Author Archives: Bob Pitt

Muslim worshippers pelted with eggs near Epsom and Ewell mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A man pelted Muslim worshippers at a mosque with eggs in a racist attack.

The assault occured during the Muslim festival of Ramadan as worshippers entered the Epsom and Ewell Islamic Society, situated on Hook Road. The incident, described by police as a racially aggravated assault, took place at about 11.15pm on Sunday evening.

Visitors had been attending evening prayers in the build up to Ramadan when several vehicles drove by and hurled eggs as men, woman and children left the mosque.

After a tip off from the local community a 20-year-old man, from Epsom, was arrested on Tuesday yesterday and he remains in custody where police said he is helping detectives with their enquiries.

Epsom and Ewell Neighbourhood Inspector Ailsa Quinlan said: “We will not tolerate this behaviour and we always treat any form of hate crime as a serious offence.

“Following the incident on Sunday evening we increased our police presence at the mosque which enabled us to act quickly and robustly in making this arrest.

“I would like to encourage members of the Muslim community who have suffered a hate crime to report it to us.”

This Is Local London, 2 September 2009

Fitzpatrick calls for ban on gender-segregated meetings

Posted on by Bob Pitt

London Muslim CentreGovernment Minister Jim Fitzpatrick has called for segregation to be outlawed in Britain. The controversial East London Labour MP, who hit the headlines last week after walking out of a Muslim wedding for being asked to sit apart from his wife, insists segregation of men and women outside places of worship should be against the law.

Mr Fitzpatrick, the MP for Poplar and Canning Town, told the BBC that he does not oppose segregation in mosques, but believes separating men and women in halls such as the London Muslim Centre and other public buildings was “unacceptable.”

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Young British Muslims angry with police and media

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Seen and Not HeardMany young British Muslims feel demonized by the police and the media and say they have come under pressure to prove their loyalty since the September 11 attacks and the 2005 London bombings, a study has found.

The report for the Policy Research Center, an Islamic think tank, was intended to give young Muslims their own voice to counter assumptions made by outsiders.

It said young Muslims had been portrayed in the media as a threat to society and often struggled to convince people that they can be both British and Muslim at the same time.

Public debate over immigration, nationalism and integration has left them feeling under attack, while Britain’s role in Iraq and Afghanistan has only increased the pressure. “As well as facing questions and challenges to their loyalty, young Muslims … are being pressed to define their identity in light of national and international events,” the report said.

Young Muslims are too often asked to prove that their religion is peaceful and they are law-abiding, the report said. “This is especially damaging when myths and stereotypes surmount accurate information, resulting in young British Muslims being portrayed as a threat to the wellbeing of the wider British communities,” it said.

Despite attempts by police chiefs to engage with the Muslim community, the report found many young British Muslims did not trust the police and felt harassed. The report blamed a dramatic rise in Muslims being stopped and searched in the street after the July 2005 suicide bombings, which killed 52 people in London.

Reuters, 31 August 2009

See also Policy Research Centre website

Update:  See Sughra Ahmed’s piece at Comment is Free, 1 September 2009

US Islamophobes’ heroine lied about seeing Muslim student sit during Pledge

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Heather LawrenceFervent patriots held Heather Lawrence up as a hero. When her story broke last week, bloggers and online commenters praised the 16-year-old junior and JROTC member at Springstead High School for confronting a Muslim student for not standing during the Pledge of Allegiance.

Lawrence, however, fabricated that part of the story, school officials say. “This girl lied,” Springstead principal Susan Duval said Monday. “I have confirmed with the homeroom teacher the young (Muslim) lady stood for the pledge.”

Lawrence said she was walking by another homeroom Wednesday morning when she saw a girl with the traditional Muslim head scarf sitting during the pledge. Later, Lawrence said she confronted the girl, told her she should stand during the pledge out of respect and, according to her own account and a school report, said, “Take that thing off your head and act like you’re proud to be an American.”

A teacher witnessed the confrontation and Lawrence was suspended for five days for violating the district’s policy against bullying and harassment. The suspension has since been reduced to three days.

After the incident, Heather Lawrence was asked by a teacher why she confronted the girl. “She began to rant that she was enlisting and was going to Iraq and that basically because the girl looks Middle Eastern, that makes her an enemy because all Iraqis are Middle Eastern,” according to the referral signed by assistant principal Stephen Crognale.

The story, reported by the Times and other local media Friday, went viral, prompting some praise for Lawrence for speaking her mind and boos for school officials for quelling her free-speech rights. Duval said the school has received calls from angry people who have “abused” her staff.

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Leyton scheme to empower young Muslim women

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A project aimed at helping young Muslim girls to gain confidence and skills, including those who have suffered abuse and hostility because of wearing the headscarf, has been launched.

