Melanie Phillips offers a characteristically thoughtful and nuanced response to the Rochdale “grooming” convictions.
Category Archives: Far right racists
Far right nearly derailed ‘grooming’ trial
The £2m trial of the Rochdale sex grooming gang was nearly derailed twice by far-right groups, it can now be revealed.
Before any evidence had been heard, demonstrations by the BNP and EDL prompted two defence barristers to pull out. With a jury sworn in at Liverpool Crown Court and the prosecution poised to open their case, Abdul Iqbal and Iran Safi decided to leave the case amid angry scenes outside.
Solicitors, barristers and some defendants reported being threatened. The jury had to be discharged and replacement barristers brought in. The trial was delayed for two weeks while the new lawyers acquainted themselves with the case and a second jury sworn in.
Come back, all is forgiven – head of UKIP’s policy unit calls on defectors to far-right BFP to rejoin party
Over at Liberal Conspiracy Sunny Hundal draws our attention to remarks made by “Lord” Christopher Monckton, a leading figure in the UK Independence Party, on a right-wing Canadian radio talk show.
One of the hosts tells Monckton that Paul Weston of the British Freedom Party was a recent guest on the show and asks him for his opinion of the BFP. Monckton expresses his regret that former UKIP members like Weston have split away from the party to join the BFP and adds: “the British Freedom Party won’t really come to anything very much, I don’t think, and I would like them all to come back and join us and we stand together”.
Bournemouth councillor suspends herself after EDL Twitter comment
A Bournemouth councillor has apologised “unreservedly” after saying online that only the English Defence League “sticks up for the English”.
Conservative councillor Sue Anderson said she had suspended herself from the party and referred herself for disciplinary procedures.
She made the comment via her Twitter account on Saturday.
Anti-Islam group provokes German violence
The Interior Minister of Germany’s western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) has blamed a far-right group that displayed lampooning cartoons of Prophet Mohammed (peace and blessing be upon him) outside mosques for a recent cycle of violence in the European country.
The actions of the extremist anti-Islam group, “Pro NRW”, in Bonn on Saturday had been a “deliberate provocation” that had triggered reprisals by Salafists, Ralf Jäger, the NRW Interior Minister, was quoted as saying by Deutsche Welle on Monday, May 7.
Gathering outside the Saudi Fahd Academy in Bonn’s suburb of Mehlem, “Pro-NRW” supporters showed caricatures depicting a man said to be the prophet.
Hundreds of Salafi Muslims gathered in response to protest the rightist rally, which developed into clashes that left 29 policemen injured. More than 100 Salafist protesters were briefly arrested.
See also Spiegel Online, 7 May 2012
Amiens: two elderly Muslims attacked by far right thugs on way to mosque
Two elderly people from the Muslim community were assaulted on Friday-Saturday night in Amiens. The two attackers claimed to be from the far right, it was learned on Sunday from the Regional Council of the Muslim Faith in Picardy and the Somme prefecture.
The victims, two men aged 70 and 71, were attacked around five o’clock in the morning while they were on their way to the mosque in North Amiens for Fajr prayer, which takes place at dawn. After being violently abused by two men “with very short hair and claiming to belong to the extreme right” the two men were beaten up.
Political prospects for the British Freedom Party
On Saturday the British Freedom Party formally announced the already leaked news that English Defence League leaders Stephen Lennon and Kevin Carroll have accepted positions in the BFP. They will share the role of Vice Chairman.
The BFP declares that this is a “historic development” which “establishes British Freedom as a new force in British politics – the only party with the strength and determination to call for Britain’s withdrawal from the unelected and totalitarian European Union, to confront militant Islam, halt mass immigration and defend democracy’s most vital ingredient – Free Speech”.
So far, there is little on which to base these grandiose claims. The BFP stood a mere six candidates throughout the UK in the recent council elections. Five of them were in Liverpool, where the votes they received ranged from 17 to 78 (0.6% to 2.7%), with the sixth standing in Basildon, where he got 87 votes (4%).
EDL and UAF stage rival protests in Luton
Protests by the English Defence League (EDL) and Unite Against Fascism (UAF) in Luton have ended without major incident amid a huge police presence.
About 1,500 EDL supporters and 1,000 UAF protesters were involved in the protests. There were seven arrests. Officers said the arrests were for weapons offences and assault.
Both groups took part in a one-mile (1.6km) march earlier. The EDL supporters marched from High Town Road to St Georges Square, while the UAF group marched between Bury Park Road and Market Hill. Speeches were given in both squares, which are about half a mile apart, from about 1345 GMT.
Ex-BNP Islamophobe elected to Scottish council
Spin Watch draws our attention to the fact that former British National Party member Colin Wyper has been elected as an independent to Dumfries and Galloway Council.
Wyper has written: “I was and still am terrified of Islam, of their gradual and steady takeover of the western world.”
There are reportedly 200 Muslims living in the region, out of a total population of 148,200. So anxieties about the Islamification of Dumfries and Galloway are perhaps slightly overstated.
Now deal with Wilders has collapsed Dutch minister says ‘burqa ban’ law is no longer needed
Outgoing interior minister Liesbeth Spies says the burqa ban she helped prepare can be scrapped along with a proposed ban on holding dual citizenship.
Now that the cabinet has fallen, she says she “wouldn’t shed a tear” if parliament were to scrap the controversial Freedom Party-sponsored bill. “Now the cabinet has fallen, there’s no longer any payoff,” she told national daily de Volkskrant on Wednesday.