Category Archives: UK

Fury as judge dismisses charges against Muslim who ‘attacked’ man wearing ‘Zombie Muhammad’ Halloween costume

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Under this headline the Daily Mail takes up the case of Ernest Perce, Pennsylvania director of American Atheists, who claimed to have been assaulted by an angry Muslim while dressed as a “Zombie Muhammad” on a Halloween parade last year. At a court hearing Judge Mark Martin dismissed the charges against the alleged assailant, one Talaag Elbayomy.

The Mail reports: “The American Atheists organisation criticised the decision as ‘completely and unequivocally unacceptable’. It posted on its blog: ‘That a Muslim immigrant can assault a United States citizen in defence of his religious beliefs and walk away a free man, while the victim is chastised and insulted by a Muslim judge who then blamed the victim for the crime committed against him is a horrible abrogation….'”

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Welcome to Britain, where all people are protected from prejudice, unless they are white

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Melissa KiteYes, apparently it’s the white majority population who are the main victims of prejudice in the UK. So former Sunday Telegraph deputy editor Melissa Kite, writing on the Daily Mail‘s RightMinds blog, asks us to believe.

The basis for this nonsense is the case of Fireman Sam creator David Jones, who claims that he was questioned for an hour by security staff after making a “light-hearted remark” about a veiled Muslim woman while passing through a scanner at Gatwick airport.

Needless to say, despite the lack of any independent confirmation of Jones’ account, neither Kite’s blog post nor the Telegraph and Mail reports on which it was based saw fit to question whether his version of events was accurate. But why bother with an objective assessment of the evidence when there’s an opportunity to smear Muslims and promote the racist myth that white people are being discriminated against in the interests of appeasing minority communities?

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Irresponsible C4 programme gives boost to EDL

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL leader Stephen Yaxley Lennon – AKA “Tommy Robinson” – was given an extensive platform to make unchallenged racist comments about Muslims, and to issue self-justifying claims that he is “not racist”. The one revealing moment – when a drunken “Tommy Robinson” taunted a Muslim man and pretended he was Anders Behring Breivik, the fascist who massacred 76 people in Norway – was given little prominence in the hour-long programme.

Unite Against Fascism reviews Channel 4’s Proud and Prejudiced documentary.

See also “Proud and Prejudiced documentary ‘not fair on Luton'”,Luton Today, 28 February 2012

Update:  See Reyhana Patel, “Channel 4’s Proud and Prejudiced portrays inaccurate impression of extremism”, Huffington Post, 29 February 2012

Also Assed Baig, “Proud and Prejudiced – a critique”, Huffington Post, 29 February 2012

Political Islam and the Arab Spring: Human Rights Watch responds to secularist critics

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Last month in his introduction to the Human Rights Watch annual report, Kenneth Rothurged western governments to accept that the successes of Islamist parties in Tunisia and Egypt reflected the will of the people and to engage constructively with the elected governments.

This entirely reasonable proposal met with a fierce reaction from an alliance of secularists. The Centre for Secular Space published anopen letter to Roth denouncing his supposed capitulation to Islamist reaction. (UK readers will recognise some of the usual suspects here: One Law For All, Maryam Namazie, Gita Saghal.) Roth’s opponents have even organised an online petition calling on HRW to “support separation between religion and state”.

HRW has now sent a reply to its critics, which we reproduce here along with the original open letter.

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EDL and BNP protest in Manchester

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Hyde protest(2)Police arrested eleven people for minor public order offences as a march by the English Defence League today passed off without major incident.

About 600 people who had come from all over England marched through Hyde in protest over the alleged attack on trainee baker Daniel Stringer-Prince. The 17-year-old suffered a fractured skull in an alleged attack by up to eight Asian men. His family pleaded with the EDL to abandon the march but it went ahead anyway.

 

The march began shortly after 1pm when about 600 EDL supporters marched from the town’s train station to a car park, where they held a mini rally. The British National Party also had about 50 supporters in the town.

Greater Manchester Police mounted a huge security operation with dozens of officers on the ground, on horse-back as well as India 99, the force helicopter, overhead, while dog handlers were also on hand.

Manchester Evening News, 25 February 2012

See also “Local people protect mosque as fascists try to stir racism in Hyde”, UAF news report, 25 February 2012

‘200 police officers’ patrol Scottish Defence League rally in Glasgow

Posted on by Bob Pitt

SDL Glasgow February 2012(2)Around “200 officers” were on hand to police an unauthorised demonstration by an extremist group on Saturday, an MSP claimed.

Police and riot vans gathered at Glasgow’s St Enoch Square to meet demonstrators from the Scottish Defence League (SDL), an anti-Islamic organisation which claims to campaign against radical Islam and Sharia.

The SDL had applied to Glasgow City Council to hold a parade through the city, but their application was withdrawn after a civic coalition of political party leaders, trade unions, religious groups and campaigners signed an open letter in protest at the march. The SDL indicated that they intended to hold a “static demonstration” instead.

Some SDL demonstrators are understood to have gathered in St Enoch subway station beneath the square shortly before 12pm. One entrance to the station was sealed off. A counter-demonstration by anti-fascist groups, trade unions and political parties also took place in nearby George Square.

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Rochdale rioters shouted ‘EDL’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Rochdale protestPolice have stepped up patrols in the Heywood area of Rochdale following violent disturbances which saw officers pelted with bricks and other missiles.

A Greater Manchester Police officer suffered bruising to his legs and arms during the trouble which erupted on Thursday. No other injuries were reported.

Windows were damaged at a fast food outlet, believed to be an Asian takeaway business, in Bridge Street, while three police vehicles and a car belonging to a member of the public were also damaged.

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