A senior Birmingham Muslim last night said demonstrations were not the answer to improving community relations as 250 marchers protested against recent police raids in London.

Dr Mohammed Naseem, chairman of the Birmingham Central Mosque, said he understood the feelings of those protesting outside Scotland Yard but felt that taking to the streets would solve nothing.

The protesters gathered in central London yesterday after the two brothers arrested last week in a raid at a house in the Forest Gate area of east London were released without charge.

More than 250 officers were involved in the operation which allegedly followed intelligence that the brothers were involved in the construction of a 'dirty' bomb.

One of the brothers was shot during the raid but has now been released from hospital after treatment.

Lawyers now believe the brothers could be in line for a #500,000 compensation payout.

Respect MP George Galloway made an appearance and called for the resignation of both Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair and Prime Minister Tony Blair.

He said he was laying down an Early Day Motion in Parliament today asking for Sir Ian to go.

"I think the raid in Forest Green has been profoundly damaging to the confidence in the police and the security services and, by extension, the Government," he said.

A number of representatives from Muslim groups gave angry speeches about the raid, which were met by cheers from the crowd.

Massoud Shadjareh, from the Islamic Human Rights Commission, said: "To go to a person's home with no reason whatsoever and shoot them is unbelievable. This gives an extremely negative message to Muslims."

Jamal El-Shayal, from the Muslim Association of Britain, said: "The Muslim community will stand firm and say we will not allow ourselves to be terrorised, we will not allow ourselves to be stigmatised."

However, Dr Naseem said: "Personally, I don't think this is the best way of going about it. There are ways of having a dialogue and that is what we must encourage rather than confrontational protests.

"Diplomacy is much better." Dr Naseem added that he did not believe racial tension in Birmingham to be as great as in London.