Category Archives: Far right racists

‘Why should we gain a better understanding of our Muslim neighbours?’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

In a effort to counteract his record of statements antagonistic to the Muslim community, Boris “Islam is the problem” Johnson recently visited the East London Mosque to deliver a conciliatory speech, reported by the Daily Express under the headline “Let’s all be Muslim for the day says Mayor Boris“, in which he suggested that non-Muslims might fast for a day during Ramadan to help them gain a better understanding of their Muslim neighbours.

This has outraged an Express reader, one Brenda Harris, who writes:

“Has Boris Johnson completely lost the plot or is he just vote catching? Why should we gain a better understanding of our Muslim neighbours? They came to our country. The country for which our parents and grandparents fought to give us a better life. It is they who should conform to our ways. Thank God this is still a Christian country and even those of us who are not churchgoers, still have Christian ethics…. Are the Government and the Mayor of London afraid to ask the indigenous people in this country what they think or want?”

So I take it there’ll be no second preferences from BNP voters for Boris in 2012.

Update:  See also “Boris Johnson converts to Islam”, Dave Hill’s London Blog, 8 September 2009

Harrow Mosque calls for 9/11 protest to be banned

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Harrow MosqueHarrow Mosque has called for a 9/11 protest to be banned just days after fresh violence in Birmingham saw 90 arrests.

Stop the Islamisation of Europe (SIOE) is holding a rally outside the building, in Station Road, on Friday and Unite Against Fascism (UAF) supporters will hold their own counter-demonstration alongside it. The English Defence League (EDL), which clashed with anti-fascists in Birmingham on Saturday, at one point advertised the event on its website. The rally is promoted on EDL’s group on social networking website Facebook and there are fears the weekend’s violence could be repeated in Harrow.

Haroon Sheikh, chairman of Harrow Central Mosque, said: “We would request that the local authority and the police try to put a stop to it. The concern we have is with a large congregation. It’s very difficult to control what people would want to do on the day. We would have 200 to 300 people coming here for prayers on a Friday. Emotions will be high if it’s provoked, but we will have the police and we will have stewards here.”

SIOE say they are not racist and will not tolerate racism at the rally, but describe themselves as Islamaphobic, saying it is “the height of common sense”. The Harrow Times has asked the English Defence League (EDL) for clarification about whether their members will attend the protest and is awaiting a response. The Harrow Times has requested a response from Harrow Police and Harrow Council and is awaiting a reply.

Harrow Times, 8 September 2009

See also the Times, 8 September 2009 and Islam Online, 8 September 2009

Update:  See also “Harrow Police: 9/11 mosque protest cannot be banned”, Harrow Times, 8 September 2009

The police do in fact have a point. Under Section 13 of the Public Order Act they can apply to the Home Secretary for an order banning “public processions”, but they have no power to ban static demonstrations.

However, under Section 14 of the POA the police have the authority to “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”, if this is necessary to prevent “serious public disorder, serious damage to property or serious disruption to the life of the community”.

So the police do have the power to prevent this provocative protest taking place outside Harrow Mosque.

Further update:  Regarding Harrow Central Mosque, which it calls “the house of hate”, SIOE states: “This will be the largest mosque in England with minarets 40 metres high. That is not integration that is triumphalism. It is Harrow now, the next place could be your community.”

EDL’s anti-Muslim provocation results in violent clashes in Birmingham

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL in BirminghamOfficers were trying today to identify more people involved in violent scenes at a right-wing protest which resulted in dozens of arrests.

More than 30 people were arrested in Birmingham city centre yesterday when anti-fascist campaigners fought with supporters of a rally against Islamic fundamentalism by The English Defence League (EDL).

The disorder involved around 200 people and spilled on to the adjoining Bennetts Hill, a street lined with a number of pubs popular with shoppers. West Midlands Police said a group of more than 20 men were arrested on a bus in Digbeth High Street. Later a “significant” number of people were also detained from buses that left the Bennetts Hill area. They were taken into custody at stations across the city.

Earlier this week the force, along with Birmingham City Council, obtained an order from the Home Secretary banning protesters from the Bullring area of the city, under section 14a of the Public Order Act. Under the same legislation, Chief Constable Chris Sims passed an order restricting the protests to two locations – Lancaster Circus and Old Square.

But after meeting on Broad Street in the city’s entertainment district, demonstrators proceeded to New Street, around half a mile away, and trouble ensued.

Mail on Sunday, 6 September 2009

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Mosque demonstration in Czech Republic fizzles

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A gathering of supporters of the extreme right National Party in Brno to distribute leaflets warning against what the party termed as “Islamization” was dismissed as a media ploy in the run up to the October election. Eight party followers met outside the Brno mosque just after 1 p.m. Aug. 29 to protest plans for the construction of a new mosque, though National Party official Jiří Gaudin denied there was ever meant to be a rally.

Munib Hasan, a spokesman for the Brno Muslim community, said last month that Muslims would like to have a larger building for prayer as the existing place of worship was no longer sufficient for their growing numbers.

“The Brno mosque has been here for years, and, now, we need a bigger space,” he said. “There haven’t been any problems so far, and I hope there won’t be any in the future … I don’t see a reason why anyone should be against a new mosque. There are a number of Muslims living here peacefully. I believe that the National Party is attempting to catch the media’s attention before the upcoming election.”

