Category Archives: UK

‘Peacefully protesting against Newport County’ – Stephen Lennon convicted of leading street brawl

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Stephen Lennon arrestedThe founder of the English Defence League has been convicted of leading a street brawl with 100 football fans.

Stephen Lennon, 28, shouted “EDL till I die” and encouraged fellow Luton Town supporters when they clashed in the town with Newport County fans on 24 August last year.

Lennon, a father of three from Luton, was sentenced to a 12-month community rehabilitation order, 150 hours of unpaid work and given a three-year football banning order. He was also ordered to pay £650 in costs. He was charged with using threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour and accused of leading Luton’s hooligans into a fight.

He denied the charge but was convicted after a trial at Luton and South Bedfordshire magistrates court. Outside court he said he was being persecuted for his rightwing beliefs. “I am being done for what I am saying rather than what I am doing,” he said. “In the last 12 months I’ve been banned from protesting, going to the football and my assets have been frozen. It is a police state.”

Lennon was at the front of a large group of fans and was seen provoking opposition fans by gesturing and swearing at them. A terrifying scene unfolded with masked fans fighting, launching bottles and other missiles including a car roof rack.

A car windscreen was smashed during the battle as only seven police officers struggled to separate the sides. PC Robert Field described the scene as “incredibly intimidating” to members of the public and said it was “clearly going to get out of control”.

Lennon, who has previous convictions for assault, possession of cocaine and disorderly behaviour, shook his head upon hearing the verdict.

Guardian, 25 July 2011

More on Breivik’s links with the EDL

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anders Behring Breivik had extensive links to the far-Right English Defence League, senior members of the group have admitted.

Breivik was understood to have met leaders of the EDL in March last year when he came to London for the visit of Geert Wilders, the Dutch Right-wing politician. Daryl Hobson, who organises EDL demonstrations, said Breivik had met members of the group. Another senior member of the EDL said Breivik had been in regular contact with its members via Facebook, and had a “hypnotic” effect on them.

Breivik wrote of having strong links with the EDL, saying he had met its leaders and had 600 EDL members as Facebook friends.

Mr Hobson said in an online posting that: “He had about 150 EDL on his list … bar one or two doubt the rest of us ever met him, altho [sic] he did come over for one of our demo [sic] in 2010 … but what he did was wrong. RIP to all who died as a result of his actions.”

Another senior member of the EDL, who spoke to The Daily Telegraph on condition of anonymity, said he understood Breivik had met EDL leaders when he came to Britain to hear Wilders speak in London last year.

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York: police call for extra security measures to defend mosque from attack

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Police have called for extra security measures to be included within plans for a new £2 million mosque in York because of concerns it could be a magnet for yobs.

The York Mosque and Islamic Centre is aiming to replace its current building in Bull Lane, which has been in use for more than 25 years, with a new structure to allow it to cater for the growing demands of the city’s Muslim community.

The building would include two minarets either side of a central dome, as well as a prayer hall, library, classroom and indoor community hall. City of York Council is expected to make a decision in October.

But North Yorkshire Police, which has been consulted on the scheme, says the mosque would have a “high risk factor” and the applicants should look at shielding its windows through grilles or sheeting, as well as considering raising the height of a fence at the front of the site and installing better lighting in its parking area.

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Norway: how the ‘experts’ at Quilliam helped to stoke fears of Islamist terrorism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Sun wasn’t alone in jumping to the immediate conclusion that “Islamist fanatics” were behind the terror attacks in Norway.

A piece by Jerome Taylor in the Independent, headed “Analysis: Jihadist networks have long singled out Norway”, stated:

Jihadist networks have long singled out Norway as a legitimate – if low priority – target. As early as 2003 al-Qa’ida’s then number two and now leader Ayman al-Zawahiri specifically called on militants to attack the country in an audiotape condemning the invasion of Iraq. Norway also continues to have a small contingent of troops in northern Afghanistan.

The source given to back up this speculation, which had no basis in any actual evidence that had emerged regarding the events in Norway, was Quilliam’s James Brandon, who was quoted as saying:

Norway is part of Nato’s mission in Afghanistan and as far as jihadists are concerned, any country involved in what they see as an illegal occupation of Muslim territory is a legitimate target.

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Nationalists pose bigger threat than al-Qaeda

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Al Jazeera has a piece by Bob Lambert analysing the terrorist attacks in Norway, placing them in the context of “a violent extremist nationalist milieu in Europe and the US, and its dramatic shift towards anti-Muslim and Islamophobic thought since 9/11”.

And see Ibrahim Hewitt’s article “Norway, Islam and the threat of the West”, also at Al Jazeera.

Harry’s Place and the English Defence League

Posted on by Bob Pitt

In response to comments by the Norwegian far-right terrorist Anders Behring Breivik that he both admired and had given advice to the English Defence League, Socialist Unity has pointed out that “the Islamophobia preached by this far right organisation is in tune with much of the Islamophobic propaganda that appears on Harry’s Place” and has reposted a screenshot of the EDL’s LGBT division recommending HP:

EDL and Harry's Place (1)

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London’s East End unites against EDL: rally Friday 29 July

Posted on by Bob Pitt

UEE logoUnited East End, a coalition of activists, trade unionists and community groups in Tower Hamlets, is organising an event on Saturday 3 September to celebrate the East End’s diversity and express its opposition to the racist English Defence League, which has announced plans to march on the borough that day.

UAF is supporting the United East End coalition and is calling on anti-fascists from across the country to come to Tower Hamlets that day and show solidarity with local people opposing the EDL.

United East End and UAF are also organising a public rally onFriday 29 July, 7pm, at the London Muslim Centre on Whitechapel Road, London E1 1JQ.

