Category Archives: Anti-Muslim violence

EDL ‘debates’ attack on 79-year-old Muslim

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL condemns attack on 79-year-old Muslim

Anyone who has followed the English Defence League over the years will be aware of the disjuncture between the moderate-sounding statements that occasionally appear on the organisation’s website and the violent, hate-filled comments that EDL supporters post every day on its Facebook page. Yesterday the EDL made the mistake of publishing one of its “moderate” statements on Facebook.

The occasion was the conviction of teenage thug Fraser Giles who received an 8-year prison sentence for a horrific attack on an elderly Muslim in Uxbridge. The EDL posted a link to a press report of the case accompanied by a pious statement condemning Giles’ “disgusting and cowardly behaviour”. Perhaps the EDL reasoned that even its own supporters would balk at breaking the skull of a 79-year-old man and leaving him lying in a pool of blood.

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Loughborough ‘bomb plot’ retrial date set

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A date has been set for the retrial of a teenager accused of planning a “Columbine-type bomb attack” on his former school.

Last month a jury at the Old Bailey failed to reach a verdict on two charges under the Terrorism Act, which the 17-year-old from Loughborough denies. He has admitted possessing component parts for petrol bombs and pipe bombs.

The boy, who cannot be named, will now be tried again on 3 March. He is accused of possessing a poisons handbook, which is banned under terrorism laws, weapons and plans that the prosecution says named several potential targets in Loughborough. The teenager denies charges of possessing the items for the purpose, preparation and instigation of an act of terrorism.

Two other 17-year-old boys from Loughborough, who previously admitted possessing explosives, have been given 12-month youth rehabilitation orders.

BBC News, 13 December 2013

Bristol police probe ‘burn mosque’ comments on EDL Facebook page

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Chelsea WhitePolice are looking into inflammatory comments – posted on an English Defence League web page – advocating an arson attack on a proposed Bristol mosque.

The posts, apparently left by non-members of the controversial political movement, suggest burning down the Islamic place of worship planned for former Jesters comedy club site on Cheltenham Road. Another comment on the EDL’s Bristol division Facebook page suggests that a pig’s head would stop the mosque being opened, as Muslims do not eat pork.

Avon and Somerset police spokesman Martin Dunscombe said: “We have been made aware of the comments in question and officers are looking into them.”

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Watertown, NY: CAIR calls for FBI investigation into vandalism of Muslim’s vehicle

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Issa Alzouma's car vandalisedThe Council on American-Islamic Relations on Wednesday called for the FBI to aid in the investigation of a vandalism incident involving a black Muslim man’s vehicle in the city on Saturday.

Watertown resident Issa Alzouma’s 2003 Chevrolet Avalanche had its windshield shattered, and the front- and back-seat windows on the driver’s side smashed. A note left on the windshield contained several racist and anti-Islamic slurs. The note also called on him to quit his job as a security guard with Securitas Security Services at the Dulles State Office Building.

“The racial and religious slurs used in this act of violence clearly indicate a need to investigate a bias motive,” said Sadyia Khalique, the director of operations for the organization’s state chapter. “By adding its resources to the investigation of this case, the FBI will send a message that hate-motivated acts of anti-Muslim violence will not be tolerated.”

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Teen who stomped on Muslim man’s head gets eight years in jail

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Fraser GilesA teenager horrifically beat an innocent grandfather after accusing him of being a “white Muslim”.

Fuelled by alcohol, hair salon trainee Fraser Giles, 17, pushed, kicked and then stamped on the head of the 79-year-old as he lay defenceless, breaking his skull and leaving him in a pool of blood.

The teen had been walking down Chiltern View Road in Uxbridge at about 9pm on July 5 with his father, Daniel Giles, after a day of heavy drinking.

On Thursday, December 12 he paid for his actions when a judge at Isleworth Crown Court handed him an eight year sentence.

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Islamic Center celebrates reopening after arson

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Islamic Center of Greater ToledoNearly 15 months after an Indiana man set fire to the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo, members of the mosque will celebrate a “Grand Reopening” and express their thanks to the public with tours and a dinner program Dec. 14.

“For our own community, it’s a chance to come together just to say, ‘Good! We’re finished! We’re done!’ And it’s also to thank the community for everything,” said Cherrefe Kadri, president of the mosque. “It’s a joyous celebration.”

