Category Archives: UK

Sunday Express boosts far-right Islamophobe

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL BFP press conference
Paul Weston (centre) in 2012 with the then co-leaders of the EDL, Kevin Carroll and Stephen Lennon

A Youtube video of a parliamentary candidate declaring he is a racist has taken the internet by storm.

The astonishing video, which sees Liberty GB leader Paul Weston claiming the UK needs to mount a ‘defence’ against Islam has had more than a quarter of a million views. He says he wants to avoid a ‘civil war’ in the UK and is ‘prepared to be called a racist’ in order to do so.

The video begins with Mr Weston simply stating “Hello, my name is Paul Weston and I am a racist”. It continues as he lists a number of political parties who class him as a racist while he stands on the bank of the Thames with the O2 arena in the background. He says he feels the UK is under a “terrible threat” and rails against former Prime Minister Tony Blair for “undermining” Britain.

Opening the video he explains: “The Labour party think I’m a racist, the Liberal Democrats think I’m a racist, the Conservatives think I’m a racist, the BBC thinks I’m a racist, I must therefore be a racist.” He continues: “Why am I a racist, it’s very simple, I wish to preserve the culture of my country, I wish to preserve the people of my country and in doing so this makes me a designated racist in my country.”

More than 260,000 people have viewed the seven-minute clip where he blasts: “If I want to defend what I grew up in what I was born into – my country, my British culture, my heritage and my history I am apparently a racist.”

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Snap inspections target private Islamic schools

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Emergency inspections have been conducted at more schools in Tower Hamlets, east London, this month at the request of the Department for Education (DfE).

Most are understood to be private Islamic schools, but they include a flagship Church of England state school.

Ofsted inspectors gave a clean bill of health to safeguarding arrangements for pupils at Marner Primary, a Tower Hamlets state school, after a visit in September.

At the time, Tower Hamlets council strongly denied claims by a Whitehall source that the borough was “expected to be the next Birmingham” with a “Trojan Horse” problem of Islamic influence in schools.

Inspectors have now visited six more schools after concerns about curriculums had been raised by the DfE, according to government sources.

They include Al-Mizan primary and the London East Academy, private schools for Muslim boys run by the East London Mosque Trust. Their pupils, who are mostly from Bangladeshi families, learn a combination of Islamic education and some national curriculum subjects.

Ofsted teams also paid snap visits to Jamiatul Ummah secondary, another private school for Muslim boys, and Sir John Cass Red Coat CoE Secondary School, a voluntary aided state school overseen by the Tower Hamlets education authority. Two other schools inspected have not been named.

Tower Hamlets said that “whilst we do not usually comment on Ofsted reports before they are published, we can categorically state the inspection has not found any ‘Trojan Horse’-type issues relating to the conduct of staff and governors or the curriculum” at Sir John Cass.

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Downing Street set to crack down on the Muslim Brotherhood

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Downing Street is to order a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood and a network of Islamist groups accused of fuelling extremism in Britain and across the Arab world.

David Cameron launched an inquiry into the Brotherhood earlier this year, prompted by concerns it was stoking an Islamist ideology that had encouraged British jihadists to fight in Syria and Iraq.

Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6, who is an adviser to the review, is reported to have described it as “at heart a terrorist organisation”. The Brotherhood insists it is non-violent and seeks to impose Islamic rule only through democratic change. It has condemned Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil) and al-Qaeda.

A senior source close to the inquiry said its report – compiled but not yet published – had identified “an incredibly complex web” of up to 60 organisations in Britain, including charities, think tanks and even television channels, with links to the Muslim Brotherhood, which will all now come under scrutiny.

The inquiry, aided by the security services, has also investigated its network abroad. One expert said that the Brotherhood was now operating from three major bases – London, Istanbul and Doha, the capital of Qatar.

Dr Lorenzo Vidino, who is understood to have worked on the Cabinet Office report, presided over by Sir John Jenkins, Britain’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, said: “It is clear that the Brotherhood has many dark spots, ranging from its ambiguous relationship with violence to its questionable impact on social cohesion in Britain.”

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Tower Hamlets: Local hero slams anti-Muslim political attacks

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Rabina KhanTower Hamlets councillor Rabina Khan, recently nominated “Hero of the Year” in the European Diversity Awards, has slammed anti-Muslim attacks against the borough and defended its diversity and integration.

Khan said that distorted media coverage and damaging comments from powerful politicians help build a negative image of the Muslim community in Tower Hamlets, an image that she has been struggling to change.

She said: “If you watch Theresa May’s [UK’s Home Secretary] speech at the Tory conference, she talks about extremism and then refers to a large Muslim community in Tower Hamlets. She doesn’t exactly accuse us of Sharia law, but she puts them in the same sentence. Comments like these are enough to damage the whole Muslim community.”

Khan has been living and working in Tower Hamlets since she was 19. In the last 15 years she has been campaigning for gender equality and promoting incorporation between different groups in society.

Her work as an independent councillor and community worker promoting equality and diversity earned her the prestigious Unilever Hero of the Year title earlier this month.

Tower Hamlets has recently been under fire after a primary school was subject to an Ofsted inspection amid concerns of Islamic estremism. Even though all concerns were cleared, Khan said that she felt attacked by the negative media coverage. She said: “I think that the media have a wrong perception of the borough. It has been covered in a negative light.”

She voiced her view that some media outlets have picked Tower Hamlets as an “extremist” borough and that too often the focus is on the negativity associated with Muslim communities. Khan challenged this negative image saying: “When it comes to facts, I haven’t heard about one extremist being arrested in this borough, or being challenged and finally jailed.”

