maintain a presence at the 25 August rally and that extra officers would be available if required. He said: "We do have emergency units available if they become necessary."

Although Al-Muhajiroun now denies claims that it recruits volunteers to fight with Islamic forces overseas, before 11 September the organisations' leaders boasted of their success in sending fighters to Chechnya, Bosnia and Afghanistan. The group does not deny that some of its members fought against British and American forces in Afghanistan.

Mr Choudary said: "We want to turn Britain into an Islamic state. Islam has brought law and order for 1,300 years."