Speakers will include the Right Reverend Adrian Newman, the new Bishop of Stepney, in his first public engagement in the borough.

Last week Tower Hamlets council unanimously agreed to support a United East End petition signed by representatives from a host of local organisations including East London NUT, the London Muslim Centre, Neighbours in Poplar, Rainbow Hamlets LGBT community forum, Tower Hamlets Inter-Faith Forum, Tower Hamlets Tenants Federation and Tower Hamlets Unison.

We will be publishing more information on the Tower Hamlets demonstration shortly, including leaflets, petitions and details of organisations backing the anti-EDL event. In the meanwhile, click here to download a PDF of the press release issued by United East End and backed by UAF, Tower Hamlets Inter-Faith Forum and the borough’s No Place For Hate campaign.

UAF news report, 22 July 2011

Suspect in Norway terrorist attacks is Geert Wilders admirer

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anders Behring Breivik2As theories abounded early Saturday as to the group or person behind the deadly twin attacks in Norway a day earlier, investigators began to face the fact that they were likely dealing with a home-grown terrorist.

Key suspect Anders Behring Breivik – a blond, 6ft, 32-year-old Norwegian – was arrested after a gunman opened fire on a summer camp of students who had met to spend a long weekend discussing politics, playing football and enjoying music. The camp was organized by the Workers’ Youth League and was a meeting for young socialists.

Breivik was also believed to be linked to the explosions that ripped through Oslo earlier in the afternoon.

As police began searching the flat that he shares with his mother in a wealthy area of western Oslo a picture began to emerge of a loner with links to right-wing extremists and who had been well-educated and enjoyed hunting.

Breivik appeared to come from an affluent background, attending a middle-class secondary school in the city. Apart from a traffic conviction ten years ago he has no criminal record, according to a Norwegian newspaper. He completed a year of national service in the army.

Breivik had set up his own business, Breivik Geofarm, and a month ago had started to run an organic farm in Hedmark in eastern Norway. There he reportedly produced and stored fertilizers that he was able to use in explosives.

He was known to be active on the internet, expressing extremist Islamophobic views on forums and criticizing immigration policies.

He recently claimed that politics today was not about socialism vs. capitalism but nationalism vs. internationalism. He argued on a Swedish news website that the media were not critical enough about Islam and claimed that Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom in the Netherlands was the only “true” party of conservatives.

Newscore, 22 July 2011

A commenter at little green footballs has pointed out that Breivik is also a fan of Pamela Geller, whose blog Atlas Shrugs he has cited.

Update:  Breivik recommended other sites associated with the so-called counter-jihad movement, notably Jihad Watch, Gates of Vienna and the Brussels Journal. In December 2009 he wrote that he was working full time to promote the ideas of Islamophobes like Robert Spencer and Bat Ye’or.

He also wrote of his contacts with the English Defence League and Stop Islamisation of Europe and claimed to have given them advice on strategy. He attached importance to building “a Norwegian version” of the EDL to fight against anti-fascists and anti-racists.

Attempts to set up a Norwegian Defence League have been beset by problems, including accusations that the organisation had been “taken over by neo-Nazis“. It would be interesting to know what role if any Breivik had in this.

It was the Muslims wot done it – Sun’s knee-jerk response to terrorist atrocities in Norway

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sun Norway's 9-11 headline“NORWAY’s 9/11” – that was the headline in the first edition of today’s Sun, with the strap “‘AL-QAEDA’ MASSACRE”.

As we now know, far from being a member of Al-Qaeda, the individual charged with carrying out the terrorist attacks is an extreme right-wing Islamophobe, and his hatred of the governments and political parties whose immigration policies he holds responsible for allowing the “Islamisation” of Europe was evidently inspired by the “counter-jihad” movement promoted by Robert Spencer, Pamela Geller and their European counterparts.

However, even a physical description of Anders Behring Breivik could not shake the Sun‘s initial conviction that Muslims were behind the atrocities. The paper reported: “Cops fear Islamist fanatics were out to kill PM Jens Stoltenberg, who was due to visit his political party’s youth camp on Utoeya Island – where a man was arrested. Witnesses claimed the gun maniac was blond with blue eyes and spoke Norwegian – raising fears that he was a homegrown Al-Qaeda convert.”

Racist attack on Luton mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Madina Mosque Luton

Racist thugs vandalised a Luton mosque during the early hours of Friday morning. They spray painted “EDL” and a swastika – the symbol of Nazi Germany – on the walls, and smashed windows.

Imaam Shahid Ahmed from the Madina Mosque in Luton spoke toSocialist Worker about the attack.

“We locked up the mosque at 11.30pm on Thursday night, everything was fine. When I returned at 4am for morning prayers I found the windows smashed. The words ‘EDL’ were painted on both sides of the mosque and a symbol [swastika] was also painted on one wall.”

Bedfordshire police attended the scene and the council immediately removed the racist graffiti.

Shahid said that the racists who attacked the mosque are ignorant. “They have no understanding or respect for any religion,” he told Socialist Worker. “This is a place of worship. We live in a multicultural society. We have to respect each other.”

Dave Barnes from Unite Against Fascism in Luton went to the mosque to offer solidarity.

“The attack on the Madina mosque was exactly the same form ofattack we saw on homes in Bury Park the night after the EDL protest in February – windows smashed and EDL painted on the walls. It is clear who is behind the attack.

“We have to stand united against racism. This attack has made us even more determined to organise to get as many people as possible to Tower Hamlets on 3 September to take part in the national protest to stop the EDL marching through the heart of London’s Muslim community.”

Socialist Worker, 23 July 2011