Ken Livingstone, chair of Unite Against Fascism and former mayor of London, spoke out today to condemn the anti-Muslim bigots who are threatening to march on Harrow Central Mosque this Sunday. UAF has called a solidarity demonstration on the day to defend the mosque, which was previously targeted by racists in September this year.
Livingstone said: “These protests and the ones by the English Defence League around the country are violent and overtly anti-Muslim. If anyone were to call a demonstration outside a synagogue or church this would rightly provoke a national outcry. There should be exactly the same response from the government, politicians, all religious faiths and the media to the call for a demonstration outside a mosque.
“The only possible meaning of this event is a protest against Muslims and Islam – a religion followed by more than a billion people across the world. People should wake up to the fact that these protests outside mosques are taking us back to the 1930s when fascist thugs marched against Jews and their places of worship. This demonstration should be condemned and banned on the grounds of being blatant religious discrimination and a threat to public order.”
Weyman Bennett, joint secretary of Unite Against Fascism, added: “Sunday’s anti-Muslim protest, the racist demonstrations by the English Defence League, and the rabid Islamophobia of the Nazi BNP are all linked together. We are seeing a rising tide of racism in society aided and abetted by fascist and Nazi groups. We have to take a stand against this poison that threatens our multiracial and multicultural society. That is why we urge all anti-racists to join the UAF solidarity protest in Harrow on Sunday.”
The UAF demonstration assembles at 12 noon on Sunday 13 December, outside Harrow Civic Centre on Station Road directly opposite the mosque (nearest tube: Harrow & Wealdstone).
Violent clashes have erupted between police and members of the English Defence League (EDL) during a city centre protest.
Football hooligans, or so-called “casuals”, from Lincoln are descending on Nottingham this Saturday, December 5th, for the English Defence League (EDL) demonstration, according to the EDL Lincoln Division Facebook page.
Four people were arrested at an anti-Muslim demonstration amid a strong police presence in Wrexham. Around 40 members of a group calling themselves the Welsh Defence League (WDL) shouted racial abuse and gestured towards locals, saying they were protesting against plans for a new mosque.
“It caused quite a stir when it was built more than two decades ago, but now the distinctive domes of Glasgow Central Mosque are an unremarked-upon feature of the Clydeside skyline. The large modern building is a landmark of the transformed Gorbals, no more foreign than the nearby Citizens’ Theatre, with its reputation for staging highbrow European plays.
Tough and urgent action is needed in response to violence, intimidation and death threats targeting journalists covering far right demonstrations.
More than 2,000 demonstrators gathered in Leeds city centre amid a heavy police presence as a group staged a protest against Islamic extremism.
The racist English Defence League is planning to descend on Leeds this Saturday 31 October.
With their party conference just barely over, the ultra right wing Sweden Democrats are creating headlines in Sweden again. In an article in Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet Jimmie Åkesson, party leader, writes that Islam is the greatest threat against Sweden since WWII.