On July 6, London won the right to host the 2012 Olympics in part because of its multi-racial society which offers a home to people from all over the world. Twenty-four hours later, suicide bombings killed more than 50 people in the British capital. The four men suspected of carrying out the attacks were Muslims of ethnic Pakistani origin, born and brought up in Britain, and police have warned British Muslims of a violent backlash.
In east London, the site of the Olympic Park and one of the city's most diverse and poorest areas, locals say they are not concerned by the threat of reprisals and the games were a perfect example of the world coming together in peace.
"The point is in east London we live together and we work together," shop owner Ahmed Raja told Reuters.
"We grow up together. Some people may have those thoughts, perhaps out of London where it isn't racially so mixed, but in east London we don't. It isn't ever a problem."
London was awarded the 2012 Olympics over favourites Paris after London stressed the multi-cultural nature of the city, where more than 300 languages are spoken among 200 ethnic communities.
Every athlete would have a community to welcome them, the organisers said.
London Mayor Ken Livingstone, a passionate supporter of the bid, said it was this very diversity which would keep the city together in the wake of the attacks.
"This is not an attack against the rich and powerful," he said, hoarse with emotion, hours after the bombs hit the central London transport system.
"It is not an attack on the politicians but at ordinary, working-class Londoners. Black and white, Muslim and Christian, Hindu and Jew, young and old.
"Even after your cowardly attack, you will see that people from the rest of Britain, people from around the world will arrive in London to become Londoners and to fulfil their dreams and achieve their potential."
The East End is the traditional heart of working class London and home to the thousands of immigrants who flock to the city to find work and a new life.
Compared to the bustling entertainment district in the West End and the upmarket financial centres of the neighbouring City, the East End has clearly been left behind.
England's national flag flutters from high rise buildings in among the many satellite dishes and on the streets, endless graffiti and deserted cars blight the landscape.
Windows are boarded up and houses stand derelict. Livingstone said he had backed the Olympic bid as a way to regenerate the area.
In 1993, the far-right, anti-immigration British National Party won their first ever council seat in the East End, playing on the fears of white residents who resented the growing numbers of immigrants.
But locals said despite the many problems of high unemployment and soaring crime rates, the different communities would not turn on each other and added they were more likely to unite than divide.
There are currently no far right councillors in east London.
"There aren't any tensions here," Owen Dixon, a shop owner, told Reuters. "Everyone gets along well because we've always lived together.
"This is working class London. We stick together."
Britain's leading campaigner for racial equality Trevor Phillips told Reuters he was pleased with the way the city had reacted and said a decade ago, things would have been very different.
"The bombers want to divide this city because of its easy-going, multi-cultural mix. The fact that people work together and live together is an affront to them."
A spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) said some Muslims had been subjected to a higher than usual level of abuse since the bombings, including attacks on mosques and hate mail from mostly far right groups.
But they have also received many messages of support from non-Muslims and the MCB said the reaction was far more supportive than after the September 11 attacks in the United States when a string of assaults left at least one Muslim paralysed.
The East End became the face of defiance during World War Two as its "gritty" people withstood heavy bombings and locals and members of the British Olympic committee said they would strive to achieve this once again.
"I can assure you that these terrible acts in no way reduce our resolve to run an excellent Games," British IOC member Craig Reedie said. "The worst thing would be to concede to these people."
While many of the east Londoners expressed concerns over the price of the Olympics and who would pay, the majority were enthusiastic and said the Games would attract tourism and an even greater cultural mix to the area.
"On Wednesday I remember thinking I wasn't too keen on the Olympic Games," Londoner Tiffany Draper said.
"But now I'll definitely get behind it now."
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