Category Archives: UK

Dundee man who threw a sword at Muslims and threatened to kill them faces jail

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Grant RobertsonA Dundee man hurled a sword at three Muslim men as they stood outside a block of flats after escaping from a fire, a court has heard.

Grant Robertson, 28, launched a tirade of abuse at the three men following the incident on 26 January.

At Dundee Sheriff Court, Robertson pleaded guilty to a charge of acting in a racially aggravated manner and to assaulting the men. Sheriff Elizabeth Munro released him on bail ahead of sentencing next month.

The court heard that when he was arrested Robertson told police: “I threw my sword out the window at them, I wish it got them in the throat.”

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EDL supporter denies joining attack on Kingston Mosque, says he ‘wanted nothing to do with it’

Posted on by Bob Pitt
Henry Hunter with stick

Henry Hunter

A protester photographed holding a stick near Kingston Mosque has claimed he was in “the wrong place at the wrong time”.

Henry Hunter handed himself in to police after being pictured on the front page of the Surrey Comet, following an appeal to find more suspects in the attack on the East Road mosque on November 21, 2010.

At Kingston Crown Court, Mr Hunter denied being part of the group who threw sticks, beer bottles and bacon at the Muslim place of worship, and said he felt scared at what he saw.

He said he was part of the protest march against Muslim extremism that had taken place earlier that day, which concluded peacefully.

But a mob of men targetted the mosque after the march. Mr Hunter admitted going with the group to East Road, but said he broke away when they started throwing objects.

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Praise for Norwich following marches: ‘It was great that so many people turned out to show the EDL that it is not welcome in our city’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

We Are Norwich demo (2)People in Norwich have been praised for the way they responded and reacted to the controversial English Defence League march.

The centre of Norwich came to a standstill on Saturday as nearly 2,000 people gathered at the front of City Hall to protest.

A crowd of 1,500 people from community, faith and political groups took to the streets under the collective banner of We Are Norwich in protest at the EDL’s decision to march through the city, setting off from Chapelfield Gardens.

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Why can’t the BNP be prosecuted for distributing hate literature against Muslims?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Nottingham-based Building For The Future blog has drawn its readers’ attention to this leaflet, which has been distributed by the British National Party in Luton.

As the BFTF writer notes, the flyer “appeared to have come straight out of 1930s Germany (and BFTF does not use that analogy lightly) – with the exception that instead of hate caricatures of Jews, it was Muslims that the BNP were now choosing to portray as the evil menace in our midst”.

The writer wants to know whether “this qualifies as an inciteful document and should not be allowed” and has “asked the local council and MP what (if anything) would happen if the BNP started distributing flyers like this in Nottingham”.

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EDL in Norwich: outnumbered 10-to-1 by counter-demonstrators

Posted on by Bob Pitt
We Are Norwich demonstration

We Are Norwich march against the EDL (photo: Bill Smith)

Police made four arrests during an English Defence League march and counter-protest in Norwich.

Officers from 11 forces were on duty as about 200 EDL supporters and up to 2,000 members of the We Are Norwich coalition marched through the city. Police said the day passed off relatively peacefully, although extra officers remained in the city centre into the evening as a precaution.

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Jury shown photograph of EDL supporter wielding stick outside Kingston Mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Henry Hunter with stickA jury has been shown a photograph of a man wielding a stick outside Kingston Mosque moments before an attack by masked and hooded men.

Henry Hunter, 19, denies violent disorder and racially and religiously aggravated criminal damage, after a group of men targeted the mosque in East Road.

At Kingston Crown Court, a jury of eight women and four men heard how Mr Hunter took part in a protest march through Kingston town centre on November 21, 2010.

Prosecutor Anthony Montgomery said that although the march passed without incident, several men who had been captured on CCTV during the protest later threw sticks, bottles and rashers of bacon at the mosque, and damaged a sign attached to the building.

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Leicester: far-right racists exploit community tensions

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Forgotten estates: far right extremists move into community politics

By Dave Porter and Owen Jones

HOPE not hate, November-December 2012

FAR-RIGHT EXTREMISTS looking to spread their message of hate are infiltrating community protest groups and hijacking them for their own political ends.

Leicester has become the latest battleground for extremists spreading messages of hate under the banner of community activism.

Self-declared racists from the EDL and BNP are hijacking sensitive community issues to their own ends – using them as a fertile recruiting ground while pretending to be non-political.

Through these means, large sections of the community who would normally shun such hate groups are being hoodwinked by racists looking to capitalise on and stir up local feelings.

In Leicester, a group calling itself the Committee for the Forgotten Estates of Thurnby Lodge and Netherall has been central in organising protests against a former scout hut in Thurnby Lodge being converted into a community centre by a Muslim organisation called As-Salaam Trust.

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English Defence League protest and counter-demonstration in Norwich this Saturday

Posted on by Bob Pitt

We Are Norwich public meeting

The English Defence League (EDL) and its opposing “We Are Norwich” group are both staging marches on Saturday, November 10.

The counter protesters will gather at Chapelfield Gardens at 11am before marching at 12.30pm to City Hall via Theatre Street, Brigg Street and Hay Hill. They will have speeches at approximately 1pm before dispersing.

At 12.45pm the EDL group will gather at Castle Gardens before also marching to City Hall at 1pm, via Castle Meadow, Opie Street, Bedford Street, Exchange Street and Gaol Hill. There they will have speeches at approximately 1.30pm before dispersing.

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Man who accused Muslims of carrying bomb escapes prison because he was ‘suffering from stress’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A father-of-three working at the Torness nuclear plant sparked a security alert at Waverley Station by telling fellow travellers that two 
Muslim men were carrying a bomb.

David Rothenburg claimed innocent passengers Mohammed Shobair and Zaithoon Akhtar were terrorists as he hurled racial abuse at them. The 36-year-old, who had drunk seven pints of Guinness, followed the men around the station making the insults before being arrested by British Transport Police officers.

Rothenburg avoided a prison sentence yesterday at Edinburgh Sheriff Court after his lawyer made a “compelling argument” that his client was suffering from work-related stress. Instead, Sheriff Gordon Liddle ordered Rothenburg to carry out 200 hours of community service and pay a compensation order of £1500.

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Youths who shouted racist abuse at Dagenham football match fined and banned from game

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Two teenagers involved in racist chanting at a group of boys at an anti-racism football match in Dagenham have been banned from attending games for three years.

Keith Meredith, of Holgate Road, Dagenham, and Lee Bates, of Seymer Road, Romford, both 18, appeared at Romford Magistrates Court on October 16.

They were among 25 to 30 youths seen and heard shouting abuse at the Tower Hamlets schoolboys during a Daggers Against Racism game with Bradford FC, held in Victoria Road, Dagenham.

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