Category Archives: UK

Anti-Muslim hate crimes on rise, says charity

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The number of Muslim women reporting hate crime has risen by up to 10%, according to a UK charity.

TELL MAMA, a national project measuring anti-Muslim incidents, has told Sky News that over the last 18 months they have seen a 5-10% increase. The number of women wearing the niqab, the face veil, and reporting hate crime has also doubled in the last two years.

Fiyaz Mughal, director of TELL MAMA, says it is not clear whether incidents are rising or reporting of the problem is getting better.

“Over the last two years our data has shown that women suffer more incidents of hate and they also suffer more aggressive incidents of hate,” he said. “The veil seems to delegitimise the sense of femininity of that person in the eyes of the perpetrator. It seems to become something they become fixated upon rather than the individual, the female behind the veil.”

Research has shown that Muslim women are subjected to “opportunistic” verbal or physical attacks, mostly by men, on the street.

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UKIP official retweets pro‑PEGIDA comments

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The PEGIDA demonstration in Dresden last Monday, in which an estimated 17,500 people protested against immigration and the “Islamisation of the west”, was widely condemned as a shocking example of xenophobia and intolerance that has no place in Germany.

Needless to say, on the British far right PEGIDA has been hailed as an inspiration in the fight to stem the Muslim takeover of Europe. It has certainly renewed the enthusiasm of former English Defence League leader Stephen Lennon (“Tommy Robinson”) for Islamophobic street protests, and he has tweeted his intention to try and emulate PEGIDA’s success when his ban on associating with members of the EDL runs out next July.

Another person to be impressed by PEGIDA’s achievements is Helen Hims, who is chair of the Wells branch of UKIP and vice-chair of the party in Somerset. She retweeted a number of approving comments on Monday’s demonstration (“German anti muslim protestors demand an end to Islamisation with record high turnout”, “Growing Anti Muslim marches in Germany….Excellent!”) earlier this week, including one from Lennon himself (“Germany is waking up, are we?”)

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Britain still grappling with controversial review of the Muslim Brotherhood

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Supporters of Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood wave Egyptian flags during a rally in protest against the recent violence in Egypt, outside of the Eminonu New mosque in IstanbulDon’t hold your breath if you are waiting to read the British government’s controversial review of the Muslim Brotherhood.

It could be months yet before this sees the light of day – a reflection of difficulties over how to handle an extremely sensitive topic as well as wider confusion about the role of political Islam after the disappointments of the Arab spring.

Downing Street is still refusing to say when or how it will release the review, which was ordered by David Cameron in April amidst accusations that he had bowed to pressure from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt – all viscerally hostile to Islamists as well as heavyweight allies and trading partners for the UK. But the word in Whitehall is that it is still not imminent. And if it has not appeared by March it may then be too close for constitutional comfort to May’s general election – which means it might never surface at all.

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Online hate campaign forces garage owner to hit back

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Boars Head Service StationWigan garage staff have been subjected to a social media hate campaign after being wrongly accused of turning away a customer for wearing a Help for Heroes top.

The Muslim boss of the Boars Head Service Station in Standish today emphatically denied the claim, saying they refused to serve the young customer only because he was unable to provide proof-of-age ID when trying to buy cigarettes.

And police have since supported his version of events saying there is no evidence from film footage of discrimination.

But the allegation about the Help for Heroes top, which was apparently made first on Facebook by the young man’s mother, has led to a torrent of abuse for the owner and his staff. One diatribe accused the staff of being “Taliban supporters” and several called for folk to boycott the business.

The owner, who does not wish to be identified for fear of reprisals, reported the social media comments to the police who have reviewed CCTV footage of the shop encounter.

The young customer went into the garage, which stands at the corner of Wigan Road and Chorley Road, at around 9.50pm last Wednesday evening but was turned away. A short time later a woman put on Facebook that her son had been refused custom because the people serving behind the counter had taken offence at his top which was publicising the charity which raises money for injured soldiers.

One man, who described himself as an ex-soldier, posted he would have taken matters into his own hands if there wasn’t a danger of his getting caught. But he called on people to avoid the filling station, claiming it supported the Taliban and making reference to the outlawed movement’s recent massacre of schoolchildren in Peshawar, Pakistan.

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Online hate campaign forces garage owner to hit back

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Boars Head Service StationWigan garage staff have been subjected to a social media hate campaign after being wrongly accused of turning away a customer for wearing a Help for Heroes top.

The Muslim boss of the Boars Head Service Station in Standish today emphatically denied the claim, saying they refused to serve the young customer only because he was unable to provide proof-of-age ID when trying to buy cigarettes.

And police have since supported his version of events saying there is no evidence from film footage of discrimination.

But the allegation about the Help for Heroes top, which was apparently made first on Facebook by the young man’s mother, has led to a torrent of abuse for the owner and his staff. One diatribe accused the staff of being “Taliban supporters” and several called for folk to boycott the business.

The owner, who does not wish to be identified for fear of reprisals, reported the social media comments to the police who have reviewed CCTV footage of the shop encounter.

The young customer went into the garage, which stands at the corner of Wigan Road and Chorley Road, at around 9.50pm last Wednesday evening but was turned away. A short time later a woman put on Facebook that her son had been refused custom because the people serving behind the counter had taken offence at his top which was publicising the charity which raises money for injured soldiers.

One man, who described himself as an ex-soldier, posted he would have taken matters into his own hands if there wasn’t a danger of his getting caught. But he called on people to avoid the filling station, claiming it supported the Taliban and making reference to the outlawed movement’s recent massacre of schoolchildren in Peshawar, Pakistan.

