Yearly Archives: 2012

Why try to take baby from EDL member but not from ‘terrorists’?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Stella Evans posing with gunThe question is posed by Ted Jeory in the Sunday Express. The English Defence League member in question is one Toni Macleod, who claims she has now in fact left the EDL, though reportedly this is only because she’s joined the overtly neo-Nazi breakaway group the Infidels.

Thirty-five weeks pregnant, Macleod has been told by Durham County Council social services that she would pose a “risk of significant harm” to her baby and they want to put the child up for adoption. According Jeory, this is because they “fear the child would become radicalised with EDL views”.

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IKEA-sponsored masjid causes outrage among Islamophobes

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Bare Naked Islam IKEA

The Islamophobic blogosphere continues to set new standards in craziness. This poses some problems for those of us dedicated to combating it. The traditional reference to Melanie Phillips as “Mad Mel” now seems outdated since, compared with Pamela Geller, Phillips appears almost balanced and rational. And Geller, in turn, is outbid in the competition for sheer lunacy by Bonni Benstock-Intall of Bare Naked Islam. As quick scroll through her blog will confirm, “Bonkers Bonni” doesn’t even begin to cover it.

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Anti-Islam protest at Arab International Festival

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Bible Believers anti-Islam protest

For a brief moment Friday, the song “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” blared over the speakers of a ride at the Arab International Festival in Dearborn; but nearby, an anti-Islamic protest made its way down Warren Avenue, drowning out the lyrics’ message of friendship with the angry shouts of attendees.

While the majority of the festival remained unscathed, the Bible Believers – a small contigent with an anti-Islam message – protested at the fair on Warren Avenue.

Near them, separated by Wayne County police, a crowd of 50-100 counter-protesters contested the group’s presence with words and actions. Most were teenagers, while several adult festival-goers urged the youth to break up their groups and ignore the protest.

The group, armed with signs preaching messages against Islam, stayed for about an hour and a half. Bottles were thrown, swear words were shouted and obscene gestures were made while the police routinely stepped in to separate the groups. Midway through the affair, four mounted police officers were brought in to quell the crowd.

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Racists vandalise Muslim graves in Leeds cemetery

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The grave of one of the London bombers has been vandalised along with others in a cemetery in Leeds. The plot holding the remains of Hasib Hussain at Cottingley Cemetery was damaged and had racist graffiti scrawled on it.

A number of graves in the Muslim section were damaged, prompting increased police patrols. Headstones were pulled over and offensive expressions scratched on to the stonework.

BBC News, 15 June 2012

Muslim graves in Cottingley Cemetery have been targeted by racists before, in April 2007.

Posted in UK

Justice for Nouredine Rachedi

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Nouredine RachediThe victim of a vicious Islamophobic attack awaits the verdict of a Versailles appeal court after his alleged attackers, one a known violent racist, were acquitted.

Nouredine Rachedi and his supporters in the campaign group Justice for Nouredine were in court on 12 June and now anxiously await the verdict.

The case concerns the acquittal of two young men accused by the 34-year-old Frenchman of assaulting him late one night in July 2008.  Nouredine Rachedi was walking home through a public park in Yvelines when he was beaten up by two men who stopped him, asked for a cigarette and then asked him if he was a Muslim, how long he had lived in France (he was born there) and what he thought of Radovan Karadzic, who had just been arrested. Then, telling him they were nazis, they set upon him with fists and feet, kicking him all over his body and in the head. The statistician was off work for three weeks with a collapsed lung and head injuries.

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The truth about far-right violence in Europe

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Pedlars of HateThe Institute of Race Relations has published an important study by Liz Fekete, Pedlars of Hate: the violent impact of the far Right.

The report “documents patterns of violence, from the peddling of hate online and the drawing up of lists of ‘national traitors’, to violence, arson and murder on the streets, and the stockpiling of weapons in preparation for ‘race war'”.

The IRR points out that Islamophobia is just one element in the rise of violence on the part of the European far right. While Muslims are the far right’s principal targets in western Europe, in eastern Europe it is the Roma who are the main victims, while anti-black racism and antisemitism are also on the increase.

Another worrying development is that “attacks on Social Democrats, Left politicians, academics and journalists that report on the far Right around Europe are intensifying too”.

The report can be downloaded here.

Netpol publish critical report into EDL policing

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Netpol Leicester reportNetpol has published a critical report into the policing of the EDL and Counter demonstrations of February 4th in Leicester. The report is a collation of the evidence and observations obtained by a team of community-based legal observers who spent the day monitoring the policing of both EDL and counter-demonstrations. The legal observers deployed were local volunteers trained by Netpol with support from The Race Equality Centre (TREC) and Highfields Centre.

The report criticises police handling of the demonstration, particularly the effort and resources the police and local authorities devoted to persuading the local community, particularly young people in the local community, not to attend counter demonstrations against the EDL. It also raises questions about the use of force, particularly the use of dog units against Muslim youth, and the restrictions on movement placed on the Muslim population, effectively making Leicester a ‘no-go’ area.

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