Yearly Archives: 2012

French bishop warns of rising Islamophobia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Claude DagensLOURDES — Leading bishops have voiced alarm at a rise in anti-Islamic sentiment in France and admitted that hardening attitudes within the Roman Catholic church are fuelling the trend.

In comments that will add to pressure on President François Hollande to respond to demands from France’s large Muslim community to speak out on the issue, the Bishop of Angoulême, Claude Dagens, said he was profoundly concerned by recent developments.

“It is with much pain that I notice the emergence of a Catholic Islamophobia, in the same way that there has been a Catholic anti-semitism for centuries,” Dagens told AFP in an interview on the sidelines of an assembly of French bishops here.

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French Muslims call on Hollande to speak out on Islamophobia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

French Muslim leaders have appealed to President François Hollande come out as strongly against Islamophobia as he has against anti-Semitism. They estimate that the number of anti-Muslim acts in France rose 34 per cent last year.

Leaders of the Muslim umbrella body, the CFCM, which was set up by former president Nicolas Sarkozy when he was interior minister, met Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on Thursday to call for action against what they claim is a rise in Islamophobia.

They called on Hollande to condemn it in a “solemn declaration”, similar to his call for the fight against anti-Semitism to become a “national cause”.

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Jury shown photograph of EDL supporter wielding stick outside Kingston Mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Henry Hunter with stickA jury has been shown a photograph of a man wielding a stick outside Kingston Mosque moments before an attack by masked and hooded men.

Henry Hunter, 19, denies violent disorder and racially and religiously aggravated criminal damage, after a group of men targeted the mosque in East Road.

At Kingston Crown Court, a jury of eight women and four men heard how Mr Hunter took part in a protest march through Kingston town centre on November 21, 2010.

Prosecutor Anthony Montgomery said that although the march passed without incident, several men who had been captured on CCTV during the protest later threw sticks, bottles and rashers of bacon at the mosque, and damaged a sign attached to the building.

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Leicester: far-right racists exploit community tensions

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Forgotten estates: far right extremists move into community politics

By Dave Porter and Owen Jones

HOPE not hate, November-December 2012

FAR-RIGHT EXTREMISTS looking to spread their message of hate are infiltrating community protest groups and hijacking them for their own political ends.

Leicester has become the latest battleground for extremists spreading messages of hate under the banner of community activism.

Self-declared racists from the EDL and BNP are hijacking sensitive community issues to their own ends – using them as a fertile recruiting ground while pretending to be non-political.

Through these means, large sections of the community who would normally shun such hate groups are being hoodwinked by racists looking to capitalise on and stir up local feelings.

In Leicester, a group calling itself the Committee for the Forgotten Estates of Thurnby Lodge and Netherall has been central in organising protests against a former scout hut in Thurnby Lodge being converted into a community centre by a Muslim organisation called As-Salaam Trust.

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Tulsa bank urged to abandon head-scarf ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

An Oklahoma bank’s requirement that branch visitors remove anything covering their faces discriminates against Muslims, a civil liberties group says.

The Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called Wednesday on Valley National Bank in Tulsa to change a policy that requires visitors to the $221 million-asset bank’s four branches to remove their hats, hoods and sunglasses so bank employees can see their faces.

The policy – which Valley National says is a security measure – prevented a Muslim woman from entering a Valley National branch in Tulsa on Oct. 9, the council says. An employee allegedly told the visitor she would have to be escorted to and from the teller unless she agreed to remove her hijab, a loose-fitting garment that some Muslim women wear over their heads.

“Recognize that a religious headdress is different than a hat,” Adam Soltani, the council’s executive director, told American Banker. “In Oklahoma, there has never been an instance of anyone impersonating a Muslim woman to rob a bank or anywhere else.”

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English Defence League protest and counter-demonstration in Norwich this Saturday

Posted on by Bob Pitt

We Are Norwich public meeting

The English Defence League (EDL) and its opposing “We Are Norwich” group are both staging marches on Saturday, November 10.

The counter protesters will gather at Chapelfield Gardens at 11am before marching at 12.30pm to City Hall via Theatre Street, Brigg Street and Hay Hill. They will have speeches at approximately 1pm before dispersing.

At 12.45pm the EDL group will gather at Castle Gardens before also marching to City Hall at 1pm, via Castle Meadow, Opie Street, Bedford Street, Exchange Street and Gaol Hill. There they will have speeches at approximately 1.30pm before dispersing.

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Man who accused Muslims of carrying bomb escapes prison because he was ‘suffering from stress’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A father-of-three working at the Torness nuclear plant sparked a security alert at Waverley Station by telling fellow travellers that two 
Muslim men were carrying a bomb.

David Rothenburg claimed innocent passengers Mohammed Shobair and Zaithoon Akhtar were terrorists as he hurled racial abuse at them. The 36-year-old, who had drunk seven pints of Guinness, followed the men around the station making the insults before being arrested by British Transport Police officers.

Rothenburg avoided a prison sentence yesterday at Edinburgh Sheriff Court after his lawyer made a “compelling argument” that his client was suffering from work-related stress. Instead, Sheriff Gordon Liddle ordered Rothenburg to carry out 200 hours of community service and pay a compensation order of £1500.

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Youths who shouted racist abuse at Dagenham football match fined and banned from game

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Two teenagers involved in racist chanting at a group of boys at an anti-racism football match in Dagenham have been banned from attending games for three years.

Keith Meredith, of Holgate Road, Dagenham, and Lee Bates, of Seymer Road, Romford, both 18, appeared at Romford Magistrates Court on October 16.

They were among 25 to 30 youths seen and heard shouting abuse at the Tower Hamlets schoolboys during a Daggers Against Racism game with Bradford FC, held in Victoria Road, Dagenham.

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Lincoln mosque plans given go-ahead by city councillors

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A new £500,000 mosque in Lincoln has been granted unanimous approval by city councillors.

The proposed two-storey place of worship at the old Boultham Dairy initially sparked controversy which led to a petition against the plans from Boultham Residents’ Association.

Members were concerned about the level of traffic the building would bring to the area. But the group has since come out in support of the mosque scheme put forward by the Islamic Association of Lincoln.

The City of Lincoln Council only received five letters of objection – mostly about concerns over traffic congestion – while six letters were sent in which backed the project.

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