Category Archives: Far right racists

Right-wing press gives another boost to Anjem Choudary

Posted on by Bob Pitt

ENGAGE draws our attention to yet another article in the right-wing press boosting the profile of Anjem Choudary and his tiny gang of provocateurs.

Under the headline “Dewsbury, Bradford and Tower Hamlets … where Islamic extremists want to establish independent states with sharia law”, the Daily Mail reports that Muslims Against Crusades (MAC) have called for “Islamic emirates” to be established in areas of the UK with large Muslim populations. The fact that there isn’t the remotest possibility of MAC achieving that objective is of course of no interest to the Mail.

As has repeatedly been pointed out, Choudary and the right-wing press enjoy a symbiotic relationship. Papers like the Mail, the Express and the Star attract readers by feeding them paranoid fantasies about the “Islamification” of the UK, while Choudary happily provides these papers with the material they need to promote their racist myths, in exchange for which they offer him and his irrelevant group of misfits free publicity.

The victims are of course the British Muslim community who have to suffer the consequences of this irresponsible journalism – not least the assistance it gives to the far right.

EDL and MAC article

EDL anti-mosque protest in Blackpool

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Noor-A-Madina mosqueA protest will be staged by controversial group the English Defence League outside a Blackpool mosque they claim is illegal. The right-wing group has already launched a campaign on social networking website Facebook which claims the Noor A Madina Mosque on Waterloo Road, South Shore, contravenes planning regulation.

Members of the cultural centre are desperate to reassure the public they want to include people of all faiths in a bid to promote community cohesion, after super glue was poured into the locks of the mosque on Friday, June 24. Police have taken action to install CCTV cameras outside the building to ensure the safety of the family with children who live above.

Continue reading →

Israeli deputy minister meets German neo-Nazi millionaire

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Patrik BrinkmannDeputy Minister Ayoob Kara met with Swedish-German millionaire Patrik Brinkmann who has ties with German neo-Nazi groups in Berlin over the weekend,Yedioth Ahronoth reported.

Brinkmann, who is trying to establish a far-right anti-Islamic party in Germany claims he is not an anti-Semite, however his previous close contacts with the German neo-Nazi party (NPD) and his past membership in another neo-Nazi party raise questions regarding his ideology.

Brinkmann, 44, made his fortune in the Swedish real estate business in the 1980s before becoming mixed in tax problems in his home country. As legal battles were going on he used the majority of his finances for the establishment of two research foundations which became closely affiliated with far-right and neo-Nazi elements in Germany.

The millionaire later began supporting the Pro NRW movement, Germany’s far-right and anti-Islamic party. He declared he fears that Sharia law will be introduced in the country and has pledged to establish a strong German right-wing party. He left the party last year in protest of its anti-Semitism, but resumed membership earlier this year. He now heads the party’s Berlin branch.

Brinkman visited Israel several months ago where he met Kara and announced his intention to promote one of his foundations in Israel. He met the deputy minister again in Berlin over the weekend as part of Kara’s private visit to the city’s World Culture Festival. Several months ago, Kara met with Austrian Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache who was once active in neo-Nazi groups.

Israel’s embassies in Berlin and Vienna have warned against such contacts. “Even if this is an alleged attempt to create an anti-Islamic European front, some of these elements seek to obtain an Israeli seal of approval without altering their anti-Semitic views,” an Israeli state official said.

The deputy minister said he was unaware of Brinkmann’s problematic connections with Germany’s neo-Nazi far-right movement, claiming this was “irrelevant.”

Ynetnews, 4 July 2011

See also Ayoob Kara’s meeting last month with Filip Dewinter of the Belgian far-right party Vlaams Belang.

Cambridge: support grows for ‘celebration of unity and diversity’ in opposition to EDL

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Support has come from all quarters for a celebration of unity in defiance of a right wing march in Cambridge.

A host of councillors, community leaders, musicians and local people have thrown their weight behind a city centre march and “celebration of unity and diversity”, organised by Unite Against Fascism, in opposition to the English Defence League’s plans to make their presence felt on Saturday, July 9.