The Young Muslim Women Professionals Project was given a grant of nearly £500,000 from the Big Lottery fund and was set up after women came forward to describe the abuse they suffered. Aimed at girls and young women aged 10 to 25, the scheme will include mentoring projects, “skills for life” such as ICT and counselling training and advice on how to deal with abuse safely.

Project director Zahir Fatima said: “We’re helping young Muslim women to build confidence regardless of whether they wear the veil. It’s about giving them skills and empowering them to become more active in the community.”

Set up by the Leyton-based Kiran Project, which has traditionally supported Asian women and children suffering domestic violence and abuse, the scheme is set to run for three years.

Fiaz Akhtar, who works for Kiran as a project co-ordinator and wears a head scarf, said: “I’ve experienced it myself on two or three occasions. After 7/7, I was in my car with my daughter and a guy came up behind me. He came out of his car and started swearing and saying ‘get back to your country’. It came to the point where I was petrified.”

Mrs Akhtar also had a lit cigarette thrown at her and said many women have been spat at, verbally abused in the street and even had their veils pulled off in the years following 9/11 and 7/7. She said: “My clothes almost caught fire – luckily I was sitting forward. I cried a lot – it’s something that could have been harmful to me.”

She described how her 12-year-old daughter, who also wears the veil, had been verbally abused in Walthamstow market because of the way she was dressed. Mrs Akhtar added that a number of young women had come forward to say they had suffered similar problems and the project grew from there, as a way to rebuild their self-confidence.”

Waltham Forest Guardian, 28 August 2009

Nebraska Muslim workers faced ‘unlawful harassment’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslim advocates say federal officials have determined a Nebraska meatpacking plant isn’t doing enough to accommodate the religious needs of its Muslim workers.

Representatives of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said Friday that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled this week after a nearly yearlong investigation into conditions at the Grand Island JBS Swift and Co. plant.

Hundreds of Muslim workers walked off the job there last fall, saying they wanted time to pray during the workday. That led to mass firings.

Associated Press, 28 August 2009

See also CAIR press release, 28 August 2009

A committee against Islamophobia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“In 2005 a parliamentary committee against antisemitism was established to ‘confront and defeat antisemitism in this country and beyond’. At a time when anti-Muslim bigotry has become pervasive and is now translating into actual hate crimes, it is surely crucial that a similar committee against Islamophobia is also set up to monitor and help combat anti-Muslim prejudice and discrimination.”

Inayat Bunglawala at Comment is Free, 27 August 2009

Another anti-Muslim lie from the BNP

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Last week, under the blaring headline “Muslim Post Office Manager Bans Woman from Sending Parcel Because Her Son Serves in Afghanistan“, the British National Party reported:

“A Muslim post office manager in Cardiff has refused to serve a British soldier’s mother – because her son serves in Afghanistan. The shocking story, which shows precisely how far mass Third World immigration has created a fifth column of anti-British elements in this country, has emerged after the woman, Mrs Maria Davies, contacted the British National Party in Wales to ask for assistance.”

Brian Mahoney, BNP leader in Wales, was quoted as saying:

“For many mothers with sons on active service for their country, it can be a constant worry until they return safely. It is of great importance for a mother to be able to go to her local post office to send her son a parcel or money. Imagine, then, Mrs Davies’ shock when the owner of her local post office in Wilson Road, Ely, Cardiff, a certain Mr Khan, asked her where her son was serving. When she told him Afghanistan, he informed her that she was not welcome to send him anything from her post office, either packages or money.”

Helpfully providing a photo of Mr Khan’s shop, for ease of identification, the BNP urged its supporters to contact him and make their feelings known. (Perhaps Mr Khan should be grateful that he lives in South Wales rather than Essex, otherwise Councillor Pat Richardson might have paid him a visit with a brick.)

And, wouldn’t you know it, the story turns out to be complete nonsense. Mr Khan had in fact banned Davies from all of his shops as the result of a dispute over a technical glitch concerning charges to her debit card. It had nothing to do with her son serving in Afghanistan.

Mr Khan and the post office manageress Mrs Thomas have issued the following statement:

There is absolutely no truth in the allegation made to the British National Party that the Post Office in Wilson Road, Ely, Cardiff will not accept parcels for British troops in Afghanistan.

It should not be repeated and we reserve the right to pursue legal action against any person or body repeating the allegation and call for its removal from any website or other publication.

The Wilson Road Post Office has always accepted and continues to accept such parcels. Indeed the Wilson Road shops including the Post Office recently held a ‘Heroes Collection’ for British troops.

The allegation is false and malicious and related to a separate dispute with a customer.

As a result that customer is not welcome at these premises but our services can be accessed by someone else on their behalf if they so wish.

Lancaster Unity has the story.

As for the BNP, they have now removed the story from their website, but hopefully that won’t deter Mr Khan from taking them to court.