Monthly Archives: April 2011

St George’s Day open-air drink ban in Manchester due to fears of drunken violence by BNP and EDL

Posted on by Bob Pitt

People were banned from drinking outside some city centre pubs on Saturday – over fears of violence by far-right groups celebrating St George’s Day.

As part of a one-day police operation, pubs were told not to allow people to use outdoor seating in parts of the city centre where violence had broken out in previous years amongst BNP and EDL members. Pubs and bars in the Shambles area and on Deansgate told customers they were only allowed to drink indoors on St George’s Day.

But some customers said the action was unfair – as outdoor seating areas lay empty on a scorching spring afternoon.

A police spokesman said officers took the decision to ban outdoor drinking in the Shambles and Deansgate areas after alcohol related-violence occurred when supporters of far-right groups gathered there on St George’s Day in previous years.

He said: “Drinking outside in various areas was banned because members of the BNP and EDL had used them to congregate, leading to drink-fuelled violence. This was a one-day operation specifically for St George’s Day in one part of the city centre.”

Manchester Evening News, 25 April 2011

Threats and intimidation are ‘standard Tower Hamlets Islam’ says Alan Craig

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Letter from Alan Craig in the Sunday Times, 24 April 2011

Both the Tower Hamlets police borough commander and the Quilliam Foundation, the anti-extremist think tank, are wrong to minimise the threats to the Whitechapel pharmacy assistant as just the work of a “small minority” of “Talibanesque thugs” (“Tower Hamlets Taliban order women to cover up“, News, last week). The issue is much more serious than that.

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EDL thug may be allowed to take up place at University of Birmingham

Posted on by Bob Pitt

An English Defence League thug jailed for his part in a soccer riot could still be allowed to take up a place at a Midland university.

A-level student Joel Titus, 18, was caught on CCTV throwing objects and brawling with rival hooligans. His defence team asked an Old Bailey judge not to jail the EDL ringleader after he pleaded guilty to affray, as he had secured a place at the University of Birmingham. But Titus, who has a string of previous convictions including battery of a journalist, possession of a knife, and making threats to police, was sentenced to nine months.

Yet the teenager has NOT been banned from taking up his place at the University of Birmingham upon his release.

Titus had acted as a youth organiser for the EDL and even appeared on the BBC’s Newsnight to defend the violent anti-Islamic group.

He was cautioned for battery after punching a journalist at a demonstration against the “Islamification of Europe” in December 2009. Last summer Titus took part in the soccer riot between Brentford and Leyton Orient supporters in central London. He was captured on CCTV hurling objects at rivals and fighting over a wooden pole with another thug.

While on bail for the football brawl he was also convicted for threatening behaviour for snarling “f*** off” at a police officer who tried to break up a fight. He is due to be sentenced for that offence at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court in May.

Sunday Mercury, 24 April 2011

‘Imams in the House of Lords’ – Sunday Telegraph report provokes outpouring of anti-Muslim hatred

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Sunday Telegraph reports: “David Cameron is considering plans to create a ‘multi-faith’ House of Lords where Muslim imams could sit alongside Anglican and Catholic bishops.”

And you can predict the response of Torygraph readers. Some examples:

“If his little Jihad against Gadaffi succeeds and Libya becomes an Islamic state there will be no doubting cammoron is a closet muslim.”

“That’s a good idea, clear the sack-cloth for ritualistic beheading of infidels.”

“I WILL NOT accept Islam!”

“Muslims in the House of Lords. May as well scrap the constitution, the revolution settlement of 1688, and 2000 years of Christian heritage in these British Isles. Oh…my mistake..that has already been done.”

“Islam is already being forced on the British pubic – unknown to them most food is now halal meaning it has been ritually prayed over and in the case of meats ritually killed as well and we are deliberately not told about it or given a choice to buy or not to buy – no labels.”

“I gather that to make matters worse there is a tax paid on all halal killed meat that goes to…………..goodness knows where, it is an islamic tax, and could end up supporting terrorism, even buying weapons to use against our troops. It really is time for our useless government to wake up and smell the coffee!”

