Category Archives: Far right racists

German Council of Jews chairman condemns ‘immensely dangerous’ PEGIDA movement

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Josef SchusterIn light of recent marches by the controversial PEGIDA movement, Germany’s Central Council of Jews (ZdJ) has come to the defense of Muslims in Germany. Chairman Josef Schuster has warned to not underestimate the group.

The newly-elected chairman of the council, Josef Schuster, said in Saturday’s edition of the German newspaper Die Welt that fear of Islamistic terrorism is being “exploited” to vilify an entire religion. “This is completely unacceptable,” said Schuster.

“Of course Islamist extremism needs to be taken as seriously as other extremist trends,” he said, “But the security authorities have long been aware.”

To draw the conclusion from so few Islamists that Islam is going to become Germany’s state religion, is “as absurd as when we conclude that, due to the existence of right-wing extremism, the Nazi dictatorship will be rebuilt tomorrow,” Schuster added.

At the same time, however, Schuster expressed his deep concerns over the demonstrations led by PEGIDA, which loosely translates as the “Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West,” and warned against underestimating the movement. They are “immensely dangerous,” he said.

“Here, neo-Nazis, parties from the far-right and citizens who think that they can finally let out their racism and xenophobia are all mixed together,” Schuster said.

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Muslim woman assaulted by racists in Braunschweig

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung reports that a Muslim woman of Syrian heritage was verbally and physically assaulted by four racists in the city of Braunschweig in Lower Saxony last week.

The 29-year-old woman, who was identifiable as a Muslim because of her headscarf and dress, was struck on the knee by a car while crossing the road. Four men, who were said to be in their early 20s, got out and proceeded to subject her to anti-Islamic abuse, while one of them grabbed her by the collar of her jacket.

At that point passers-by intervened and shouted at the men, who got back in the car and drove off. Police have appealed for witnesses to contact them.

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Isle of Wight EDL leader pleads guilty to racially or religiously aggravated harassment

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Carl Worrall and Dave Bolton at IOW prison protestThe English Defence League’s Isle of Wight organiser Carl Worrall was up in front of magistrates yesterday for sentencing, having pleaded guilty to one count of harassment and one count of racially or religiously aggravated harassment.

According to police, the charges arose from incidents at a coffee shop in Newport on 27 October and 1 November. From Worrall’s account, this would appear to be the branch of Costa Coffee in St James Square.

As MEND points out, the 1 November incident evidently followed an EDL protest outside HM Prison Isle of Wight. This was provoked by the leaking of an internal bulletin from the National Offender Management Service, which reported that a prisoner who had recently converted to Islam had been found with a homemade ISIS flag and “detailed escape plans involving taking a member of staff hostage”.

Based on a shock-horror account in the Sunday People, the EDL claimed that the prisoner had “planned to behead a guard” – a piece of scaremongering that even the Daily Mail refused to swallow, reporting instead that it was thought the plan was “an attempt to escape, rather than to harm”.

The photo above is of Carl Worrall at the EDL protest outside the prison. Looking on is Dave Bolton of the national EDL, which shows that this was an officially endorsed event, not just some local initiative.

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Muslim woman sues county jail after being forced to attend Christian church service

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sakeena MajeedA Muslim woman who says she was forced to attend Christian church services during a 60-day jail stint in Cleveland on an assault charge has sued the county.

Sakeena Majeed said in a federal lawsuit filed Thursday that a correction officer made her and other Cuyahoga County jail inmates attend Friday afternoon services led by a Baptist minister. She alleged that she was threatened with solitary confinement if she did not attend and that another correction officer mocked her when she refused to actively participate.

“That should be offensive to anybody, no matter what your religion is,” said her attorney Matthew Besser, who filed the lawsuit. “The government can’t tell you what god to pray to or to pray at all.”

Majeed’s lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. A county prosecutor’s spokesman, Joe Frolik, declined to comment about it on Friday.

