Category Archives: Far right racists

Durham Miners’ Association condemns EDL threats

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Shotton Colliery anti-EDL protest November 2013Durham Miners’ Association Statement

Leading members of the Durham Miners’ Association have received threatening telephone calls from supporters of the English Defence League.

These threats followed a march through Shotton Colliery of 200 supporters of the EDL, mostly from outside the area, on 9 November 2013.

Many who made up this tribe of fascists and racists had travelled from as far as Edinburgh and Sheffield. Only a handful were from the Shotton area and what seems to have incensed them was the flying of the DMA Blackhall Lodge banner at a counter-demonstration.

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Blackburn: EDL supporters in mile-long racist graffiti spree

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Blackburn graffiti clean-upRacists vandals sprayed vehicles, homes, and businesses in a mile-long spree across part of Blackburn at the weekend.

Walls, lamposts, cars, and vans were daubed with red paint in the attacks, which are believed to have happened between midnight on Friday and 4.30am on Saturday.

Some of the vehicles were sprayed with red lines, but other graffiti read ‘EDL’, while walls and lamposts were marked with racist language and profanity.

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Six European far-right groups join forces on anti-immigration, anti-Islamic platform

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Strache posterSix European far-right parties are joining forces ahead of EU-wide elections in May, in a bid to contain Brussels and take back national powers, Austria’s Freedom Party (FPOe) announced Monday.

Representatives of France’s Front National (FN), Italy’s Lega Nord, the Sweden Democrats, Belgium’s Vlaams Belang and the Slovak National Party met Friday in Vienna to discuss an alliance that will put Europe “back on the right track,” FPOe leader Heinz-Christian Strache told reporters.

“There are many important patriotic parties in Europe that have recognised problems and are prepared to work together,” he said. After European parliamentary elections in May, there is a “real chance that with the partnership that we’re working on we can have a strong parliamentary group,” he added. The alliance will be formalised after all party leaders have met. Strache did not say when this might occur.

The Vienna meeting came just two days after FN leader Marine Le Pen and Dutch anti-Islamic leader Geert Wilders announced a “historic” alliance of eurosceptic parties to fight the EU elections. Wilders’s PVV party was not present in Vienna but Strache said he would soon meet with the notorious Dutch politician.

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BNP exploits Lee Rigby murder

Posted on by Bob Pitt

British National Party leader Nick GriffA clutch of British National Party supporters have gathered outside the Old Bailey, replete with black banners and images of the hangman’s noose, demanding the restoration of the death penalty for soldier Lee Rigby’s alleged killers.

Calling themselves “Veterans Against the Islamification of the UK”, roughly a dozen protesters stood outside the criminal court, where the two men accused of murdering Fusilier Rigby are due to appear.

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HuffPo whitewashes EDL

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Kevin Smith Ed Thompson photoWith Mehdi Hasan as its political editor, the Huffington Post UK has generally played a positive role in exposing the violent bigotry of the English Defence League.

However, it would appear that Mehdi has taken his eye off the ball, because the HuffPo has just published a photo essay on the EDL, introduced by Chris York and featuring the work of Ed Thompson, who we are told “spent three years documenting EDL rallies, attempting to get beyond the typical portrayal shown in the media”.

What this means, it turns out, is that Thompson rejects the established image of the EDL as an organisation infested with racists and thugs. His photos are accompanied by comments that show what could charitably be described as astonishing ignorance and naivety about the character of the organisation he’s been photographing.

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Racist graffiti found on Islamic tombstones, nearby structures, in Jerusalem

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Israeli sources reported Sunday that a number of extremist Israeli youths invaded an Islamic graveyard in occupied Jerusalem, broke tombstones and wrote racist graffiti on tombstones and buildings adjacent to the graveyard.

The sources said that the settlers wrote “Death to Arabs”, “Revenge” and “Price Tag” on a number of graves and buildings, and drew the Star of David, the Maan News Agency has reported.

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Bulgarians march against neo-Nazi xenophobia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sofia anti-fascist demonstration (2)

Scores of Bulgarians gathered in front of the National Palace of Culture in Sofia for a protest rally against a rising tide of xenophobia and far-right political activism in the country.

Summoned under the slogan “Danger! Fascism!”, the march walked to the Palace of Justice at the other end of the Vitosha Blvd. Protesters, who as the rally went on, grew to several hundred, carried signs such as “Fascism kills, those in power hide,” “Fascism is not an opinion but a crime,” and chanted “No to violence!”

The rally is in response to a rise of violent acts against foreign immigrants and Bulgarians of non-Bulgarian ethnicity in the country.

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Hundreds join Exeter Together march and rally against EDL demonstration in city centre

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Exeter Together demonstration

A large body of people have marched through the city today to condemn a major national demonstration by a controversial far right-wing group in Exeter. An estimated 1,000 people turned-out to parade through the city centre ahead of the English Defence League (EDL) march this afternoon.

People travelled from across the country to march under the banner of Exeter Together – celebrating the city’s cultural diversity, and opposing the EDL’s presence in the city.

City council leader councillor Pete Edwards, who stood at the front of the march, said: “Today has been a great day for Exeter. Over 1,000 people have turned out to stand together against fascism and racism. It’s good stuff for Exeter and all its citizens.”

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Four arrests, hundreds of police, a couple of hundred EDL supporters and many more in opposition

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Four people were arrested as a major national demonstration by a controversial far-right group was held in Exeter.

More than 200 people travelled from across the country for the English Defence League (EDL) march in the city this afternoon.

But 700 people, under the banner of Exeter Together, paraded down the streets in the morning to condemn the EDL.

Councillor Pete Edwards, leader of Exeter City Council, hailed the counter demonstration as “great” for the city, saying it showed people were willing “to stand together against racism and fascism”.

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Golden Dawn threatens protests against Athens mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Athens mosqueGolden Dawn has pledged to organize mass protests against the construction of a mosque in central Athens after the tender for the project was awarded earlier this week.

The neofascist party said the awarding of the contract was an “unprecedented provocation” and that it would use its position “within Parliament and mainly through mass, powerful demonstrations” to prevent the mosque being built.

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