Category Archives: Far right racists

Mosque arsonist gets bail

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Christophe Lavigne, the French airforce sergeant with far-right links who was recently acquitted on a technicality of planning to shoot Muslims, is still to stand trial in June on a charge of desecration of a place of worship in connection with a terrorist enterprise, in connection with an arson attack on a mosque in Libourne in August 2012.

Despite his having reportedly admitted to that crime, Lavigne has been released on bail, according to his lawyer, because the court accepted that he poses “no risk of reoffending”. The Collectif contre l’Islamophobie en France wants to know how an individual with such a record, charged with a violent terrorist offence, could possibly have been allowed out.

Five people charged after EDL demo in Thatcham

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Five people have been charged in connection with an English Defence League protest in Thatcham.

After twenty people staged a protest in Thatcham at the end of February, five people have been charged with a string of offences.

The four men and one woman face charges like racially or religiously aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress. They had indicated they were members of the EDL carrying out a demonstration in The Broadway.

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U.S. Islamophobes stand by Wilders as his own party members defect

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Daniel Pipes with Geert WildersDutch politician Geert Wilders has once again become the subject of controversy after he led supporters in an anti-Moroccan chant during a campaign rally last month. Despite the mass condemnation he has received for the remarks, Wilders’ anti-Muslim counterparts in the United States are standing by his draconian approach to immigration.

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Front National bans halal school meals

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen said on Friday it would prevent schools from offering special lunches to Muslim pupils in the 11 towns it won in local elections, saying such arrangements were contrary to France’s secular values.

France’s republic has a strict secular tradition enforceable by law, but faith-related demands have risen in recent years, especially from the country’s five-million-strong Muslim minority, the largest in Europe.

“We will not accept any religious demands in school menus,” Le Pen told RTL radio. “There is no reason for religion to enter the public sphere, that’s the law.”

The anti-immigrant National Front has consistently bemoaned the rising influence of Islam in French pubic life.

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FBI smashes alleged radical-right terror plot in Texas – US media show little interest

Posted on by Bob Pitt

American Insurgent MovementFBI agents in Texas have arrested a man who allegedly was plotting to use C-4 explosives and weapons to kill police officers, rob banks and armored cars, and blow up government buildings and mosques, authorities announced today.

Robert James Talbot Jr., 38, of Katy, Texas, was arrested Thursday on federal charges of attempted interference with commerce by robbery, solicitation to commit a crime of violence and possession of an explosive material, the FBI said.

After setting up a Facebook page called American Insurgent Movement (AIM), Talbot allegedly sought to recruit five or six like-minded people who wanted “to restore America Pre-Constitutionally and look forward to stopping the Regime with action by bloodshed.” He wrote this year on the AIM page that he was seeking people interested in “walking away from your life … to stop the regime.”

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Wilders’ party loses support following anti-Moroccan chant

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Liberal democratic party D66 would be the biggest party in parliament if there were a general election tomorrow, according to a new poll by Maurice de Hond. The poll says D66, which made huge gains in the recent local elections, would win 25 out of 150 seats in a general election with 16.6% of the vote.

Geert Wilders anti-Islam PVV would win 23 seats, or 15.3% of the vote and remains in second place. The PVV has lost the equivalent of four seats since Geert Wilders led his supporters in an anti-Moroccan chant on local election night.

The De Hond poll puts the Socialists on 22 seats or 14.6% and the VVD and CDA both on 21 – or 14%. This means the five big parties are separated by just a few percent. Labour, currently in the coalition government with the VVD, recorded its worst score ever in a De Hond poll, with just 11 seats.

The European elections take place on May 22 and Wilders is hoping to emerge at the biggest party. The PVV currently has four seats in the European parliament.

Dutch News, 30 March 2014

Anti-fascists demonstrate against EDL in Peterborough

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Peterborough TUC march against EDLCrowds gathered in the centre of Peterborough as over 300 members of the English Defence League (EDL) marched through the city.

The EDL members, waving banners and chanting marched from the Peacock Pub in London Road to outside Peterborough Magistrates’ Court in Bridge Street.

The march followed an earlier counter march by the The Peterborough Trades Union Council (PTUC).

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Police make six arrests after protest against new mosque in Sunderland

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Six people have been arrested after a protest against a new mosque in Sunderland. Around 100 took part in the demonstration today which was organised at the site of the new mosque in St Marks Road in Millfield.

Officers made a very small number of arrests following minor public disorder which took place before the demonstration. In total six were arrests were made for disorder. All demonstrators have now moved from the area.

Newcastle Chronicle, 29 March 2014

Update:  See “Five bailed and one charged over disorder at Sunderland mosque protest”, Sunderland Echo, 31 March 2014

Police ready for mosque protest in Sunderland

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sunderland Unites Against Racism counter-protest (1)Police have promised residents that it will be ‘business as usual’ tomorrow despite plans for a demo by far-right protestors.

Extremist groups are planning a demonstration at the site of a new mosque in St Marks Road in Millfield, with around 100 people expected to attend. It is the latest in a series of protests against the new religious centre, and anti-facist groups are again planning a counter-protest.

A spokesman for Sunderland Unites Against Racism said: “We simply cannot allow fascists to divide the people of Sunderland and bring violence and hatred into the area.”

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