Category Archives: Far right racists

Police arrest EDL’s Guramit Singh

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Guramit Singh in PeterboroughOne of the leaders of the English Defence League (EDL) has been arrested after police received complaints about his speech during their protest in Peterborough on 11th December.

Guramit Singh (28), from Nottingham, was arrested yesterday (22nd December) on suspicion of intentionally causing religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress.

Cambridgeshire Police received two complaints after Mr Singh, an unofficial leader and spokesman for the EDL, gave a speech during the EDL’s two-hour protest in the city on Saturday, December 11.

Mr Singh was addressing around 1,000 EDL supporters and hundreds of onlooking members of the public during his speech, which was delivered outside Peterborough Magistrates’ Court and has since been uploaded onto YouTube.

A spokeswoman for Cambridgeshire Police said:

“A 28-year-old man from Nottingham was arrested on suspicion of intentionally causing religiously aggravated harassment alarm or distress, under section four of the public order act 1986. He was questioned in Nottingham and has now been bailed. Police are investigating whether any further criminal offences were committed during protests in Peterborough. The arrested man will return to a police station in Cambridgeshire in February.”

Police investigations are ongoing following the marches and officers have asked anyone with information to contact them on 0345 456 4564 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

Peterborough Evening Telegraph, 22 December 2010

See also “Guramit Singh in anti-Muslim tirade”, Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion, 22 December 2010

EDL supporter arrested for religiously-aggravated harassment during Peterborough demonstration

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A 28-year-old has been arrested and bailed in relation to protest marches in Peterborough.

The English Defence League (EDL), which says it opposes Islamic extremism, Unite Against Fascism and the TUC, demonstrated on 11 December.

The man, from Nottingham, was arrested over the offence of intentionally causing religiously-aggravated harassment, alarm or distress. He has been bailed to return to police in Cambridgeshire in February.

BBC News, 21 December 2010

Is Terry Jones still coming to the UK?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Terry Jones cartoonWe know that Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center was originally invited to speak at the English Defence League’s Luton demonstration on 5 February, then disinvited when the EDL leadership belatedly woke up to his record of racism and homophobia, and that the National Front promptly stepped into the breach, denouncing the “utter cave in” by the “pro multi-cult EDL” and inviting Jones to speak at one of their own events. Meanwhile, home secretary Theresa May was reported to be “actively looking at” imposing a ban on Jones entering the UK.

Since then the NF have suggested that Jones may have pulled out of their event. But the “Stand Up America with Dr Terry Jones”Facebook page and the Dove World Outreach Center website state that Jones will address a National Front rally on 5 February, where he will “speak against the evils and destructiveness of Islam in support of the continued fight against the Islamification of England and Europe”. This would presumably be the NF’s Forty-fourth Anniversary Rally, which is to be held on 5 February somewhere in West Yorksire and is advertised as featuring “a surprise speaker from overseas”. And still no word from Theresa May on whether Jones will be allowed into the country.

EDL thugs banned from protests outside Birmingham

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Two English Defence League (EDL) thugs have been banned from joining protests outside Birmingham for 10 years.

Richard Price, 41, and Collum Keyes, 23, were the first members of the EDL to be issued with Asbos. The right-wing group, which says it is opposed to Islamic extremism, has sparked riots across the Midlands.

The Brummie pair previously pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct at a march and admitted threatening behaviour.

Sunday Mercury, 19 December 2010

See also BBC News, 17 December 2010 and Bucks Herald, 17 December 2010

Still, if they ever make it to New York for an SIOA protest, they can rely on Pamela Geller giving them a warm welcome.

And see “EDL protesters fined for threats to police”, Peterborough Evening Telegraph, 18 December 2010

Sarkozy panders to racism again, backs Marine Le Pen over Muslim prayers

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Nicolas Sarkozy will take another lurch to the Right with a speech on New Year’s Eve calling Muslim prayers in the street “unacceptable”.

After his expulsions of gypsies and a crackdown on immigrant crime, the French President will warn that the overflow of Muslim faithful on to the streets at prayer time when mosques are packed to capacity risks undermining the French secular tradition separating state and religion.

He will doubtless be accused of pandering to the far Right: the issue of Muslim prayers in the street has been brought to the fore by Marine Le Pen, the charismatic new figurehead of the National Front, who compared it to the wartime occupation of France.

Her words provoked uproar on the Left, whose commentators took them as evidence that far from being the gentler face of the far Right, Ms Le Pen, 42, is no different from Jean-Marie, 82, her father, who has been accused of racism and Holocaust denial.

According to his aide, Mr Sarkozy agrees with the junior Le Pen that the street cannot be allowed to become “an extension of the mosque” as it does in some parts of Paris, which are closed to traffic because of the overflow of the faithful.

“People overreacted to Marine Le Pen’s comments,” said the aide, referring to the furore in which she was accused of rabble-rousing racism. “She is right: this phenomenon is unacceptable.”

The Australian, 20 December 2010

Protest against Paris ‘Islamization’ conference

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Unis face a l'islamophobieAbout 150 people protested Saturday outside the site of a conference in Paris organized to criticize the “Islamization” of Europe.

Protesters held banners reading “United Against Islamophobia” and “Fascists, get out of our neighborhoods.” Socialist Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe had asked police to ban the conference, but police allowed it to go forward under surveillance.

