Monthly Archives: July 2014

Philip Hollobone MP calls for British ban on face veil

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Philip HolloboneThe Government should press on with banning the veil in Britain after a French law doing the same was upheld by the European Court of Human Rights, a Tory MP said today.

Kettering MP Philip Hollobone, who has proposed back bench legislation to ban face coverings in the past, urged Commons Leader Andrew Lansley to find time for a Government statement on the issue. Mr Hollobone, a prominent eurosceptic who more typically criticises the European Court, raised the issue at the weekly Commons business statement.

He said: “This week finally, at long last, we have had a sensible decision from the European Court of Human Rights about something.

“Given this week, the court has decided that the ban on Islamic veils in France breaches no-one’s human rights, will you or another member of the Government next week make a statement to the House that Her Majesty’s Government intends to introduce such legislation into this country?

“We will never have a fully functioning, fully integrated multi-cultural society if growing numbers of our citizens go around with their faces covered.”

But Mr Lansley replied: “I did note that court decision… part of that decision was about the issues of subsidiarity and the right of countries to make these decisions for themselves. In that context I don’t anticipate a statement by a minister in the form you seek.”

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Ohio Muslim sues Islamophobes

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Muslim “multicultural relations officer” for Ohio’s Office of Homeland Security claims in court that Internet bloggers defamed him and cost him his job by posting that he was an “Islamist mole” who sympathized with terrorists.

Omar Alomari sued the City of Columbus, Todd Alan Sheets, Stephen Coughlin, John Guandolo, Patrick Poole and a John Doe known on the Internet as “Rusty Shackleford,” in Franklin County Court of Common Pleas.

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Maidstone: Tory candidate kicked out of party over BNP ‘No More Mosques’ Facebook post

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Roger HoggA former Conservative borough council election candidate has lost his membership of the party after a campaign poster from the British National Party appeared on his Facebook page.

But Roger Hogg said: “I’m entirely innocent! I did not post this. My Facebook has been hacked!”

The poster which featured a picture of a mosque with a line through it and the caption “No More Mosques” was displayed on Mr Hogg’s page this week, but the self-employed security officer said: “I was unaware it was even on my wall till (Tory chief) John Wilson called me about it.”

Mr Hogg stood as the Tory candidate for Fant Ward in the May Maidstone Borough Council elections. He is the son of Mike Hogg, who is a Conservative member for South Ward.

His Facebook page read: “How can it be legal to not allow women to enter the front door of the Mosque? Is there any other building in the country that could even think of getting away with such anti-women bigotry and discrimination? These are very real, logical questions, please do contribute.”

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Racist graffiti man who sprayed ‘EDL’ on Blackburn properties walks free

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A father-of-one who sprayed racist graffiti in Blackburn has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Ethan Hesketh, 24, covered property in a predominantly Asian area of the town with the letters ‘EDL’ and other offensive language. The court heard how the defendant, formerly of Blackburn, but now living in Derby Square, Preston, also damaged 11 cars and stonework in Shear Brow and a sign belonging to Abbeydale Vets.

He pleaded guilty to five counts of racially aggravated criminal damage and nine further counts of criminal damage.

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SDL supporter who threatened arson attack on Edinburgh Central Mosque is fined and told to read a book

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A young man who sent an email threatening to burn an Edinburgh mosque ‘to the ground’ has been fined and told to read up on history by a sheriff.

Andrew Steele, 21, sent the message to an office manager at the Scottish Parliament in the wake of the murder of soldier Lee Rigby. It referred to a meeting of the Unite Against Facism movement at Edinburgh’s Central Mosque and included a comment of his that it should be ‘burned to the f****** ground’.

Fiscal Depute, Arlene Shaw, told the sheriff court that the email showed a screenshot photo of a Scottish Defence League Facebook page which contained several threats in relation to the meeting at the mosque the following day including his comment.

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ECHR ruling inspires FPÖ proposal for ‘burqa’ ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Austria’s Freedom Party (FPÖ) is calling for a ban on burqas, after the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) backed France’s rules on religious headgear on Tuesday, when it ruled the country’s law banning full-face veils in public was legal.

The ECHR ruled that France’s ban on the wearing of the full-face veil in public does not violate the human rights of Muslim women. Judges said the law was justified on the grounds of social cohesion.

Freedom Party spokeswoman Carmen Gartelgruber said that in the “wide, conservative circles of Islamic immigration society”, the opinion prevails that women are second-class citizens. One of the many instruments for oppressing women is the burqa, she added.

