Category Archives: Far right racists

EDL supporters in armed forces under investigation

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Freedom Parade For Soldiers Returning From Afghanistan
Supporting British troops … by endangering their lives

Defence chiefs are investigating a claim that soldiers from the 1st Battalion of the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment have been photographed showing their support for a far-right anti-Islam group.

Several pictures are under investigation. One shows soldiers from regiment – which recruits in Cumbria – posing next to the flag of the English Defence League (EDL) at a homecoming parade for the regiment in Blackburn last year. Eight soldiers are seen standing next to the flag, bearing the words: “EDL supports Duke of Lancaster Regiment.” Another more controversial picture shows a uniformed solider, allegedly in Helmand Province, his face hidden by a black scarf as he brandishes a pistol and stands in front of before the EDL flag.

The pictures – which have not yet been confirmed to be genuine – could help radicalise some Muslims, and inflame divisions between Islam and the West.

Kevin Caroll, 41, who is joint EDL leader, said the organisation was opposed to racism, but the Cumbrian branch is currently publishing an on-line video crammed with anti-Islamic slogans. The first of these shows a medieval crusader in battle armour, under the slogan: “Jihad works both ways.” Another slogan tells viewers: “Let the crusade begin.”

News & Star, 17 May 2011

See also Lancashire Telegraph, 17 May 2011

The photographs were first published in the Sunday Times, captioned “Soldiers flaunt support for anti-Muslim league”. Contributors to Exposing… have suggested that the photos were supplied to the paper by the EDL itself as a publicity stunt. The fact that this is likely to further endanger the lives of British soldiers serving in Afghanistan was evidently of no concern to the “patriots” of the EDL.

EDL flash protest in Hull results in violence

Posted on by Bob Pitt

In Hull, a group of EDL supporters staged a brief demonstration in the centre of town and then gathered outside the mosque in Pearson Park. The same mosque was targeted by the EDL and members of the fascist British National Party in December.

People from the mosque were joined by antifascists at extremely short notice to defend the religious building. One antifascist protestor says:

About 25 of the EDL rabble came out of a side street and marched past shouting racist abuse and making threats. The police allowed the EDL to spout their abuse but stopped the mosque supporters from approaching them.

The EDL then disappeared. More people turned up including students from the university. By now we had around about 80 people defending the Mosque. The EDL never came back.

However, this comes after we heard the mosque was attacked during the week and had some of its windows broken.

Unite Against Fascism, 15 May 2011

See also the Hull Daily Mail, which reports: “Two arrests were made during the course of the day. The first arrest was made in the Pearson Park area of the city at about 2pm. The second was in Spring Bank, when a man in his 30s was detained after an attack on a car full of Asian men.”

Man found guilty of threatening behaviour during punch-up between EDL supporters

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A man from Bolton was given a curfew order by magistrates after he threw a punch while attending an English Defence League rally in Blackburn.

A court was told how a man was being escorted out by stewards for heckling one the speakers when he was punched by a number of fellow supporters.

David Monks, aged 34, of Haydock Street, Bolton, pleaded guilty to using threatening behaviour before Blackburn magistrates and was made subject to an electronically monitored curfew between 8pm and 6am for 91 days.

Catherine Allan, prosecuting, said CCTV of the incident showed Monks throwing a punch but it did not show whether it connected. “The other man was in fact punched unconscious but not necessarily by this defendant,” said Miss Allan.

Mr Michael Blacklidge, defending, said: “The irony is that this happened between EDL supporters who fell out amongst themselves.”

Bolton News, 16 May 2011

See also “Five in court after Blackburn EDL rally”, Lancashire Telegraph, 16 May 2011

Does the BBC have a problem with Muslims?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Does Britain have a problem with Muslims

Yesterday’s The Big Questions on BBC TV was devoted to the issue “Does Britain have a problem with Muslims?” The very title illustrates how Islamophobic discourse has entered the mainstream. Can anyone imagine the BBC broadcasting a programme that addressed the question “Does Britain have a problem with Jews?” or “Does Britain have a problem with Blacks?”

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EDL hooligan who abused Muslims is convicted of racially aggravated harassment

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Daniel OdlingA Gainsborough man charged with racially aggravated behaviour was found guilty following a two-day trial.

Daniel Odling denied committing racially aggravated harassment against a group of Muslims in Lincoln in July last year where an off-duty police officer was assaulted.

The 26-year-old father from High Street, Blyton near Gainsborough, was on trial with a 17-year-old man from Market Rasen who cannot be named for legal reasons. Both were accused of religiously aggravated behaviour at the Grandstand on Carholme Road, Lincoln, where 30 to 40 Muslims gathered to discuss the building of a mosque, on the evening of 9th July 2010.

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Get tough on immigrants – Will Hutton’s answer to the rise of the far right

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Will Hutton has a piece in today’s Observer headed “While the European left dithers, the right marches menacingly on”. He warns against the threat posed by the rise of xenophobic far-right parties in Europe and states correctly that “what is unifying all Europe’s populist right is outright hostility to Muslims”.

