The 4 Freedoms Library

It takes a nation to protect the nation

Charlie Hebdo T-shirt-wearing woman is STABBED at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park in attack caught on video as police hunt man dressed all in black who fled the scene

  • Woman suffered a stab wound and was seen with blood pouring down her face
  • The man who carried out the attack quickly sprinted away from the scene
  • Police have not said whether there was a motive for the attack but video footage shows the woman was wearing a blue Charlie Hebdo T-shirt

A woman wearing a Charlie Hebdo T-shirt has been stabbed at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park as police hunt for a man dressed in black who fled the scene. 

The 39-year-old victim suffered a stab wound and was seen with blood pouring down the side of her face after the stabbing at the site where people gather for public speeches and debates on Sunday.  

The man who carried out the attack quickly sprinted away as he was chased by members of the public as well as police. 

Video footage shows a large group of people standing outside in torrential rain before the attacker lunged at the woman and stabbed her at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park

Video footage shows a large group of people standing outside in torrential rain before the attacker lunged at the woman and stabbed her at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park

The woman, who was wearing a Charlie Hebdo T-shirt, was stabbed at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park

The woman, who was wearing a Charlie Hebdo T-shirt, was stabbed at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park

Video footage shows a large group of people standing outside in torrential rain before the attacker lunged at the woman and stabbed her before she cowered and walked shakily away as the man ran in the opposite direction.   

The woman is later seen clutching her right hand close to her body and with what appears to be blood at her temple as she is helped into a police van by officers who were nearby.

The Met Police, who described it as 'a very distressing incident' for the victim, said officers attended Hyde Park at 3.34pm to reports of a woman being stabbed at Speakers' Corner.  

The victim, who was wearing a blue-T-shirt with Charlie Hebdo written on it, was seen being treated as she sat inside the police van before being taken to hospital for further treatment of minor injuries. 

The attacker, who was dressed in all black, had fled shortly after the attack and a crime scene has been put in place. Police said a knife was recovered nearby. 

The Metropolitan police have not said whether there was a motive for the attack but video footage of the attack shows the woman was wearing a Charlie Hebdo T-shirt.

The victim suffered a stab wound and was seen with blood pouring down the side of her face on Sunday

The victim suffered a stab wound and was seen with blood pouring down the side of her face on Sunday

The man who carried out the attack quickly sprinted away as he was chased by members of the public as well as police

The man who carried out the attack quickly sprinted away as he was chased by members of the public as well as police

Charlie Hebdo, a satirical magazine based in Paris, lost 12 employees in an al Qaida attack in 2015 by French-born extremists Said and Cherif Kouachi.

Their primary targets were staff at the satirical magazine which had published a series of cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad. 

Detective Superintendent Alex Bingley, of the Central West Command Unit which covers policing in Westminster, said: 'This was clearly a very distressing incident for the woman involved and officers have spent time with her, whilst she was being treated for her injury, to get an account of what happened.

'We know that this assault was witnessed by a number of people, many of whom captured it on their phones.

'I would ask them, if they have not already done so, to contact police.

'We remain in the early stages of our investigation and are working hard to trace the person responsible.

'I would ask people not to speculate on the motive for the attack until we have established the full facts.'

The Met Police told MailOnline in a statement: 'Police were called by the London Ambulance Service at 15:34hrs on Sunday, 25 July to reports of an assault at Speakers' Corner, W1.

'Officers attended and found a woman suffering from a minor slash injury. She was treated by the LAS before being taken to a central London hospital.

'A knife was recovered nearby.

'Officers from Westminster are working alongside the Royal Parks OCU to investigate and identify the man responsible.

'There have been no arrests and enquiries continue.

'Anyone with information is asked to call police via 101 quoting reference Cad 4376/25Jul.' 

Tags: Corner, Hatun, Speakers, Tash

Views: 226

Replies to This Discussion

Press Release

The intention was to kill me’: Christian woman repeatedly stabbed at Speakers’ Corner speaks following ‘harrowing’ incident

28 July 2021 Issued by: Christian Concern

A Christian woman who was attacked and stabbed multiplet imes by a man in a black Islamic robe at Speakers’ Corner, London, is speaking for the first time since the incident.

Hatun Tash, 39, a well-known Christian preacher who regularly critiques and debates the Qur’an at Speakers’ Corner, the most famous place in the world for free speech,

was attacked at 3.34pm on Sunday 25 July.