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Denmark may enact French ‘burqa ban’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Pia Kjærsgaard DFA ban on people wearing clothing that covers their face in public, like a burqa or niqab, may find its way to Denmark following a landmark decision at the European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday.

Judges upheld France’s burqa law, accepting the argument that veils threatened the right of citizens to live together in society. And now, several legal experts have told Berlingske newspaper that they believe a similar ban could be enacted in Denmark.

Sten Schaumburg-Müller, a law professor at Aarhus University, agreed that the French model could be adopted by Denmark. “It’s obvious that a ban specifically targeting burqas would be hopeless,” he said. “But I believe a ban similar to France’s prohibiting the covering of the face in public could be established here.”

Jacob Mchangama, the head of think-tank Justitia, also believes the law could be recycled on Danish ground. “The defining element in the French legislation is that it isn’t targeted at specific religions, but instead the motivation is to ensure social cohesion and interaction between citizens,” he said.

Pia Kjærsgaard, the DF values spokesperson, thinks a ban on face-covering dress, whether it is specifically targeting Islamic burqas or not, should be introduced in Denmark. “We can’t have women being completely covered so you can’t see their facial expressions or who you have right in front of you,” she told Berlingske.

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Norway braced for new ‘burqa ban’ debate

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Norway’s Labour and Progress parties have stated that they would consider revisiting the issue of a Muslim veil ban in the wake of a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that a public ban does not violate the human rights of Muslim women.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday gave support to France’s claim that the statutory public prohibition of clothing which covers the face is within the framework of European human rights.

“We must consider whether we should promote the proposal again, after the court in Strasbourg has now confirmed what we have constantly said: that a ban is compatible with human rights,” said Mazyar Keshvari at the Progress Party (FRP) to the VG daily.

Jan Bøhler of the Labour Party (Ap) also claimed that the ruling of the court puts the Norwegian discussion about the controversial ban in a new light. “When parliament rejected such a ban in 2013, the main argument was that Norway risked being censured in the ECHR. Now that argument falls away. I think we need to take a new discussion about a possible ban,” he told VG.

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Far Right rally fears grow

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Far Right group linked with racial violence is staging a Wigan demo.

Concerns are rising after the confrontational Britain First party – an even more extreme splinter of the BNP and EDL, confirmed when approached by the Evening Post today that its members will hold a Regional Rally in Wigan this Saturday.

However, despite describing itself as a “legitimate political party,” it refused point blank to say where or at what time. Instead a spokesman stated that supporters would be “re-directed” to the real venue on the day.

Wigan borough has little ethnic diversity. The spokesman said it had been chosen because of its central position in the North West and its strong motorway and rail communications.

Council leader Lord Smith said that Labour “regretted” Britain First had chosen to hold a rally in Wigan, adding: “They and their racist views are not welcome in our town. We will work with the police to ensure that any nuisance they try to cause is minimised.”

Wigan MP Lisa Nandy said that despite desperate efforts by far right groups to “whip up hatred, racism and intolerance,” the area had consistently rejected their “message of hate.”

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Defend Muslims from mosque invasions – No to Britain First

Posted on by Bob Pitt

UAF_logoUnite Against Fascism (UAF) extends it’s solidarity with all those who are subject to threats, intimidation and Islamophobia, from the publicity hungry, fascist sect, Britain First (BF).

The group say they plan to travel around Britain to promote their poison. This follows from when on May 10/11th, BF subjected mosque goers to an ‘invasion’, where Bibles were thrust into Muslims’ hands. This was intimidation, and as ugly as BF’s politics. Many were bewildered by BF members who went on to holler insults and behave menacingly.

UAF has been contacted by several people who had their place of worship threatened by these thugs. All told a similar story of how worshippers were left shaken by this unwarranted attempt to put fear into Muslim people. This is totally unacceptable.

Were such behaviour to happen at churches or synagogues, there would be rightly be a public outcry. So there should be, here. At Glasgow Central Mosque and at Cumbernauld Mosque, to their great credit, it was Muslims who calmed the BF thugs down!

BF are also, as Hitler did, telling big lies about their popularity. They claim to have had over 500,000 Likes on Social Media. The reality is rather different. Using a series of ‘patriotic’ images, not immediately linked to BF, they have amassed fake popularity behind such fake postings. Their membership is barely 100, far away from their claims.

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