Majeed, of suburban Rocky River, was sentenced to the county jail on 3 April after pleading guilty to assault. She was arrested on her lunch hour on 18 July, 2013, after getting into a confrontation with a police officer who had stopped her for jaywalking, Besser said. Records show she was indicted on charges of felonious assault, assault on a police officer and resisting arrest. Her sentence began 11 April.

Forcing someone to attend a church service against his or her will is a clear violation of the constitutional right to freedom of religion, a right that is not lost when someone is incarcerated, Besser said. Majeed primarily wants to bring the jail’s practice to light and to prevent what she experienced from happening to others, he said.

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Survey: About one third of Germans supportive of anti-Islam rallies

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Pegida DresdenAbout one third of Germans are supportive of the demands of burgeoning anti-Islam rallies, according to survey findings released Friday, as Berlin puzzles over how to stem the rising tide of anger over refugee arrivals.

The latest weekly rally in the eastern city of Dresden on Monday brought out 15,000 supporters of Patriotic Europeans against Islamization of the Occident (Pegida), an anti-foreigner group.

Although Pegida is perceived as channelling attitudes of people in Germany‘s formerly communist east, a breakdown of the data by pollster YouGov showed there was not much east-west difference in responses to it.

Asked if it was “good that someone draws attention to mistakes in political asylum policies and opposes Islamists,” which is how Pegida presents its stance, 36 per cent of easterners and 33 per cent of westerners agreed.

The pollsters interviewed 1,025 Germans and adjusted the findings to be representative of the whole German population over 18.

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Anti-Islamic protesters disrupt Martin Place memorial

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sydney Party for Freedom anti-Muslim protest

Sydneysiders paying their respects to siege victims at Martin Place have shouted down a group of anti-Islamic protesters who appeared at the memorial on Friday afternoon.

Four men waving Australian and Southern Cross flags shouted slogans including “Islam is evil” and “not all cultures are evil – Islam is inferior”. The men also accused Muslims of being “murderers” and supporting female genital mutilation, according to a witness.

The group bore signs proclaiming: “Muslim terrorists not wanted here – neither are their leftist supporters”, “Tony Abbott – Will you protect us from multiculturalism?” and “We didn’t start the fire!”

One of the men was Nick Folkes, who has previously been associated with the fringe Australian Protectionist Party and is now the chairman of the “Party for Freedom”, which calls for an end to Muslim immigration and “state-sanctioned multiculturalism”.

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Patriots Defence League president allegedly spat on Canberra driver

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Aaron HudsonThe local head of an Australian “patriots” league allegedly spat on a Canberra driver after monitoring the activities of a local Islamic centre this week, police say.

Aaron Raymond Dudeck, 21, is accused of spitting on the man’s cheek and calling him a “Muslim c—” after their cars collided in Canberra’s south about 8.45pm on Monday, the night of the Sydney Lindt cafe siege.

Police believe Dudeck, also known as Aaron Hudson, is the president of the ACT branch of the Patriots Defence League, an organisation claiming to defend the Australian “way of life”.

He was allegedly driving in the car park of the Canberra Islamic Centre in Monash. The court heard suggestions he was acting on directions from the league’s Sydney branch.

Police say he was watching the centre, a focal point for the local Islamic community, to establish whether it was operating as a mosque or a library. Dudeck allegedly overtook the victim’s car as it approached the exit of the centre’s carpark. Court documents suggest Dudeck later slammed on his brakes, and the car behind him crashed into the rear of his vehicle.

Dudeck is accused of getting out of his car, walking up to the other man’s window, and saying: “Look what you have done you f—ing idiot, you stupid idiot, you Muslim c—.” He then allegedly spat through the man’s open window. Dudeck called police after the crash, allegedly telling them: “If he says one more word, I will knock him out, useless f—ing Arab c—.”

Dudeck was arrested the next day and appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court on Thursday. He pleaded guilty to an offensive behaviour charge, but not guilty to common assault and driving while disqualified.