Hatun is an ex-Muslim who has converted to Christianity and

is the director of the ministry Defend Christ Critique Islam

(DCCI). (https://www.dcciministries.com/)

It is well known that those who convert from Islam are

deemed to have committed apostasy which according to

sharia law deserves the death penalty.

Shocking video footage (https://youtu.be/QeCaTccewcM)

from Sunday’s incident has revealed a man clad in black, with

a hood and face mask, unleashing a series of violent stabs at

Hatun’s throat and body which left her with wounds to her

face and hands.

Hatun collapsed with blood down her face and is seen wearing

a Charlie Hebdo t-shirt.

Following the attack, the man immediately fled the scene

(https://twitter.com/JamieRightly/status/1419399696578224138) and

discarded the knife.

Moments earlier, Hatun, who is being supported by the

Christian Legal Centre, had been quietly speaking to another member of the public and was not preaching.

She was treated by the London Ambulance Service and was

then taken to a central London hospital where her wounds

were stitched.

Despite a police car appearing immediately, police failed to

catch and detain the attacker and have now appealed to the

public for further evidence. Counter-terrorism are now also

investigating.

‘I can’t believe this has happened’

Responding to the attack, Hatun said: “I am upset and disturbed

by what has happened to me. I am asking myself if have done

anything wrong? I am convinced I have not broken any law or

incited hate. All I did was question Islam and I wanted to debate

discuss and to tell people about Jesus Christ. Speakers’ Corner is a

great place to do this, it is a shame that this has happened at the home

of freedom of speech.

“Watching the video, the intention is clearly to kill me.

“I can’t believe this has happened in broad daylight at Speakers’

Corner. You do not expect such things to happen in Great Britain.

“Police inaction has led to what happened to me yesterday. In the

past, they have seen it as easier to remove me than deal with people

intimidating and threatening me. My attacker was not even afraid of

the police as he did it right in front of them. It is heart-breaking that

we live in a society where police do not want to arrest a Muslim for

fear of being called ‘Islamophobic.'”

‘Series of disturbing incidents’

The incident is the latest in a series of concerning events at

Speakers’ Corner involving Hatun.

Prior to Sunday’s incident, the Christian Legal Centre had

already filed a pre-action letter

(https://christianconcern.com/wp-

content/uploads/2018/10/CC-Resource-Misc-Hatun-Tash-

2100727.pdf) with the London Metropolitan Police seeking

damages on Hatun’s behalf for assault, false arrest, false

imprisonment and harassment as a result of the repeated

failures to protect her.

Disturbing incidents and threats to Hatun have been

escalating at Speakers’ Corner since September 2020

(https://youtu.be/h6O20V-oOig) when footage emerged of a

threatening Islamic mob surrounding Hatun which resulted in

her receiving death threats.

Further incidents, outlined in the pre-action letter

(https://christianconcern.com/wp-

content/uploads/2018/10/CC-Resource-Misc-Hatun-Tash-

2100727.pdf), have involved Hatun being slapped, punched

and knocked to the ground by Islamic men.

Police have repeatedly failed to protect Hatun or make any

arrests following her being assaulted and threatened. Instead,

she has experienced being arrested, detained overnight in a

police cell and had her belongings searched humiliatingly in

public.

The Free Speech Union has also written to Metropolitan

Police raising concerns over her treatment.

The story comes following protests and death threats about

the Batley Grammar School teacher

(https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/batley-grammar-school-

teacher-still-in-hiding-after-threats-over-prophet-cartoon-

lqcmcxg9j) who is still in hiding and fearing for his life after

showing a Charlie Hebdo cartoon to his pupils.

‘Freedom hanging by a thread’

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal

Centre, said: “What happened to Hatun Tash at Speakers’ Corner

was harrowing. Sharia law is being implemented there by the back

door and Sunday’s incident is a serious escalation following a series

of concerning episodes.

“Speakers’ Corner is the embodiment of freedom, that is unlike any

other place in the world.

“Our freedom is hanging by a thread – if Hatun is silenced by

violence at Speakers’ Corner, then we are all silenced.”

Back to press office (https://christianconcern.com/press-office/)

https://youtu.be/7zDAtzmpecc

Hatun Tash regularly debates the Qur’an at Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park. On 25 July 2021, she was attacked and stabbed there for her Christian preaching.

In this video, Hatun describes what happened and why she’ll continue sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with Muslims. “I am OK, I am still alive by God’s grace,” she says. “Right now, I sense the Lord still wants me [at Speakers’ Corner]. Until the Lord takes me home, I will continue preaching the glorious gospel.”

