Yearly Archives: 2012

French minister threatens zero tolerance for ‘Salafist behaviour’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

French Interior Minister Manuel Valls warned Islamists on Thursday that preaching hatred in France would not be tolerated, telling hardliners as he inaugurated a mosque that they would be expelled if they challenged the Republic’s principles.

Valls’ message underscored the tough line that President Francois Hollande’s government has taken towards Islamists who were furious over the publication of cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammad in a French magazine last week.

While Socialist officials criticised Charlie Hebdo magazine over the cartoons, calling them a provocation, they banned protests against the images, denying requests by Muslim groups to hold marches in the name of free speech.

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New West Ham mosque will ‘deal with needs of Newham residents’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

NRAP Riverine Centre designWest Ham is in need of a new mosque because of a lack of worshipping space for Muslims, religious leaders say. Tabilighi Jama’at, the Islamic group hoping to build a new facility in Canning Road, said it acted on a comprehensive study of the borough before submitting its plans.

The controversial proposals have finally been validated by Newham Council planners. The 6.3 hectare site will contain a mosque that is expected to treble the 2 to 3,000 of worshippers currently able to attend the temporary site every week. The group has also promised to include a library, dining hall, and sports pitches and a visitors’ centre, all for the community.

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Finns Party candidate called for Muslims to be cooked alive because he was ‘extremely concerned about the spread of extreme Islam’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Amon RautiainenPolice are looking into whether or not to launch an inquiry into Facebook posts made by Finns Party municipal election candidate Amon Rautiainen. The Kotka candidate reportedly criticised Islam and said it would be “patriotic” to eliminate Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen and Finance Minister Jutta Urpilainen.

Among the more inflammatory comments allegedly made by the Finns Party standing for election in the southeastern municipality of Kotka was a call for Muslims to be cooked alive.

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Anti-fascist protesters We Are Waltham Forest organise meeting ahead of planned EDL march

Posted on by Bob Pitt

An anti-fascist protest group is due to hold a public meeting ahead of a proposed march by the English Defence League (EDL) in Walthamstow.

We Are Waltham Forest (WAWF) will discuss plans to oppose the march planned for October 27 after 3,000 people successfully diverted a previous EDL march of up to 300 people earlier this month.

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Mona Eltahawy arrested for defacing Geller’s anti-Muslim poster

Posted on by Bob Pitt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ABfcjn_npb8

Mona Eltahawy, the prominent Egyptian-American writer and activist, has been arrested in New York, after spraying paint over a controversial poster on the subway that has been condemned for equating Muslims with “savages”.

The posters which have been put up in the city by the anti-Muslim American Freedom Defense Initiative, led by Pam Geller, were approved by a US court, which ruled that they were “political” statements and protected by the first amendment, which guarantees free speech.

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Paris: police arrest four Muslim women

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Four Muslim women sightseeing in Paris were arrested by police forces on Saturday for wearing headscarves.

The scene, which was filmed by journalists from Le Parisien, a French daily newspaper covering both international and national news, took place at the Trocadéro, a square that stands across the river from the Eiffel Tower. The four women, including one wearing a headscarf, were checked for IDs before being escorted out of the square by dozens of police officers.

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