Category Archives: Far right racists

Why I’ll vote for the fascists – a BNP supporter explains

Posted on by Bob Pitt

BNP dustbinThe Koranic verses are ringing out from a stereo on Hamza Myatt’s market stall on Barking’s pedestrianised high street. The 36-year-old ginger-haired and white-skinned Muslim convert swapped his life as a financial adviser in South Wales to proselytise for his new faith in the outer reaches of East London three weeks after the 9/11 attacks. He now spends market days noisily selling Islamic literature.

A few feet away from Mr Myatt’s stall, at a mobile snack bar selling tea and bacon butties, where customers are trying on keffiyeh scarves and checking through DVDs on Islam for children, stands a furious Derek Carlton. Pointing his finger towards Mr Myatt’s loudspeaker, now broadcasting an imam’s sermon, Mr Carlton, 46, a maintenance engineer, says:

“Yes, I will vote BNP and that is why. I have no problem with other religions. What I have a problem with is when it changes the character of your town and you’re not allowed to say anything about it. The BNP is saying what no one else will. Slowly but surely, people like me are being pushed aside in favour of outsiders. You can’t tell me it’s racist to be annoyed that my children can’t get a council house in the same place as their parents because they’ve all been handed over to Africans and Muslims?”

Independent, 10 April 2010

NF stages Halal protest outside Colne KFC

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Colne KFC protestPeople campaigning against the trial of Halal meat at KFC restaurants held a protest in Colne on Saturday afternoon.

Mr Steven Smith, who campaigns against ritual slaughter, led a demonstration outside the KFC outlet at the North Valley Retail Park. Mr Smith, who lives in Burnley, joined four more campaigners to raise awareness and hand out leaflets about the controversial trial, being tested at 74 KFC stores nationwide.

He said: “It was a very successful demonstration and we had a number of people supporting us. We campaign against ritually slaughtered meat – Muslim Halal – which involves cutting the throat of animals and is a cruel method of killing animals. It can take up to four minutes for the animal to die, rather than them dying instantly.”

Mr Smith also claimed the RSCPA has condemned the practice of Halal. However, a spokesman said the animal charity’s belief is that all animals should be stunned before slaughter as it lessens their suffering. While not all Halal meat is stunned before slaughter, KFC insists its poultry is stunned before slaughter, using a technique called “stun-to-stun”.

Nina Arnott, a KFC spokesman, added: “Our restaurants in Burnley and Colne are taking part in our Halal trial following great demand in the area. We’ve worked with the Halal Food Authority and animal welfare organisations to ensure our systems and processes fully comply with halal requirements while staying true to our strict standards of animal welfare, which have not been compromised as a result of this trial.”

Pendle Today, 8 April 2010

The report fails to mention that Steven Smith is a veteran fascist and currently Burnley organiser for the National Front, who were behind the protest.

More than half of Austrians feel ‘threatened’ by Islam

Posted on by Bob Pitt

More than half of Austrians consider Islam a threat, according to a poll published Wednesday.

According to the poll carried out by the IMAS institute, 54 percent of those polled agreed that “Islam is a threat to the West and our way of life”, while 72 percent believed “Muslims do not adapt to the rules of community life”. For 71 percent of Austrians Islam is not compatible with Western concepts of democracy, liberty and tolerance.

The poll was taken as Austrians prepare to vote on April 25 to elect a new president, a largely honorific but above all moral figurehead. Outgoing Social Democrat Heinz Fischer, who is almost certain to be re-elected, is standing against two candidates who are hostile to immigration: Barbara Rosenkranz, on the extreme right, who wants to restore border controls, and Rudolf Gehring, who heads the Christian party fervently opposed to the building of minarets.

Among extreme right-wing voters, 78 percent said they see Islam as a threat. No figure was available for the Christian party. Among supporters of the Green ecologist party, only 16 percent of the population held that view, well below the average in the general population.

The poll was carried out between January 19 and February 8 among 1,088 people.

Daily Times, 8 April 2010

See also “Majority say Islam is a ‘threat'”, Austrian Independent, 7 April 2010 and “Strache feels ‘confirmed’ by Islam poll results”, Austrian Independent, 8 April 2010

Warsaw mosque protest: Buddhists join hands with skinheads against Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Warsaw mosque protestOn 27 March a previously previously unknown group, Europe of the Future, held a protest against the proposal to build a new mosque in Warsaw (see here and here).

A reader from Poland has drawn our attention to the rather bizarre fact that a Buddhist organisation played a leading role in the protest. The organisation is called Diamond Way and is headed by a Dane named Ole Nydahl. Our correspondent tells us that “members of the Diamond Way organisation were prominent in TV coverage of the demonstration against the mosque”.

Indeed, the Polish journalist Robert Stefanicki reports that Europe of the Future is headed by the former president of of Nydahl’s organisation in Poland. Stefanicki adds: “Other supporters of Europe of the Future are Mlodziez Wszechpolska (All-Polish Youths) – ultra right group with hardly hidden fascist attraction, as well as other islamophobic right wingers. Weird coalition, isn’t it?”