Richard Howitt MEP, members of Cambridge Muslim Council, local Trade Unionists, Kevin Courtney – deputy general secretary of the NUT – and members of Cambridge Fans United have all added their names to a statement entitled “We Are Cambridge”. Cambridge Ethnic Community Forum have also joined in.

A spokesman said: “We are proud of Cambridge’s history of welcoming those who have had to flee persecution and intolerance from around the world. The Cambridge Ethnic Community Forum is committed against all forms of prejudice, intolerance and hate.”

A public meeting will be held tonight (July 4) in the Unitarian Church Hall, Emmanuel Street, from 7.30pm featuring speakers such as Lewis Herbert, leader of the Labour group on Cambridge City Council, who plans to reveal a statement signed by Labour and Green councillors opposing the EDL and supporting the peaceful counter protest.

Also speaking will be Mirza Baig, vice chair of Cambridge Muslim Council. He recently told Unite Against Fascism members: “Thank you for raising your voice against messages of hate. You have our full support, and our committee will be participating in your demonstration.”

The counter march will take place on Saturday in Market Square from 11am.

Cambridge News, 4 July 2011

EDL harasses Muslim MEP and his family

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sajjad Karim (2)The British Muslim member of the European Parliament Sajjad Karim and his family have been placed under 24 hour police protection following a protest by the right wing English Defence League at his constituency residence in north west England.

According to the MEP of Pakistani heritage, around 50 EDL extremists turned up unannounced at his UK address on Saturday at just after midday, bearing anti-Islamic placards intent on violence.

“It was only through the presence of Lancashire Constabulary officers that harm was avoided,” he told media via a digital message. He went on to say that the extremists then carried on to his original hometown of Brierfield, Lancashire, where they carried out violent attacks and four arrests were made.

Continue reading →

EDL leader is banned from protest activity

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Stephen Lennon with police

The leader of the English Defence League has been banned from organising or taking part in any of the group’s protests as part of bail conditions.

Stephen Lennon, of Layham Drive, Luton, pleaded not guilty to a public order offence, which is alleged to have happened at an EDL rally in Luton town centre on May 26 against Euro MEP Richard Howitt.

At Luton Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, the 26-year-old was granted conditional bail to reappear before magistrates on October 31 for a trial. As part of his conditions he must tell Luton police, within three days, if he is to move addresses.

He must also not knowingly organise, travel to, or participate in any march, demonstration, protest or similar within ten miles of Luton. In addition he must not send any article, letter, fax or email that seeks to promote or publicise any match, demonstration or protest in the open air within ten miles of Luton.

At a hearing at Blackburn Magistrates’ Court on June 24 in relation to an assault, he has been granted the same bail conditions, which also ban him from the above but which occur more than ten miles from the centre of Luton.

He was also ordered by Blackburn magistrates to report to Luton Police station every Saturday between midday and 2pm, but he was unable to do so yesterday as he was on holiday. If he breaks any of his bail conditions he can be imprisoned. He is due to stand trial at Preston Magistrates’ Court for the assault charge on September 29.

Luton on Sunday, 3 July 2011

Halifax: unity event called to oppose racist EDL, Saturday 9 July

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Support is growing in Halifax for the antiracist unity event opposing the racists and fascists of the English Defence League on Saturday 9 July.

The EDL is coming to the West Yorkshire town on that date in its latest attempt to stir up racist hatred against Muslims in the area. The EDL’s planned demo in Halifax is part of a summer of hate.

Halifax Labour Party, the Central Jamia Mosque Madni, the Calderdale branch of the National Union of Teachers and the Calderdale and Kirklees branch of the PCS union have all thrown their weight behind the antiracist unity event organised by Halifax UAF.

Halifax MP Linda Riordan and Calder ward councillor Dave Young have also signed a statement backing the unity event and opposing the EDL’s attempts to organise in Halifax. NUT reps from across the area unanimously backed the antiracist statement at a meeting to discuss the pensions strike this week.

The unity event starts at 12 noon on Saturday 9 July, at People’s Park, King Cross Street, Halifax.

