Category Archives: Scotland

Nigel Farage to face protesters at Edinburgh rally

Posted on by Bob Pitt

UKIP Not Welcome

Protesters have announced plans to picket Ukip leader’s Nigel Farage upcoming visit to the Capital – after causing him to barricade himself in a pub the last time.

The controversial politician is billed to attend a Ukip rally at the Corn Exchange on 
Friday. Demonstrators have made clear their intention to attend and disrupt the event as best they can.

The last time Farage made an appearance north of the Border he was forced to lock himself in the Canons’ Gait pub on the Royal Mile as a crowd of around 50 protestors swarmed around him chanting “Go home to England” and “Racist Nazi scum”.

Ukip are currently riding high in the polls ahead of the European Parliament elections, and it is understood that this will be his sole Scottish appearance before the May 22 vote.

Andrew Ashe, 22, of the Radical Independence Campaign, who was on last year’s Farage protest, said: “There are a lot of people up and down the country who are angry about what Ukip are doing and the coverage they’re getting in the media, and who want to oppose this. We’ve shown before in Edinburgh that Ukip and their message are not welcome. This will be a big and lively protest and we call on all the groups that oppose Ukip to come along.”

This message was echoed by fellow Radical Independence campaigner Liam O’Hare, who said: “This Friday’s event will be a more sizeable demo. Last year was pretty much an ambush, but this time there will be a clearer message and more supporters.”

A Facebook group has also been set up entitled Ukip Not Welcome! Oppose Farage in Edinburgh and bears the slogan: “Let’s show him that Scotland rejects their racist politics of hatred and division. Immigrants are welcome here – UKIP aren’t!” So far more than 200 people have confirmed their attendance at the demonstration.

Continue reading →

Scottish Defence League members guilty of throwing bacon into mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Chelsea Lambie on IslamA teenage woman and a man have been found guilty of throwing bacon into Central Mosque and wrapping it round the door handles.

Chelsea Lambie, 18, from Paisley, and 38-year-old Douglas Cruikshank from Galashiels carried out the early morning attack in January last year.

Cruikshank originally denied the charge, but changed his plea after the Crown dropped its claim that the offence was racially aggravated.

A jury took just over an hour to return a majority verdict of guilty on Lambie. She was found guilty of behaving in a racially aggravated threatening or abusive manner likely to cause fear and alarm.

Continue reading →

Texts read out to Edinburgh Central Mosque bacon attack jury

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A series of text messages were read out to a jury at the trial of two people accused of throwing bacon into the Central Mosque. Detective Sergeant Raymond Gray said the messages were from a Blackberry mobile phone found in the possession of 28-year-old Chelsea Lambie, from Paisley.

One message sent from the phone at 2.58am on January 31 last year read “Going to invade a mosque, because we go where we want”, the court heard. After receiving a text asking “What you do last night?”, the jury was told that a reply was sent from the phone reading: “Went to the mosque in Edinburgh and wrapped bacon round the door handles and opened the door and threw it in ha ha ha.”

Continue reading →

Edinburgh: Security guard ‘found bacon in mosque’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Chelsea Lambie on IslamA security guard at the Central Mosque told a court he was left feeling “very bad” after finding bacon had been thrown into the building and placed on the main door handles. Usman Mahmood, 34, said it “hurt my feelings to have this meat in my sacred place” as he gave evidence at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

He said he had opened the mosque for worship at around 6am on January 31 last year and had gone to his office to watch CCTV. Mr Mahmood told the court: “I saw persons running towards the main entrance and when I went upstairs I saw a piece of meat hanging on the window of the worshipping area and two pieces on the entrance door handle.”

Continue reading →

German princess appears in court accused of threatening to kill Muslims and attacking fellow revellers at a posh Scots party

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A German princess appeared in court yesterday accused of threatening to kill Muslims and calling police officers paedophiles at a posh Scots bash. Princess Theodora Sayn-Wittgenstein is also charged with shouting homophobic abuse and attacking fellow revellers and security staff at the exclusive event in St Andrews on Saturday.

The 27-year-old, whose mum is Swedish and whose dad is a German prince, was at the Oktoberfest party at Kinkell Farm with a host of drunken toffs from around the world. It is one of the highlights of the social calendar with students at the university where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge met and fell in love.

Sayn-Wittgenstein, from Bavaria, was arrested at the party and locked in a cell over the weekend before appearing from custody at Cupar Sheriff Court. Officers hustled her in through a back door with a coat over her head. It is understood they had to wait until a cell became free because court staff didn’t want her to share with other prisoners due to her background.

Continue reading →

Scottish Defence League member jailed over mosque arson threat

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Derek PhinA man has been jailed for posting a Facebook comment about burning down a mosque in the wake of soldier Lee Rigby’s murder. Derek Phin, 46, posted the comment because he believed the soldier’s killers were being protected by the authorities following the attack.

Fusilier Lee Rigby was off duty in southeast London when he was attacked and killed on May 22 last year. Radical groups then tried to exploit the soldier’s murder, resulting in attacks and protests against the UK’s muslim community.

Phin, from Aberdeen, posted a comment on Facebook stating Edinburgh Central Mosque should be burnt down on July 2 during a counter demo. The post on a page belonging to the Scottish Defence League read: “Burn the mosque down when the meeting is ongoing.”

The mosque was due to be packed at the time for a meeting organised by pressure group Unite Against Fascism in response to extreme right wing protests.

