An Exeter ‘campaigner’ was stopped by armed police after he was spotted changing from a Western clothing into a burqa in a high street store and was then heard imitating prayer loudly. After leaving Debenhams, Thomas Dunn, of Exeter, took off his burqa and was questioned and searched by police in Queen Street at 12.30pm on Sunday. He was stopped under Section 43 of the Terrorism Act and was released without charge.
The 57-year-old gas engineer told DevonLive.com he had dressed in a burqa on a few other occasions recently as part of his one-man campaign to ban the wearing of burqas in the UK.
Thomas said: “I have always been a little intimidated by people wearing burqas and since all the terrorist attacks I think the government should ban anyone from covering their faces as on CCTV it won’t pick up who they are.
“If you see someone wearing a burqa you immediately think terrorist. It should be stopped. I have nothing against Muslim people and I’m not racist in any way, but I don’t agree with people covering their faces.”
Thomas says he has carried out his campaign in other shops but targeted Debenhams on Sunday because the chain has announced it is starting to sell Muslim clothing.
He said: “When you change into a burqa you really can see that the way people look at you changes. You see that initial fear in their eyes.”
Thomas acknowledged that his actions might be distressing to others, but said he believed it was necessary to raise awareness of his campaign.
“What I’m doing is not illegal, and I’m definitely going to do it every week or I might increase it to a couple of times a week. I have told the police what I’m doing.”