Bristol’s two Labour MPs, and the party’s candidate for elected mayor, have issued a joint statement condemning Saturday’s march by the English Defence League (EDL) in the city.
Dawn Primarolo (Bristol South), Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) and Marvin Rees said yesterday there was “no place for the EDL in Bristol”, but urged those planning to protest against the group to co-operate with police.
A 15-year-old boy locked up after a racist mob attack on Redbridge Islamic Centre, has failed to convince judges he was too harshly punished.
The youth, who cannot be named because of he is age, was among a throng which massed outside the mosque in Eastern Avenue, Redbridge, in March last year, London’s Appeal Court heard, engaging in “racist chanting and seeking to damage a window and outside fence”.
Lord Justice Moses, who described the incident as “serious, racist mob violence”, added that a brick was also hurled at the mosque’s imam during the fracas.
Inayat Bunglawala, Huma Qureshi, Simon Woolley, Nadiya Takolia and Bim Adewunmi respond to Mehdi Hasan’s recent piece on the Islamophobic abuse he’s endured.
See also Gary Younge, “Who thinks about the consequences of online racism?”, Comment is Free, 12 July 2012
Ajib and Al Kanz report that Nouredine Rachedi, who suffered a vicious attack by two far-right thugs back in 2008, has finally secured some sort of justice. The two men who attacked him, Kevin Lamadieu et Romain Blandin, have been convicted of religiously motivated asault. They each received suspended prison sentences of 15 minths and are required to pay damages of €15,000.
A 21-year-old man has been arrested during a demonstration by Far Right campaigners in Swansea.
Police intervened during the demonstration in the city centre on Saturday organised by the South Wales National Front in Union Street.
Officers made the arrest for an alleged racial public order offence. They also confiscated banners and posters to ensure there was no breach of the peace.
The 21-year-old man is believed to be from Swansea and has been released on bail following the arrest.
South Wales Evening Post, 9 July 2012
As the NF’s own report makes clear, the demonstration was directed against “Muslim rapists” and involved protestors brandishing placards featuring the popular racist slogan “Our children are not halal meat”.
The mosque in Torrejón de Ardoz doesn’t look much like a mosque. It occupies the ground floor of a drab block of flats near the main square in this town of 120,000 inhabitants just east of Madrid. But for the last decade and a half, it has been the only place of worship for Muslims here.
“This mosque is too small for us and we need a new site that is bigger and more apt for our needs,” says Farid Bahoudi, the spokesman for Torrejón’s Islamic community, pointing to the old building. He says there are now about 10,000 Muslims in the town, mostly from north Africa.
But local Muslims’ attempts to find a more suitable site for their mosque have sparked a dispute that has pitted politicians on the far right against activists from the radical left and highlighted the issue of race relations in crisis-ridden Spain.
Far right members from organisations in Germany, Sweden and the UK attended a meeting in the European Parliament on 9 July at which literature was sold to attendees.
While one keynote speaker described how “The pansy left are auditioning to be the Muslim’s prison b*tch” and said the mainstream media represented “a threat to life and liberty.”
The same speaker stated: “A society which becomes more Muslim becomes less everything else.”
‘Sikhs Against the EDL’ to join the counter demonstration against the EDL march in Bristol on Saturday 14th July
Sikhs from London, West Midlands and Cardiff will be marching against the English Defence League (EDL) in Bristol on Saturday 14th July under the banner of ‘Sikhs Against the EDL’.
They will be there to support the counter demonstration against the EDL march in Bristol on the same day. The counter demonstration is being organised by a multi-cultural, multi-racial and multi-faith organisation known as ‘We Are Bristol’. It is a broad-based network of local community groups, political organisations and trade unions. Their aim is to ‘celebrate diversity and oppose racism and fascism’ and to show the EDL that they are not welcome in Bristol.
The far right English Defence League has been given a clear message by city council leader Simon Cook [pictured] – “We don’t want you in Bristol.”
The EDL, which describes itself as an anti-Islamist group, is planning to press ahead on Saturday with its controversial march through the city.
Meanwhile, a group of trade unions, community groups and anti-racist organisations called We Are Bristol will stage a counter demonstration opposite the Bristol Hippodrome at the same time.
Labour councillor Mike Wollacott (Brislington East) wrote to Mr Cook, inviting him to attend the anti-EDL demo. But Mr Cook has turned down the invitation, saying he thought it would send out the wrong message.