Yearly Archives: 2012

Interior minister under attack over leaking and misrepresention of German Muslims study

Posted on by Bob Pitt

German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich has come under attack from the key author of “The Daily Life of Muslims in Germany” study, published by the Bild newspaper on Thursday. Some editorial writers have also questioned why Bild was able to obtain the study and release it first.

In an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung published Saturday, the study’s main author Wolfgang Frindte said, “After the publication in a tabloid newspaper there was a lot of outrage and even despair in our team.” He said the findings were published in such a way that the Muslims who were interviewed for the study “could have felt misused, and that’s sad.”

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Far-right supporters agree with armed attacks

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Stoke (3)Significant numbers of far-right supporters in the UK consider violence and “armed conflict” a legitimate form of political expression, experts will warn this week.

The first audit into the attitudes and beliefs of Britain’s rightwing extremists, collated in a report by the thinktank Chatham House, will reveal that there is a “significant level of support” for planned violent attacks.

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Bigots resume offensive against Murfreesboro Islamic Center

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Not WelcomeMURFREESBORO — With an April 25 court hearing drawing near in the fight over mosque construction here, foes of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro’s plans are taking the battle regional.

But while the court issue next month will focus on whether Rutherford County provided ample public notice for the 2010 meeting in which county planners approved the mosque site plan, opponents remain focused on a religious conflict, sounding a warning about the perceived spread of Islam and the damage they believe it will do to American society.

“This is not a Muslim-bashing deal. I don’t have any problem with Muslims. It’s Islam that’s causing it,” Kingdom Ministries pastor Darrel Whaley told a crowd of about 70 people last Tuesday at the Cannon County Senior Citizen Center.

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Sarkozy courts French far-right talking about immigration, halal meat, Christian roots

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sarkozy in BordeauxFrench President Nicolas Sarkozy has marked a rightward shift in his re-election campaign, pledging to cut the number of immigrants and calling for clear labelling of halal meat in a bid to entice voters away from the National Front.

Speaking to thousands of flag-waving supporters at a rally in the western city of Bordeaux, Sarkozy vowed to defend secular values in France – which has Europe’s largest Muslim minority – and to send a tough message on law and order if he wins a fresh five-year term in a two-round election in April and May.

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Mayor of Tower Hamlets replies to Evening Standard

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Since being elected Mayor, I have stood shoulder to shoulder with leaders from all religious faiths, with the LBGT community and residents from all walks of life in our cosmopolitan borough in preventing far Right extremists from the British National Party and the English Defence League from tramping their way through the East End as Mosley and his Black shirts did in the 1930s. Sadly, the racists and bigots feed from, and re-print, much of the dangerous nonsense that is being promulgated in some quarters that somehow my administration is ‘Sharia law fringed’ or ‘Islamism-lite’. My religion is a private matter. But the kind of society I want to see mirrors that envisaged by Prince Charles. It is essentially where no one particular religion has hegemony; instead we have a community of faiths.

Lutfur Rahman responds to the Evening Standard witch-hunt against him, the main aim of which has been to discredit Ken Livingstone, Labour candidate for London mayor.

Lutfur says that the Standard initially agreed to allow him the right of reply but then withdrew that offer. So this piece appears in the Huffington Post.

Warsi’s call for the dominance of Christianity ignores that it’s Islam under threat

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Responding to the claim by Tory peer Sayeeda Warsi that Christianity is under attack from militant secularism, Rebecca Wainwright and Peter Allen examine recent campaigns against the construction of mosques in London.

They conclude: “Warsi’s call for a renewed dominance of Christian values relies on an assumption that they are under threat. The examples discussed here suggest that perhaps the opposite is more accurate: that Christianity continues to dominate expectations of faith buildings in Britain, something that is unlikely to change if the government continues with its anti-multiculturalist approach.”

Left Foot Forward, 3 March 2012

EDL member jailed for violence against police during Bradford protest

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL rioters BradfordA father-to-be has been jailed after he was caught on camera throwing lumps of brick or concrete at police lines during violent clashes at an English Defence League protest in Bradford city centre.

A judge heard yesterday that 28-year-old Michael Currie was the only person to have ended up at the city’s crown court following the disturbance in August 2010. Prosecutor Paul Gallagher told Recorder Peter Pimm 13 other people were arrested, but the majority had been dealt with by way of fixed penalty notices for disorderly conduct.

The court was shown aerial footage taken from a police helicopter of the protest, which took place at the Westfield Broadway building site. The judge then watched another recording which showed Currie throwing missiles towards officers after he and others in the crowd had scaled a hoarding surrounding the site.

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FIFA to take final decision on hijab ban in July

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Goal-line technology was approved in principle by the soccer’s lawmakers on Saturday and could be used for the first time at FIFA’s Club World Cup finals in Japan at the end of the year.

The eight-man International Football Association Board said that the technologies of two companies, Hawk-Eye from Britain and GoalRef, a German-Danish company, would be subject to further tests until a final decision was taken at a special IFAB meeting in Kiev on July 2.

IFAB, which comprises four representatives from the world governing body FIFA and four from the British associations, also agreed in principle to overturn the decision they took in 2007 and will now allow Islamic women footballers to wear a hijab, or headscarf, when they play.

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French Interior Minister Claude Gueant under fire for racism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Claude Gueant with SarkozyFrench Interior Minister Claude Gueant, a hardliner close to President Nicolas Sarkozy, came under fire again Saturday for the second time in a month for comments deemed racist by liberals.

At a meeting late Friday in support of Sarkozy’s bid for a new term as president, Gueant condemned proposals by the president’s socialist opponent Francois Hollande to give the vote in local elections to immigrants.

“We don’t want foreign town councillors making halal food obligatory in canteen meals …. or regulating mixed bathing in swimming pools,” Gueant told an audience near Nancy in eastern France.

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Three arrested as National Front protesters gather in Heywood

Posted on by Bob Pitt

NF Heywood protest

About 100 gathered in the Memorial Gardens, Heywood town centre, to hear speeches from National Front members at 1pm today. Some carried placards while others held union flags. The group had then wanted to march through the town centre but their request was refused by Greater Manchester Police.

A number of minor flashpoints saw two protesters arrested for public order offences. Earlier in the day a 49-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of committing racially-aggravated public order offences.

Manchester Evening News, 3 March 2012

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