That’s the headline to a report in the Daily Express. St Peter’s Catholic church in Stoke-on-Trent has closed due to a declining congregation and the building has been sold to “a local Muslim community”.
Though the article itself is fairly innocuous, the headline was evidently chosen in order to reinforce an “Islamification of Britain” narrative. So it’s hardly surprising that it was taken up by the English Defence League:
AFP reports that the mosque at Carpentras in southeastern France has been defaced with racist slogans and swastikas. The graffiti extended for over thirty meters along the exterior walls of the building.
A gifted student has pleaded guilty to a campaign of terrorist attacks in the Midlands in which he stabbed to death a Muslim grandfather and staged bomb attacks against mosques in an attempt to murder and maim worshippers.
Pavlo Lapshyn, 25, a Ukrainian, admitted to police that he hated anyone who was not white and that he wanted to carry out a series of violent attacks to convulse community relations in Britain and start a race war.
His campaign started in April 2013, five days after his arrival from Ukraine, where he had won a prize to study engineering and gain work experience in the UK. When the PhD student was arrested in July, hours before it was feared he could strike again, police found three partially assembled bombs in his Birmingham flat.
Dorset Police are investigating supporters of the far-right English Defence League (EDL) for allegedly threatening to “torch” a halal butcher shop in Bournemouth. The threats were made earlier this month on the Facebook page “EDL Bournemouth English Defence League”, under a photo of the shop, Maisha Cash and Carry, on Wimborne Road.
The page administrator states, “We will be sending them a msg that they are not welcome in Bournemouth,” and calls for “peaceful” opposition to the sale of halal meat. Comments below the post included apparent calls for arson. ‘Adrian Staff’ wrote, “Fuck this!!!! Need to torch it….” ‘Mark Fenton’ commented, “burn it out”. Both comments received ‘likes’ from other users.
A once-prominent member of the English Defence League (EDL) has been jailed after he went on the run following a violent attempted robbery.
Guramit Singh Kalirai, 31, of Ullswater Crescent in Bramcote, Nottingham, did not turn up to his trial in September. He was found guilty in his absence and sentenced to six-and-a-half years. His two accomplices were jailed.
Appearing at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday, he was sentenced to a further nine months for breaching his bail. Kalirai, who was previously a spokesman for the EDL, was arrested earlier this month in Long Eaton.
A man hoping to create a mosque in Chipping Norton said he was shocked and upset after receiving a “nasty” leaflet through his door.
As previously reported in the Journal, town councillor Tahirul Hasan hopes to open a Muslim place of worship in the town. The father-of-three was set to convert a shop in Hitchman’s Mews into a mosque after securing planning permission in February.
But after the plans were approved, the shop’s landlord George Wissinter received a sinister phone call threatening to burn it down if the plans went ahead and Mr Hasan’s plans were left in tatters.
An EDL supporter has been fined after trying to charge at rival protesters at a South Tyneside rally.
Craig Owens repeatedly shouted “EDL” at the group who were in South Shields to protest against a march by the right-wing English Defence League on August 31. The 28-year-old was arrested [see photo] as he ran towards them but continued to shout as he was being led away.
He pleaded guilty to using threatening words or behaviour at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court today. Owens, of Bruce Crescent, Hartlepool, was fined £65 and ordered to pay £85 and a £20 victim surcharge.
Racist graffiti aimed at Muslims and people of Pakistani origin was painted in the subway in Queen’s Road, Watford, on Monday night. A swastika was also sprayed with the graffiti as well as the initialism “BMP”.
Mayor of Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman, has condemned the newspapers that provide their readers with a completely distorted view of the East London borough. The Evening Standard and Telegraph in particular have set out to “inculcate an idea that somehow this part of London is run by a bunch of incompetent, corrupt Muslims who plan to introduce Sharia Law”.
In June, Stephen Lennon and Kevin Carroll, at that point still in the leadership of the English Defence League, were arrested as they attempted to enter Tower Hamlets on their way to Woolwich to stage a protest against the murder of Lee Rigby.
A condition of their bail was that they were banned from entering Tower Hamlets. In response, Lennon tweeted: “I can’t wait till my bail conditions are gone so I can enter Tower Hamlets! I’m going straight to the East London Mosque #fact.”