But Ivo Strejček, an ODS MEP, spoke out against the mosque on his Web site. “Absolutely not! Can you imagine building a Christian church in Tehran?” he said. “It is not the time to be politically correct, and it is necessary to acknowledge that our civilization is losing the battle with aggressive Islam. It is necessary to refuse the argument of European leftist madmen who proclaim the policy of multiculturalism. The building of mosques in Europe is the symbol of cultural war, which we are losing.”

Prague Post, 2 September 2009

Another anti-Muslim lie from the BNP

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Last week, under the blaring headline “Muslim Post Office Manager Bans Woman from Sending Parcel Because Her Son Serves in Afghanistan“, the British National Party reported:

“A Muslim post office manager in Cardiff has refused to serve a British soldier’s mother – because her son serves in Afghanistan. The shocking story, which shows precisely how far mass Third World immigration has created a fifth column of anti-British elements in this country, has emerged after the woman, Mrs Maria Davies, contacted the British National Party in Wales to ask for assistance.”

Brian Mahoney, BNP leader in Wales, was quoted as saying:

“For many mothers with sons on active service for their country, it can be a constant worry until they return safely. It is of great importance for a mother to be able to go to her local post office to send her son a parcel or money. Imagine, then, Mrs Davies’ shock when the owner of her local post office in Wilson Road, Ely, Cardiff, a certain Mr Khan, asked her where her son was serving. When she told him Afghanistan, he informed her that she was not welcome to send him anything from her post office, either packages or money.”

Helpfully providing a photo of Mr Khan’s shop, for ease of identification, the BNP urged its supporters to contact him and make their feelings known. (Perhaps Mr Khan should be grateful that he lives in South Wales rather than Essex, otherwise Councillor Pat Richardson might have paid him a visit with a brick.)

And, wouldn’t you know it, the story turns out to be complete nonsense. Mr Khan had in fact banned Davies from all of his shops as the result of a dispute over a technical glitch concerning charges to her debit card. It had nothing to do with her son serving in Afghanistan.

Mr Khan and the post office manageress Mrs Thomas have issued the following statement:

There is absolutely no truth in the allegation made to the British National Party that the Post Office in Wilson Road, Ely, Cardiff will not accept parcels for British troops in Afghanistan.

It should not be repeated and we reserve the right to pursue legal action against any person or body repeating the allegation and call for its removal from any website or other publication.

The Wilson Road Post Office has always accepted and continues to accept such parcels. Indeed the Wilson Road shops including the Post Office recently held a ‘Heroes Collection’ for British troops.

The allegation is false and malicious and related to a separate dispute with a customer.

As a result that customer is not welcome at these premises but our services can be accessed by someone else on their behalf if they so wish.

Lancaster Unity has the story.

As for the BNP, they have now removed the story from their website, but hopefully that won’t deter Mr Khan from taking them to court.

Islam has waged war on the West since its inception, BNP meeting told

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Islam, far from being a ‘religion of peace’, has encouraged its followers to wage violent war to spread its message ever since its creation in the eighth century AD, the monthly meeting of the British National Party in Tameside was told last night.”

BNP news report, 27 August 2009

The speaker was Arthur Kemp, author of the BNP publication Jihad: Islam’s 1,300 Year War On Western Civilisation. Kemp is also notorious for an earlier book, March of the Titans: A History of the White Race.

Salma Yaqoob | Birmingham united against fascism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Birmingham city councillor Salma Yaqoob, joined by Adrian Goldberg, Khalid Mahmood MP, John Hemming MP, Cllr Judy Foster, Chief Insp Adrian Atherley and Apache Indian, calls on the West Midlands Police to ban a march by far-right groups planned for September; following the violence erupted amidst an EDL-Casuals United demonstration on 8th August in the city.

Date: Sunday 23rd August 2009
Venue: Birmingham Council House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B1.

How Quilliam smears anti-fascists

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Red White and Blue protest

On 18 August we posted a piece entitled “Quilliam accuses anti-BNP protestors of ‘thuggery and hooliganism’“, which criticised an article by Lucy James of the Quilliam Foundation that had appeared on the Progress Magazine website.

Our criticisms provoked a hostile reaction from one of the Harry’s Place wannabees who run a blog rejoicing in the name of the Spittoon, where we were accused of producing “an amateurish bit of slime” against Lucy James. I hadn’t intended to post on it here, but as the Spittoon piece is being punted around as a “comprehensive rebuttal” of our article, I think it’s necessary to place an answer on record.

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Call for ban on anti-Muslim demonstration in Birmingham

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Birmingham protestWest Midlands Police have been urged to step in and ban a far right group from holding a march in Birmingham next month to avoid a repeat of the shocking scenes of violence witnessed earlier this month.

White nationalist organisation The English Defence League (EDL) and an associated group, Casuals United, are due to hold a rally against Islamic extremism in the city on September 5. Their first demonstration on August 8 ended with violence and bloodshed as supporters clashed with anti-racism campaigners.

One of those calling for a ban was Respect councillor Salma Yaqoob, who expected more street violence if EDL returned. “When it comes to public safety we have every right to intervene,” she said. “But the ‘just stay away’ message we are hearing won’t wash with today’s Muslim youngsters who won’t put their heads down and carry on walking when they are subjected to racist taunts – they will react and fight back.”

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