Category Archives: Anti-Muslim violence

Sweden alarmed by series of racist shootings

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A string of 19 unsolved shootings – all of which appear to be racially motivated – are sending shockwaves through Sweden’s immigrant population.

Bejzat Becirov points to a large hole in the bottom corner of a window at the Islamic Centre, Malmo’s largest mosque. “It was last year,” he said, “New Year’s Eve, and there were people in there, drinking tea and writing greetings cards. Then one of them felt a kind of rush of air, and splinters of glass on the back of his neck. The police later found a bullet embedded in a piece of furniture.”

This is not the worst thing that has happened at the mosque. Mr Becirov, its director, also remembers an arson attack that caused severe damage in 2003. But the shot fired at the mosque late last year is now being re-evaluated. Could it form part of a wider series of unexplained attacks that the police in Malmo are now hoping the public can help solve?

The announcement last week by police that a string of unsolved shootings might be connected is causing deep concern in this city, where almost half the population has an immigrant background. The attacks that police are investigating have all taken place in the past year and have all been aimed at people who look as though they might be immigrants. Of those 19 shootings, one person has been killed and eight have been injured.

BBC News, 28 October 2010

Police investigate hate crime at Long Island mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Hate crimes detectives are investigating the second incident in a week where a jar of nails was thrown onto the driveway of a Long Island mosque.

Suffolk County police received a call at about 7:45 p.m. Monday that shards of glass and nails were found outside the Masjid Noor mosque in Huntington. No other damage to the property, nor injuries, were reported.

A similar incident involving a jar of nails occurred last Wednesday.

A mosque official told Newsday in Tuesday’s editions that other vandalism has occurred in recent months, but police were only contacted for the first time last week.

CBS New York, 26 October 2010

Three EDL hooligans charged with affray and public order offences

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Members of the English Defence League (EDL) were joined by American Rabbi Nuchrem Shifren in a protest at Speakers Corner, Hyde Park, after an earlier protest outside the Israeli Embassy. London, UK. 24/10/2010Three English Defence League demonstrators have been charged with affray and public order offences after a scuffle with Muslim hecklers at Speakers Corner.

Shortly after their demonstration on Sunday outside the Israeli Embassy in Kensington, EDL supporters made their way to Hyde Park where Rabbi Nachum Shifren, the so-called “surfing rabbi” from California, gave a short speech. The rabbi had earlier called Muslims “dogs” and told the EDL “We will never surrender to the sword of Islam.”

Rabbi Shifren was heckled by passers-by and scuffles allegedly broke out with EDL members. Bryan Kelso, 28, from Luton, Christopher Long, 38, from Roehampton and Brian Bristow, 37, from Doncaster were arrested and charged with affray and public order offences. The men have been bailed to appear at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court on November 3.

Jewish Chronicle, 26 October 2010

Seattle woman charged with hate crime against two Muslim women

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Two Seattle Muslim women said they were simply trying to fill up at a gas station in Tukwila on Saturday when another woman started yelling slurs, kicked one woman and slammed a car door on her leg, and then pushed the other.

“I’m terrified, I’m crying,” said Imaan, one of the two Muslim women, recounting the incident during a news conference Thursday. “Never in my life have I experienced this kind of hatred and physical assault.” Imaan, 23, and her aunt, Maryan, 34, both American citizens of Somali descent, asked to be identified by their first names only, for fear of reprisal.

They said they were trying to get gas shortly before 6 p.m. at an ARCO AM/PM gas station and minimart on Tukwila International Boulevard. The pump didn’t appear to be working. A woman who was watching started calling them “suicide bomber,” asking if they were going to bomb this country, and telling them to “go back to your country,” Imaan said.

King County prosecutors identified the woman as 37-year-old Jennifer Leigh Jennings, also known as Jennifer Leigh Adams, of Burien, and on Thursday charged her with two felony counts of malicious harassment under the state’s hate-crime law.

Imaan said she went inside to talk to the clerk about the gas pump, and when she came back out, she saw Jennings slam a car door on her aunt’s leg, pull off her aunt’s headscarf and kick her. Imaan told Jennings to leave them alone and Jennings pushed her so hard that she fell, she said. Imaan said she was frantic, yelling for help from about a dozen or so bystanders who didn’t do anything, she said.

