Thaindian News

London, Dec 23 (IANS) Fanatics from a banned Islamic hate group have launched a nationwide poster campaign in Britain denouncing Christmas as evil and hoping that it will lead to Britons converting to Islam, a media report said Thursday.Organisers plan to put up thousands of placards around Britain claiming the season of goodwill is responsible for rape, teenage pregnancies, abortion, promiscuity, crime and paedophilia, the Daily Mail reported.

They hope the campaign will help “destroy Christmas” in this country and lead to Britons converting to Islam instead.

The placards, which have already appeared in parts of London, feature an apparently festive scene with an image of the Star of Bethlehem over a Christmas tree, the daily said.

But a banner announcing “the evils of Christmas” features a message mocking the song the “12 Days of Christmas”.

It reads: “On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me an STD (sexually transmitted disease).”

“On the second day debt, on the third rape, the fourth teenage pregnancies and then there was abortion.”

According to the poster, Christmas is also responsible for paganism, domestic violence, homelessness, vandalism, alcohol and drugs.

The bottom of the poster declares: “In Islam we are protected from all of these evils. We have marriage, family, honour, dignity, security, rights for man, woman and child.”

The campaign’s organiser is 27-year-old Abu Rumaysah, who once called for Sharia Law in Britain at a press conference held by hate preacher Anjem Choudary, the leader of militant group Islam4UK, the report said.

Former Home Secretary Alan Johnson banned Islam4UK group earlier this year, making it a criminal offence to be a member, after it threatened to protest at Wootton Bassett, the town where Britain honours its war dead.

Rumaysah told the daily that he was unconcerned about offending Christians.

He said: “Christmas is a lie and as Muslims it is our duty to attack it.

“But our main attack is on the fruits of Christmas, things like alcohol abuse and promiscuity that increase during Christmas and all the other evils these lead to such as abortion, domestic violence and crime.

“We hope that out campaign will make people realise that Islam is the only way to avoid this and convert.”

Rumaysah, who said his campaign was not linked to any group, boasted that the posters would be put up in cities around the country, including London, Birmingham and Cardiff.

Labour MP and anti racist campaigner Jim Fitzpatrick branded the posters “extremely offensive” and demanded they were immediately ripped down.

A police spokesman said they had received complaints and were investigating.

He said: “We are investigating allegations of religious hate crime in Tower Hamlets, a London borough, following complaints about posters displayed in and around the Mile End area.”