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Two hecklers interrupted the speech to a specially-invited Muslim audience in Leytonstone in London's East End where the Home Secretary urged parents to "look for the telltale signs" of radicalisation in their children.
One man, identified as activist Omar Brookes, also known as Abu Izzadeen, stood up and began heckling Reid, calling the Home-Secretary an "enemy" of Islam, before being led away from the building by police and stewards. Shouting at Reid he said repeatedly, "How dare you come to a Muslim area when you have arrested so many Muslims in this area?"
A second heckler was ejected a few minutes later after he also interrupted the speech. The man emerged from the venue clutching several posters, one of which said: "John Reid you will pay!" In his speech, the first to a Muslim audience since he became the Home Secretary in May, Reid said it was vital that Muslims and the Western world were united.
He said terrorists were not Muslims, "...in the true sense of the word."
"They are militants who seek to achieve their aims through the forces of terror and violence," he said.
"They cloak their language in the rhetoric of Islamic teachings, but they behave in ways that contradict the very principles of the Islamic faith," Reid said. Terrorist fanatics were on the hunt for young vulnerable minds to help their cause.
"There is no nice way of saying this. These fanatics are looking to groom and brainwash children, including your children, for suicide bombings," he said. "Grooming them to kill themselves in order to murder others."
The Home Secretary said by protecting families the community would protect itself. During his trip, which also involved a visit to a mosque, Reid said community and religious leaders could play a key role in the fight against terrorism.