Some say police face a tough balancing act

LONDON -- The blaring headlines about a foiled mass murder plot originating in Britain did not stop most Londoners from going about their business yesterday, but they prompted many to pause and reflect about living in a time when such plots seem more common and tensions with immigrant communities are rising.

Thirteen months after 52 people were killed by four suicide bombers on London's transport system, the fabled stiff upper lip was still present on city streets.

``You get used to it," said John Poole, 35, an information technology worker who missed the bombing in the Edgeware Road tube station last year by 15 minutes, and was back at the station yesterday commuting to work.

London is no stranger to terrorism, having faced attacks from the Irish Republican Army in the 1980s. But most officials agree that this new threat is more difficult to predict. And in the days since Sept. 11, 2001, police have walked a fine line between vigilance in uncovering plots and alienation of a Muslim community whose cooperation they need.

``One has to hope that they do uncover some proper evidence -- if they don't it will just indicate another time that they are crying wolf and failed to recover anything," said Ali Miraj, a member of the Conservative Party's policy commission on international and national security. ``Still, I think to be honest one has to recognize that the police have a very difficult job to do -- these are very difficult times."

Police contacted Muslim leaders early yesterday after the arrests to inform them. The government was vague during the day whether the suspects were all Muslims.

``My first thought when I heard about this was that they are definitely going to blame us again," said Sima Mukhter, 27, a Muslim woman of Pakistani origin who works in a McDonald's restaurant on Edgeware Road. ``They always blame us because of what happened in the past."

On June 2, police raided a home in the Forest Gate neighborhood of London on a tip that chemical bombs were being manufactured . Two brothers were arrested, and one was shot in the shoulder. The brothers were later released because there was no evidence against them. After the raid, Yvonne Ridley, a Muslim convert and member of the Respect Party, urged Muslims not to cooperate with police.

In January 2003, six men were arrested on suspicion of manufacturing ricin to use in a terrorist plot on the London Underground. All but one of the men were released, and no ricin was found.

Yet police were criticized for not being more aggressive in following up tips that might have thwarted the transit bombers in July 2005. Then, when officers killed a Brazilian immigrant during the follow-up investigation, they were castigated for acting too hastily on inadequate evidence.

``This is very challenging for police because they have to be able to discern and infiltrate a very decentralized group ," said Michael Bookman, director of strategy and marketing at Exclusive Analysis, a political risk management firm that studies terrorist groups. ``These are self-radicalizing groups who only have conversations among themselves about their grievances."