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Isle of Wight EDL leader pleads guilty to racially or religiously aggravated harassment

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Carl Worrall and Dave Bolton at IOW prison protestThe English Defence League’s Isle of Wight organiser Carl Worrall was up in front of magistrates yesterday for sentencing, having pleaded guilty to one count of harassment and one count of racially or religiously aggravated harassment.

According to police, the charges arose from incidents at a coffee shop in Newport on 27 October and 1 November. From Worrall’s account, this would appear to be the branch of Costa Coffee in St James Square.

As MEND points out, the 1 November incident evidently followed an EDL protest outside HM Prison Isle of Wight. This was provoked by the leaking of an internal bulletin from the National Offender Management Service, which reported that a prisoner who had recently converted to Islam had been found with a homemade ISIS flag and “detailed escape plans involving taking a member of staff hostage”.

Based on a shock-horror account in the Sunday People, the EDL claimed that the prisoner had “planned to behead a guard” – a piece of scaremongering that even the Daily Mail refused to swallow, reporting instead that it was thought the plan was “an attempt to escape, rather than to harm”.

The photo above is of Carl Worrall at the EDL protest outside the prison. Looking on is Dave Bolton of the national EDL, which shows that this was an officially endorsed event, not just some local initiative.

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Muslim charities lose government help over ‘extremism’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Eric PicklesTwo Muslim charities have lost their grants after the government claimed they had links with Islamist extremism.

A spokesman for Birmingham-based Islamic Help, said it was “surprised, dismayed and angered” by the action. The Muslim Charities Forum (MCF), said the decision was based on “unfounded allegations”.

The Department for Communities and Local Government said it would not fund any group “linked to individuals who fuel hatred, division and violence”.

In a written statement the Secretary of State for the department, Eric Pickles, claimed Islamic Help had invited “an individual with extremist views” to speak at an event, and that the MCF – an umbrella organisation for Muslim charities – had “failed to reassure us that they have robust measures in place to investigate and challenge their members.”

A spokesman for Islamic Help said the speaker alleged to have extremist views had not been identified to them. The DCLG has so far refused to name him or her publicly.

The spokesman for Islamic Help, which provides emergency relief following major disasters and has worked in Gaza, the Central African Republic and Syria, has said its events are to raise money for humanitarian work and not political platforms.

He said although the amount of money they would lose [about £7,000] was a “drop in the ocean”, the move “besmirches the reputation and integrity” of people who had taken part in their campaigns. The charity had not received any notification from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), the spokesman said.

Mr Pickles said only programmes which “uphold fundamental British values” would receive aid.

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‘Bigot’ Eric King who was spared jail for Islam hate mail says he will continue to share his views online

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Eric King (2)A man branded a “vile, reprehensible bigot” by police after he sent offensive photographs and social media posts to an Islamic community centre near Truro has been spared jail despite saying he will continue to share his views on Facebook.

Eric King, aged 60, was handed a four-day-a-week curfew and a suspended sentence when he appeared before Truro magistrates on Tuesday.

King, of Wheal Eliza Close, St Austell, smeared dog excrement on images depicting the prophet Mohammed having intercourse with a pig and of a naked woman squatting on an Islamic State flag with the letters “IS” scrawled across her buttocks and posted them to Tipu Choudhury, general secretary of the Cornwall Islamic Community Centre at Carnon Downs.

At an earlier hearing, King admitted sending two indecent or grossly offensive messages to the centre via its Facebook page and sending an indecent or grossly offensive letter to Mr Choudhury.

Gail Hawkley, for the prosecution, said when King was arrested he told officers he was a member of the English Defence League and the British National Party. When asked if he would stop after he had been to court he said: “I shouldn’t think so,” said Ms Hawkley, who added: “[He said] ‘I was hoping that whoever saw the letter would kill themselves’.”

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As Pickles’ commissioners arrive, Tower Hamlets hits back at bungling Tories

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Tower Hamlets Town Hall protest against government commissionersSenior figures have slammed the decision to send commissioners into Tower Hamlets, whilst Communities Secretary Eric Pickles describes spending £1600 a day of local residents’ cash on them as ‘modest.’

Yet apparently Eric Pickles thinks that £1600 a day (plus generous expenses) of Tower Hamlets residents’ money on the Commissioners is a ‘modest sum.’ It might be very modest for Pickles who spends £500,000 of our money on limos, or for PwC who run multi-billion tax avoidance schemes while being slammed by Transparency International for ‘undue influence’ on Whitehall. But in Tower Hamlets where half of our children live below the poverty line,£1600 a day plus the £1million cost of the PwC report is anything but modest.

As Pickles’ hit squad arrived today, they were greeted with local trade unionists gathering at the Town Hall to oppose their appointment (video here). It is a sinister development and seems no coincidence that Tower Hamlets as the council which has most successfully resisted austerity is being singled out by the Tories. In spite of serious concerns with multiple local authorities, Pickles has gone for the one that blocked the hated bedroom tax, reinstated EMA and stood up to him over cuts.

In a disproportionate measure, twenty-six inspectors were deployed for seven months with few checks and balances following a questionable recruitment process, and the £1million cost to Tower Hamlets residents has been described as ‘punitive.’ And now they’re sending in commissioners.

But no failings have been found in Tower Hamlets’ high performing, multi award winning frontline services.

Tower Hamlets welcomed the PwC report’s clarification that they have not found evidence of undue publicity spending, of inappropriate property sales, bias in grant funding or of corruption. A good rebuttal from one of our councillors can be found here. But Pickles appointed commissioners to watch these functions anyway, and we’re paying for it.

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