Category Archives: Far right racists

Eight arrests at EDL ‘flash demo’ in Oldham

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Eight people have been arrested during an English Defence League (EDL) gathering in Greater Manchester.

About 120 members met in Oldham on Saturday. Some laid a wreath at the war memorial in Yorkshire Street.

Up to 50 supporters threw bottles at a police car at about 1315 BST, a Greater Manchester Police spokesman said.

Four were arrested over public order offences. Another four were arrested, also on suspicion of public order offences, in the town centre.

BBC News, 12 September 2010

See also Hope Not Hate, 12 September 2010

Update:  See “No complacency over new EDL ‘flash mob’ tactics”, UAF 13 September 2010 and “EDL’s new tactic”, Indymedia, 13 September 2010

One of the ‘courageous English patriots’ who went to New York to support Pamela Geller

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL at 9-11 protestHere’s a pic (via TPM) of a member of the EDL contingent who unlike Tommy Robinson made it though Immigration at JFK to attend Pamela Geller’s anti-Park51 protest in New York. It looks to me very much like EDL co-leader Kevin Carroll, who is regarded as a bit of a hero in the EDL having been convicted of a public order offence following a clash with Islam4UK demonstrators in Luton.

Carroll also featured in a recent BBC TV documentary on the EDL. His protestations that he was neither a fascist nor a racist were rather undermined when he was confronted with evidence that he had signed the nomination papers for a British National Party candidate in the Luton council elections two years ago.

Indeed, Three Counties Unity reported that Carroll “has been an enthusiastic BNP supporter, living on the same estate as Luton BNP organiser Peter Fehr. He is well-known to local anti-fascists and was only dissuaded from standing as a candidate in the 2007 Luton Council elections by a last-minute plea from his partner, Mary Stevenson.”

Pamela Geller, of course, has long been a fervent admirer of the EDL, hailing them as “courageous English patriots” who have been smeared by the media. “Libel and slander like ‘racist’, ‘fascist’, ‘bigot’, etc. color every news report of every counter-jihad action”, Geller has written. “The quisling media is the propaganda arm of jihad. It’s despicable. There is nothing racist, fascist, or bigoted about the EDL.”

An enthusiastic proponent of conspiracy theories, Geller argues that if there are fascists within the ranks of the EDL it is only because they have “infiltrated” the organisation in an attempt to discredit it – “because the neo-Nazis have generally aligned with the Islamic jihad that the EDL resists”. Will Geller now perhaps denounce Carroll as a fascist supporter of Islamism who has joined the counter-jihad movement in order to destroy it?

Update:  See also “English Defence League members attend New York mosque protest”, Guardian, 13 September 2010

Danish People’s Party leader joins Sweden Democrats’ campaign

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Pia Kjærsgaard DFPia Kjærsgaard, the leader for the Danish People’s Party (Dansk Folkeparti – DF) has accepted an invitation from the far-right Sweden Democrats to take part in an election rally in Högänäs in southern Sweden on Saturday.

Kjærsgaard whose national conservative party has supported the Danish governing coalition of Liberal and Conservative parties since 2001, plans to visit Sweden to “experience the conditions of a Sweden election and to talk about democracy and freedom of speech”, according to a party statement.

Kjærsgaard made headlines in some Danish and Swedish media when she criticised the Swedish press for “acting as if they were in a banana republic” following the refusal of broadcaster TV4 to send an election campaign film by the Sweden Democrats.

The controversial Danish politician does not make a habit of taking part in election campaigns in foreign countries and has previously resisted several pleas from the Sweden Democrats for help. “Mona Sahlin has demonised the Danish People’s Party,” said DF’s press spokesperson Søren Søndergaard to news agency TT, by way of explanation for Kjærsgaard’s change of stance.

Social Democrat leader Mona Sahlin is on record as saying Sweden risks going down Denmark’s path if SD get into Sweden’s parliament, the Riksdag, when the votes are counted on September 19th.

While DF do not hold any cabinet posts the party enjoys a close cooperation with the government parties on most issues, and has pushed through a restrictive policy line towards immigrants and potential refugees. The party claimed 13.9 percent of the votes in the 2007 parliamentary elections after a dramatic rise in support following the Muhammad cartoons controversy in 2006.

The Local, 10 September 2010

See also “UN says party made racist remarks”, Copenhagen Post, 9 September 2010

Sweden Democrats politician calls for ban on practising Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A local politician from the far-right Sweden Democrats argued during an election debate on Thursday that Muslims shouldn’t be allowed to practice their faith in Strömsund in northwestern Sweden.

“I don’t think someone should be allowed to be a practicing Muslim in Strömsund,” Sweden Democrat Mikael Säbom said on Thursday during a live election debate broadcast on Sveriges Radio Jämtland.

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Netherlands: Labour party to launch offensive against ‘Wilders cabinet’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Labour party (PvdA) has accepted it will be in opposition and is planning a major offensive against the expected right-wing government, the Telegraaf reports on Friday, quoting an internal party document.

According to the secret plan, entitled “opposition strategy”, Labour is to go all out on countering what it calls the “Wilders cabinet”.

