Category Archives: UK

Dudley planning committee accused of ‘bigotry, racism and Islamophobia’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL anti-mosque protest DudleyPlans for a new mosque and community centre in the West Midlands have been turned down for the second time. Dudley Council refused permission on Monday for the buildings, which would feature a 35ft (10m) high minaret.

Dr Kurshid Ahmed, chairman of the town’s Muslim association, said the decision was “Islamophobic”. The council said its decision was based solely on planning reasons as the scale and design of the building would be out of keeping with buildings in the area.

The council originally refused outline planning permission for the Hall Street mosque in February 2007 on the basis the land had already been designated exclusively for employment use under the council’s unitary development plan. A planning inspectorate overturned the council’s reason for refusing outline planning approval in July 2008. The council fought the decision in the High Court in July 2009 and lost.

Full plans for a mosque and community centre went before Dudley planning committee on Monday night but were rejected.

Dr Ahmed said: “Obviously I am disappointed but certainly not surprised because decisions in Dudley planning committee are driven by the influence of bigotry, racism and Islamophobia.” Dr Ahmed said he was aware that the proposed buildings had been described by some councillors as “an alien feature” and “a blot on the landscape”.

He added: “There’s not really any planning consideration as the two comments that you’ve just referred to suggest, so it is a decision based on people’s prejudices against Islam. They don’t want to see a mosque or they see it as a blot, they see it as completely out of character, which means that they are still living in some historical context and don’t see the globalisation of today and Dudley as part of that.”

Dr Ahmed said it was evidence that council policy was being determined on the basis of anti-Muslim prejudices and described it as “institutional Islamophobia”.

BBC News, 21 September 2011

See also Dudley News, 20 September 2011

Update:  Kurshid Ahmed’s charge of Islamophobia is reinforced by the news that Gavin Boby of the far-right Law and Freedom Foundation (aka “Mosquebusters”) is involved in the anti-mosque campaign. For details see here, here and here.

Dudley council committee rejects plan for new mosque as ‘alien feature’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Dudley mosque planPlans for a mosque and community centre on land in Hall Street, Dudley have been rejected by Dudley Council planners.

Members of the Development Control Committee unanimously refused the application for Dudley Muslim Association to build the mosque. Despite last minute alterations and changes to the design by the applicant, councillors still slammed the multi-million pound proposal, calling it “characterless”, “featureless”, “inappropriate” and an “alien feature”.

However councillors did agree to extend the time limit for the previous application, which means the DMA have a further three years to submit more plans.

Speaking about the decision following the meeting, DMA spokesman, Mushtaq Hussain, said he was “very disappointed” with the outcome. He said the DMA would now need to consider whether they would lodge an appeal against the decision, which he believed would be likely. But he added the architects would also be going back to the drawing board to look at further plans.

Dudley News, 19 September 2011

See also “Mosque plan refused amid wave of protest”, Express & Star, 20 September 2011

And “Plans for new mosque in Dudley rejected by council”, Birmingham Post, 20 September 2011

Update:  Needless to say, the English Defence League are chuffed to bits about this further setback for the DMA.

EDL Dudley mosque Facebook

Last year the EDL organised two demonstrations in Dudley against the proposed mosque – one of which ended in a riot, while the other resulted in an attack on a Hindu temple. In between, a rooftop protest at the intended mosque site was staged by two EDL members – UDA supporter Leon McCreery and raving antisemite John “Snowy” Shaw. Only a couple of months ago EDL supporters were posting comments on the EDL Facebook page threatening to bomb the mosque if construction went ahead. So you can see why the EDL are proud of their record.

EDL threatens to return to Tower Hamlets

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The English Defence League are now threatening that unless the government agrees to their demands they will return to Tower Hamlets at the end of October to stage a protest outside the East London Mosque. The word “return” is of course used somewhat loosely. Last time they were penned in by the police across the border in the City of London and didn’t even get into the borough of Tower Hamlets.

In an attempt to present a moderate face, the EDL statement features the usual lying denials that the organisation consists of violent anti-Muslim racists. “We are not in any way opposed to all Muslims,” it assures us, “just Islamic extremism.” Indeed, the EDL piously declares that the reason it proposes to demonstrate against the ELM is because the mosque is supposedly run by dangerous radicals, “not because we wish to provoke or upset ordinary, decent Muslims”.

The same day that these laughable claims were published on the EDL’s main website the following post appeared on the EDL’s Facebook page.

EDL on Islam

And here is a selection of comments posted by EDL supporters in response to this. It consists of the usual vile racist abuse interspersed with the occasional death threat.

EDL Islam Facebook comments

Christian Voice and the power of prayer

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Christian Voice banner

Christian Voice have announced that that on 1 October they will be holding another public prayer meeting in Newham against the building of a so-called “mega-mosque” by Tablighi Jamaat – a peaceful and non-political movement described by Christian Voice as “a controversial Islamic sect whose followers have been linked to a number of planned and actual terrorist atrocities”.

We are told that “Christian Voice members have been meeting for prayer on the Greenway overlooking the site on the first Saturday of every month without fail since January 2007”.

Back in October that year Christian Voice reported optimistically that “we believe our prayer is having results. It is being felt in the existing mosque, a collection of old industrial buildings, and our prayers for confusion have, we believe, already disrupted the megamosque plans. We have also prayed in support of local councillor Alan Craig, whom the Lord has placed in Newham’s council chamber for just such a time as this.”

