Category Archives: UK

East End declares unity against the EDL

Posted on by Bob Pitt

UEE logoHundreds of protesters stood in silence at a rally in East London last night with raised flowers to remember the 76 people killed in the Norway massacre by the self-confessed bomber Anders Behring.

The rally, calling for the Home Secretary to ban a proposed march by the English Defence League through Whitechapel, came at the end of a day when a delegation led by the Mayor of Tower Hamlets and the new Bishop of Stepney met the Norwegian ambassador and signed the Book of Condolence.

“I know the dangers of extremism has been in your minds in the aftermath of the horrors committed in Norway,” Mayor Lutfur Rahman told the 300-strong rally. “I know your heart will have been moved by the grieving of the Norwegian people. So I was proud and saddened to go to the Norwegian embassy with faith and community leaders to offer condolences and solidarity from the people of Tower Hamlets.”

He has written to Theresa May urging police to use their powers to stop the EDL coming to Whitechapel, adding yet more weight to calls for a ban from MPs, councillors, London Assembly figures and church leaders.

Norwegian trade unionists flew to London from Oslo to speak at the rally staged at London Muslim Centre along the Whitechapel Road – where the EDL plan to march on September 3.

The Bishop of Stepney, the Rt Rev Adrian Newman, in his first public engagement since his inauguration last Friday – ironically on the day of the Oslo massacre – was cheered when he told the rally: “I’ve already been criticised for standing shoulder to shoulder against fascism. But I stand with the people of the East End – this is no place for hate.”

East End Advertiser, 30 July 2011

See also Robert Lambert, “Londoners United Against the EDL”, Huffington Post, 30 July 2011

Update:  See “Hundreds pack East End rally in run-up to 3 Sept demo against EDL”, UAF news report, 30 June 2011

UEE rally July 2011

Lutfur Rahman joins calls to Home Secretary to ban EDL march

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Mayor of Tower Hamlets has tonight formally called on the Home Secretary to ban a proposed march through London’s East End by the English Defence League.

Lutfur Rahman has written to Theresa May urging police to use their powers to stop the EDL coming to Whitechapel on September 3, adding yet more weight to calls for a ban from MPs, councillors, London Assembly figures and church leaders.

“The EDL has a history of provocative marches in areas with large Muslim populations,” he said in a Town Hall statement. “They relish the opportunity to reap division on one of the most diverse communities in Britain and turning residents against one another.”

Mr Rahman claimed efforts to keep the EDL out “have not been helped by a handful of politicians and bloggers stoking the flames, seeking to paint Tower Hamlets as an ‘Islamic republic’ and its mayor as a ‘fundamentalist sympathiser’.”

He is speaking at a rally tomorrow evening at the London Muslim Centre in Whitechapel, calling for the EDL march to be stopped.

The mayor is joined on the platform by politicians of all parties and church leaders including the new Bishop of Stepney in his first public role since his inauguration last Friday. Anti-fascist campaigners from Norway are also flying to London to speak at the rally.

East End Advertiser, 28 July 2011

Update:  See also “EDL’s online links with Norway killer fuel calls to ban London march”, Guardian, 29 July 2011

Police probe EDL death threat to George Galloway

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Daryl Hobson with Stephen LennonA death threat to George Galloway is being investigated by police in London. Mr Galloway asked the Metropolitan Police to investigate after a threat was posted online by a member of the far-right English Defence League (EDL).

He contacted the police at Streatham near his south London home after a senior EDL member Daryl Hobson [pictured, with EDL leader Stephen Lennon], who has boasted of the group’s links with Norwegian killer Anders Breivik, posted a message reading “Kill George Galloway” on his own Facebook page. Mr Hobson, who organises EDL demonstrations, encouraged others to add comments. One claimed he would kill the controversial former MP.

Mr Galloway said: “This is a clear incitement to murder me and I have passed on, through my lawyer, my complaint to the Metropolitan Police. Hobson admits that the crypto-fascist EDL have had extensive links with Breivik so I would be mad not to take this threat seriously. I have, in the past, been attacked at a meeting by EDL thugs. But they will not silence me or anyone else campaigning against their vile, violent, racist methods.”

Officers from Streatham Police office visited Mr Galloway’s home yesterday and have arranged to interview him today. A Met spokesman confirmed that officers were investigating the internet threat.

The Herald, 28 July 2011

Update:  The EDL have issued a statement. Daryl Hobson is not and never was a senior member of the EDL, Stephen Lennon hasn’t a clue who he is, and he’s now been expelled.

South Shields man who waged hate campaign against Muslims is remanded in custody

Posted on by Bob Pitt

John WhiteA churchgoer who left pork products outside a mosque during a hate campaign against Muslims has been remanded in custody.

John White left rashers of bacon outside and other such products at worshippers’ homes.

