Category Archives: Far right racists

Berwick UAF campaign gathers support ahead of Scottish Defence League demo

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Berwick UAF stall

The newly-formed Berwick Unite Against Fascism group has been drumming up support ahead of a demo this weekend. The group, which came together in response to Scottish Defence League plans to march in the town this weekend, pledges to bring all platforms and all colours together to show that the town is united against fascism.

A spokesman for Berwick UAF said: “We had a very good day in Berwick on Saturday and garnered a lot of local support for opposition to the proposed SDL march in Berwick next Saturday. We distributed hundreds of leaflets explaining the situation and the reasons for opposing the SDL. The demonstration is open to all who oppose the SDL and other racist groups who threaten our town.”

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Extremists vandalise old Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Mamilla grave graffiti (2)

Suspected Jewish extremists scrawled anti-Arab graffiti on the headstones in an ancient Muslim cemetery in west Jerusalem, police and witnesses told AFP on Thursday.

“The words ‘price tag’ and Stars of David were scrawled on around a dozen tombs in the Muslim cemetery in Mamilla in central Jerusalem,” a police spokeswoman told AFP, saying an inquiry had been opened.

An AFP correspondent at the scene said the vandals had also written “Mohammed is dead” and “Maale Rehavam” on the tombs some of which date back to the 12th century.

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Wilders to warn Australians of threat from Muslim migrants and Islam

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Controversial rightwing anti-Islamic Dutch politician Geert Wilders says Australia has nothing to fear from him when he visits the country starting next week.

Mr Wilders, speaking on the ABC’s Lateline on Wednesday, said he was on a global jihad to preserve freedom.

He said he wants to warn Australia against allowing the mass immigration of people from Muslim countries “because Islam and freedom are incompatible”.

“I believe with mass immigration into our free societies, those societies will change, and they will change for the worse,” Mr Wilders said.

He wants to tell Australians that we must learn from the mistakes they made in Europe and be vigilant of Islam. “It is not a religion of peace – it is a totalitarian ideology,” Mr Wilders said.

AAP, 13 February 2013

Oslo: Norwegian Defence League supporter arrested over bomb threat

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Oslo bomb threat suspectA 27-year-old man arrested in connection with a threat to bomb the Norwegian parliament has been an active supporter of the EDL’s sister organisation the Norwegian Defence League, it has been reported.

Police were alerted on Tuesday night after the driver of a bus on which the man was travelling overheard him make the threat during a phone conversation. Police launched a full-scale manhunt, while the area around the parliament building was cordoned off with armed police guarding checkpoints.

Early this afternoon police announced the suspect’s arrest, stating that they had found a gas pistol and a bulletproof vest during a raid on his apartment in Oslo.

He has not yet been named but the media say he was a participant in the Norwegian Defence League’s protest in Oslo in December, which was addressed by Steve Simmons of the EDL. The anti-racist organisation Vepsen reports that the man acted as a video cameraman on the December demonstration and was seen in conversation with several well-known NDL members.

Update:  See “NDL member charged with bomb scare”, Hope Not Hate, 15 February 2013

Marine Le Pen to speak at Cambridge Union

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Front National election posterThe Cambridge News reports that Front National leader Marine Le Pen, notorious for her virulently Islamophobic rhetoric, is billed to speak at the Cambridge Union on 19 February.

A spokesman for the Cambridge Union Society is quoted as saying:

“Whether you agree with her politics or not, this event represents one of the very few opportunities a British audience has had to directly engage with Mme Le Pen, who finished third in the last French presidential election, behind Hollande and Sarkozy, and currently sits in the European Parliament as a democratically elected representative.

“The Cambridge Union has a two-hundred year history of promoting the art of debating and free speech and this event is fundamentally in keeping with that tradition.”

See also Morning Star, 12 February 2013

Unite Against Fascism is organising a demonstration against Le Pen. Details can be found here.

Another Nazi graffiti attack on a French mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Provins mosque graffiti

The Collectif contre l’Islamophobie en France reports that there has been yet another fascist graffiti attack on a French mosque, this time at Provins in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. On Saturday morning worshippers found six red swastikas sprayed on the walls and doors of the building. The CCIF points out that this follows a similar attack only a week ago at Ozoir-La-Ferrière.

French interior minister Manuel Valls has issued a statement condemning the incident and declaring his support for the Muslim community, but the CCIF dismisses this as just words, when what is needed is action. They add that Valls himself, with his expulsion of preachers, his talk of the Republic’s “essential struggle” against the veil, and his treatment of French Muslims as the enemy within, has helped to legitimise Islamophobic acts.

See also “Swastikas daubed on mosque in latest attack”, The Local, 11 February 2013

Sweden Democrats politician was expelled from party after saying ‘a mosque is just a building’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

SD Keep Sweden SwedishRadio Sweden reports that since the last general election in 2010, when the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats were elected to parliament for the first time, 30 members have been forced to leave the party.

Some of these have been high-profile individuals, such as Erik Almqvist, the MP who came under fire after a video emerged of him engaging in drunken racist abuse. As a result, Almqvist was forced to resign both his parliamentary seat and his party membership – and was then promptly rehired by the Sweden Democrats as a media consultant.

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