Category Archives: English Defence League

Trade unionists and youth unite against racist EDL in Dewsbury

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Trade unionists came together with Muslim young people to oppose the racists and fascists of the English Defence League in Dewsbury today.

Around 200 people from Dewsbury and neighbouring areas of West Yorkshire showed their support for multiculturalism and their opposition to the EDL thugs at the event organised by Kirklees UAF and supported by the local Unison branch, other trade unionists and faith leaders.

The antiracist demonstrators included trade unionists from the Unison, NUT, CWU and GMB unions among others, plus a large and lively contingent of young Muslims, standing up proudly against the Islamophobic EDL.

Speakers at the rally included NUT rep Martin Jones, Pat Jones of Kirklees Unison, CWU rep Simon Midgely, Ashiq Hussein, chair of We are Bradford, and UAF joint secretary Weyman Bennett.

The EDL mobilised across the North of England and the Midlands to bring between 300 and 400 to their racist “protest”, with racist and fascist thugs coming from as far afield as Leicester, Newcastle and Merseyside.

They had attempted to assemble in nearby Bately before heading for Dewsbury, but were gathered up by police and escorted on buses into their assigned spot in a Dewsbury car park.

UAF news report, 11 June 2011

EDL demonstration: counter-protesters rally at Maidenhead Mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Maidenhead Mosque counter-protestCounter-protesters staged a demonstration at Maidenhead Mosque today following a march by the English Defence League (EDL) in Maidenhead’s town centre.

The EDL held a protest in the town from about 10.30-1pm today, against the Islamic Trust’s plans for a new cultural centre near Maidenhead Mosque.

Police lined the town centre streets during the demonstrations today. They also patrolled surrounding areas including Moor Lane in the North Town area of Maidenhead, where about 100 Muslims, Unite Against Fascism members (UAF) and residents, staged a counter march – heading their way towards Maidenhead Mosque.

UAF members, many of whom were not Muslim, went inside Maidenhead Mosque at about noon before sitting inside – where members from the Muslim community prayed.

Talking outside the mosque, members of the crowd said they were there to defend the place of worship. “Many of us are worried that EDL members will come here and try to deface or ruin the mosque. It is our place of worship so we are here to defend it if we need to,” said a 22-year-old man who wished not to be named through fears he will be targeted.

Maidenhead Advertiser, 11 June 2011

See also “EDL protest: Protesters march and make speeches in town centre”, Maidenhead Advertiser, 11 June 2011

Homophobia in Tower Hamlets: how a small group of bigots are trying to stitch up the East London Mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The statement by a group of LGBT activists reported yesterday by the Guardian, Pink News and the East London Advertiser draws attention to the worrying rise in homophobic crimes in Tower Hamlets, which increased by 21%, from 67 to 81, during the year up to April. But the statement fails to mention that this phenomenon is to be found across many London boroughs and that Tower Hamlets is by no means the worst example.

Indeed, when the Pink Paper reported last month on increases in homophobic crime revealed by the latest Metropolitan Police statistics, Tower Hamlets didn’t even rate a mention:

“Homophobic attacks in London’s Soho and the gay-friendly borough of Westminster increased last year, according to the Met Police. New figures released by Scotland Yard revealed that anti-gay hate crime increased by 26 per cent, from 117 to 148 incidents, from April 2010 to April 2011…. The borough of Harrow suffered the biggest increase in assaults, with crimes soaring by 125 per cent. Likewise, Islington saw a significant jump with incidents rising from 82 to 131, a surge of 60 per cent. The boroughs of Havering, Kingston-upon-Thames and Enfield weren’t dissimilar, joining Westminster as some of the worst offenders in the Greater London area.”

Continue reading →

Baroness Cox introduces anti-Sharia bill

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A new Bill has been introduced to Parliament to tackle the problem of Sharia courts in England and Wales.

Under the Bill, it will become a crime punishable by up to five years in prison to falsely claim legal jurisdiction over criminal or family law. The Bill was introduced to Parliament yesterday by Baroness Cox.

Lady Cox said: “Equality under the law is a core value of British justice. My Bill seeks to preserve that standard…. I am deeply concerned about the treatment of Muslim women by Sharia courts. We must do all that we can to make sure they are free from any coercion, intimidation or unfairness.”

The Bill is supported by a wide range of groups, including The Christian Institute and the National Secular Society.

