Category Archives: Far right racists

‘Surfing rabbi’ addresses EDL pro-Israel demo

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Nachum Shifren at EDL demoAround 300 members of the far right organisation the English Defence League (EDL) were joined by a US Rabbi associated with the Tea Party at a demonstration “to oppose Islamic fascism”.

Speaking outside the Israeli embassy in London, Rabbi Nachum Shifren stressed he was not here to represent the Tea Party but came as someone “who loves freedom”.

Rabbi Shifren, who is standing for the California state senate, said: “To all my Jewish brothers who have called me a Nazi… I say to them they don’t have the guts to stand up here and take care of business.”

The so-called surfing rabbi said the EDL were the only group in England with moral courage and that politicians would not admit that “because of the Arab petrol dollars”.

Rabbi Shifren added that Muslims “eat each other alive, like the dogs that they are”. He said: “We shall prevail, we will not let them take over our countries. We will never surrender to the sword of Islam.”

Jewish Chronicle, 25 October 2010

More photos at Demotix here and here.

Over at Atlas Shrugs, Pamela Geller hails the alliance between Shifren and the EDL as “part of the growing interaction between the EDL and the counter-jihad movement in the US that I enthusiastically support”.

Police prepare for EDL protest in Swindon

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The chief of Wiltshire Police says the force is prepared to deal with a protest march planned by the far right English Defence League next month. Chief Constable Brian Moore says he had to respect the right of people to protest peacefully and hoped the event would not give rise to violence.

The English Defence League, an anti-Muslim group formed in 2009, says on its website that it is planning a day of protests in Swindon, Preston and the West Midlands on November 20. It is feared the EDL might be planning to hold the march in Manchester Road, one of the most multi-cultural areas of town and very close to the site of a proposed new mosque.

South West Trades Union Council regional secretary Nigel Costley said the TUC was joining with community and campaign groups to call for a ban of the EDL if rumours of the protest march in the town proved to be true.

He said: “The EDL is a toxic mix of right-wing racists and football hooligans. They pick areas with Asian communities to stir violent reactions. Plans for a new mosque on Manchester Road in Swindon will be exploited by the EDL to push their anti-Islamic views.”

Swindon Advertiser, 24 October 2010

Retrial ordered for Wilders hate speech case

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Dutch court ordered a retrial Friday for anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders, sending the closely-watched hate speech case back to square one before a whole new panel of judges.

The far-right politician faces charges of inciting hatred against Muslims for many remarks, including some equating Islam with fascism and violence and others calling for a ban on the Quran and a tax on Muslim headscarves.

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Wilders not trying to create conflict and divisions, says lawyer (yeah right)

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Geert Wilders is not trying to create conflict and divisions in society with his statements about Islam, Wilders’ lawyer said on Thursday at the MP’s trial in Amsterdam for inciting hatred and discrimination.

“Wilders does not preach violence,” Bram Moszkowicz said on the second day of the defence case. “He counters his opponents with words, with reason, with debate, because he feels this is what he must do,” Nos quoted the lawyer as saying.

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Wilders not trying to create conflict and divisions, says lawyer (yeah right)

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Geert Wilders is not trying to create conflict and divisions in society with his statements about Islam, Wilders’ lawyer said on Thursday at the MP’s trial in Amsterdam for inciting hatred and discrimination.

“Wilders does not preach violence,” Bram Moszkowicz said on the second day of the defence case. “He counters his opponents with words, with reason, with debate, because he feels this is what he must do,” Nos quoted the lawyer as saying.

There are uncertainties about some of the things Wilders is alleged to have said and the MP will “neither admit or deny” if he said them, Moszkowicz told the panel of judges. For example, there are two different versions of a statement Wilders is alleged to have made about deporting the prophet Mohammed.

Wilders has not spoken during the trial, having adopted his right to silence on the first day.

The prosecution, which has already said Wilders should be found not guilty on all counts, will respond to the defence on Friday. The judges will announce their verdict on November 5.

Dutch News, 21 October 2010

EDL thug released early from prison

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Bernard Holmes in chicken costumeA “dangerous” man who left his victim with a permanent brain injury has been released from jail early and is taking part in English Defence League protests.