But he argues that the left has lost ground not least because it has failed to adapt to anti-immigrant views among the voters. Referring to discussions at the Progressive Governance conference in Oslo last week, Hutton writes:

“Denial is the default position, because the left does not want to believe its own people could descend to hating immigrants with the ferocity of the populist right. To make concessions is to legitimise attitudes that should only stay on the margins. The Spanish socialists spoke for the consensus, saying that the left must make the case that immigration is a force for good – it makes Europe richer. Others, such as the Danish and Dutch social democrats, were more street-wise, wanting to bend to the popular mood. After all, immigration does create economic losers. The left cannot allow purism to come before realism.”

Hutton’s view is that the left must “accept that immigration offends basic attitudes to fairness. Once any host population starts to believe that new immigrants can get benefits without paying anything into the collective pot they feel cheated. Immigrants need to be offered ways of earning their citizenship to ease their path on arrival.”

Which, couched in the language of liberalism, is basically a recommendation that the left should try to undermine the far right by getting tough on immigrants.

Melbourne: anti-racists shut down Australian Defence League demonstration

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anti-ADL protest Melbourne

Muslim groups are worried by a new nationalist organisation that claims Australia is in danger of being Islamicised.

Australian Defence League supporters clashed with Left-wing protesters in the city yesterday as the group held its first local rally, sparking a warning from the Baillieu Government that bigotry would not be tolerated. A small team of police initially kept the groups apart, but ADL supporters were forced to end their protest early when activists encircled them and tore up placards.

The ADL is an offshoot of the English Defence League, which has staged demonstrations in areas of high Muslim concentration in the UK.

About 40 ADL members, including women dressed in mock hijabs, protested in Federation Square yesterday over issues such as the certification of halal meat and concern sharia law would be introduced.

Protest organiser Martin Brennan claimed the group had 1400 members but denied it was anti-Muslim. “We are not racist whatsoever, we are against radical Islam infiltrating Australia,” he said.

Australian Federation of Islamic Councils president Ikebal Patel said the group was provocative and wrong to believe that most Australian Muslims wanted to bring in sharia law. “It’s of great concern that anyone is out there trying to disrupt the peaceful social fabric of Australia,” he said. Islamic Council of Victoria spokesman Nazeem Hussein said the ADL’s views were uninformed and saddening.

State Multicultural Affairs Minister Nick Kotsiras said the Government did not tolerate racism, bigotry or the incitement of hatred. “Activities which undermine the multicultural harmony of Victoria will be dealt with swiftly,” he said.

The ADL protest was swamped by the much bigger group of activists and unionists who shouted anti-racism slogans. Anti-racism protester Mick Armstrong, from Socialist Alternative, said the ADL was trying to copy the tactics of its British counterpart. “They have had their protest and we have ended it,” he said.

Herald Sun, 15 May 2011

Update:  See also Melbourne Protests, 16 May 2011

Far-right anti-Islam protestors in Lyon outnumbered by counter-demonstrators

Posted on by Bob Pitt

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAFP reports that nearly 500 far-right activists gathered in Lyon today to protest against halal meat and the “Islamisation of France”.

The Bloc Identitaire had originally intended to hold a “March of the Pigs” through the city but after that had been banned they had to settle for a static “rally for freedom” instead. Bloc Identitaire president Fabrice Robert told the protestors that “Islamisation is a reality in France” while the crowd chanted “Islam out of Europe”, threw smoke bombs and vandalised a kebab restaurant.

They were outnumbered by left-wing counter-demonstrators, variously estimated at between 800 and 2,500, who raised the slogan “Fascism is gangrene” and called for economic and social equality.

The English Defence League proudly announced that its representatives would be joining the “Marche des cochons”, in order to “support our French brothers in the defence of French culture”, evidently unaware that the march had been called off.

There were reportedly five EDL members at the demo. They told Lyon Info that they were there to defend democracy, freedom of expression and the French way of life, “without really knowing what it is”. They did know the British way of life, though, an EDL representative pointed out. And anyway “we’re all Christians”.

It appears that the British far right share another central feature of their culture with their French counterparts. Lyon Info reports that only 2-300 Bloc Identitaire activists actually made it to the rally. The rest were to be found in the neighbourhood bars.

Update:  The EDL states that two of its representatives have been arrested in Lyon, including EDL leader Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.

Further update:  Le Progrès reports that 80 far-right activists were arrested after causing criminal damage and chanting Nazi slogans. Clearly the EDL were in good company.

One more update:  The EDL admins have now removed the thread on Lennon’s arrest from their Facebook page. That decision might not be unconnected with the posting of comments like this:

The entire thread has however been screengrabbed by Exposing racism and intolerance online. See here, here, here and here.

Three arrested after EDL target Darlington mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jamia Mosque DarlingtonTwo men and a youth were arrested earlier today after a “large scale disorder” in Darlington – believed to involve members of the far-right English Defence League.

Police attended the North Lodge Park area of the town at 4.20pm after a group of around 30 gathered near the Jamia Mosque. Superintendent Paul Unsworth said: “These people were acting in a rowdy, abusive and offensive manner and we believe their actions were racially motivated. Officers attended to ensure the crowd dispersed without causing further disruption or disorder.”

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