BEIJING, Aug. 26 -- Britain was ready to act within days against ¡°a number¡± of people to either deport them or bar them from the country under new anti-terrorism measures aimed at extremists, the government said Wednesday.

    Foreigners who ¡°seek to create fear, distrust and division¡± would no longer be welcome, Home Secretary Charles Clarke said after publishing new criteria he will use to decide who will be targeted.

    The measures, adopted in response to last month¡¯s transit bombings, are expected to be directed primarily against radical Islamic clerics and extremists who come to Britain and preach hatred.

    The identities of those who could face action was not revealed, but among those who might make the list are firebrand Palestinian cleric Abu Qatada, who has been called Osama bin Laden¡¯s spiritual ambassador in Europe, and Saad al-Faqih, a Saudi who has been accused of providing support to bin Laden¡¯s al-Qaida terror network.

    The new criteria covers those who foment, justify or glorify terrorist violence; seek to provoke terrorist acts or crimes; or promote hatred between communities.

    The Independent Police Complaints Commission¡¯s chairman, Nick Hardwick, said after the meeting he believed his investigators had all the information they needed to conduct their inquiry into Jean Charles de Menezes¡¯ killing, including some crucial video from the Tube station where the 27-year-old electrician was shot.

    Police fired seven times into Menezes¡¯ head at close range after tailing him into a subway car July 22, the day after failed bombing attacks on the British capital¡¯s transit system.

    Meanwhile, Clarke said the new criteria to expel or ban people from Britain were necessary to meet a ¡°real and significant threat¡± of terrorism. He won support from opposition parties, but was slammed by members of Britain¡¯s 1.8-million-strong Muslim community and human rights activists.

(Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)