Category Archives: UK

Walthamstow: EDL march ‘will inflame tensions’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Tensions could rise in the community if far-right group the English Defence League (EDL) is allowed to march through Walthamstow, critics claim. Both the Waltham Forest Anti-Cuts Union and Trades Council have criticised plans posted online for an EDL demonstration in the area on Saturday August 18.

The EDL, which describes itself as an “inclusive movement” opposed to Islamic extremism, denies being a racist organisation. But a spokesman for the WF Trades Council said: “There is no other reason that this organisation should come to Waltham Forest other than to seek to divide our multicultural community and to incite racial tension”. He added that plans were underway for an alternative ‘We Are Waltham Forest’ event on the same day, designed to celebrate the borough’s multiculturalism.

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EDL’s Tommy Robinson attracts Twitter hatred after racially abusing ‘underage’ user

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The leader of the far-right English Defence League has come under fire after racially abusing a girl who told him she was 15-years-old on Twitter.

Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, told Twitter user ‘Asianish’ “You’re pretty fit for a Muslim”. Defending herself, she wrote back “I’m 15 and you’ve got the cheek to call Muslims paedos.”

Robinson’s Twitter abuse comes after the EDL boss highlighted the race of the Asian men convicted in Rochdale grooming case, linking their Pakistani and Afghan origins to the sexual exploitation of under-age girls.

Huffington Post, 16 May 2012

See also EDL News, 16 May 2012

Children as young as 10 being groomed in Northern Ireland

Posted on by Bob Pitt

This is the headline to an article in the Belfast Telegraph, which reports that girls in the North of Ireland “are being sexually exploited in the same way as the girls in the notorious Rochdale grooming case, a leading charity has said”. It quotes Jacqui Montgomery-Devlin of Barnardo’s Safe Choices as saying that sexual exploitation is happening in “every town and city across Northern Ireland”.

However, given that Muslims number only 1,943 out of a total population of 1,685,267 in the North, 97% of whom are Christians, I rather doubt that the commentators who saw the religious affiliation of the perpetraors as a central factor in Rochdale will be arguing the same in this case.

MP urges EDL march ban on Bristol’s day of Pride

Posted on by Bob Pitt

English-Defence-LeagueA Bristol MP has written to police and the council urging them to scrap plans to allow a march by right-wing extremists to go ahead on the same day as the city’s Pride march.

The English Defence League (EDL) is allegedly planning on holding a march in Bristol on Saturday, July 14 – the same day as the city’s annual Pride celebrations.

Kerry McCarthy, MP for Bristol East, has said “many LGBT people will feel intimated by the proposed march and people will inevitably stay away from what is suppose to be a family friendly event”.

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Rochdale grooming case: Add a few irrelevant facts, stir and let prejudice do the rest

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Spot the odd one out. Jewish politician urged not to insult atheist party leader. Man from all-boys school sends intimate texts to attractive redhead. Straight black man wants same-sex marriage. Pakistani Muslims jailed for sexual assaults on white girls. The first three are ridiculously loaded and leading headlines. The last was a real one.

You may need some assistance here. Labour’s leader Ed Miliband has been advised not to burn his bridges with Nick Clegg in case a Lib-Lab pact is needed after the next election. Our old Etonian Prime Minister has been texting “lots of love” to Rupert Murdoch’s henchwoman Rebekah Brooks. Barack Obama has come out in support of gay marriage.

Nobody nowadays would dream of calling Miliband a “Jewish politician” in that way. So why are the 11 men convicted of sex offences in Rochdale described as “Pakistani Muslims”?

Paul Vallely in the Independent on Sunday, 13 May 2012

MI5 feared British police attended terrorist camps

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Well, that’s the headline to a report in the Sunday Telegraph. The article itself centres on the case of Abdul Rahman, who was forced to resign from the Metropolitan Police in 2007 over an alleged visit to a “terrorist camp” in 2001:

Abdul Rahman had been a constable for almost three years when MI5 warned that he might have visited a training camp in Pakistan when he travelled there. He resigned rather than be dismissed from the force and is now suing Scotland Yard for compensation. He says he is entirely innocent and has never been to a terrorist training camp. His lawyers say he has never been questioned, arrested or charged under terrorism legislation.

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Sajjad Karim refutes far-right lies about EDL protest

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL protest against Sajjad KarimLast July Sajjad and his young family were subjected to a vile and racist protest outside their Lancashire home. Readers of this website will know that 12 members of the English Defence League pleaded guilty for actions that day that included other unaceptable behaviour.

Sajjad welcomed the fact that the innocent victims that day were spared giving evidence and reliving their ordeal.

In the past few days lawyers acting on behalf of the EDL have attempted to thwart and silence journalists in the Lancashire and Manchester area. The EDL claimed their guilty pleas had nothing to do with the demonstration at the Karim house. Journalists were told they would be sued or reported to the Press Complaints Commission.

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Muslim leaders warn of far right exploitation of Rochdale ‘grooming’ case

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Liverpool Crown Court far-right demonstrationFar right groups are exploiting the conviction of nine men who were part of a gang which groomed girls for sex to create a “climate of hate” against Muslims, community leaders have warned.

Muslim groups say they have seen an upsurge in hate mail and abusive phone calls since the trial ended this week and community leaders are bracing themselves for more Islamophobic attacks on individual Muslims and mosques across the UK.

“We are already receiving hate mail and hate phone calls even though we issued a very strong statement condemning those involved,” said a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain. “If it can happen to MCB, you can just imagine what ordinary Muslims are facing as they go about their day-to-day business.”

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Manchester’s chief constable disagrees with judge who told gang they targeted girls who were ‘not part of your community or religion’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Manchester’s top cop has dismissed comments from a judge who suggested the gang picked white girls because they were not of their “community or religion”.

As he jailed the nine men Judge Gerald Clifton told them: “Some of you acted as you did to satiate your lust, some to make money. All of you treated them as though they were worthless and beyond all respect. I believe one of the factors that led to that was that they were not of your community or religion.”

But Chief Constable Peter Fahy said he had a different view to Judge Clifton, telling us the gang members targeted girls because they were vulnerable, not because they were white.

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