Send Hatun a message of support

Wouild you like to send Hatun a message to give her your support and let her know you're praying for her?

If so, please enter your details below to send your message of support to Hatun.

Messages will be moderated before we pass them on.

[scroll down at this link to send a message]

https://christianconcern.com/cccases/hatun-tash/

Interview ; https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/07/29/londons-speakers-corner...

Is there no link to an official ad for the demo this Sunday we can share ?

I don't have one, just the image I grabbed from Tommy Robinson's feed on Telegram . However, you could always link to the homepage of 4F where it is in the top left corner. 

It's too late to save this civilisation. Better start preparing for its collapse and what comes after.

So maybe a few hundred people go to Speakers Corner next Sunday. The following week the immigrant scum will dominate again, and it will return to the new normal. Eventually one of those few who persist in poking the beast will be killed there. And the killer will be a hero to the replacement population, feted in mosques and prisons around the country. A day after the murder, if it's reported at all, the British won't even remember the name of the person who was killed.

So sadly true. Who remembers Kris Donald, or Pym Fortyn, or even now you meet people who don't know who Lee Rigby was.

Joe said:

It's too late to save this civilisation. Better start preparing for its collapse and what comes after.

So maybe a few hundred people go to Speakers Corner next Sunday. The following week the immigrant scum will dominate again, and it will return to the new normal. Eventually one of those few who persist in poking the beast will be killed there. And the killer will be a hero to the replacement population, feted in mosques and prisons around the country. A day after the murder, if it's reported at all, the British won't even remember the name of the person who was killed.

https://freespeechunion.org/letter-to-commissioner-cressida-dick-cb...


Letter to Commissioner Cressida Dick CBE concerning Hatun Tash


We are very concerned about the safety of the FSU member and Christian preacher Hatun Tash, who was slashed in the face with a knife at Speakers’ Corner last month. We first wrote to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick about Ms Tash on 2 June, following her arrest for breach of the peace, and we have written to her again, urging the Metropolitan Police to protect Ms Tash’s rights to life, freedom of religion, and freedom of expression. Below, you can see our original letter, the replies we received, as well as our most recent letter. [Other letter exchanges prior to the one below, are available at the link.]

--

THE FREE SPEECH UNION LIMITED
REGISTERED OFFICE:  GT. PORTLAND ST., LONDON W1W 7LT

Commissioner Cressida Dick CBE
Metropolitan Police
New Scotland Yard
8 – 10 Broadway
London SW1H 0BG 31st July 2021

Dear Ms Dick,

Attack on Ms Hatun Tash

I am writing to you in my capacity as General Secretary of the Free Speech Union, a non-partisan, mass
membership public interest body that stands up for the speech rights of its members and campaigns for free
speech more widely.

This letter concerns the knife attack on Ms Hatun Tash at Speaker’s Corner on 25 July 2021. Ms Tash is a
member of the Free Speech Union. We would like reassurance, in light of what seems to have been an
attempt to inflict serious injury on Ms Tash, that the Metropolitan Police will protect her rights to life,
freedom of religion, and freedom of expression.

On 2 June 2021, we wrote to you about Ms Tash’s arrest by the Met on 23 May 2021. We asked for assurance
that, in the event of Ms Tash being threatened with or suffering violent assault, the Met would take action
against those using violence, and would refrain from arresting Ms Tash for exercising her rights to freedom
of religion and expression.

Inspector Trevor Richards replied to our letter on 25 June with the following:

Ms Tash has received advice about potential threats to her safety at Speakers Corner and elsewhere. She
has had threats made against her, and suffered a minor assault, the suspect of which is known and is
currently under investigation by Royal Parks officers. There has also been a third party allegation made of
Ms Tash being a victim of an offence on the day of her arrest that is currently under investigation by Royal
Parks officers.

A number of questions arise from Inspector Richards’ email and subsequent events:

1. Did Royal Parks officers continue its investigations against the persons suspected of offences,
including assault, against Ms Tash? Were arrests made?
2. Did Royal Parks officers update Ms Tash on the progress of investigations, and on any further
threats to her safety?
3. Do officers believe that the knife attack on 25 July was carried out by a person who was already
under investigation?
4. What further steps will officers take to ensure that Ms Tash can exercise her rights to freedom of
religion and expression without risk to her personal safety?
As you will be aware, Ms Tash’s situation engages a range of obligations on the police. Under Article 2 of
the European Convention on Human Rights, the police have a positive obligation to take operational
measures to protect an individual whose life is at risk from the criminal acts of another individual (Osman
v. the United Kingdom, App. No. 87/1997/871/1083 (1998) [115]).
The Supreme Court has also held, in Metropolitan Police Commissioner v DSD and another [2018] UKSC
11, that police can be liable under Article 3 of the Convention for failure to investigate allegations of serious
violent crime.


