Abu Hamza: Fighting deportation

Trevor Phillips, head of the Commission for Racial Equality, said anti-Muslim and anti-Semitism was on the rise throughout the UK.

Extremists were using tension in the Middle East and after the 9/11 attacks to further their agenda.

Mr Phillips said the sooner leaders of these groups were deported the better.

Mr Phillips said members of the far-right British National Party (BNP) were "scumbags" but reserved his most vehement criticism for Abu Hamza al-Masri and Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, two of the leading figures within fringe Islamist politics.

"The faster [Home Secretary] David Blunkett can deport them the better," Mr Phillips told Reuters in an interview.

"Every time Abu Hamza or Sheikh Omar do their thing in front of the television cameras, Muslims suffer in dozens of places in this country," Phillips said.

"They claim to be speaking on behalf of Muslims but they do things in such a way that every time they speak, some Muslim somewhere else in Britain gets it in the neck."

Banned from mosque

Mr Abu Hamza, head of the Supporters of Sharia, has been banned from preaching at north London's Finsbury Park Mosque.

Trevor Phillips: BNP 'scumbags'

He is fighting against the Home Secretary's decision to strip him of British citizenship and deport him to Egypt.

Syrian-born Sheikh Omar, head of the radical al Muhajiroun group, could also face a similar attempt at deportation.

"Both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are on the rise in Britain," said Mr Phillips.

"There has been desecration of Mosques and Jewish cemeteries.

"There has been harassment of Muslims and a rise in anti-Semitic sentiment.

"Something is definitely on the up here. You can feel it anecdotally from the range of complaints that come through to us."

Racists emboldened

Mr Phillips said the 11 September attacks had emboldened racists to target Muslims while the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians was stoking up anti-Jewish sentiment.

"I find (anti-Semitism) contemptible," Mr Phillips said. "If you want to have an argument about Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the actions of the state of Israel, that's fine.

"But don't conflate it by saying 'This is typical of what Jews are like'."

Mr Phillips said he was alarmed by recent BNP wins in local elections. The party commands only a fraction of the national vote but it continuing to campaign in northern towns with diverse populations.

"We should be worried about it," he said. "They're scumbags, the lot of them."