Newcastle Crown Court heard despite the distress caused to the members of the Jam-E-Masjid mosque, chairman Mohammed Miah has told police he bears no grudge. Judge Christopher Prince said Mr Miah has shown “great humanity and sensitivity” in his attitude and should be commended for taking such a view. But the judge said White, who lives near the mosque and has attended a church in the same street for over 30 years, must remain in custody until he is sentenced in September.

White, of Homestall Close, South Shields, had been caught on CCTV carrying out the hate attacks in January and confessed when arrested. But when his case reached court he falsely claimed the police had forced his confession and pleaded not guilty. White was due to be tried by a jury but before the hearing started he informed his lawyers he would be changing his plea and admitted five charges of religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress.

Judge Christopher Prince told White: “These are very disturbing offences. You have committed offences that amount to a campaign which demonstrated hostility towards Muslims. Such foul discrimination is offensive to all right minded people, regardless of their religious beliefs.”

Stuart Graham, defending, said White has sought help with his mental health for many years and psychiatric evidence may be a feature of mitigation that could result in a non-custodial sentence. Mr Graham asked that White’s bail be renewed as there has been no further trouble since the incidents.

But the Judge refused and told White: “It appears to me there is a substantial risk you are, at the moment, in a volatile and unpredictable state of mind and it seems to me if you are suffering from a psychiatric disorder it would be rash of me indeed to release you back into the community when there continues a risk you might behave in this way or launch into another campaign.”

Northern Echo, 27 July 2011

See also Daily Mail, 27 July 2011

Posted in UK

Lennon’s lie exposed (but not by Jeremy Paxman)

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Daryl Hobson with Lennon and Carroll

One of the claims made by EDL leader Stephen Lennon (“Tommy Robinson”) in that appalling softball interview by Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight was that he knew nothing of Daryl Hobson, the EDL member who had revealed links between the EDL and Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik. Lennon dismissed Hobson as just some “random” member of the EDL’s Facebook page.

Unsurprisingly, given Lennon’s record of lying, it turns out that relations between Daryl Hobson and the EDL leadership were rather closer than that. Here, courtesy of Hope not hate and Expose, are photos of Hobson with both Lennon and EDL co-leader Kevin Carroll.

Continue reading →

EDL supporter: Breivik’s a ‘hero in the war on Islam’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL supporters on Facebook were confused over how to respond to the Norway atrocity.

“How sick are these animals to randomly shoot kids at a summer camp for christ sake,” said the EDL’s Facebook account. But this was before the real killer was known. Before long, there was a reappraisal of the slaughter.

The EDL Jewish Division, on learning that the summer camp had discussed Palestine before the attack, posted “Ah, that explains the man’s actions.” It added, “This exposes the scum for what they are!”

Another supporter, “Michelle Miley”, wrote: “gimme a break. anders is a hero in the war against islam”.

Continue reading →

Berlusconi ally praises Norway killer’s ideas

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Mario Borghezio
Mario Borghezio at a rally organised by the German far-right organisation Pro-Köln

An ally of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has triggered a storm of protest after he described as “excellent” some of Norwegian terrorism suspect Anders Behring Breivik’s ideas.

Mario Borghezio, a European Parliament member for the anti-immigration Northern League, said he agreed with Breivik’s “opposition to Islam and his explicit accusation that Europe has surrendered before putting up a fight against its Islamisation.”

Borghezio told the host of talk radio programme La Zanzara that he did not agree with Breivik’s use of violence, nor with the “Protestant” Norwegian’s “anti-Papist” stance. But he said that “some of the ideas (of Breivik’s) are good, in certain cases even excellent.”

The Northern League is the junior partner in Berlusconi’s conservative government.

The centre-left opposition called for Borghezio to resign from the European Parliament. “It is a matter of shame for all of us that a representative of the ruling coalition made apologetic remarks about one of the cruelest acts of terrorism,” said the Democratic Party’s David Sassoli and the Italy of Values party’s Niccolo Rinaldi, both European parliamentarians.

Times Live, 26 July 2011

Update:  See also “Ex-Berlusconi minister defends Anders Behring Breivik”, Guardian, 28 July 2011

Northern League MP and former minister Francesco Speroni is quoted as saying: “I’m with Borghezio. I don’t think he should resign. If [Breivik’s] ideas are that we are going towards Eurabia and those sorts of things, that western Christian civilisation needs to be defended, yes, I’m in agreement.”

Mad Mel and the Norway terrorist attacks

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Melanie Phillips Jihad in BritainThe Guardian reports that Melanie Phillips is outraged at the post by Sunny Hundal at Liberal Conspiracy which noted that her writings were cited by the Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik in his now notorious 2083 manifesto. “There are only two references to me or my work in its 1500 pages”, an indignant Phillips complains.

In reality, an entire article by Phillips is reproduced by Breivik. It takes up nearly three pages of his document. Now, bearing in mind that Breivik justified his massacre of young Labour Party members on the grounds that their party’s immigration policies and support for multiculturalism had opened the door to the “Islamisation” of Norway, what do you suppose was the subject of the article by Phillips that so impressed Breivik?

Continue reading →