Category Archives: Far right racists

Wilders’ Perth meeting cancelled

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Wilders Perth protestControversial Dutch MP Geert Wilders has been forced to cancel the Perth date of his speaking tour after he was unable to find a venue to host him.

The right-wing MP, who wants a ban on Islamic immigration and says the religion is incompatible with freedom, is stirring controversy with his tour of Australia, which began in Melbourne today.

An unnamed four-star CBD hotel had been set to host Wilders but pulled out late this afternoon. Host of the tour, the Q Society, said finding another venue at short notice was almost impossible because of security needed for the MP and the threat of possible protesters.

Organisers of the planned Perth protest rejected the claims. “We utterly reject the accusation that we have intimidated any venue or that we ever posed a physical threat to Wilders or any of his associates,” said protest organiser Alex Bainbridge. “Any decision by a venue to pull out indicates that they do not want to be associated with him.”

Mr Wilders is still scheduled to travel to Perth.

News.com, 19 February 2013

Update:  See “No Perth press conference for Wilders”, AAP, 20 February 2013

Update 2:  See also “Perth: Geert Wilders falsely says free speech denied”, Green Left Weekly, 23 February 2013

Islam a ‘dangerous and totalitarian ideology’: Wilders

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Wilders Melbourne meeting

Far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders has called the Prophet Muhammad a murderer and used Anzac soldiers as an example of the courage needed to speak out against Islam at a speech to Melbourne supporters.

Tight security surrounded Mr Wilders’ hour-long speech to members of the ultra-conservative local group the Q Society of Australia at La Mirage reception centre in Somerton in Melbourne’s north on Tuesday night.

Fifty police, some on horseback, separated about 100 vocal but peaceful protesters standing on the Hume Highway verge outside the venue.

Protest organiser Feiyi Zhang said: “we’re here to show we will not stand for Wilders’ racism and Islamophobia”. She said his speech could incite violence against Muslims “and general fear of Islam”.

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Wilders tells Muslims to renounce Islam – it would be ‘good for them and also for our free society’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Wilders at Melbourne press conferenceAll Muslims should renounce their religion immediately in favour of Christianity or atheism – it would be better for them and for everyone else, controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders said in Melbourne on Monday.

Insisting politely that he did not want to incite or offend anyone, the anti-Islam campaigner described the Prophet Muhammed as “a warlord, terrorist and paedophile” and urged Australia to ban the Koran and all migration from Muslim countries.

Told that Premier Ted Baillieu had advised Victorians to ignore Mr Wilders, he said the Premier could ignore the threat of Islam and “sing Kumbayah” all day long, but the voters would wake up eventually.

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MCB condemns Marine Le Pen visit

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The National Council of the Muslim Council of Britain met on 16 February and passed the following resolution:

We are appalled by the visit to Britain of the leader of France’s Front National, Marine Le Pen, due on 19 February. Le Pen is at the forefront in stoking hatred towards Muslims and calling for a restriction of their freedoms. Britain fortunately has a tradition of tolerance and accommodation that rightly scorns Le Pen and her ilk. However the danger is that it will embolden the extremist right wing in the UK. The Muslim community fails to understand why a Government that is ready to invoke banning or exclusion orders on Muslims on flimsy grounds of ‘hate speech’ has not been alert to the actual harm to community relations caused by Le Pen’s visit.

MCB news release, 18 February 2013

Kevin Carroll announces EDL ‘festival’ in Luton

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The English Defence League has said it is planning a festival this summer, Luton on Sunday can reveal. Kevin Carroll, the joint-leader of the group, said that the EDL will “be coming back to Luton this year” and holding a festival in St George’s Square.

He said: “We’ll be coming back to Luton this year that’s for sure. We did consider, from the demonstration point of view, but then we thought about a festival. We are going to call it Love EDL Hate Racism and then we can have bands, music and entertainment.”

Mr Carroll also said that the group would be inviting a host of international speakers including controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders and Danish activist Anders Gravers Pedersen. He also said that American activists Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer and Rabbi Nachum Shifren were being lined up.

Luton on Sunday, 18 February 2013

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SDL outnumbered by anti-fascists in Berwick

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Berwick anti-SDL demo

Five people were arrested amid clashes and disorder as an anti-Islamic group and its opponent marched through a border town.

Potential troublemakers were also escorted from the scene and potential racist language reported as the Scottish Defence League (SDL) and United Against Fascism (UAF) both staged marches in Berwick on Saturday.

Northumbria Police has said appropriate action will be taken where offences have been committed.

The UAF group has hailed the day a victory for the people of Berwick in their stand against fascism.

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Australia visit prompts condemnation of Wilders

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Far-right Dutch MP Geert Wilders could learn a lot about the strengths of multiculturalism during his Australian visit, community and religious leaders say.

Mr Wilders will give speeches in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth this month about what he calls the “Islamisation of Australia”.

A coalition of 24 groups – including the AFL and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne – issued a joint statement in Melbourne on Monday, reinforcing their support for Victoria’s “multicultural and multifaith community”.

“We have a collective responsibility to respect our fellow citizens and preserve the social cohesion and harmony that characterise Victoria and makes our society great,” the statement says. “We welcome challenging ideas and debate, however, inciting hatred and animosity towards specific cultural or faith-based communities has no place in Victoria.”

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BNP complaint over Oswestry Muslim centre plans

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Phil Reddall BNPBritish National Party officials have made an official complaint after plans to transform a former Presbyterian church in a town in Shropshire into a Muslim centre were given the go-ahead.

The north Shropshire branch of the far-right party said the decision made by Shropshire Council planning officers should have been made at a full public meeting rather than in private. And they have written to Shirehall in protest over how the issue has been handled.

Phil Reddall, organiser of North Shropshire BNP, said he had made a complaint to Shropshire Council due to the decision being delegated to the planning department.

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Arson attack on Thiers mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Thiers mosque arsonInaugurated in December 2010, the mosque at Thiers might well not be here today. The website Lamontagne.fr has reported that on Wednesday night one or more individuals attempted to set fire to the boiler room of the building.

Rags soaked in petrol were found at the scene, which leaves no doubt that the intention was to destroy the mosque, said the website.

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Racial abuse shouted in Hartlepool mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Masjid Nasir HartlepoolPolice are hunting two men and a woman who burst into a mosque and shouted racial abuse. The incident happened at the Nasir Mosque on Brougham Terrace, in Hartlepool, at around 7.45pm on Tuesday, February 5.

A Cleveland Police spokeswoman said: “Two men and a woman entered the mosque via the main entrance and began causing a disturbance and shouting during prayer time. They were also racially abusive when asked to leave the premises.”

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