Category Archives: Far right racists

Zurich gives go-ahead to poster with racist image of Islam

Posted on by Bob Pitt

SVP anti-minaret posterZurich city council said yesterday that a poster showing missile-like minarets on a Swiss flag can be displayed ahead of a national referendum on whether to ban the building of minarets at mosques in Switzerland.

Zurich followed Lucerne and Geneva in arguing that the posters, which also feature a veiled woman with “menacing eyes”, were protected by free speech. Basel and Lausanne have banned them saying they paint a “racist, disrespectful and dangerous image” of Islam.

The posters, which urge a ban on the building of minarets, are part of a campaign by the nationalist Swiss People’s Party.

Zurich city council said it disapproved of the posters – which also feature a veiled woman with what could be seen as menacing eyes – because they portrayed Islam as “threatening, negative and dangerous”. But officials said the posters had to be accepted as part of political free speech in the run-up to the November 29 vote.

The Swiss Federal Commission Against Racism said yesterday it viewed the billboards as an attack on all Muslims in Switzerland. “This is a further step toward a dangerous polarization of the political debate,” the commission said.

The posters argue that the construction of new minarets should be banned because they are a symbol of Islamic political conquest rather than religious freedom. So far, there are four minarets in Switzerland.

Daily Mail, 9 October 2009

Robert Spencer: teaming up with Euro-supremacists again

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Spencer in BerlinRobert Spencer of Jihad Watch was dead chuffed that he was recently invited to speak at a rally in Berlin organised by an outfit called Bürgerbewegung Pax Europa, which Spencer described as “the most important German human rights organization, seeking to preserve European values, freedom and democracy”.

LoonWatch examines the actual ideology of the BPE. They note “an emerging trend amongst some right-wing and fascist groups proclaiming their unconditional support for the state of Israel. What is likely is that many of these organizations, whose roots are steeped deep in a history of anti-Semitism are recreating themselves; dropping a now unpopular prejudice (anti-Semitism) for one more in vogue – anti-Muslim Islamophobia. Gone are the days when what they claimed to champion were the ‘Christian values and traditions of Europe’; now they have added ‘Christian-Jewish’ values to their slogans.”

Who incites hatred against Muslims in Manchester?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

BNP Islam Out of BritainThe impact of Saturday’s planned English Defence League demonstration in Manchester has rightly been highlighted in coverage of the desecration of Muslim graves in the city’s Southern Cemetery. But the role of the British National Party in inciting hatred against Manchester’s Muslim community should not be ignored.

In recent weeks the BNP have conducted a hysterical campaign (“Genocide: how Islamic colonisation destroys your heritage“) against the conversion of a derelict church in Longsight into an Islamic Centre. The BNP made a particular issue of what they falsely claimed was the demolition of the (long disused) cemetery:

“The bloodless genocide and ethnic cleansing of the British people and culture continues apace with the latest example being the ripping up of a century old Christian cemetery to make way for a mosque in Manchester. The grave desecrations, being carried out with a large Komatsu earthmover in the graveyard of the St John the Apostle and Evangelist church at the corner of Holmfirth Street and St John’s Road, is part of the re-opening of this nineteenth century church as the Dar-ul-Ulum Qadria Jilania ‘Islamic Centre’….

“These Christian British graves – the only remnant of the now ethnically cleansed British people in the area – are obviously offensive to the Muslim colonisers, who have brought in the earthmoving machine to smash up the gravestones which are being literally crushed to rubble. St John the Apostle and Evangelist church is a real time history lesson of what will happen to Britain unless the insane multicultural Lib/Lab/Con genocidal policies of mass Third World immigration are not only brought to an end, but reversed.”

Of course, in line with their new respectable image, the lesson drawn by the BNP is that the “indigenous population” should cast a vote for their party in elections: “The British voters will soon be faced with a choice between their continued extermination at the hands of the Lib/Lab/Con ethnic cleansing party, or their survival as a free and independent indigenous people with the BNP.”

But it is hardly surprising that this sort of inflammatory language should have motivated some of the BNP’s supporters to take more direct action against the “Muslim colonisers”.

Home Office in state of denial over EDL

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Some idiots in the Home Office might be fooled by the English Defence League but the racist agenda of the hooligan gang is becoming more obvious by the day.