Seattle Times, 21 October 2010

Wilders responsible for rise in anti-Muslim hatred say witnesses

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslim witnesses said Monday that a Dutch lawmaker’s anti-Islamic comments had led to attacks and intimidation, and they pleaded with judges to convict him and give him a symbolic fine of one euro.

“Arson. Attempted arson. Vandalism. Disturbances. Incivility to people attending mosques. Obscenities. Intimidating behavior – they have all become everyday occurrences” as a result of Wilders’ public remarks, said Mohammed Enait, speaking for an alliance of Dutch mosques that had asked to testify as victims in the case.

Enait said Dutch Muslims have suffered tangible damage as a result of Wilders’ repeated negative remarks about Islam. He said there are countless incidences of “children being cursed at while they walk. Stories from women … who are spit upon, mocked because they wear headscarves.” Enait, who is from Rotterdam, said the mosque he attended as a child had been burned down.

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance found that there has been a “dramatic increase in ‘Islamophobia’ in the Netherlands” since 2000.

Several prominent Muslim organizations have asked the new government, which took office last week, to examine the problem, citing an incident earlier this year where a dead sheep was left on a site where a mosque is being built in the city of Roosendaal. Last month, a mosque in Groningen was burned in an arson attack, and as recently as last weekend, a bullet was fired at a mosque in the city of Dordrecht.

The conservative minority government relies on the support of Wilders’ Freedom Party to pass bills in parliament. It has not reacted to the request from the Muslim groups.

Associated Press, 18 October 2010

Update:  See also Dutch News, 19 October 2010

French woman faces fine for tearing niqab from tourist’s face

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Prosecutors have called for a 63-year-old French woman to be given a two-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of €750 (£659) after she admitted tearing a full Islamic veil from the face of a tourist from the United Arab Emirates.

The woman, a retired English teacher identified only as Marlène Ruby, said she was “irritated” by the sight of two women shopping in Paris in their niqabs. She said that, not realising the pair were foreigners, she initially pulled one of their veils while chastising them in French for covering their faces. Minutes later, upon noticing that the woman concerned had replaced her veil, she became further enraged.

“I tore her niqab off and I shouted. I wanted to create a bit of a scandal,” she told Le Parisien. Her anger, she said, sprang from witnessing the treatment of women in the Middle East, where she used to teach. “I think it is unacceptable for the niqab to be worn in the country of human rights. It’s a muzzle,” she said.

Although she admits removing the veil, Ruby denies allegations that she hit and bit the tourist, who claims to have been so distressed by the incident that she had not returned to France since. The victim’s lawyer said her client was on the receiving end of “an attack on religious freedom”.

In a Paris court, the prosecutor, Anne de Fontette, said the behaviour was not something that could be permitted in France. “Living together requires, quite simply, an acceptance of the other, of the way in which [the other] is dressed,” De Fontette said.

She said that although at the time of the attack, in February, the full Islamic veil was legal attire in France, the accused’s actions would be reprehensible even now – a month after the ban on wearing face-covering veils in public became law.

A verdict is expected on 4 November.

Guardian, 15 October 2010

Muslim teen beaten, called a ‘terrorist’ by classmates

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Muslim boy says four bullies made his life a living hell in the halls of a Staten Island public school, calling him a “terrorist” and beating him every chance they got.

The victim, a 16-year-old high school freshman, told his father and the police of the constant abuse he endured, prompting the arrests Sunday of his teen tormenters on suspicion of hate crimes.

“[They] punched me in my groin, and I fell to the floor. They started kicking me, and calling me ‘You f—in’ terrorist,’ ‘You f—in’ Muslim,'” the victim, Kristian, told the Daily News.

New York Daily News, 11 October 2010

Leicester antiracist demo says: ‘EDL not welcome here’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

People from across Leicester’s diverse community staged a peaceful demonstration against the violent racists of the English Defence League today.

The EDL have tried to stir up hatred and division by demonstrating in the multiracial, multi-faith city, particularly targeting Muslims. Their “protest” ended in violence and attacks on the police, journalists and local black and Asian people.

In contrast, over 800 people came to the antiracist protest called by UAF in the city centre today – they included black, white and Asian people, with Muslims joined by Sikhs, Hindus, Christians and people of no religion in an impressive display of unity.

UAF report, 10 October 2010