We hope that the recent knife attack on Ms Tash, in light of the legal obligations on the Metropolitan Police
and its officers, will effect a sea-change in its approach to her. It is time to accept that Ms Tash is not a threat
or a criminal, but a citizen in danger whose only option is to rely on the police to protect her fundamental
rights. We fear that failure to grasp this reality will result in an avoidable tragedy.


We believe also that Ms Tash’s case engages a question of pressing public interest – to what extent does the
Met accept that it is under a positive obligation to protect Ms Tash’s rights to freedom of religion and
expression?

In the case of Fáber v. Hungary, App. No. 40721/08 (2012), the European Court of Human
Rights held that Article 10, interpreted in light of the Article 11 right to protest, imposes on the state a
positive obligation to protect the right to demonstrate, even if this involves operational measures by police
to prevent the outbreak of violence between opposing parties.

We accept that policing the capital with necessarily limited resources is a difficult job. As such, we recognise
that there is a practical limit to the protection the police can offer to Ms Tash. However we believe that the
duty in Fáber v. Hungary is clearly engaged in this case. The Met must therefore make clear to Ms Tash, if it
hasn’t already, the steps it proposes to take in order to facilitate her right to speak in Hyde Park. In addition,
the Met should make clear to the public, in general terms, how it proposes to carry out its positive duty to
protect freedom of speech against intimidatory violence from those seeking to silence others.

Yours sincerely,

Toby Young
General Secretary
The Free Speech Union
toby@freespeechunion.org
cc: Inspector Trevor Richards

What a great letter. The FSU is really coming on.

https://thecritic.co.uk/silenced-in-speakers-corner/

Silenced at Speakers’ Corner

Hate crimes operate as a contemporary, de facto blasphemy law

ARTILLERY ROW 4 August, 2021

By

Noel Yaxley

Hyde Park has long been associated with political rebellion. The Grade-I listed park in central London has been the gathering point for some of the biggest demonstrations in British history. In 1866 when the Reform League campaigned to extend the franchise to working-class men, two hundred thousand people showed up. Up to half a million turned up in support of “Women’s Sunday” in 1908 when the suffragettes fought for women’s rights. Skip forward one hundred years, and three quarters of a million descended on the park to voice their opposition to the Iraq war.

There exists a small area in this 350 acre park reserved for a more personal battle. Known as the home of free speech, Speakers’ Corner is one of the country’s most famous bastions of liberty. For over 150 years, people from every conceivable ideological and philosophical persuasion have descended on this space to debate and discuss everything from atheism to Zionism. Winston Churchill, Karl Marx and George Bernard Shaw are among the noted luminaries known to have mounted soapboxes to speak their minds. In fact, anyone can show up unannounced and make their voice heard. George Orwell once described this area on the north-east corner of Hyde Park as “one of the minor wonders of the world”.

It is one of the few places in the country where you can express almost any belief you wish. Lord Justice Sedley thought that the corner demonstrates “the tolerance which is both extended by the law to opinion of every kind and expected by the law in the conduct of those who disagree, even strongly, with what they hear”.

This level of tolerance was not extended to Hatun Tash. The 39 year-old was attacked at Speakers’ Corner last week. A small group of people were listening to her speak when a man lunged towards her with a knife — cutting her face and slashing her arm. A video widely circulated online shows her face covered with blood. 

Police believe the attacker’s motive was unknown, but it is at least plausible to offer one potential reason: her opinions. As a former Muslim, Tash is a vociferous critic of Islam and frequently engages in heated debates with Islamic preachers This is not the first time she has been attacked in the home of free speech. She was punched last year for the crime of holding up a cartoon of Muhammad. 

Under the cover of Islamophobia, any genuine criticism of Islam is forbidden

One would expect an extremist attack like this to be headline news. Besides a few outlets, the media have been relatively quiet about it. Where were the left speaking up in condemnation? Violently attacking someone for her beliefs is the very definition of fascism — something liberals used to stand against. Yet the anti-fascists are strangely absent. This ideological omertà is commonplace whenever Islam is mentioned.

