The English Defence League has posted a link on its Facebook page to the UK Mosque Searcher facility on the Muslims in Britain website, urging EDL supporters to use it in order to identify the mosques in their area.
Category Archives: Anti-Muslim violence
Sofia: mayor backs Ataka’s demand for reduction in volume of mosque speakers
The Sofia Municipality will request a decreasing of the volume of the Sofia central mosque speakers, stated mayor Yordanka Fandakova Sunday.
Speaking in an interview for TV7, the Sofia mayor, who is a representative of Bulgaria’s center-right GERB ruling party, said the measure will be taken to tone down tensions following the May 20 incident, in which representatives of extreme nationalist Ataka party, including MPs, attacked Muslims during Friday prayer.
The Ataka supporters had gathered that Friday on a protest motivated precisely by a request to lower the allegedly excessive volume of the minaret speakers of the Banya Bashi mosque in downtown Sofia. Several persons of both sides were injured in the disgraceful incident, which provoked the outrage of Muslims and large parts of Bulgarian society.
Key GERB representatives, including PM Boyko Borisov, Minister of Interior Tsvetan Tsvetanov and Sofia mayor Yordanka Fandakova failed to firmly condemn the events, simply characterizing them as a “lamentable” incident marking the inception of campaigning for municipal and presidential elections in the fall.
Sunday Fandakova said that the Ataka supporters had obviously breached public order and full investigations are underway. Nevertheless, she said she will press for lower levels of sound from the mosque during prayers.
“We will do everything possible to lower the volume, in order to decrease tensions. I believe that in this way we will go back to a normal tone of discussion, for safeguarding religious freedoms precludes interfering with public order by means of excessive noise from loudspeakers,” stated the mayor of the Bulgarian capital.
Award-winning blogger discovers ‘untackled radical Islam’ in London’s East End
Tory blogger Graeme Archer, who was recently awarded the Orwell Blog Prize, has written an unpleasant article for the Daily Telegraph (“The East End villains who thrive behind a veil of multiculturalism”) in which he asserts that the “increasing Islamisation” of London’s East End has led to threats and violence against gay men, women and non-Muslims.
You might have thought the potential for right-wing scaremongering over this particular urban myth had been pretty well exhausted by now, but Archer manages to extract some further poison from the issue, even though we’ve heard most of this before from the likes of Andrew Gilligan or the Daily Mail.
Youth sentenced for assault on Muslim policeman during EDL attack on mosque meeting
A 17-year-old youth has been ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid community work after carrying out a religiously aggravated attack on a police officer.
The Cherry Willingham youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was previously found guilty of assaulting off-duty Muslim police officer PC Rizwaan Chothia by Lincoln magistrates following a two-day trial held earlier this month.
He faced trial alongside Daniel Odling, 26, of High Street, Blyton, near Gainsborough, who was found guilty of religiously aggravated threatening behaviour and fined £450 and ordered to pay £500 costs plus a £15 victims’ surcharge.
Bulgarian MPs condemn Ataka assault on Sofia mosque
Prayer carpet on fire outside the Banya Bashi mosque on 20 May
The Bulgarian Parliament has condemned the actions of Volen Siderov and members of his ultra-nationalist Ataka party outside the Sofia mosque on May 20 2011, Bulgarian media reported on May 27. MPs from all parties present in the parliamentary sitting, with the exception of Ataka MPs who abstained, voted in favour of the declaration condemning Ataka’s actions.
Wilders has encouraged discrimination and violence against Muslims, court hears
Statements and speeches by PVV leader Geert Wilders over the past few years have led to an increase in discrimination and violence against Muslims, the MP’s trial in Amsterdam was told on Friday.
Michiel Pestman, representing a number of ethnic minority organisations, told the court Moroccan and other minority groups felt attacked by Wilders. “The attitude towards the Moroccan community has become harder due to the defendant’s actions,” Pestman said.
Mohamed Rabbae, former leader of the left-wing green party GroenLinks, told the court the PVV political manifesto shows Wilders’ eventual aim is to “get rid” of all Muslims.
California mosque fire was arson
Federal investigators have determined a fire that destroyed a mosque in Stockton last month was arson.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced its findings Wednesday. The ATF had opened an investigation into the fire at the Masjid Al-Emaan Mosque after it was gutted on April 23.
The mosque was located in a strip mall. A church next door, Living Well Ministries and Christian Center, was also damaged in the blaze. Damage from the fire was estimated to be about $400,000. There were no injuries.
No arrests have been made, but authorities are hoping a $10,000 reward for information will lead them to a suspect, or suspects.
