London mayor Ken Livingstone today made a new attack on the British press, hours after it emerged he is to face a disciplinary hearing over a clash with a newspaper reporter.
The politician told a conference of Muslim students it was their duty to challenge a "rising tide of Islamaphobia" in the media.
Mr Livingstone was addressing a panel at a series of debates organised by the Federation of Student Islamic Societies at London's City Hall.
He told the 100 delegates, drawn from universities across Britain, that the country's press was failing to represent them. Comparing reporting of Muslims to that of Jews fleeing Russia 100 years ago, he said: "Newspapers like the Daily Mail depicted the tide of Jewish refugees as bringing disease and crime to this country.
"Many of the newspapers I have been reading over the past few years have depicted current refugees, many of whom are coming from areas of conflict or places of oppression, in the same way.
"They have decided that it is a good line to sell their papers, that it doesn't matter what the origin of your victim is, so long as you can stir up fear in the host country."
Mr Livingstone cited criticism of Muslim scholars, including Professor Tariq Ramadan, who has been appointed to a Government task force, and Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, who was invited to speak in London last year.
Mr Ramadan has strenuously denied accusations that he has endorsed extremist views and Mr Al-Qaradawi was criticised in sections of the press for his alleged support of Palestinian suicide bombing.
The Mayor claimed newspapers who led the outrage of his invitation to Mr Al-Qaradawi to speak in the city had quoted bogus translations of the cleric's speeches supplied by a former Israeli intelligence officer.
He told delegates: "It is up to you to challenge this rising tide of Islamaphobia that is increasingly distorting the British media."
Mr Livingstone is to appear before an independent adjudicator to respond to charges in connection with comments he is alleged to have made to a Jewish reporter from London's Evening Standard. He is accused of comparing journalist Oliver Finegold to a Nazi concentration camp guard.