There was a moratorium on criticism following the fallout from the Batley Grammar school affair. The teacher was harassed and forced into hiding after he showed his pupils an image of the prophet in a religious studies lesson. Few politicians came to his defence, while the teaching unions — the one group you would think would leap to his aid — simply looked the other way and wished the whole thing away. The only people who supported him were normal working-class people: the bin men of Batley. The Bury branch of Unite — which represents bin men — put forward a motion supporting the Batley schoolteacher. 

Rather than defend the right to free expression, some prefer to cast unwarranted aspersions. Under the cover of Islamophobia, any genuine criticism of Islam is forbidden. Branding critics as Islamophobes gives credence to the notion that it is always wrong to question Islam and its beliefs. How do you teach blasphemy if you cannot show the so-called offensive cartoons? If you’ve never seen the offending image, how do you know it is insulting? How would we be able to teach about 1930s Germany without reference to anti-Semitism?

As a Christian evangelist, Tash believes Muslims should convert to Christianity to save themselves — an idea no doubt “offensive” to some. But we live in a liberal society where we are free to criticise any subject we like, including religion. According to the ideals of our society, we can throw off the shackles of dogmatic thinking and freely engage in self-expression. In other words, we can think for ourselves. If that means criticising religion, so be it.

Yet with alarming regularity, offence is met with violence. When she was attacked, Tash was wearing a Charlie Hebdo t-shirt. This references the twelve people who lost their lives when two Islamic gunmen burst into the Charlie Hebdo office and killed them because they had published cartoons of the prophet Muhammad. 

There is no doubt that some sections of Islam are incompatible with an enlightened 21st century Britain. As I have written here before, when it comes to living in a country as tolerant and liberal as ours, cultural relativism is always going to be a problem.  

Islam should not be protected from mockery and derision

We must of course be careful not to generalise. Not all followers of the Islamic faith think the same. In a 2015 poll, some 20 per cent of British Muslims don’t find cartoons offensive — nor object to their being printed. We are a multicultural society, and a vast majority of Muslims successfully integrate. Those who seek to destroy our sacred civil liberties through a poisonous and divisive fundamentalist ideology need to take heed of the words spoken by Gerald Darmanin. The French Interior Minister wants to deport anyone who prohibits a teacher from showing caricatures of Muhammad.

Blasphemy may have officially been abolished, but religion is a protected characteristic enshrined in the Equality Act of 2010. Hate crimes operate as a contemporary de facto blasphemy law — punishing those whose criticism of the religion is “perceived” to be offensive. 

We need to speak up against Islamic extremism. When Samuel Paty was beheaded for showing pictures of Muhammad in a classroom in France, Montpellier and Toulouse showed solidarity by projecting images of the cartoons onto their respective town hall buildings. Can we honestly say we would expect our politicians to do the same?

Islam should not be protected from mockery and derision.

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Mission Overview

Most Western societies are based on Secular Democracy, which itself is based on the concept that the open marketplace of ideas leads to the optimum government. Whilst that model has been very successful, it has defects. The 4 Freedoms address 4 of the principal vulnerabilities, and gives corrections to them. 

At the moment, one of the main actors exploiting these defects, is Islam, so this site pays particular attention to that threat.

Islam, operating at the micro and macro levels, is unstoppable by individuals, hence: "It takes a nation to protect the nation". There is not enough time to fight all its attacks, nor to read them nor even to record them. So the members of 4F try to curate a representative subset of these events.

We need to capture this information before it is removed.  The site already contains sufficient information to cover most issues, but our members add further updates when possible.

We hope that free nations will wake up to stop the threat, and force the separation of (Islamic) Church and State. This will also allow moderate Muslims to escape from their totalitarian political system.

The 4 Freedoms

These 4 freedoms are designed to close 4 vulnerabilities in Secular Democracy, by making them SP or Self-Protecting (see Hobbes's first law of nature). But Democracy also requires - in addition to the standard divisions of Executive, Legislature & Judiciary - a fourth body, Protector of the Open Society (POS), to monitor all its vulnerabilities (see also Popper). 
1. SP Freedom of Speech
Any speech is allowed - except that advocating the end of these freedoms
2. SP Freedom of Election
Any party is allowed - except one advocating the end of these freedoms
3. SP Freedom from Voter Importation
Immigration is allowed - except where that changes the political demography (this is electoral fraud)
4. SP Freedom from Debt
The Central Bank is allowed to create debt - except where that debt burden can pass across a generation (25 years).

An additional Freedom from Religion is deducible if the law is applied equally to everyone:

  • Religious and cultural activities are exempt from legal oversight except where they intrude into the public sphere (Res Publica)"

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