See also “Mosque fire called arson; surveillance images released”, KCRA, 25 May 2011
Masjid al-Emaan has launched an appeal to finance the rebuilding of their mosque. Details here.
EDL plans confrontation with Muslim community in Tower Hamlets … with help from local Labour MP
Following their protest against “Muslim paedophiles” in Blackpool next Saturday, the English Defence League have announced that their next demonstration will be in the London borough of Tower Hamlets, which they describe as “the heartland of Islamic terrorism” (see here and here).
Comments about the Tower Hamlets protest on the EDL’s Facebook page have included a call to rip off Muslim women’s veils – from an individual currently on bail over charges arising from an attack on Kingston mosque – and even more explicit threats of violence such as this:
Judge waits for medical report on racist who threatened Salma Yaqoob
The mental health of a racist extremist who harassed a Birmingham city councillor will be assessed before he is sentenced.
Stuart Peter John Collins, of Mill Lane, Bartley Green, targeted Respect councillor Salma Yaqoob, who later spoke of the distress it caused.
Collins, aged 50, made offensive phone calls about the councillor to the emergency services claiming she was spreading racial hatred. He pleaded guilty to making offensive phone calls. It puts him in breach of an 18-month suspended jail sentence after he previously bombarded Ms Yaqoob with a series of offensive and racist emails.
Judge Trevor Faber bailed him, after adjourning sentence for a mental health assessment. He told Collins: “I want to make it clear that I am not giving any indication of sentencing but I am prepared to make a short adjournment so that the psychiatric team can prepare a report for the benefit of the judge who will sentence you.”
In the latest attack, Ms Yaqoob was repeatedly targeted by Collins who said he was “sick of extremists in the UK”.
Ms Yaqoob said: “I am surprised that he is up in court again. I would have thought he would have learnt that it’s not a good idea to send abusive and racist messages, that’s why he was in court last time and having been on the receiving end, it’s not very pleasant.
“But part of me is also concerned that he has mental health issues and I don’t know whether that has been taken into account, but it does sound bizarre going on such rants. I hope he gets the help he needs.”
Ataka prepares second protest at Sofia mosque but mayor unlikely to impose ban
Victim of last Friday’s attack on worshippers at the Banya Bashi mosque
Bulgaria’s far-right and nationalist party Ataka is getting ready to stage a new protest rally during the Friday prayer at the Sofia Mosque Banya Bashi.
According to unconfirmed reports, Ataka, whose activists shocked Bulgaria by assaulting praying Muslims in the Sofia mosque last Friday during a rally protesting against the loudspeakers of the mosque, are getting ready for a new rally just a week later.
The Ataka party has not confirmed the reports. However, there are indications that the Sofia Municipality and Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova, a representative of the ruling party GERB, who can technically ban the provocative rally, will adopt a hands-off policy.
The reason for that is that by banning the rally of the nationalist party Ataka, which is the only ally, though an informal one, of the ruling center-right party GERB, the Sofia Municipality might lead Ataka leader Volen Siderov to withdraw support from the minority government of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.
GERB has 117 MPs out of 240, and Ataka’s 21 MPs provide it with a comfortable majority, after the rightist Blue Coalition with its 14 MPs declared itself to be in opposition. One of the reason Borisov did not make a formal coalition with Ataka, in addition to his widely proclaim desire not to be dependent on coalition partners, is the protest of the European People’s Party, of which GERB is a member.
Siderov has threatened Borisov he will stop backing the government unless the authorities took measures to investigate what he claims to be a “nest of radical Islamism” in the Sofia mosque.
Borisov himself and his party GERB initially denounced the actions of their ally; however, Borisov subsequently sought to downplay Friday’s incident, saying that the nationalist party Ataka and the ethnic Turkish party DPS (Movement for Rights and Freedoms) are both going down the same road by seeking to pump up their electoral support through incidents with propaganda effect.
Bulgaria must consider outlawing the far-right and nationalist party Ataka over its recent attack on praying Muslims in Sofia, according to Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the liberals in European Parliament.
See also “European Parliament Liberals’ leader: Bulgaria must ban far-right party”, Novinite, 24 May 2011
Ataka used to be part of the far-right Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty (ITS) group in the European Parliament, until the withdrawal of the Greater Romania Party in 2007 reduced the ITS to below the 20 MEPs required to qualify as an official group. Ataka’s allies in the ITS included the Front National, the FPÖ, Vlaams Belang and Alessandra Mussolini’s Alternativa Sociale.
Update: See “Bulgaria’s far right on the defensive, vows to counter ‘Islamist aggression'”, Novinite, 24 May 2011
This states that Ataka have denied reports that they are planning another protest at the Banya Bashi mosque.