Councillors who refused to honour a Royal Marine veteran at a meeting in Birmingham have been warned they will need “24-hour protection” unless they stand down.
A former soldier, who did not wish to be identified, claimed Respect Party representatives Salma Yaqoob and Mohammed Ishtiaq would require a round-the-clock guard unless they apologised for the snub at Birmingham City Council.
By Bob Pitt
The list of nominees for the National Secular Society’s “Secularist of the Year 2011” prize, due to be awarded at a £45-a-head dinner in London next month, is headed by Islamophobic “comedian” and UKIP supporter Pat Condell.
Though he failed to win it, Condell was nominated for the same prize last year, on the grounds that he had “for several years now risked his life by answering back to the rule of political correctness, the thoughtlessness of religion generally and the increasing threat of Islam in our society”.
Home Secretary Theresa May ought to ban tomorrow’s so-called “homecoming” demonstration in Luton planned by the English Defence League.
Whatever the weasel words of its spokesmen, EDL leaders know that the group’s events are always accompanied by racist abuse and attacks on places of worship and of minority ethnic communities.
The EDL may insist that its has a right to free expression, but the people of Luton have a right to go about their lawful business with being subject to insults and the possibility of assault.
Editorial in the Morning Star, 4 February 2011
The Telegraph has posted an interesting 2007 report from the US Embassy on developments at the North London Central Mosque in Finsbury Park. If he can take time out from his “secret mission” abroad, Andrew Gilligan should read it.
Well, that the headline to an article by Martin Bright in the Jewish Chronicle, reporting on recent developments in the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Islamophobia.
What actually happened was that two of the APPG’s officers – Chris Hopkins and Greville Janner – resigned their posts because they failed to get support for their attempt to remove ENGAGE from its position as the group’s secretariat. That attempt was reported by the JC in December under the headline “Anti-Islamophobia parliamentary group drop ‘Islamist’ secretariat”, with Bright informing his readers that the APPG had been “forced to end its partnership” with ENGAGE.
It’s also worth noting that Bright’s December report referred to ENGAGE as an “Islamist” organisation in quotes. In his latest report they have become “an Islamist group that backs Hamas”.
Bright and the JC evidently have a serious problem with accurate reporting when it comes to Muslim organisations.
Far-right activists from across Europe will join thousands of English Defence League supporters tomorrow for the biggest rally in the group’s 20-month history.
Police expect up to 7,000 demonstrators will descend on Luton, the Bedfordshire town where the EDL started in spring 2009, amid evidence of the group’s growing influence among young people.
The organisation has staged more than 30 protests since it was formed, many of which have been marred by Islamophobia, racism and violence.
This rally will see more than more than 25 coaches transport members to Luton from across the UK, with thousands more activists due to make their way by car or train. One EDL activist said 800 far-right supporters would be meeting at Kings Cross train station in London before travelling north.
UK-based members will be joined by activists from recently formed copycat “defence leagues” in Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands – as well as supporters of more established far-right groups from France, Germany and Denmark.
Nick Lowles, from the anti-racist campaign group Hope not Hate, said the presence of these groups underlined the EDL’s growing international links.
“The significance of the EDL marching in Luton extends way beyond our shores,” said Lowles. “Across Europe and in North America anti-Islamic groups are watching the EDL with interest, increasingly copying their tactics, even replicating their name. The attendance of so many international supporters is testament to the EDL’s role in the international anti-Islam movement.”
Details of the Unite Against Fascism counter-demonstration can be found here.
Fire crews are tackling a blaze at Shotton Lane Social Club and about 100 people have been evacuated from their homes.
North Wales Fire and Rescue Service said properties around the fire were evacuated after the alarm was raised shortly after 4am, and residents have been moved to Deeside Leisure Centre in Queensferry. Firefighters from Deeside, Flint, Mold, Rhyl, Holywell and Wrexham were called out.
Flintshire Muslim Cultural Society is trying to raise £150,000 to buy the Shotton Lane Social Club and turn it into an Islamic centre. The plans have provoked strong protests and about 100 members of right-wing group the English Defence League marched through the streets of the town last month to voice their opposition.
ENGAGE has the details.
Update: A contemptible Lib Dem councillor named Martin Mullaney posted the following disgraceful comment at a online discussion forum:
“I can only assume that if one of the failed 21/7 London suicide bombers had been in the Council Chamber last Tuesday, Cllr Yaqoob would have been demanding the Council applaud the failed suicide bomber for their past ‘heroic actions’.”
In an interview with the BBC, Mullaney said he stood by his comments.
Writing on his National Interest blog, former CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar offers an informed counter-argument to the Ikhwanophobia sweeping the US right.
An historic Flintshire institution has condemned protests against plans to build an Islamic cultural centre in Deeside.
Gladstone’s Library in Hawarden has voiced its support for the Flintshire Muslim Cultural Society’s plans to set up the centre at the former Shotton Lane Social Club, which has been empty since it closed in August.
The proposals have been strongly opposed in some quarters, and more than 100 activists from far-right group the English Defence League marched through Shotton last month to protest against the plans. The British National Party is also against the proposed facility, which the FMCS says will benefit the whole Deeside community.
Gladstone’s Library warden the Reverend Peter Francis condemned the protests. “This was an invasion of a few political extremists,” he told the Chronicle. “Provoking community tensions in Shotton is an ugly smear on the reputation for warmth and hospitality that the Welsh deserve.”
The Rev Francis remains hopeful people will show support for the plan. He said: “It will take more than this to cause real division, and I am confident that local people will stand up in support of their Muslim neighbours.”
The Rev Francis said the library has recently launched its “Islamic Faith & Culture Project” to promote Christian-Muslim understanding. “It is precisely events such as this protest that prove the need for inter-faith and inter-community projects,” he said.
The Rev Francis added: “This library was set up by William Gladstone as a resource for those who value knowledge and understanding over ignorance and victimisation. And we embrace unreservedly the meeting of faiths and cultures both within our walls, and within the wider community.”