“At the end of last week the EDL got hold of an email that had been widely circulated by the North West TUC advertising a meeting of trade unions to discuss the planned EDL protest for Manchester City Centre next Saturday. The EDL response was illuminating. The EDL administrator – who publicly claims not to be racist – riled against ‘building mosques’, ‘uncontrolled immigration’ and the ‘multicultural hell hole of a country’ Britain had become.

“The racist sentiments were also evident in the latest EDL posting to their members, where the woman who has been liaising with police, said that many of their followers were planning to wear masks during the protest in opposition to the burka.

“Despite the glaring racist agenda of the EDL the Home Office continue to bury its head in the sand. It refuses to even classify the group as right wing and says that they are not linked to hooligans.”

Nick Lowles at the Hope Not Hate blog, 4 October 2009

UAF Manchester cemetery vigil

Posted on by Bob Pitt

UAF_Manchester_cemetery_vigil4

“I came to visit my father’s grave today. I was shocked to find the stone has been pushed over. I cannot understand why people would do such a thing. I am very upset,” explained Habib Dar. “Thank you for organising the vigil today,” he said.

Twenty Muslim gravestones at Manchester’s Southern Cemetery were vandalised last week in what the police have called a “race hate crime”, as the gravestones desecrated were all in the Muslim part of the cemetery.

At just a few hours notice eighty people turned out to show solidarity with the Muslim community at a vigil called by local activists from Unite Against Fascism. Many local people came, including a delegation of local Jews, as well as leading trades unionists, families, pensioners and people from the Muslim community.

“Nothing like this has ever happened at this cemetery,” explained Ahmed. “But we know it is not just a coincidence that on Saturday the EDL are in Manchester. They are trying to intimidate us, but we will all be out there on the protest.”

A spokesperson for UAF Mile Killion said, “The election of Nick Griffin of the British Nazi Party has only encouraged the people who committed this outrage at the cemetery. This despicable attack has strengthened our resolve to build the UAF protest against the EDL in Manchester next Saturday.”

Stop the EDL. Assemble 12 noon, Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester, Saturday 10th October.

UAF_Manchester_cemetery_vigil7

Police again refuse to take action against SIOE in Harrow

Posted on by Bob Pitt

ENGAGE draws our attention to an article in the Harrow Observer which reports that the police are once again refusing to take action against Stop Islamisation of Europe over the provocative demonstration that SIOE is proposing to hold outside Harrow Central Mosque on 13 December.

One William Goddard, Media and Public Relations Manager for Harrow Borough, is quoted as saying: “We are not seeking to ban the proposed protest as there is no legislative basis to do so. Neither the police nor the Home Secretary have any power to ban static demonstrations aside from those on private property.”

This is of course technically true. While the 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act gave the police the power to prohibit “trespassory assemblies”, stationary public assemblies cannot be banned under the Public Order Act, only “public processions”. However, Goddard fails to mention that Section 14 of the POA does in fact give the police significant powers in relation to the control of public assemblies. The relevant section reads:

If the senior police officer, having regard to the time or place at which and the circumstances in which any public assembly is being held or is intended to be held, reasonably believes that-

(a) it may result in serious public disorder, serious damage to property or serious disruption to the life of the community, or

(b) the purpose of the persons organising it is the intimidation of others with a view to compelling them not to do an act they have a right to do, or to do an act they have a right not to do, he may give directions imposing on the persons organising or taking part in the assembly such conditions as to the place at which the assembly may be (or continue to be) held, its maximum duration, or the maximum number of persons who may constitute it, as appear to him necessary to prevent such disorder, damage, disruption or intimidation.

These provisions in the POA are designed for precisely the sort of public assembly that SIOE is planning.

Bear in mind that Stephen Gash of SIOE has announced he is aiming to bring 2,000 protestors to the rally. And he makes no secret of the poisonous anti-Muslim ideology that they will be promoting. This is no demonstration hiding behind the pretence of opposing “Islamist extremists” – it is explicitly directed against the entire Muslim community, under the slogan “Stop mosque building”. As Gash recently stated: “We do not believe in moderate Muslims…. all Muslims want sharia law and Islam to rule the world. Moderate Muslims are those who watch non-Muslims being killed, but still say Allah u Akbar when the killing is happening…. We oppose immigration from Muslim countries.”

