To accompany their coverage of the English Defence League’s harrassment of worshippers at Margate mosque, the Isle of Thanet Gazette reports on a recent EDL meeting in the Kent seaside town.
Yearly Archives: 2012
Thurnby Lodge Scout hut row petition is handed in to Leicester City council
Scores of campaigners gathered at the city council offices to submit a petition opposing the handover of a former Scout hut to an Islamic charity.
The group, calling itself the Committee for the Forgotten Estates of Thurnby Lodge and Netherhall, passed the document to City Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby yesterday.
They are asking the council not to allow the As-Salaam Trust to take control of a disused scout building located in the heart of the estate. The charity, whose members have been meeting on the estate for two-and-a-half years, are asking to take over the disused building.
More than 250 Thurnby Lodge residents gathered outside the Leicester City Council headquarters in New Walk last night to witness the handover.
EDL harasses worshippers at Margate mosque
Police were called to keep the peace after English Defence League (EDL) demonstrators targeted Muslim worshippers outside Margate mosque.
Two men handed out anti-Islamic propaganda before Friday prayers last week, angering some members of the congregation who then reported the incident to police.
BNP member Michael Coleman spared jail term
A British National Party member and former Stoke-on-Trent councillor has received a suspended jail sentence for using racist language online.
Michael Coleman, 45, of Caverswall Road, Weston Coyney, had denied two counts of racially aggravated harassment. The charges related to racist language used in two articles on his website between 8 August 2011 and 8 March 2012.
Free speech or Islamophobia? Enough Coalition roundtable with Marwan Muhammad
Catholics then, Muslims now
Doug Saunders, author of The Myth of the Muslim Tide: Do Immigrants Threaten the West?, draws attention to the parallels between the anti-Catholic bigotry of the past and the Islamophobia of today.
Fresh leads in California mosque hate crime
Authorities say they are pursuing fresh leads in their investigation into an Aug. 7 incident in which two women hurled pieces of pig carcasses outside a San Bernardino County home where Muslims were praying inside.
The incident at the site of the proposed Al-Nur Islamic Center near Ontario is being investigated as a hate crime and vandalism of a place of worship, said Detective Joseph Parker of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. “We believe the pig parts were thrown out to intimidate members so they don’t build a mosque on the site,” he said.
Le Pen’s attacks on Islam are no longer veiled
Aurelien Mondon shows how Marine Le Pen is stepping up her anti-Muslim rhetoric, assisted by the mainstreaming of far-right discourse by the likes of Nicolas Sarkozy and Jean-François Copé.
Why Conway Hall was right to ban ‘Tommy Robinson’
The English Defence League’s leader Stephen Lennon (“Tommy Robinson”) was due to speak at a meeting in London’s Conway Hall next week on the subject “Islam and Islamophobia: which is a threat to Britain?” Unfortunately for “Tommy”, he has been deprived of the opportunity to promote his hate-filled views about Muslims because the Conway Hall management cancelled the booking after complaints by Unite Against Fascism, Searchlight and other concerned parties.
Swiss parliamentarians reject veil ban
Swiss parliamentarians narrowly voted on Friday against a ban on wearing the Muslim burqa and other face coverings in public places, including public transport. The lower house of the Swiss parliament rejected the motion pushed by the canton of Aargau in a vote of 93 to 87.