Bernard Holmes, 25, formerly of Coleridge Street, Blackburn, was jailed for two years and four months, in February for causing grievous bodily harm to Shaun Baxendale. Mr Baxendale was left with “catastrophic” injuries and a change in personality in the unprovoked May 2009 attack. He had to have a piece of his skull removed.

However, because Holmes spent more than seven months in custody before his trial, he is now out on licence after technically serving half his term.

Under the nickname “Mr B”, he has been central to the Blackburn EDL’s recent demonstrations outside the KFC in Haslingden Road, Blackburn, dressed as a yellow chicken. Pictures on his Facebook site also show him and fellow members of the right-wing group, who call themselves the “Knuckledraggers”, at last weekend’s heavily-policed rally in Leicester.

When Holmes was jailed, Maggie Garth, 44, Mr Baxendale’s sister criticised the sentence and spoke out in favour of the Lancashire Telegraph‘s Consequences campaign, which aims to steer people away from drunken, spontaneous town centre violence.

She reacted to his release and activities with the EDL by saying: “The chicken suit is very apt for him. He’s a coward. I was physically sick when I heard he was out of prison. I don’t think the sentences handed out for these types of offences frighten the offenders. Shaun is still forgetting things and going through terrible mood swings. Yet Holmes can go out and protest over the very things that make us a free country.”

Lancashire Telegraph, 20 October 2010

Wilders is a modern-day Galileo, his lawyer claims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anti-Islam campaigner Geert Wilders should never have been taken to court on inciting hatred charges because he has already been found guilty, the MP’s lawyer Bram Moszkowicz said on Tuesday. Moszkowicz was outlining the defence’s case at the MP’s trial in Amsterdam.

The lawyer said Amsterdam appeal court had already found the MP guilty in January 2009, when it ruled in favour of a group of individuals and organisations who wanted to see Wilders prosecuted. The public prosecution department, which last week said the MP should be found not-guilty on all counts, had decided not to take him to court, saying there was no case against him.

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Wilders dissociates himself from EDL’s Amsterdam demonstration

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL in Bradford
EDL supporters clash with police during protest in Bradford in August

A demonstration to be held in Amsterdam by the ultranationalist English Defence League (EDL) has met with strong disapproval from Dutch anti-Islam Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders. “I have no involvement with this demo, I’ve never been in touch with the EDL,” the MP told daily De Telegraaf on Tuesday. The protest is planned for Saturday 30 October, just before the verdict is due in a hate-incitement court case against Mr Wilders next week.

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Wilders responsible for rise in anti-Muslim hatred say witnesses

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslim witnesses said Monday that a Dutch lawmaker’s anti-Islamic comments had led to attacks and intimidation, and they pleaded with judges to convict him and give him a symbolic fine of one euro.

“Arson. Attempted arson. Vandalism. Disturbances. Incivility to people attending mosques. Obscenities. Intimidating behavior – they have all become everyday occurrences” as a result of Wilders’ public remarks, said Mohammed Enait, speaking for an alliance of Dutch mosques that had asked to testify as victims in the case.

Enait said Dutch Muslims have suffered tangible damage as a result of Wilders’ repeated negative remarks about Islam. He said there are countless incidences of “children being cursed at while they walk. Stories from women … who are spit upon, mocked because they wear headscarves.” Enait, who is from Rotterdam, said the mosque he attended as a child had been burned down.

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance found that there has been a “dramatic increase in ‘Islamophobia’ in the Netherlands” since 2000.

Several prominent Muslim organizations have asked the new government, which took office last week, to examine the problem, citing an incident earlier this year where a dead sheep was left on a site where a mosque is being built in the city of Roosendaal. Last month, a mosque in Groningen was burned in an arson attack, and as recently as last weekend, a bullet was fired at a mosque in the city of Dordrecht.

The conservative minority government relies on the support of Wilders’ Freedom Party to pass bills in parliament. It has not reacted to the request from the Muslim groups.

Associated Press, 18 October 2010

Update:  See also Dutch News, 19 October 2010