Alas, in the 2010 local elections Craig lost his seat on Newham council and earlier this year Tablighi Jamaat won the right to operate their temporary mosque on the Newham site for another two years while they prepare plans for a permanent building. Christian Voice supporters will have to pray a bit harder. Or perhaps it’s just that God isn’t very sympathetic to the prayers of right-wing Christian bigots who whip up hatred against Muslims.

EDL supporter jailed over ‘vile’ abuse of imam at Barnsley Muslim Community Centre

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Barnsley DivisionAn English Defence League supporter who chanted “Muslim bombers off our streets” has been jailed for eight months.

Daniel Parker, 39, was with a group who, according to a judge aimed “vile and disgusting” abuse at a religious leader. The group had been on an EDL march in April when they began throwing stones outside Barnsley Muslim Community Centre. The imam came out to find EDL supporters shouting abuse including “Why don’t you go back to your country?”

Prosecutor Louise Gallagher told Sheffield Crown Court that the imam heard a loud bang on the window as he was about to lead prayers and then went outdoors, where he “found the language abusive and racist”.

When arrested, Parker, of Prince Arthur Street, Barnsley, told police he was shouting “because he was drunk and an idiot”. He admitted an unusual offence of religiously aggravated harassment. His barrister Tina Dempster said he was the only one of the group arrested and, if he had not admitted chanting, would probably not have been charged.

Judge Roger Keen said Parker was of previous good character. But he added: “You and others ought to understand that that sort of behaviour will not be tolerated and people like you will go to prison.”

Yorkshire Post, 17 September 2011

To quote from the Facebook page of Yorkshire EDL Barnsley Division: “Our arguement is not against normal muslim people but extremists preaching hate on our streets/harbouring terrorists and encouraging the formation of an islamic state within our shores. Despite constant bad press claiming we are racist this is completely inaccurate….”

Vandals attack Bournville College building after mistaking it for a mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

ET080911GOLD-4.jpgA controversial new Birmingham college has been targeted by vandals after rumours swept the area that a golden-clad part of the building was in fact a mosque.

The principal of Bournville College which has had a £66 million revamp today angrily spoke out against the “myth” and said he was baffled as to how it had come about. Norman Cave said the gold-clad wing, on the corner of Longbridge Lane and Bristol Road South, in Longbridge, was a conference centre.

He said: “I have heard that there are people within the local community spreading the rumour around that this is in fact a mosque, categorically it never has been a mosque. It has gone through planning and planning clearly identifies it as a conference centre. It doesn’t even look like a mosque so how people are jumping to this conclusion I don’t really know.”

Mr Cave confirmed a window had been broken in the centre. He added the centre was important to the commercial future of the college, which opened this month as part of a £1 billion regeneration of the area. “It’s there to generate an income for the college and also provide a facility for the community as a whole,” he said.

A website run by the Kings Norton parish team referred to the “myth” of the Longbridge mosque. It links to a Facebook post which urges local people to quell the false report.

It said: “Since the rumour appeared, the building has been vandalised on several occasions. Panels have been ripped off and windows have been smashed. This is unlikely to be a coincidence. It is not a mosque. It is a business centre, as the Longbridge development’s publicity clearly shows. If you live locally and are able to combat the rumour with the truth, please do so. Share, recommend or tweet this post. Talk to your neighbours and friends. You may help to prevent thousands of pounds’ worth of mindless damage.”

Birmingham Mail, 16 September 2011

Call for public inquiry into policing of Bolton anti-EDL protest

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Bolton anti-EDL protestA group of antifascist protesters are calling for a public inquiry into the policing of last year’s English Defence League rally in Bolton.

Justice4bolton claim Unite Against Fascism members, who were protesting against the EDL in Victoria Square last March, were “mistreated” by police. The group is now calling for a public inquiry into the policing of the event, with particular focus on the arrest of protestor Alan Clough.

Alan Clough, of Ainsworth Road, Radcliffe, was due to stand trial at Bolton Magistrates’ Court accused of threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour at the rally, but the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to proceed after viewing video footage of the rally. Justice4bolton alleges that the footage shows Mr Clough being pushed by police officers and hit on the head with a baton before being pushed to the ground and arrested.

An independent investigation into the day’s events, which is being led by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, is already underway, including the circumstances of Mr Clough’s arrest.

Justice4bolton also wants the government to create “enforceable procedures” on how to police protests and is asking the trade unions to fund their list of demands, or action plan.

Bolton News, 16 September 2011

Advice for the Met Police Commissioner

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Bernard Hogan-HoweBob Lambert, former head of Scotland Yard’s Muslim Contact Unit and author of the soon-to-be-published Countering Al-Qaeda in London: Police and Muslims in Partnership, has some advice for the new Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

Lambert urges Bernard Hogan-Howe “to be as tough on far right terrorism, political violence and intimidation as his predecessors have been on terrorism and political violence associated with al-Qaeda and fringe Muslim extremists”. With regard to the English Defence League, Hogan-Howe should “ensure that the group is treated as a threat to community safety, and repudiate colleagues and politicians who seek to excuse them”.

“Most crucially of all,” Lambert writes, “Hogan-Howe should be tough and brave in standing up to the Home Secretary in defending Muslim organisations and groups she has wrongly branded ‘non-violent extremist’. He should support his police chief in Tower Hamlets who hails the Islamic Forum Europe (IFE) stewards and youth workers in Tower Hamlets as outstanding partners of police. By the same token, courage should be displayed in defending the outstanding work of Muslims in London who have helped to tackle the threat of al-Qaeda influence.”

Excellent advice. We can only hope it is followed.

The Platform, 15 September 2011