There have been a series of racist incidents involving EDL members around the town – earlier this month an EDL thug who theatened two elderly Asian men was given a suspended jail sentence. Other EDL members sang racist songs when the EDL staged a demo in Halifax in April.

Local antiracists are determined to show that the EDL thugs are not welcome in their town.

UAF news report, 2 July 2011

‘No mosque here!’ Vlaams Belang protests against ‘Islamisation of Antwerp’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Vlaams Belang mosque protest

Some members of Vlaams Belang, an intensely xenophobic Flemish nationalist group, occupied the roof of an Antwerp building that the municipal authorities will turn into a mosque.

The protest against “the Islamisation of Antwerp” and the “supermosque” (as Vlaams Belang leader Filip Dewinter defined it) may continue next week with a pork barbecue in the same building.

AGI, 30 June 2011

Vet comments on Dutch ritual slaughter ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Yesterday’s vote in the Dutch parliament to ban the no-stun slaughter of livestock could halt production of kosher and halal meat in the Netherlands, and is likely to inspire similar campaigns in other European countries.

The argument seems straightforward: if we have scientifically proven standards for animal welfare that we believe in, we should stick to those standards. And indeed, it would be a simple argument if the people affected by the ban were a random mix of a wide variety of the population.

The problem with the outright ban is that the only people affected are religious minorities: in the Dutch case, one million Dutch Muslims and 40,000 Jews. This makes it easy to claim that anti-minority sentiments are the hidden reason for the legislation. When far right anti-Islamic parties like Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party strongly support the ban, it’s easy to believe that the motivation may not always be just to protect animal welfare.

Our society is becoming increasingly secular, with the mainstream regarding religious faith as unproven and therefore unsupportable: the atheistic viewpoint dominates. How far do we want this to continue? Do we want to live in a state where people are jailed for their religious beliefs?

Qualified vet Pete Wedderburn writes in the Daily Telegraph, 29 June 2011

EDL members leave pig’s head on a pole at mosque site

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A member of the English Defence League (EDL) in Notts has pleaded guilty to being involved in an anti-Muslim “hate crime”. Christopher Payne helped a group of EDL members put a pig’s head sprayed with an anti-Muslim message on a 4ft yellow pole in Collington Way, West Bridgford. Payne, 25, of Beardsmore Grove, Hucknall, also spray-painted “No mosque here EDL Notts” on the pavement.

Payne appeared at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court yesterday where he pleaded guilty to two charges of racially or religiously aggravated criminal damage and causing racially or religiously aggravated alarm, harassment or distress by words or writing.

Daniel Pietryka, prosecuting, said: “Payne had been in a pub in Clifton with other EDL members when he received a text message from a friend who had the pig’s head. It was brought to the pub in a bin liner.”

The court heard there are plans to build a mosque on the site in Collington Way, off Rugby Road.

Payne was arrested on Saturday and told police under interview that he was a member of the EDL who had responsibility for arranging meetings and events in Notts.

District Judge Morris Cooper warned Payne that “all sentencing options are open at this stage” before adjourning the case for a pre-sentence probation report. He said: “You were involved in a course of conduct with others which involved the display of this pig’s head on a stake with grossly offensive comments written on it.”

Payne was granted bail despite police concerns about his involvement with the EDL. The bail conditions include a curfew between 10pm and 5am, that he stays away from West Bridgford and doesn’t go within 200 metres of a mosque. Payne also must not meet with other EDL members.

Payne is next due to appear at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on July 21.

Three other men are due to appear at Nottingham Magistrates Court today in connection with the incident. Wayne Havercroft, 41, of Bestwood Village, Nicholas Long, 21, of Arnold, and Robert Joseph Parnham, 19, of Clifton, are each charged with causing religiously aggravated alarm, harassment or distress by words/writing and religiously aggravated criminal damage.

Wayne Havercroft is also charged with causing religiously aggravated alarm, harassment or distress by words/writing in Nottingham city centre on Saturday 25 June.

Nottingham Post, 28 June 2011

Update:  See “Pig’s head on pole: Three plead guilty to hate crime”,Nottingham Post, 29 June 2011