Category Archives: Far right racists

French PM calls on Muslims and Jews to renounce halal and kosher slaughter

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Halal and kosher butchers shops

France’s prime minister urged Muslims and Jews to consider scrapping their halal and kosher slaughter laws on Monday as President Nicolas Sarkozy and his allies stepped up their efforts to woo far-right voters.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon made the suggestion after Sarkozy called at the weekend for butchers to clearly label meat slaughtered according to religious laws and his allies warned immigrants might impose halal meat on French schoolchildren.

Fillon and other conservative leaders linked this tough stand on ritually prepared meat to issues such as immigration and French identity that the far-right National Front uses to tap into resentment against Europe’s largest Muslim minority.

Continue reading →

Far-right supporters agree with armed attacks

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Stoke (3)Significant numbers of far-right supporters in the UK consider violence and “armed conflict” a legitimate form of political expression, experts will warn this week.

The first audit into the attitudes and beliefs of Britain’s rightwing extremists, collated in a report by the thinktank Chatham House, will reveal that there is a “significant level of support” for planned violent attacks.

Continue reading →

Sarkozy courts French far-right talking about immigration, halal meat, Christian roots

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sarkozy in BordeauxFrench President Nicolas Sarkozy has marked a rightward shift in his re-election campaign, pledging to cut the number of immigrants and calling for clear labelling of halal meat in a bid to entice voters away from the National Front.

Speaking to thousands of flag-waving supporters at a rally in the western city of Bordeaux, Sarkozy vowed to defend secular values in France – which has Europe’s largest Muslim minority – and to send a tough message on law and order if he wins a fresh five-year term in a two-round election in April and May.

Continue reading →

EDL member jailed for violence against police during Bradford protest

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL rioters BradfordA father-to-be has been jailed after he was caught on camera throwing lumps of brick or concrete at police lines during violent clashes at an English Defence League protest in Bradford city centre.

A judge heard yesterday that 28-year-old Michael Currie was the only person to have ended up at the city’s crown court following the disturbance in August 2010. Prosecutor Paul Gallagher told Recorder Peter Pimm 13 other people were arrested, but the majority had been dealt with by way of fixed penalty notices for disorderly conduct.

The court was shown aerial footage taken from a police helicopter of the protest, which took place at the Westfield Broadway building site. The judge then watched another recording which showed Currie throwing missiles towards officers after he and others in the crowd had scaled a hoarding surrounding the site.

Continue reading →

Three arrested as National Front protesters gather in Heywood

Posted on by Bob Pitt

NF Heywood protest

About 100 gathered in the Memorial Gardens, Heywood town centre, to hear speeches from National Front members at 1pm today. Some carried placards while others held union flags. The group had then wanted to march through the town centre but their request was refused by Greater Manchester Police.

A number of minor flashpoints saw two protesters arrested for public order offences. Earlier in the day a 49-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of committing racially-aggravated public order offences.

Manchester Evening News, 3 March 2012

Continue reading →

Irresponsible C4 programme gives boost to EDL

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL leader Stephen Yaxley Lennon – AKA “Tommy Robinson” – was given an extensive platform to make unchallenged racist comments about Muslims, and to issue self-justifying claims that he is “not racist”. The one revealing moment – when a drunken “Tommy Robinson” taunted a Muslim man and pretended he was Anders Behring Breivik, the fascist who massacred 76 people in Norway – was given little prominence in the hour-long programme.

Unite Against Fascism reviews Channel 4’s Proud and Prejudiced documentary.

See also “Proud and Prejudiced documentary ‘not fair on Luton'”,Luton Today, 28 February 2012

Update:  See Reyhana Patel, “Channel 4’s Proud and Prejudiced portrays inaccurate impression of extremism”, Huffington Post, 29 February 2012

Also Assed Baig, “Proud and Prejudiced – a critique”, Huffington Post, 29 February 2012

Fascist graffiti and ‘Stop Islamisation’ sticker on French mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Escaudain mosque graffiti

A swastika, Nazi symbols and an Islamophobic sticker were found on Sunday morning on the wall of the mosque in Escaudain, in northern France, AFP reports. The discovery was made by children who had come to take part in activities during school holidays.

According to spokesperson Soufiane Iquioussen, the mosque had been desecrated with graffiti in 2004 and shots were fired at the building.

Continue reading →

EDL and BNP protest in Manchester

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Hyde protest(2)Police arrested eleven people for minor public order offences as a march by the English Defence League today passed off without major incident.

About 600 people who had come from all over England marched through Hyde in protest over the alleged attack on trainee baker Daniel Stringer-Prince. The 17-year-old suffered a fractured skull in an alleged attack by up to eight Asian men. His family pleaded with the EDL to abandon the march but it went ahead anyway.

 

The march began shortly after 1pm when about 600 EDL supporters marched from the town’s train station to a car park, where they held a mini rally. The British National Party also had about 50 supporters in the town.

Greater Manchester Police mounted a huge security operation with dozens of officers on the ground, on horse-back as well as India 99, the force helicopter, overhead, while dog handlers were also on hand.

Manchester Evening News, 25 February 2012

See also “Local people protect mosque as fascists try to stir racism in Hyde”, UAF news report, 25 February 2012