Yearly Archives: 2012

Two Saudi women students verbally and racially abused in Norwich for wearing veils

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Police are investigating after two Saudi Arabian students were racially and verbally abused in Norwich for covering their faces with a veil. The married women from Bowthorpe, who are learning English at the Flying Classrooms language school in Tombland, said they are now too scared to walk in the city.

The school’s director of studies Roni Snell said she was “appalled” at the incident which happened close to Debenham’s in the city centre last month. She said: “I’m appalled and embarrassed. We have a lot of Saudi people come to study with us. The government funds their study, and a lot of students live with our 250 host families. It’s terrible for a minority of people to abuse these ladies. Norwich’s economy benefits greatly from having these students here and we should treat them as guests.”

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More on Baroness Cox and the threat of sharia law

Posted on by Bob Pitt

CBC House of Lords Symposium

It turns out that the meeting at the House of Lords on Monday where Baroness Cox made her hysterical claims about the threat of sharia law was the annual symposium of the Christian Broadcasting Council, of which Cox is vice-president. It was titled “Islamist Resurgence: Shari’a and freedom” and Cox was billed as speaking “on matters arising out of her Private Members Bill on Gender Equality and Shari’a”.

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Kingston Mosque attack: Accused denies leading mob, says he was helping old lady across the road

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A tree surgeon accused of being part of a hooded mob that attacked Kingston Mosque has said he was a happy go lucky man who did not know there was a mosque in the town.

Terry Earl, 32, is on trial along with eight other men who all deny being part of a mob that attacked the mosque with beer bottles and sticks on Sunday, November 21, 2010.

Prosecutor Gopal Hooper asked him if it was “complete coincidence” he had walked from the King’s Tun pub after an English Defence League rally to the mosque in East Road. He asked: “Why did you turn into East Road?”

Mr Earl, of Northolt, replied: “I don’t know. I’m a happy go lucky guy. I didn’t know where I was going.” He said he did not know there was a mosque in Kingston.

Asked why CCTV showed him at the front of about 15 to 20 people walking in Richmond Road towards the mosque, he said: “I wasn’t leading them in any way whatsoever.”

He told the court he dropped behind to help an elderly woman, saying: “I remember there was an old lady struggling to get up the kerb with her shopping trolley and I put my arm up to help her get up the kerb.”

Kingston Guardian, 22 March 2012

CAIR, law firm file suit over Lomita mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Los Angeles office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and a civil rights law firm have filed a joint complaint against the city of Lomita for denying the Islamic Center of South Bay’s application to rebuild and renovate its mosque.‬

‪The federal complaint, filed Wednesday at the U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles, contends that the city is discriminating against the mosque and that there is no evidence to back up neighbors’ concerns of increased traffic.

‪”This is a last resort for the center under federal law,” said attorney Anne Richardson. “We are seeking injunctive relief and we’re asking the city to reverse its denial of the application and allow the mosque to move forward with its plans.”

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Thousands mobilise against planned anti-Islam Denmark demo

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Several thousand people turned out for an open-air concert in Denmark’s second city of Aarhus on Wednesday to protest against a far-right anti-Islam rally planned for March 31, officials said.

Aarhus city officials said they organised the concert as a way of showing the city’s tolerance and because “Aarhus does not want to be associated with extremist groups” that represent “everything we want to distance ourselves from.” Around 5,000 people attended Wednesday’s concert, a spokesman for the mayor’s office said.

Far-right groups from across Europe are scheduled to meet in Aarhus on March 31 for an anti-Islam rally organised by the Danish Defence League, a sister organisation of the English Defence League.

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Football NSW backs cultural diversity, welcomes IFAB decision on hijab

Posted on by Bob Pitt

FNSW logoFootball NSW has thrown its support behind Harmony Day, a day designed to recognise Australia’s cultural diversity as well as women footballers.

Harmony Day is an initiative of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC). It gives people the opportunity to celebrate what makes each Australian unique and share what we have in common.

In 2012, the Harmony Day theme is sport – play, engage, inspire recognises the important role and positive influence that sport has in our multicultural nation.

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Kingston Mosque attack accused’s unconvincing response to cross-examination

Posted on by Bob Pitt

An Epsom builder has been grilled over why he bought bacon which was subsequently thrown at a mosque.

Builder David Morris, 22, is one of nine men accused of violent disorder, affray and racially-aggravated damage when a hooded mob attacked Kingston Mosque in November 2010. The incident took place after an English Defence League rally outside the mosque in East Road with a mob chanting English Defence League slogans as elderly worshippers cowered inside the building.

Taking the stand at Kingston Crown Court on Monday Mr Morris refused to answer a number of questions during his cross-examination. Leading Judge Georgina Kent had to warn him three times about the inferences the jury may take from his no comment responses.

Mr Morris told the court he picked up bacon from Tesco Metro “for a joke”. He said: “Obviously it was a march against Islamic extremism and they don’t eat bacon.” When he went back to the nearby King’s Tun pub other people threw the bacon around and he did not see it again, he told the court.

He was also asked about a photo on his mobile phone which showed co-defendant Alfie Wallace and another unidentified man in East Road holding sticks. Asked why he took it and what the men intended to do with the sticks he said: “I don’t know.”

Kingston Guardian, 21 March 2012

‘Alert over dangers of Sharia’: Sun promotes Geert Wilders admirer Baroness Cox

Posted on by Bob Pitt


Baroness Cox hosts Geert Wilders at the House of Lords in March 2010

Stoning, whipping and amputations could become common punishments in the UK if hardline Sharia law is allowed to thrive, a peer has warned.

Crossbencher Baroness Cox claimed a rise in the number of British Muslims using it instead of the official court system could even lead to the destruction of democracy.

She said Sharia law will become a way of life in parts of the UK, sparking support for the BNP, unless officials step in.

UK Muslims have been able to use Sharia for legal disputes since 1982.

The baroness said: “We do not at the moment have the most brutal punishments, but there are those who would like to bring them in.”

Sun, 21 March 2012

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Wilders’ anti-Islam party is bankrolled by US supporters, says former MP

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Geert Wilders and David Horowitz Freedom CenterAmerican lobbyists make large donations to a foundation set up by the anti-immigration PVV, Hero Brinkman, the MP who left the party on Tuesday, told a television talk show on Tuesday evening.

Brinkman said he could not rule out the money being used to pay for Geert Wilders’ defence on racial hatred charges but declined to comment further on what the money had been spent on. Nor would he comment on the size of the donations.

The PVV is thought to generate significant funding from Israeli and far-right supporters in the US.

Because the PVV has no members, it does not receive government subsidies to run the campaigning side of its operations and relies instead on donations.

Dutch News, 21 March 2012

Brinkman’s allegation about the PVV’s finances confirms what had already been revealed in the Dutch press. In 2010 Volkskrant and NRC reported that the two main US sources for Wilders’ funding were David Horowitz and Daniel Pipes.

Update:  See “U.S. groups helped fund Dutch anti-Islam politician Wilders”, Reuters, 10 September 2012