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Let’s have no double standards over EDL, says Salma Yaqoob

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Salma Yaqoob on the English Defence League:

“Yesterday’s EDL protest in Dudley exposed their true face. Tired of political speeches, many of the racists turned to fighting each other, then the police, before breaking through police lines and heading towards the Unite Against Fascism event. Fortunately the police were able to contain the rampaging thugs before they were able to cause serious damage or injury.

“The EDL mobilised at least 1,000 people in support of a hate-filled agenda of attacks on Islam and Muslims. They carried Islamaphobic placards and chanted ‘If they build a f**g mosque, burn it down’. This is a direct call for racist violence.

“I am quite sure that if gangs of Muslims were maurading through our town centres threatening to burn down churches that special laws would be passed, task forces established, and people prosecuted.

“Let us not have double standards. The EDL are seeking to incite violence against the Muslim community and undermine community relations. They should feel the full force of the law for so doing.”

EDL riot in Dudley

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Dudley2

Violent clashes broke out on Saturday between riot police and right-wing protesters. About 2,000 members of the English Defence League (EDL) descended on Dudley town centre in the West Midlands to demonstrate against plans for a new mosque.

Some of the protesters broke out of a pen in a car park, breaking down metal fences and throwing the metal brackets at officers, who were armed with riot shields and batons.

Members of the demonstration started fighting their own stewards who were trying to calm them down as they attacked the fences penning them in.

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Anti-racists hold successful carnival in Dudley town centre as EDL thugs clash with police

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr Weyman Bennett.Over 1,000 people gathered in Dudley town centre on Saturday to attend Unite Against Fascism’s “One Dudley Many Cultures” carnival against racism. The event was set up to celebrate Dudley’s multi-racial society and oppose the presence of the racist English Defence League who had threatened to descend on the town for an anti-Muslim rally that day.

The UAF event was a great success, featuring speakers including the Bishop of Dudley, local Muslim activists, trade unionists and anti-racists. People from all Dudley’s communities attended, together with people from around the country who had come to show their solidarity with Dudley’s Muslim population and their opposition to the EDL’s thugs and bigots.

In contrast, the EDL were marched to a disused car park on the edge of town. There were several violent clashes as they attempted to break through police lines to run riot through the town. Witnesses describe hearing several vile anti-Muslim chants from the EDL, including: “If you build your f—king mosque, we’ll burn it down.”

Sabby Dhalu, joint secretary of UAF, said: “Today’s events in Dudley showed the real face of the EDL. They are a group of organised fascist football hooligans looking for trouble, who broke past heavily policed lines. This was is in contrast to the peaceful celebration organised by UAF, the Dudley Borough Interfaith Network and local communities.

“The EDL were trying to provoke a reaction. They didn’t get one. Over a hundred of them were contained by riot police in the vicinity of the UAF event in order to prevent them from attacking people leaving the antifascist rally. It is high time these fascist demonstrations were banned, and if the law prevents that then the goverment must take action to introduce new legislation.”

Weyman Bennett, joint secretary of UAF, said: “Today was a success for anti-racists and anti-fascists. The EDL were forced to huddle in a car park on the edge of town. They showed their true colours when they unsuccessfully tried to break out and run riot. In contrast UAF and local anti-racist groups mounted a powerful show of unity against the EDL and their friends in the Nazi BNP.

“The policing of today’s events in Dudley stands in sharp contrast to tactics used in Bolton two weeks ago. There the police marched the EDL into the centre of town and attacked the anti-racist protest. In Dudley the EDL were not allowed into the town centre and the anti-racist protest was allowed to go ahead unmolested. The authorities should take note when policing future such events.”

UAF press release, 3 April 2010

Update:  See also Birmingham Mail, 4 April 2010

EDL placards Dudley

Thousands rally to thwart far-right march on Duisburg mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Duisburg anti-fascist demonstration

In the western German town of Duisburg, some 5,000 people took part in a peaceful demonstration on Sunday to protest against the right-wing populist Pro-NRW party.

The anti-fascist demonstrators joined a rally organized by the German trade union federation, church groups and politcal parties at the city’s Merkez Mosque – the largest mosque in Germany – which was opened in 2008.

About 150 people attending the far-right Pro-NRW event demanded a ban on minarets, like the one passed in a Swiss referendum last year. The demonstration had originally been planned as a march to the mosque.

At the same time, elsewhere in the city, a further 150 supporters of the extreme right-wing National Democratic Party of Germany (NDP) protested against the “islamization” of Germany.

A large number of police kept the demonstrators and counter-demonstrators separated. “Apart from a sit-down street blockade by about 50 protesters, who had to be carried from the road, there were no unusual events,” said police spokesman Ramon van der Maat. “Our plan worked.”

In the morning, Social Democratic Party (SPD) chairman Sigmar Gabriel had visited the mosque along with the party’s leading candidate for state elections in North Rhine Westphalia, Hannelore Kraft.

The state’s Interior Minister Ingo Wolf praised the work of the police, adding that the Pro-NRW group had originally said that 1,000 people would attend.

The fact that only 150 turned up for the event showed that “xenophobic and antidemocratic rallying cries have no place in a cosmopolitan democracy,” said Wolf.

Deutsche Welle, 29 March 2010

See also “International right-wingers gather for EU-wide minaret ban“.