Christian Institute news report, 8 June 2011

Yes, this is the same Baroness Cox who, together with Lord Pearson, invited Dutch far-right racist Geert Wilders to the House of Lords to show his Islamophobic film Fitna – an event that prompted a supportive demonstration by the English Defence League. So the idea that Cox is motivated by concern for the rights of Muslims, whether women or men, is frankly laughable.

Police hunt for EDL supporter who attacked Asian man in Rochdale

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL thug ManchesterA racist thug who abused and attacked a passer-by in a shopping precinct is being hunted by police.

The man, who was wearing a T-shirt promoting the English Defence League, targeted a 31-year-old Asian man as he walked through the Wheatsheaf Centre in Rochdale town centre. Images from CCTV cameras have been released by police in a bid to identify him.

The thug began to racially abuse the man as he walked past then grabbed hold of his shirt collar and pressed a ballpoint pen to the side of his face. Police said the victim could also feel a sharp item being pressed to his back. He struggled free but the abuse continued until security guards intervened.

The thug then escaped. He is white, in his late 40s to early 50s, around 6ft tall and skinny. He was wearing a T shirt labelled “EDL Stockport”.

Sgt Colin Macdiarmid said: “The abuse this victim suffered can only be described as vitriolic and appalling. Thankfully he was not hurt though the behaviour of the offender led him to fear for his safety. Racist thugs are not welcome anywhere in Greater Manchester.”

Call police on 0161 856 9961 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Manchester Evening News, 7 June 2011

Christians show solidarity with Muslims in Shotton

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Shotton interfaith mealA group of Christians and Muslims have shared a meal to show “solidarity” in an area that has seen protests about plans for an Islamic cultural centre.

The event, Sharing Tables, Sharing Stories, was held at the Bengal Dynasty restaurant, Shotton, Flintshire. Organiser Mike Harrison said it showed harmony was possible in Shotton.

Last month, English Defence League protesters marched at the former Shotton Lane Social Club, proposed site for the new cultural centre. Flintshire Muslim Cultural Society had been planning to turn the property into a multi-cultural centre. The building burned down in a suspicious fire in February.

Tuesday’s event was organised by a local volunteers group, Together Creating Communities. North Wales organiser Mr Harrison said:

“This gathering demonstrates that despite the perceptions voiced in some sections of the media, Christians and Muslims can stand together. We hope that Sharing Tables, Sharing Stories will be the first step in showing protest groups that a multi-faith community can live together in harmony in Shotton.”

BBC News, 1 June 2011

EDL Tower Hamlets demonstration set for August

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Tower Hamlets demoThe English Defence League’s long-trailed protest in the East London borough of Tower Hamlets (see here, here and here) is now scheduled to take place on Saturday 27 August.

As we have previously noted, the proposal for a demonstration in an area described by the EDL leadership as “the heartland of Islamic terrorism” has been accompanied by explicit threats of violence by their supporters against the local Muslim community.

Continue reading →

‘Muslim girl stoned to death under Sharia law’ claims Daily Mail

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A teenage Muslim girl was stoned to death under “Sharia law” after taking part in a beauty contest in Ukraine. Katya Koren, 19, was found dead in a village in the Crimea region near her home. Friends said she liked wearing fashionable clothes and had come seventh in a beauty contest.

Her battered body was buried in a forest and was found a week after she disappeared. Police have opened a murder investigation and are looking into claims that three Muslim youths killed her, claiming her death was justified under Islam.

One of the three – named as 16-year-old Bihal Gaziev – is under arrest and told police that Katya had “violated the laws of Sharia”. Gaziev has said he has no regrets about her death.

Daily Mail, 31 May 2011

Of course the article was immediately seized on by the English Defence League:

EDL Daily Mail stoning story

If you can stomach it, you can read the comments by EDL supporters here.

And the article provoked the usual succession of bigots into posting anti-Muslim comments on the Mail‘s own website:

“Would be nice to see some supporters of this faith speaking out against this all too common occurance.”

“In a recent demonstration by Muslims against the English, did I not see banners proclaiming ‘Sharia for Britain’.”

“How long before some idiot starts bleating about ‘Islamaphobia’ with reference to this news story? Im suffering from Islamaphobia myself I have a distinct aversion to young girls being brutaly murdered in the name of religion by cowards!”

“I wish apologists for the misogyny of ‘Islam’ would see how despicable their Sharia law is.”

“Another victim of the mysoginistic murder cult that is sharia law.”