“Yes, the Muslims charge a fee for certifying that the meat is truly halal; and then use the money to finance the jihad. It is essentially a modern-day form of jizya, a tax paid by conquered infidels to their Muslim rulers.”

“Islam is incompatible with British values and considered by many of us not be a religion at all but a violent cult movement with a clear agenda to take over any country they are living in.”

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Terry Jones jailed

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A controversial Florida pastor was jailed on Friday after a Michigan court determined that his planned demonstration outside a mosque was likely to provoke violence and he refused to pay a $1 bond.

Terry Jones, 59, was sent to the county jail in Detroit after he declined to meet the terms of a ruling by District Judge Mark Somers in an apparent protest.

Somers had ordered Jones and a supporter, Wayne Sapp, to each pay $1 under the terms of an order that would have also barred them from the Islamic Center of America mosque and nearby public property for three years.

A six-person jury heard over five hours of testimony and argument before concluding that the planned protest by Jones was “likely to breech the peace.”

Jones, who represented himself and wore a faded leather jacket and jeans, sat stone-faced and said little after the jury read out its verdict. When Somers asked if he was prepared to meet the terms of the $1 bond, Jones said, “No.”

“I strongly voice my disagreement with the ruling,” said Sapp, 42, when asked by Somers if he had any comment on the ruling. “The peace bond is to prohibit free speech.” Sapp was also ordered to jail.

Jones had asked for a permit to protest outside the Islamic Center of America on Good Friday, a time when both the mosque and four nearby churches were expected to be crowded with worshipers.

Dearborn police had denied Jones’s request and asked him to protest instead in a “free speech zone” in front of one of the city buildings. But Jones, who represented himself in court on Friday, argued that violated his free speech rights.

Reuters, 22 April 2011

Carlisle United steward quits over support for EDL

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Carlisle EDLA Carlisle United employee has resigned following reports that Brunton Park stewards were among supporters of the man jailed for burning a copy of the Koran. United spokesman Andy Hall yesterday confirmed that a steward has now left the club.

Andrew Ryan, 32, of Summerhill, London Road, Carlisle, was sentenced to 70 days in prison for intentional religious/racial harassment on Monday. He arrived at the city magistrates’ court flanked by men waving the St George’s Cross and shouting nationalist chants.

The English Defence League Carlisle Division (EDL) had put out a call for members to support Ryan. The News & Star received reports that some of the men were stewards at Brunton Park and the club launched an investigation into their identity.

Mr Hall said: “We received the News & Star‘s photographs and are very thankful for it being brought to our attention. We looked at them with our safety staff who identified [one of the men] as a steward at Carlisle United.

“We contacted him, and he said he understood this could be misconstrued. He said that he would like to keep supporting the EDL. He said he would like to step down.

“The club will not tolerate any form of racist behaviour and, in conjunction with the FA and Football League ‘Kick it Out’ campaign, we are working strenuously to ensure that this issue does not arise at the ground.”

News & Star, 23 April 2011

Hooligan avoids jail after throwing bottle during EDL protest

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Nuneaton September 2010A man who took aim with a bottle as English Defence League supporters clashed with young Asians during an army parade has escaped being jailed – despite being sentenced for affray days before the clash.

Daniel Groves, 23, of Kettlewell Close, Warwick, pleaded guilty at the crown court in Leamington to a charge of affray and was sentenced to six months in prison suspended for two years. He was given 18 months supervision, banned from all pubs and clubs for three months and made subject to a 8pm to 6am electronic-tag curfew for the same period.

The court heard that Groves had convictions for affray and public order offences and four days before the clash had been given a community sentence for an affray in Warwick town centre.

Prosecutor Vicki Lofrese said in September the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers were on parade in Nuneaton when police spotted English Defence League (EDL) supporters heading towards a pub.

She said: “Large banners were being paraded and slogans shouted from members of that group, including ‘I am English ’til I die’ and ‘St George in my heart’. Police saw a group of about 20 in the drinking area outside singing the same slogans and ‘Taliban scum’ as a group of young Asian men began to congregate outside.”