It is self-evident that the protest Gash is proposing to hold would certainly cause serious disruption to the life of the community in Harrow and is very likely to result in serious public disorder. Equally clearly, the demonstration is intended to intimidate the local Muslim population as a whole and visitors to Harrow Central Mosque in particular.

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EDL hijacks Newcastle United’s crest

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL NewcastleAn anti-Islamic football group is being investigated by Newcastle United lawyers. The club is taking legal advice after their black and white crest was used by English Defence League Newcastle. The EDL has made its first steps to infiltrate football in the North East by setting up a Facebook group on the internet. It has already attracted more than 600 members.

Magpie bosses are keen for people to know that the club is in no way connected to the extremist body. A spokesman said: “Newcastle United wish to make it clear this has absolutely nothing to do with the football club and are also seeking legal advice over the misuse of its crest.” Following a probe by the Sunday Sun, the EDL removed the NUFC logo from its Facebook web page.

The group claims it is not racist, and says it is campaigning only against extremists and no one else. However, Show Racism the Red Card says the EDL is known to have links with fascist organisations. The charity, which has strong support from NUFC, has warned fans they should not become involved with the EDL.

Chief executive Ged Grebby said: “We know that the EDL are a racist organisation and since they have been set up they have caused mayhem. Wherever they have set up bases, such as in Birmingham and London, they have targeted the Asian community in a blatantly racist way.”

He is concerned that the Facebook group is the first step for the EDL to set up a base in the North East. Show Racism the Red Card is determined to stamp the group out before it even gets started. Mr Grebby said: “We don’t want them in the North East, they are not welcome here. This is a desperate attempt to get some kind of base here, using what they know is a fantastic symbol.”

Sunday Sun, 4 October 2009

EDL recruitment drive aimed at Southampton fans

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A far right-wing group is attempting to recruit Saints fans to its ranks.

The English Defence League (EDL) last month launched a recruitment drive in Southampton to enlist football fans to march against “Islamic extremism”. The league, whose demonstrations in London, Luton and Birmingham led to violence, has infiltrated supporter’s online forums and the terraces of St Mary’s Stadium.

Concerned Saints bosses have condemned the group and brought it to the attention of Hampshire police, Southampton City Council, Hampshire FA and football’s antiracism campaign Kick it Out.

Southampton Itchen MP John Denham, who is in charge of promoting inter-faith harmony for the Government, last night branded the group “troublemakers” and said he was confident most fans would have nothing to do with them.

The Echo can reveal Saints this week ordered Facebook to remove the club’s crest from an EDL campaign group founded on the social networking website.

By yesterday 175 people had signed up to the “Southampton FC branch of the EDL”, which claims it wants to peacefully protest against “militant Islam within our shores”.

Desperate to disassociate itself from the fringe group, Saints were last night seeking legal advice to have the name Southampton FC removed from the website page.

A Saints spokesman said: “Southampton Football Club wholeheartedly condemns this type of racist activity. We were made aware of this group, and immediately took the relevant steps to ensure that any implied affiliation was eradicated.

“Further to this, we have notified members of the club’s Racism Just Ain’t Saintly committee of our concerns, and asked that these are passed on to the Premier League and Football League to make other clubs aware of these activities.

“This is something the club will be monitoring in the future as it clearly conflicts with our principles of a united, cohesive and integrated community.”

Southern Daily Echo, 3 October 2009

Vigil at Southern Cemetery, Manchester

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslim graves attacked, as EDL prepare for Manchester fascist rally

Oppose attacks on our cemetery!
Unite against racist attacks!
Never Again!

4pm Emergency Vigil at Southern Cemetery, Barlow Moore Rd, Manchester
Sunday 4th October

Twenty Muslim gravestones have been attacked at Southern Cemetery Manchester. Police say it is a racist hate crime as only graves in the Muslim section were pushed to the ground last Thursday night.

Next Saturday the EDL have said they will rally in Manchester. They want to rid the country of all Muslims. This attack on the gravestones shows what the EDL are really about.

When Jewish gravestones were attacked in North Manchester the whole community came out in an act of solidarity with a cry of Never Again! We all know what the politics of fascism leads to.

We call on all decent people to show solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the Muslim community, who have had the final place of rest for their loved ones violated in this attack.

Stand together in silence outside our community cemetery

Called by UAF