Yearly Archives: 2013

Florida professor’s terrorism class: Muslims taught to hate ‘from the cradle’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jonathan Matusitz and friends
Jonathan Matusitz (second from right) and friends at The Awakening conference in Florida in April

A Florida professor who teaches a class on terrorism is facing a formal complaint after he claimed that Muslims are taught to hate “from the cradle.”

In a letter to the University of Central Florida, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) calls for the school to review terrorism courses taught by Professor Jonathan Matusitz, which the group says “includes inaccurate information, anti-Muslim bigotry and hostility in the form of hate speech toward Islam and Muslims.”

Continue reading →

Union leader to address worshippers at mosques

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A union leader will today address worshippers at two mosques to take a message of support to the Muslim community and condemn recent attacks by extremists. Unite general secretary Len McCluskey will visit two mosques in East London and meet Muslim community leaders.

He said: “Unite condemns the recent attacks on Muslim men and women by far right extremists and racists and offers the hand of friendship. Unite believes that every person in our community should live without fear and intimidation. Trade union values of fairness, justice and respect are what guide us and why we refuse to let our communities be divided by people pushing an agenda of hate and discrimination.”

The visit is the latest in a series of events aimed at easing tensions following the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby closer to the Royal Artillery barracks in south-east London in May.

Asian Image, 21 June 2013

See also “‘No place for EDL on our streets’ – McCluskey in solidarity visit to mosques”, Union-News, 21 June 2013

Southend landlady defends decision to let EDL meet in her pub

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL at Borough HotelA seafront pub landlady has defended her decision to let members of the far-right English Defence League meet in her pub. Nicola Tiney, who runs the Borough Hotel, in Marine Parade, Southend, spoke out in the face of a social networking website campaign, urging drinkers to shun the pub.

Police were out in force at the weekend in Southend in response to reports the group’s Essex branch was planning to meet in the town. It later emerged members spent Saturday afternoon in the pub, prompting the setting up of a “Boycott the Borough Hotel” page on Facebook.  The reggae band Goldmaster Allstars have cancelled their July 6 gig, saying they “feel they can no longer be associated” with it.

Continue reading →

EDL supporter banned from every mosque in Wales and England over arson attempt

Posted on by Bob Pitt

John ParkinA former soldier has been banned from every mosque in Wales and England after attempting to attack his local mosque following the murder of drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich.

The life-long ban was made as part of a CRASBO imposed on John Parkin, who drank 15 pints after he heard about the murder in London – then decided to try and burn down his local mosque. Parkin stuffed tissue into a bottle of beer and attempted to light it at the mosque in Rhyl.

Today he was jailed for 18 months and given an indefinite criminal anti-social behaviour order (CRASBO) was made under which he must not enter the mosque at River Street in Rhyl. It also bans him from entering the curtilage of any mosque in England and Wales.

Continue reading →

Shrewsbury Muslim prayer centre plans approved

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Members of Shropshire Council’s planning committee voted in favour of proposals to change the use of the former register office at Column Lodge in Preston Street.

The building was sold by Shropshire Council to the Shropshire Bangladeshi Welfare Society in a £215,000 deal. The group wants to turn the site into a prayer centre and community room.

But the scheme has strongly divided opinion with Shropshire Council receiving more than 500 letters about the application prior to the latest petition, with 227 in support and 278 against. It has also led to the English Defence League protesting in the town outside the planned prayer centre.

Continue reading →

Condemned: The racist call to burn down Grimsby mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A man urged people to burn down Grimsby’s mosque so the town could be put on the national map “big time”. Today, the dreadful comments, posted on Facebook, have been condemned by our mayor, who says: “This does not show the true face of North East Lincolnshire. The general public will be appalled by these comments.”

Steven Ballard was the second local man to be hauled before the courts in just two weeks for posting offensive comments about the mosque on the social networking site – and appeared just a day after a third man was remanded in custody charged with firebombing the Weelsby Road venue last month. Ballard, 27, of Churchill Way, Grimsby, admitted sending an offensive or menacing message on May 23.

Rebecca Dolby, prosecuting, told Grimsby magistrates that police searched an open group forum on Facebook linked to the Grimsby division of the English Defence League. Ballard posted a message at about 10pm following the murder of soldier Lee Rigby at Woolwich. It read: “Burn the mosque down the end of Legsby Avenue. That will tell the clowns in charge in this country that we ain’t taking this s*** and it will start a nationwide action going. Grimsby will be on the map big time then.”

Continue reading →

Two charged with Gloucester mosque arson

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Masjid-E-Noor GloucesterA Cheltenham man has been charged with conspiracy to commit arson following a “hate crime” at a mosque.

Ashley Henry Juggins, 20, of Brooklyn Road will appear before magistrates today following the blaze in Gloucester. Clive Michael Ceronne, 37, of Redwood Close in Gloucester faces a similar charge after an attack on Masjid-E-Noor in Ryecroft Street in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Police confirmed yesterday it was being treated as a hate crime after CCTV appeared to show someone pouring petrol around the door and igniting it with a lit rag.

Since the attack police have been talking to the Muslim community in Cheltenham to allay fears. They have vowed to step up patrols around Gloucester’s mosques and said the two in Cheltenham were on current routes.

Continue reading →

Abercrombie struggling to prove fired woman’s hijab hurt sales

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Abercrombie__FitchAbercrombie & Fitch is having a hard time proving in court that the Muslim headscarf worn by an employee who was fired in 2010 hurt the clothing company’s sales, Law360 reports.

On Tuesday, when a federal judge in California pressed attorney Mark Knueve, who is representing Abercrombie, if he or any of his witnesses had financial records to show the woman’s hijab hurt sales, Knueve said he didn’t.

“A defendant says we’re harmed but provides no real evidence?” Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers retorted, according to the report. “And you want me to grant summary judgment [in your favor]?”

Continue reading →

More thugs sentenced over EDL ‘charity walk’ in Bristol

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Bristol 'Help for Heroes' marchMore people involved in the disorder in St George and Redfield last month have been punished.

On May 25, a walk raising money for the Help for Heroes military charity, and held in memory of drummer Lee Rigby who was murdered in London, ended in violent clashes between police and a group of about 60 people on Church Road. Anti-Muslim slurs were heard and pint glasses and bar stools were thrown in and around the St George’s Hall pub.

Continue reading →