London mayor asks for tougher monitoring of UK Islamic societies

London Mayor Boris Johnson said that universities in the UK should not allow Islamic groups to teach segregated lectures, writing in his column in The Telegraph on Sunday.

Islamic groups in a London college have been debating over segregating seating in classrooms by gender, an issue that was seen as worrisome by University College London.

“The universities need to be much, much tougher in their monitoring of Islamic societies,” Johnson said.

“It is utterly wrong to have segregated meetings in a state-funded center of learning. If visiting speakers start some Islamist schtick – and seek either to call for or justify violence – then the authorities need to summon the police,” Johnson explained.

Johnson’s statement came after the murder of British soldier Lee Rigby by two Islamists on Wednesday.

The mayor also stressed that politicians should distinguish between Islamic faith and the virus of “Islamism.”

“This is a sinister political agenda that promotes a sense of grievance and victimhood among a minority of Muslims,” Johnson added.

"We must not give the killers the thing they crave above all – the prize of dividing us,” in reference to the suspected murderers who slayed Rigby in London’s Woolwich area while reportedly chanting “Allahu Akbar” (God is greater).

Johnson emphasized that Islam is not to blame, “[Islam is] a religion that gives consolation and enrichment to the lives of hundreds of millions of peaceful people,” he said.