The arson attack occurred Sept. 30, 2012, when 52-year-old Randy Linn of St. Joe, Ind., drove to the mosque, poured gasoline on the prayer room carpet and set it ablaze. He told U.S. District Court Judge Jack Zouhary that he was drunk and angry at Muslims after seeing a TV news broadcast about wounded American soldiers.

“That day, Sept. 30th, that wasn’t me,” Linn said at his sentencing. “I mean, it was me that did it, but it’s not me usually. I was drinking a lot.”

The blaze was so intense that it melted a chandelier hanging from the ceiling and set off emergency sprinklers throughout the 60,000-square-foot building. Repairs from the fire, smoke and water damage have reached $1.6 million, Kadri said, all covered by insurance.

Linn pleaded guilty and was sentenced in April to 20 years in federal prison, and was ordered to pay $1.4 million in restitution.

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Mosque development plans rejected

Posted on by Bob Pitt

South Woodford Muslim Community Centre
South Woodford Muslim Community Centre as it is at present

A controversial proposal to build a new mosque in South Woodford has been rejected.

The Qu’rani Murkaz Trust applied to demolish its existing South Woodford Community Centre Mosque in Mulberry Way and erect a new three-storey building.

The six councillors on the planning committee were last night split down the middle on the plan, leaving chairman Cllr Robin Turbefield with the deciding vote.

The development, which included a ground floor prayer room, a community hall on the first floor and four residential flats on the second floor.

Cllr Turbefield decided the plan was not compatible with, or contributing to, the distinctive character of the area. It was said the height of the building would also ‘unreasonably’ restrict sunlight and undermine privacy.

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EDL threatens to burn down proposed mosque in Bristol

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jesters, Woody, Smith, Johnson
The former Jesters building, and EDL supporters Gerry Woody, Andrew Smith and David Croc Johnson

In September the Bristol Post reported that a planning application had been submitted to convert the former Jesters Comedy Club in Stokes Croft into a mosque. The proposal was initially uncontroversial – according to the Post, no objections or comments had been received in relation to the application. The English Defence League, though, were not about to let this latest act of aggression in the ongoing Islamic conquest of Britain pass without resistance.

A protest announced by the EDL Bristol division, which was to have been held on 7 December, was postponed until the new year, supposedly because it clashed with various charity events. However, as Steven Rose revealed last month, the EDL also launched a campaign to get their supporters to register objections to the planning application on the Bristol City Council website. The EDL appeal read:

“Please sign and share. this is a grade 2 listed building in bristol and holds a great deal of history for the city. once again, we see another part of english heritage under threat and being forced to make way for yet another mosque. put a stop to this now.”

Following objections posted by the EDL, public comments on the planning application had to be temporarily closed.

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Violent assault on imam of Hull Mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Hull Mosque and Islamic CentreThe leader of the Hull city mosque has appealed for his congregation not to take the law into their own hands after he was attacked by a man who stopped his car on the way home from the mosque.

Details of the assault on Imam Hafiz Salih, 60, have only just emerged. His son Ateeq Salih said his father was driving home last Saturday evening from his daughter’s house next to the Hull Mosque and Islamic Centre when two men and a woman tried to stop his car.

“They ran into the middle of the road and he had to do an emergency stop. He beeped the horn at them,” said the imam’s son. “One of the men lay down in the road right in front of the car. My father was confused and thought he was injured. Then the man slowly got up and went to the car and opened the door. My mum was sitting in the front and my youngest sister was in the back. He looked at all of them and he punched my father very hard in the face. It was a very forceful punch and my father’s face was covered in blood. Then the man walked away.”

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Three accused over ‘savage racist attack’ on Muslims in Derby

Posted on by Bob Pitt

One of four people standing trial accused of attacking a group of Muslims in Derby has had the case against him dropped.

Reece Hallas, 19, of Alvaston, had the charge dropped during the trial at Derby Crown Court. The teen, of Ashcroft Close, had been accused of racially aggravated assault following an attack on two men who the court was told “had their heads stamped on”. But yesterday he walked free from court.

Two men – Jake Sutherland, 18, of Hollington, Ashbourne, and Callum Toone, 20, of Field Lane, Alvaston, remain facing the charge while 36-year-old Claire Holdsworth, of Abbey Street, is accused of causing racially aggravated fear or provocation. All of them deny the allegations.

Three men wearing traditional Islamic clothes were allegedly taunted as “terrorists” and attacked by a racist gang as they walked through a Derby street. One of the victims was knocked unconscious while another suffered injuries to his eye and ear after having his head stamped on.

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