The opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olymp
The opening ceremony of the London 2012 OlympReuters

A group of British Islamists called off a protest planned for outside the London Olympic Park on Friday, Reuters reported.

The group, led by some of Britain's most prominent Islamist figures, had intended to gather outside the gates to the park ahead of the opening ceremony to denounce what they called “the evil of the Games.”

Police said that since it was a standing protest, not a march, the group was not required to obtain permission. Organizer Mizanur Rahman told Reuters said police had made it clear to him that the protest should not go ahead.

“We would have been immediately arrested otherwise,” Rahman, who served a four-year jail term for encouraging followers to kill British and American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq during a demonstration in London in 2006, said.

“There's no way for Muslims to voice any of their concerns,” he added, vowing there would be more efforts to protest during the course of the Games.

East London, where the Olympic Park is located, is home to a large Muslim community housed in some of the capital's poorest neighborhoods. It is also home to a number of British Muslims convicted of involvement in plots since the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)