An office worker who left a severed pig’s head outside a Muslim place of worship on Boxing Day has been spared jail.
Liam Ferrar was sentenced to 12 weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for a year, after a court heard he was disgusted by his actions and had written a letter of apology to his victims.
Ferrar, 24, of Leicester, pleaded guilty last month to causing religiously aggravated harassment after leaving the frozen pig’s head on the steps of the city’s Thurnby Lodge community centre.
Five people were arrested amid clashes and disorder as an anti-Islamic group and its opponent marched through a border town.
Potential troublemakers were also escorted from the scene and potential racist language reported as the Scottish Defence League (SDL) and United Against Fascism (UAF) both staged marches in Berwick on Saturday.
Northumbria Police has said appropriate action will be taken where offences have been committed.
The UAF group has hailed the day a victory for the people of Berwick in their stand against fascism.
British National Party officials have made an official complaint after plans to transform a former Presbyterian church in a town in Shropshire into a Muslim centre were given the go-ahead.
The north Shropshire branch of the far-right party said the decision made by Shropshire Council planning officers should have been made at a full public meeting rather than in private. And they have written to Shirehall in protest over how the issue has been handled.
Phil Reddall, organiser of North Shropshire BNP, said he had made a complaint to Shropshire Council due to the decision being delegated to the planning department.
David Cameron has said he is “disturbed” that Muslims were forced to abandon plans for a mosque in his constituency because racists threatened to burn it down.
Douglas Murray has followed up his ludicrous blog post accusing Hope Not Hate of inciting the attempted murder of Danish Islamophobe Lars Hedegaard with a puff piece in the Spectator based on an interview with the great man.
“Lars was his usual calm, eloquent and forthright self”, an admiring Murray gushes. “If anybody thought they could silence him, they’ve got another thing coming.” (The admiration is obviously mutual – Hedegaard’s Dispatch International has just published an article entitled “Soft-spoken Douglas Murray – razor sharp under the velvet surface”.)
Police are hunting two men and a woman who burst into a mosque and shouted racial abuse. The incident happened at the Nasir Mosque on Brougham Terrace, in Hartlepool, at around 7.45pm on Tuesday, February 5.
A Cleveland Police spokeswoman said: “Two men and a woman entered the mosque via the main entrance and began causing a disturbance and shouting during prayer time. They were also racially abusive when asked to leave the premises.”
A thug spat at a woman in the street apparently because she was wearing an Islamic head scarf. Police have appealed for help tracing the man, who targeted the woman in Humberstone Road, near Leicester city centre.
The 20-year-old woman was walking near to the St Matthews service station when she noticed three young men approaching her. One of them spat on her as they passed by and the three began laughing as they walked away.
Officers have released a CCTV image of three people they want to trace. The incident happened shortly before 1pm on Monday, February 4.
The newly-formed Berwick Unite Against Fascism group has been drumming up support ahead of a demo this weekend. The group, which came together in response to Scottish Defence League plans to march in the town this weekend, pledges to bring all platforms and all colours together to show that the town is united against fascism.
A spokesman for Berwick UAF said: “We had a very good day in Berwick on Saturday and garnered a lot of local support for opposition to the proposed SDL march in Berwick next Saturday. We distributed hundreds of leaflets explaining the situation and the reasons for opposing the SDL. The demonstration is open to all who oppose the SDL and other racist groups who threaten our town.”
The right-wing press has been running articles, evidently inspired by the Quilliam Foundation, accusing Muslim TV channels of inciting hatred against the LGBT community. (See “Muslim fanatics spouting on British TV: Extremists use fringe stations to call for terror, murder and the torture of gay people” in the Daily Mail and “Preachers of hate who spread their violent word on British TV channels” in the Sunday Telegraph.)
These reports in turn prompted a poorly worded piece to appear this week in Pink News which clearly led its readers to believe that Islam Channel had been promoting homophobic hate speech on air.
CHIPPING NORTON: No one has yet been arrested for a threatening phone call that led to a planned mosque being stopped.
The town’s small muslim community had won permission to open the mosque in a former shop in Hitchmans Mews.
But following the decision landlord Georg Wissinter, 79, received a call saying the mosque would get “very hot” if it went ahead. He pulled out of the scheme on Friday.
Oxford Times, 14 February 2013
See also “Chipping Norton mosque threat claim investigated”, BBC News, 14 February 2013