“Where are the voices of ‘moderate’ Islam now? I can’t hear them, can you? Can anyone?”

“what a lovely religion NOT”

“Absolutely hideous! I am appalled that such behaviour is deemed justifiable under a law written over a 1000 years ago by uneducated warring idiots!”

“I hope the Archbishop of Canterbury is reading this he is rather a fan of sharia law as I recall, just shows how out of touch he is.”

However, there are several rather more informed comments that suggest the Mail‘s story of Sharia-inspired stoning is completely fabricated. For example:

“Daily Mail, stop lying and instigating hatred for Muslims! The original Russian article from Komsomolskaya Pravda of 28/05 does not mention any religious motives in this murder (I can provide the link to the original story). Katya wasn’t a Muslim. Katya Koren is not a Muslim name. There was no ‘three Muslim teenagers’ who ‘stones Katya’. there was just one mentally distrurbed boy of Muslim origin who hit her on the head once. He doesn’t know himself why he did it. People suspect because Katya rejected him. This has absolutely nothing to do with sharia, Muslims, religion etc. Who is making up such stories? You should be ashamed of yourselves.”

And: “The story is completely inacurrate. Katya Koren was a Ukrainian girl and she was an Orthdox Christian. That was not a stoning, but a cold-blooded murder by a psycho who happened to be from a mixed Ukranian-Tatar family. I am amazed, how things can be distorted.”

And: “This news, made by Russian propaganda apparatus, is provocation. Because the killer even has no any attitude to Islam. Katya is Russian, not Muslim. Boy is Slavic, but is adopted by Muslims. Ukrainian Internal Affairs Ministry Crimean Branch Press Chairperson Olga Bogoslavskaya said that murder is not motivated by religious belief. All world copied your news! Who will excuse?”

Also: “THE KEY FACTS: 1. Katya is an Orthodox Christian. 2. Bilyal is formally Muslim, just adopted by Muslim man 3. Bilyal is not religious, like his father, even didn’t go to mosque. 4. Murder is not done by stoning. 5. Internal Affairs Dep. announced that murder has no religious roots. 6. Such a news first appeared in pro-Russian media.”

See also “Katya Koren: Ukrainian beauty queen killed by disturbed classmate not Sharia law”, LoonWatch, 31 May 2011

Update:  The Mail has an new article on the case headlined “Was Muslim girl ‘stoned to death for taking part in beauty pageant’ actually murdered by a stalker?” Perhaps that’s a question the Mailshould have asked before it published the original inflammatory article. And the paper is still banging on about how “Sharia law prohibits women from taking part in beauty contests” – which, even if it were true, would hardly apply to Katya Koren, who wasn’t a Muslim.

Phyllis Chesler opposes Jewish-Muslim stand against European far right

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Phyllis Chesler and friendUnder the headline “Jewish and Muslim leaders urge European Union heads not to pander to extreme-right”, the World Jewish Congress reports on a meeting in Brussels of Jewish and Muslim representatives.

The joint declaration they adopted included the following passage:

“We are troubled by the growth of racist and xenophobic movements. We believe that individuals and organizations espousing such malign and hateful ideologies represent a grave threat to the fundamental European values of pluralism, democracy, mutual respect and cooperation….

“We wish to work together with all Europeans of conscience to put a stop to any group that espouses racist or xenophobic ideologies long before they are in a position to gain legislative or other power. We must never allow anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, xenophobia or racism to become respectable in today’s Europe. In that regard, we call upon all political leaders not to pander to these groups by echoing their rhetoric.”

Nobody outside of the far-right organisations being condemned here could object to that, you might think. You’d be wrong. Over at FrontPage Magazine Phyllis Chesler, the self-proclaimed “founding voice of the modern feminist movement”, writes:

“Why is a group of Jews trying to help Muslims … by appealing to European governments not to ‘pander to right wing forces’ which are, belatedly, beginning to gather in response to a Muslim population which is hostile to Western and European values, does not wish to assimilate, and is both separatist and violent?

“Had Muslims come in total peace these ‘right wing forces’ may have, indeed, been a reflection of European racism towards Arabs and dark-skinned ‘Easterners’. But the alleged ‘Islamophobia’ is not based on bigoted considerations of color, faith, or ethnicity; it is, rather, based on the increasing danger that Muslims pose to the stability and character of Europe.”

Update:  Still, Chesler does have her fans (even if they can’t spell her name):

EDL and Phyllis Chesler