As the tension mounted and police struggled to keep them apart, Groves was spotted throwing the bottle, which smashed near the Asian youths, and he was arrested after a struggle.

Leamington Courier, 23 April 2011

Terry Jones says he will defy judge’s order and protest at Islamic Center of America next week

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A defiant Terry Jones says he plans to protest next week at the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn despite a judge’s order that he stay from the mosque for three years. The Quran-burning pastor from Florida said his rights were violated Friday by a judge due to the influence of Islamic law.

“We plan to protest next week in front of the Islamic Center,” Pastor Terry Jones said today. “The arrests, the whole proceedings, were a definite violation of our Constitutional rights. As a matter of fact, we were arrested and had not even committed a crime. It is a complete violation of our First Amendment right of freedom of speech. It was clearly influenced by the mosque.”

Jones had wanted to protest Friday against jihad and sharia outside the Islamic Center on Friday, but was thwarted by authorities. The center is the largest mosque in metro Detroit, a region with a sizable Muslim population.

On Friday, Judge Mark Somers ordered that Jones and Pastor Wayne Sapp be remanded to jail after a jury determined they would be likely to breach the peace. In his decision Judge Somers set a $1 cash bond for Jones and Sapp, and also said Jones and Sapp could not go to the mosque or adjacent property for three years. The only exception would be if the leadership of the mosque, such as its board, decided it would be ok for him to visit, Somers said.

Jones said that was an example of the influence of sharia, or Islamic law, in Dearborn. “Sharia is much closer than we thought,” Jones said. “The judge even made a statement, that if the mosque elders and leadership would have desired the restraints placed on us of not going near the mosque be lifted, then he would have taken that into consideration. Thus proving that this whole thing is a direct violation of freedom of speech and that they are favoring the religion of Islam.”

Detroit Free Press, 23 April 2011

See also “Jones’ Jesus stunt and his inadvertent supporters”, Weblog of Dawud Walid, 23 April 2011

Pig’s head thrown at a mosque in Reims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Le Nouvel Observateur reports that a pig’s head was left outside the door of a mosque and Islamic centre in Reims.

Rachid El Haouari, the president of the association that runs the centre, said this was the culmination of increasing acts of Islamophobia that they had suffered since the construction of the mosque began at the end of 2009. These have included insulting emails, letters containing burnt pages of the Qur’an and a poster campaign against the building of a minaret. In November 2010 there was an arson attack on the site of the mosque.

In a statement the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) condemned the desecration suffered by the mosque and Islamic center and expressed its concern at the upsurge of violence and hatred against places of prayer and meditation. It said the number of such attacks had more than doubled in 2010.

Hundreds of Russian nationalists join anti-Muslim rally in Moscow

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Moscow anti-Muslim demonstration

Hundreds of Russian nationalists staged a racism-tinged rally in central Moscow on Saturday to demand an end to social payments for Muslim republics of the volatile North Caucasus region.

The sanctioned gathering came amid spiking social tensions and lingering security fears from a January suicide bombing at the main Moscow airport that killed 37 people and was claimed by the nation’s most feared Islamist warlord.

“We are tired of seeing the Caucasus youth creating mayhem on our streets and at our schools and universities and then going unpunished,” rally co-organiser Alexander Khromov told the Interfax news agency.

The event was officially titled “Stop Feeding the Caucasus!” and included leaders from far-right organisations that rights groups link to deadly attacks on migrants from Russia’s Caucasus and the Central Asian republics.

Recent polls have shown a rise in Russian xenophobia and a sense of voter frustration over the influx of mostly Muslim newcomers to cities that are already creaking under the strain of heavy crime and poorly-funded services.

Saturday’s demonstrators were comprised mostly of Russian youth wearing bomber jackets and hoods.

Several covered their faces with bandannas to hide their identities from the police while many more raised their right arms in Nazi-style salutes while chanting slogans in praise of ethnic Russians.

AFP, 23 April 2011