As a councillor, Khan has been working a lot with the borough’s youth. She said that the council invested in schools and offered summer camps and clubs to stop antisocial behaviour: “We use their energy in a positive way, not to teach them to go out and bomb people.”

With her work Khan wishes to change the way the Muslim community is represented in mainstream media and confront the stereotypes.

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Chris Keates disputes ‘Trojan Horse’ inquiry findings

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Chris KeatesThe general secretary of teaching union NASUWT has claimed there has been no radicalisation or religious extremism in Birmingham’s Trojan Horse schools.

Chris Keates, general secretary of the Rednal-based union, has dismissed the findings of two independent reports and has written to the Education Secretary Nicky Morgan to complain about one penned by former anti-terror chief Peter Clarke.

Mr Clarke, who led a Government-ordered probe into the Trojan Horse plot after five Birmingham schools were placed in special measures following snap Ofsted inspections, found “compelling evidence” of an attempt to “gain control” of some school governing bodies.

He claimed his discoveries were the “tip of the iceberg” and the Government was “nowhere near” getting to the bottom of the issues. He also criticised both NASUWT and Birmingham City Council’s response to the scandal.

But Mrs Keates criticised Mr Clarke, claiming he did not go “far enough” when carrying out his investigation.

She said: “I thought he came with an agenda from government to find radicalisation and extremism and when I read the report I was certain he did. I asked to see him and when I did he did not ask me any questions. My concern was that the only people he spoke to were people with axes to grind. Yes, there were particular members of a community behaving in the wrong way but I don’t believe it was radicalisation or extremism.”

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ISIS videos leave North East Muslims targeted and blamed, say Tyneside campaigners

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslims are being “targeted and blamed” because of brutal actions from extreme terror group ISIS, say Tyneside campaigners.

They are now calling for a better understanding between Muslims and the non-Muslim community after noticing increased levels of tension in the aftermath of videos released by the terrorist organisation.

New figures show racial hate crime in the North East has rocketed.

Elswick councillor Dipu Ahad said the images of Isis that have emerged over the last two months has caused more suspicion and negative views of the Muslim community.

He said: “Any time something happens the whole of the Muslim community is targeted and blamed. It was the same during the murder of Lee Rigby. I’m not saying it’s everyone but they are feeling that people are targeting them, they do feel it.”

He said tensions have risen despite widespread condemnation of Isis within the Muslim community. “Muslims don’t behead innocent people – they don’t do things the way Isis do. The Muslim people here condemn ISIS. They see they’re not even Muslim,” he said.

His comments come after messages about Isis were spray-painted in the locations across the West End of Newcastle. The graffiti, which read ‘Turkish Isis supporters’ was condemned by local businessmen and campaigners as an anti-Muslim action and was swiftly removed by Newcastle City Council.

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Religious hate crimes up almost 50% In London

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Religious hate crimes have shot up almost 50% in London in the wake of Lee Rigby’s murder.

Figures from the Office of National Statistics show that there were 918 religious hate crimes in 2013/14, compared to just 634 the previous year. Nationally, there were 2,273 reported cases of a religious hate crime, up 700 on the previous year.

Statisticians believe the rise is driven by higher levels of hate crime in the wake of the murder of soldier Lee Rigby.

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Posted in UK

EDL Birmingham: Three members convicted of violent disorder in city while fourth cleared by jury

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Williams, McKenzie, Wilkie and Edge
From left, Shane Williams, Paul McKenzie, Thomas Wilkie and Andrew Edge

Three members of the English Defence League have been found guilty of violent disorder during a demonstration which saw police pelted with missiles.

Thomas Wilkie, aged 22, of Kent Road, Wednesbury, was found guilty by a jury for his part in the violence on July 20 last year. Andrew Edge, 44, of Wellington Road, South Stockport and Shane Williams, 26, of Dragon Lane, Leicester, were also convicted. Paul McKenzie, aged 48, of Braemar Road, Billingham, was cleared of the offence.

Edge, who asked to be remanded into custody, chanted “EDL, EDL” as he was led away by dock officers. His Honour Judge Richard Bond told the jury: “Well there you go, resounding confirmation the verdict you returned was the correct one.”

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Racist teenager jailed for assault on young boys walking home from mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A racist teenager has been jailed for throwing a pot noodle at two Asian boys walking home from Mosque.

Blackburn magistrates heard Luke Croft had a previous conviction for throwing a stone at Asian boys leaving school and had posted racist abuse on his Facebook page. And after a previous court appearance he put on Facebook an abusive message about one of the magistrates.

Croft, 18, of Wood Street, Darwen, pleaded guilty to racially aggravated assault. He was jailed for 20 weeks.

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Muslims urged to report religious hate crimes

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Mark Warrender at Jamia MosqueMuslim communities across Newport are being urged to report hate crimes, with a focus on incidents targeting religion and faith.

Gwent’s Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner Paul Harris and Gwent Police Superintendent Mark Warrender met Muslim community leaders yesterday during hate crime awareness week.

A recent hate crime survey in Wales found 15 per cent of religious hate victims had attempted to conceal their religion to reduce the risk of victimisation.

And Superintendent Warrender, the force’s lead officer for hate crime, said of 250 hate crime incidents reported in Gwent every year, just a handful are linked to religion and faith. “The numbers don’t reflect what is going on. We are trying to get more people to come forward and there are lots of different reasons why they don’t,” he said.

“Victims can think the things happening to them do not seem that important and the police have better things to do. Some don’t think the police will do anything, or they are scared to report it. But crimes like these can have a disproportionate effect on victims, and Gwent Police absolutely will not tolerate hate crime.”

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