A businessman who appeared alongside masked Muslim men in an east London protest has called for peace after Nigel Farage likened the demonstrators to a “foreign invading army”.
Syed, who runs the Trendz sweet shop chain in Tower Hamlets, said he refuses to get in “trouble with anyone” after the Metropolitan Police banned a planned United Kingdom Independence Party protest in the borough — which has the highest proportion of Muslim residents in England and Wales.
The counter-protest, which saw individuals in balaclavas wave Palestinian and Bangladeshi flags, took place in the area, while UKIP's “mass deportations tour” demonstration was moved to central London amid fears of violent disorder.
But Syed, who boasts a combined 52,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok under the handle Big Fish TV and recently collaborated with Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman, said that Muslims “built this community into what it is” and denounced “fascist and racist people that have come across to invade Tower Hamlets”.
Speaking to Studio93 at Altab Ali Park in Whitechapel, Syed — who said he was born and raised in Britain — said: “They are saying they're going to take a crusade on the people of Tower Hamlets.
“People of Tower Hamlets have been here for hundreds of years… if anything, we have built this community into what it is.
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“We are a peaceful people that do not want any trouble with anyone. We are just living here peacefully and we get this violence and hatred towards us.
“This is the reason why you see all the brothers that have come out now in order to reassure the community that there is unity.
“It happened 20 years ago with the BNP (British National Party), 50 years ago with the National Front. Now it's called UKIP. And what they have said and the rhetoric behind it is honestly disgusting.”
He added: “We are not the same people that you think… that all smells of curry, or they can't speak English.
“Our people are now doctors. Our people are now teachers, educating the youth of this country, healing the youth of this country, bus drivers, we are your train drivers, we are your council workers. We are you and you are us.
“I am saddened to see that we have been pushed to this step, honestly, so I just want to say one thing to the people of UKIP: stop this, honestly. We love this country as much as you love it.”
We are just living here peacefully and we get this violence and hatred towards us
Syed, who sold balaclavas prior to the march, was later filmed on stage alongside a megaphone-wielding speaker as counter-protesters reportedly called to “honour all our martyrs” and rid “Zionist scum off our streets”.
During a press conference on Monday, Mr Farage, the former UKIP leader who now heads Reform UK, claimed: “This was intimidation to the point of basically urging the mass wipe out of huge numbers of Jewish people.
“It's one of the most terrifying things I've ever seen in my whole life. Maybe one day the deluded left will wake up to realise they've been with very strange bedfellows.'
He added: 'It was like a foreign invading army marching through our streets. And I defy anyone in this room to tell me that’s wrong.”
Tower Hamlets has been the site of several anti-migrant demonstrations in recent months, after it emerged that the Britannia International Hotel in Canary Wharf was being used to accommodate asylum seekers.
Earlier this month, Tower Hamlets Council passed a motion to “stand up to the far-right”, pledging to “reject” the presence of agitators from the area who come to “target” ethnic and religious minorities.