The conference was organized by several French groups, including nationalist political group Bloc Identitaire, that frequently complain about what they see as Islam’s growing influence over traditional French values. Several hundred people attended the conference, which also was broadcast over the Internet.

Continue reading →

Dutch Labour party leader compares Wilders’ attitude to Muslims to antisemitism in the 1930s

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Job_CohenMuslims are excluded from present-day Dutch society, as also happened with Jews in the 1930s, in the view of Labour (PvdA) leader Job Cohen.

Cohen drew the controversial comparison in an interview withVrij Nederlands weekly. He links his views to the rise of Geert Wilders. In reaction, the Party for Freedom (PVV) leader rejected Cohen’s criticism as “disgusting.”

Cohen, himself Jewish, recounts how his mother experienced around the time of the outbreak of the Second World War that Jews were slowly being excluded. He also sees this alienation now in society.

“The PVV simply says to the Muslims: we would prefer for you to go away. But you cannot blame Islam for the extremism. There are so many Muslims that just want suburban contentment and nothing else. These people are now afraid of the fact that Wilders is part of the power structure.”

Cohen’s comparison of Muslims now with the Jews in the 1930s is “too disgusting and abject for words,” according to Wilders. “Combating Islamisation and harsh tackling of criminal Moroccans, for example, is cleaning up the mess that was actually caused by Cohen’s PvdA of poultices and palliatives, tea-drinking and keeping things together. Cohen has now really lost the plot, hitting out around him in a panic.”

NIS news bulletin, 17 December 2010

Dutch may introduce veil ban as early as 2011, says Wilders

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Netherlands could ban the burqa, the full-body covering worn by some Muslim women, as soon as next year, Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders told Reuters in an interview Thursday.

Wilders’ populist Freedom Party is the third largest in parliament and provides crucial support to the minority ruling coalition in exchange for the government taking a tougher line on Islam and immigration from non-Western countries.

His party has grown in popularity largely because of his outspoken criticism of Islam, which he describes as “a violent ideology.”

“There are not too many people who are willing to fight for this cause. It’s a big responsibility. It’s not only a Dutch problem, it’s a problem of the West,” said Wilders.

He has been charged with inciting hatred against Muslims for comparing Islam to Nazism. The case is due to start over again following a request for new judges.

“We are not a single issue party but the fight against a fascist ideology Islam is for us of the utmost importance,” said Wilders, who argues his comments about Islam are protected by freedom of speech.

Wilders said immigration from Muslim countries “is very dangerous to the Netherlands. We believe our country is based on Christianity, on Judaism, on humanism, and we believe the more Islam we get, the more it will not only threaten our culture and our own identity but also our values and our freedom.”

The burqa ban, which his party agreed as part of a pact with the minority coalition, is due to come into force within four years and possibly as soon as next year or 2012, he said.

With no clear winner in the elections in June, Wilders emerged as a kingmaker and won considerable influence for his Freedom Party over government policy. He promised support for the minority Liberal-Christian Democrat coalition in return for a tougher line on Islam and immigration, especially from non-Western, or predominantly Muslim countries.

Reuters, 16 December 2010

Who told lies about the ‘March for Free Expression’?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

defenders of free expressionIn connection with the so-called March for Free Expression back in 2006 (it was in fact a poorly attended static demonstration in Trafalgar Square, the purpose of which was to defend the “freedom” of the right-wing Danish paper Jyllands-Posten to publish racist anti-Muslim cartoons) Harry’s Place informs us that “huge effort was put by the organisers into ensuring that Nazis did not attend”. Consequently, “when it was attacked by Bob Pitt, it was able to squash his lies”.

It would be interesting to know what this “huge effort” the MFE organisers made to deter the far right consisted of. The BNP made it clear in advance that they supported the MFE and intended to send a contingent from their front organisation, Civil Liberty, to the Trafalgar Square event – but, apart from indicating that they didn’t want the BNP joining them, the MFE organisers appear to have made no serious attempts to counter this. The BNP later reported that 40 of its members had participated in the MFE (out of a total attendance of about 300), and having witnessed the protest I can confirm that the fascists were allowed to distribute their literature unhindered in any way by the MFE organisers.

Some MFE supporters saw the presence of the BNP as a welcome sign of the political breadth of the protest. Johann Hari noted approvingly that “communists mingled awkwardly with fascists” in Trafalgar Square. Another MFE supporter wrote to Tribune rejecting the National Assembly Against Racism’s criticism of fascist involvement in the demonstration: “Everyone was welcome to the rally regardless of their political or other allegiance. That is exactly how it should be…. Free speech cannot be abandoned on the basis of demagogic ‘anti-racist’ demands from self-appointed groups.”

However, other MFE supporters adopted the position of denying that the BNP were there at all. Peter Tatchell, who is of course regarded as a bit of a hero over at Harry’s Place, assured Comment is Free readers: “Contrary to the lies and scaremongering of the far left, there was no BNP presence at Saturday’s rally.” Tatchell’s sidekick, Harry’s Place blogger Brett Lock, took the same line. “Fascists don’t believe in freedom of expression,” he wrote, “and thus were explicitly banned from the march.”

If Harry’s Place want to denounce people for telling lies about the March for Free Expression, they would be advised to look a little closer to home.