Continue reading →

Man yelled racist abuse at mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A man unleashed a racist tirade outside a Scottish mosque shortly after drummer Lee Rigby was killed in London.

Grant Gallagher was heard shouting: “The soldier was innocent. He didn’t deserve to die – you terrorists killed him.” He angrily grabbed the gate of the mosque in Livingston, West Lothian, while yelling racist abuse.

Livingston Sheriff Court heard that an Asian man who had stopped his car and wound down the window and a woman having a cigarette in her garden nearby both heard Gallagher’s bizarre rant at 2am.

The prosecutor said: “It’s my understanding that the incident wasn’t protracted. It lasted a few minutes. Such was the concern that the police were summoned and the accused was detained and arrested some time later.”

He said Gallagher had made no reply when he was charged by the police. He added: “I have no information as to why he was shouting these things at the mosque in particular and I’m not told whether or not he was sober. He certainly was on his own at the time.”

Gallagher, 54, of Lime Grove, Livingston, pled guilty to behaving in a threatening and abusive manner on May 26 last year. He admitted shouting and swearing and making racist remarks during the incident, classed as a racially aggravated offence.

Continue reading →

SDL member posted Facebook call for arson attack on Edinburgh Central Mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

SDL AberdeenA man has been warned he could face jail for posting a Facebook comment about burning down a mosque in the wake of Lee Rigby’s murder. Derek Phin, 46, appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court on Friday where he pleaded guilty to posting the threatening and abusive remark on the social network last June.

British soldier Lee Rigby was off duty in southeast London when he was attacked and killed on May 22 last year. Radical groups then tried to exploit the soldier’s murder resulting in attacks and protests against the UK’s Muslim community.

Phin, of Aberdeen, admitted posting on Facebook that Edinburgh Central Mosque should be burnt down on July 2 during a counter demo. The mosque was due to be packed at the time for a meeting organised by pressure group Unite Against Fascism in response to extreme right wing protests.

Fiscal depute David Bernard told the court that police had been tipped off to Phin’s comment which he put online on June 30. He said: “On July 13 police received information that a comment of a racially motivated nature and thought to incite racial hatred had been posted on Facebook social network site on a page pertaining to the Scottish Defence League.

“One of the comments had been from a user account in the name of Derek Phin and had been posted on June 30, 2013 as part of a conversation about a Unite Against Fascism campaign to be held at an Edinburgh mosque on July 2. The comment attributed to Phin read ‘burn the mosque down when the meeting is ongoing’.”

Police confronted Phin at his home in Aberdeen on September 4. He was taken to a police station where he admitted making the comment and stated he was a member of the Scottish Defence League. He was then cautioned and charged.

Continue reading →

Asian Christian ‘stabbed as revenge for Lee Rigby’, then ignored by police

Posted on by Bob Pitt

An Asian teenager beaten and stabbed by a gang of youths in a racist attack claims he has been ignored by police.

Sonoo Yaqoob said he was assaulted by more than 15 people in Glasgow’s Queen’s Park on June 24, 2013 while he was walking with two friends. His assailants abused, assaulted and stabbed him before running when they heard police sirens, Mr Yaqoob said.

He told a media conference on Wednesday that his attackers told him he was targeted as revenge for the murder of soldier Lee Rigby. He was racially abused throughout the assault, he said.

Mr Yaqoob said police took him to hospital for treatment but then left and made no attempt to contact him. Mr Yaqoob and his father attended their local police station to find out what enquiries police were making. However, seven months later, he alleges that police have failed to act sufficiently on the crime.

Continue reading →

Mosque plan at school site abandoned due to parent fears

Posted on by Bob Pitt

SDL protest against Eastwood mosquePlans for a mosque within the grounds of a school in one of Scotland’s most affluent suburbs have been dropped.

Council chiefs said the ­proposals, for Newton Mearns, south of Glasgow, had created a significant public response and that it was being abandoned, in part, due to criticism of the move.

A report on wider proposals for the East Renfrewshire area, which is expected to be agreed next week, says: “In view of the volume of representations received, the sensitivity concerning the proposal and the extremely wide range of issues raised, it is recommended that this proposed modification be pursued no further and is not included in the plan.”

The proposals for the mosque had been put forward by the local Muslim community as there is no permanent place of worship for Muslims in Newton Mearns, despite demand for more than a decade. The Muslim community had suggested a ­residual parcel of land next to the new Eastwood High School was its preferred site for a religious and community facility.

The Scottish Government’s Reporter, who adjudicates on planning issues, has recently been critical of the length of time it has taken local Muslims to secure a permanent place of worship in the area and allowed temporary change of use of a former nearby British Legion club for Muslim prayer services.

An alternative location north of Newton Mearns has now been recommended, but another suggestion would be dependent on wider development plans.

Proposing the plans, Nazir Ahmed, a trustee of the East Renfrewshire Mosque and Community Centre group, said the East Renfrewshire Muslim community had been resident for more than 40 years and is “one of the fastest growing communities that actively contributes to the vibrant and ethnically authentic nature” of the area.

But the Eastwood High mosque plans sparked an opposition campaign, with parents complaining about a religious facility being built on non-denominational school grounds. Parents said they had concerns at the possibility of violent protests outside the school gates and the potential for vandalism, fireraising or even terrorist-style bomb attacks following interest in the proposal from far-right extremists.

Continue reading →