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Activists turn to social media to fight Germany’s spurt of right-wing protests

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Dresden für alle

A wave of right-wing protests in several German cities has received widespread media coverage in recent months. In October, protests organized by the “Hooligans Against Salafists” (HoGeSa) ended with sporadic violence in Cologne. Self-proclaimed “hooligans” from rival football clubs and far-right extremists joined forces to create HoGeSa to protest against Salafism in Germany.

In December, protests by the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of Occident (PEGIDA) gained attention when thousands of people took to the streets of Dresden to demand stronger laws for those seeking asylum. On Monday (15.12.2015), PEGIDA had its biggest protest to date – up to 15,000 people showed up in Dresden and there were smaller protests in some 15 German cities, including Bonn and Düsseldorf.

What has been taking place at the protests on the streets of German cities is also reflected on social media. Since its first post in mid-November, around 70,000 people have liked the PEGIDA page on Facebook. That figure isn’t far behind Germany’s biggest parties, Christian Democrats (CDU) and Social Democrats (SPD), in terms of popularity on Facebook. PEGIDA and HOGESA have used their social media sites to organize the protests and call for action against Islamic extremists.

The public demonstrations by anti-Islamic groups have generated an extensive debate about an increase in anti-immigration sentiment, xenophobia and right-wing extremism in Germany.

In reaction, several counter movements have sprung up in German cities; for instance the “Dresden for all, all for Dresden” counter protests and a march in Cologne under the motto: “You are Cologne – not Nazis.”

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Wilders will be prosecuted for inciting hatred and discrimination

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Geert WildersThe public prosecution department is to take anti-Islam party leader Geert Wilders to court for discrimination and encouraging hatred after he led supporters in an anti-Moroccan chant at a post-election meeting.

“Politicians can go far in what they say, that is part of freedom of speech. But the freedom is limited by the ban on discrimination,” the short prosecution department statement said.

The department said in October it was investigating Wilders and formally questioned him on December 8. Wilders said in a statement at the time he would not take back his words and that he did want “fewer Moroccans” and “less Islam” in the Netherlands. Wilders also said he would not allow himself to be silenced.

The investigation dates back to a post-vote meeting with supporters in The Hague in March, when Wilders asked the crowd “and do you want more or fewer Moroccans in your city and in the Netherlands?” To which the crowd chanted “fewer, fewer, fewer”. “We’ll arrange that,” Wilders said, smiling, when the chanting died down.

The chanting, and other comments made several days earlier, led to two MPs, MEPs and a handful of local and provincial councillors breaking ties with the PVV. The public prosecution department also received over 6,400 complaints.

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‘Bigot’ Eric King who was spared jail for Islam hate mail says he will continue to share his views online

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Eric King (2)A man branded a “vile, reprehensible bigot” by police after he sent offensive photographs and social media posts to an Islamic community centre near Truro has been spared jail despite saying he will continue to share his views on Facebook.

Eric King, aged 60, was handed a four-day-a-week curfew and a suspended sentence when he appeared before Truro magistrates on Tuesday.

King, of Wheal Eliza Close, St Austell, smeared dog excrement on images depicting the prophet Mohammed having intercourse with a pig and of a naked woman squatting on an Islamic State flag with the letters “IS” scrawled across her buttocks and posted them to Tipu Choudhury, general secretary of the Cornwall Islamic Community Centre at Carnon Downs.

At an earlier hearing, King admitted sending two indecent or grossly offensive messages to the centre via its Facebook page and sending an indecent or grossly offensive letter to Mr Choudhury.

Gail Hawkley, for the prosecution, said when King was arrested he told officers he was a member of the English Defence League and the British National Party. When asked if he would stop after he had been to court he said: “I shouldn’t think so,” said Ms Hawkley, who added: “[He said] ‘I was hoping that whoever saw the letter would kill themselves’.”

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