The right-wing Liberals, Christian Democrats and anti-Islam PVV expect to resume their coalition negotiations next week.

“It will be up to us to expose the tensions within this coalition and cause the cabinet problems,” the Telegraaf quotes the document as saying.

The right-wing cabinet will have just 76 of the 150 seats in parliament and a number of CDA MPs are opposed to any alliance with Geert Wilders’ PVV.

The document, which was discussed by MPs at a secret meeting last week, also outlines how the PvdA will mobilise voters against the right-wing cabinet.

“The right-wing policy of destruction will lead to a lot of opposition in society at large,” the document says. “We will not be in opposition in The Hague alone, but in a close alliance with social movements, environmentalists, the elderly and youth organisations. We will actively look for those alliances.”

Dutch News, 10 September 2010

See also “Wilders ‘can say what he likes’ at Ground Zero”, Dutch News, 10 September 2010

Far-right party could hold balance of power in Swedish parliament

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sweden DemocratsLANDSKRONA, Sweden — In Sweden’s last general election, a surge in voter support for an anti-immigrant party in this small, southern coastal town shocked a nation long regarded as one of the world’s most liberal.

That party, the Sweden Democrats, now hopes to win its first parliamentary seats in elections on September 19, a radical departure for the country could make forming a new government more difficult for the established parties.

Islam is a particular focus of criticism for the Sweden Democrats, who contend it is not compatible with Swedish values. “We have religious freedom in Sweden and we shall have that in the future. What I am against is the adaptation of society to the Muslim minority,” said party leader Jimmie Akesson.

Center-right Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt this week called the Sweden Democrats “a right-wing, xenophobic populist party” akin to those found in other European countries.

The center-right Danish minority government usually relies on People’s Party support in parliament in return for tougher immigration laws.

The Sweden Democrats polled 2.93 percent nationwide in the 2006 election. Sweden has a threshold of 4 percent of votes to win seats in the 349-member parliament and opinion polls suggest the party has a good shot at clearing the hurdle this time.

That in turn could deprive Reinfeldt, whose center-right coalition has a narrow lead over the opposition, of a majority and leave the far right party holding the balance of power.

Reuters, 10 September 2010

See also “‘Dragon Tattoo’ author anti-immigrant prophecy may emerge in Swedish vote”, Bloomberg, 10 September 2010

Update:  See “Local Sweden Democrat: ‘ban’ practicing Muslims”,The Local, 11 September 2010

English Defence League leader refused entry into US?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Bradford4Nick Lowles reports: “I’ve picked up a rumour this morning that EDL leader ‘Tommy Robinson’ has been refused entry into the United States where he was due to attend an anti-Islam rally at Ground Zero in New York. Robinson was travelling with a number of other EDL leaders when he was turned away at the Immigration desk for apparent entry form irregularities. He was taken into custody and almost immediately put on a plane back to London. His fellow EDL members were allowed to go through.”

Hope Not Hate, 10 September 2010

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Amsterdam VVD leader opposes deal with Wilders

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Eric van der Burg, leader of the right-wing Liberal VVD in Amsterdam, is against his party forming a new government with Geert Wilders’ anti-Islam PVV, local tv station AT5 reports.

“The PVV says things about large parts of the Netherlands and large parts of Amsterdam which I do not recognise. That is the main reason I say ‘you should not want to work with the PVV’.”

The national VVD, Christian Democrats and PVV are hoping to soon restart talks on forming a right-wing government.

Dutch News, 9 September 2010

Date set for Wilders court case

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The court case against MP Geert Wilders, who faces discrimination and inciting hatred charges, will begin on October 4 in Amsterdam district court. The court says it needs five days to hear evidence in the case. The court will pass sentence on November 2.

The MP faces five charges of religious insult and anti-Muslim incitement. In January, the public prosecution department extended the prosecution case to include inciting hatred of Muslims, Moroccans and non-Western immigrants.

Dutch News, 9 September 2010

BNP candidate acquitted of racist harassment

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A pensioner cleared of racially abusing a traffic warden is standing as a British National Party candidate in tomorrow’s elections.

The 67-year-old, who is the only BNP candidate standing in Exeter, was tried at the city’s Crown Court. Yesterday a jury of five men and seven women found Mr Stone not guilty of the offence. Mr Stone, of Chestnut Avenue, Wonford, who is standing for the seat in Priory ward, faced a charge of causing Sarah Marillier-Brown harassment, alarm or distress, with intent, that was racially aggravated.

He was accused of shouting at the traffic warden and launching a tirade of racist abuse after approaching her while she ticketed a row of vehicles parked on a single yellow line, in Matford Park Road. He was also alleged by a witness to have said “I suppose you Muslims have your own parking space” and that she should “go back to your own country”, the court was told.

During her evidence, Mrs Marillier-Brown said she feared Mr Stone was going to hit her and said that he took her photograph. She told the court she felt intimidated and scared.

After the verdict, Mr Stone told the Echo he was “greatly relieved”, before thanking the jury and claiming justice had been served. He said the BNP was “nothing to do with racism.”

Express & Echo, 8 September 2010