Category Archives: UK

Is Terry Jones still coming to the UK?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Terry Jones cartoonWe know that Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center was originally invited to speak at the English Defence League’s Luton demonstration on 5 February, then disinvited when the EDL leadership belatedly woke up to his record of racism and homophobia, and that the National Front promptly stepped into the breach, denouncing the “utter cave in” by the “pro multi-cult EDL” and inviting Jones to speak at one of their own events. Meanwhile, home secretary Theresa May was reported to be “actively looking at” imposing a ban on Jones entering the UK.

Since then the NF have suggested that Jones may have pulled out of their event. But the “Stand Up America with Dr Terry Jones”Facebook page and the Dove World Outreach Center website state that Jones will address a National Front rally on 5 February, where he will “speak against the evils and destructiveness of Islam in support of the continued fight against the Islamification of England and Europe”. This would presumably be the NF’s Forty-fourth Anniversary Rally, which is to be held on 5 February somewhere in West Yorksire and is advertised as featuring “a surprise speaker from overseas”. And still no word from Theresa May on whether Jones will be allowed into the country.

EDL thugs banned from protests outside Birmingham

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Two English Defence League (EDL) thugs have been banned from joining protests outside Birmingham for 10 years.

Richard Price, 41, and Collum Keyes, 23, were the first members of the EDL to be issued with Asbos. The right-wing group, which says it is opposed to Islamic extremism, has sparked riots across the Midlands.

The Brummie pair previously pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct at a march and admitted threatening behaviour.

Sunday Mercury, 19 December 2010

See also BBC News, 17 December 2010 and Bucks Herald, 17 December 2010

Still, if they ever make it to New York for an SIOA protest, they can rely on Pamela Geller giving them a warm welcome.

And see “EDL protesters fined for threats to police”, Peterborough Evening Telegraph, 18 December 2010

‘Unsubstantiated’ – it should be Andrew Gilligan’s middle name

Posted on by Bob Pitt

ENGAGE reports that the Charity Commission has published the results of its investigation into Muslim Aid, and that it “found no evidence of irregular or improper use of the Charity’s funds or any evidence that the Charity had illegally funded any proscribed or designated entities”.

The investigation was prompted by Andrew Gilligan’s Dispatches programme broadcast in March this year. Needless to say, Gilligan is deeply unhappy that the Commission rejected his accusations against Muslim Aid as “unsubstantiated”. But you’d have thought Gilligan would be used to this sort of thing by now. Back in 2004 he was forced to resign from the BBC after the Hutton Inquiry found his accusations against Alastair Campell to be “unfounded”. And then there was Gilligan’s Evening Standard witch-hunt of Lee Jasper in the run-up to the May 2008 London Mayoral election. In July that year Boris Johnson’s Tory-dominated Forensic Audit Panel published its report which found that Jasper’s actions “did not breach any rules or protocols”. Are you beginning to see a pattern emerging here?

The only thing Gilligan seems to have learned from his sacking by the BBC was to frame his accusations in weasel words that would block a successful libel action by his victims. Hopefully that won’t be sufficient to prevent Muslim Aid suing him.

Update:  See also “Charity Commission rejects criticism over Muslim Aid investigation”, Third Sector, 20 December 2010

Arson suspected after fire at halal poultry factory in Preston

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Arson is the suspected cause of a serious fire at one of Europe’s largest halal-certified poultry processing facilities.

A spokesman or Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service told FoodManufacture.co.uk that crews attended Gafoor Halal Products on Fletcher Road, Preston in the early hours of Monday morning when the premises were locked up with no staff onsite.

“A couple of fire engines attended the site at 12.15am on Monday morning, and our crews were there about an hour,” he said. “About 100 wooden pallets (from a stack of 800) were damaged, and we suspect arson; that’s the route we’re going down via a joint investigation with Police.”

When the initial emergency call was made, the spokesman said that trees were engulfed behing Gafoor’s multi-million pound facility.

FoodManufacture.co.uk, 16 December 2010

‘Quilliam to close’ (and about time too)

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Writing at ConservativeHome, Paul Goodman claims that the Quilliam Foundation has had its Home Office funding withdrawn and consequently is “laying off some 80 per cent of its staff”. Shame it’s not 100 per cent is all I can say. Unfortunately, Quilliam are “still receiving some Foreign Office funding”, according to Goodman. Still, looking on the bright side, Goodman does state that the organisation is “effectively closing”.

Who told lies about the ‘March for Free Expression’?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

defenders of free expressionIn connection with the so-called March for Free Expression back in 2006 (it was in fact a poorly attended static demonstration in Trafalgar Square, the purpose of which was to defend the “freedom” of the right-wing Danish paper Jyllands-Posten to publish racist anti-Muslim cartoons) Harry’s Place informs us that “huge effort was put by the organisers into ensuring that Nazis did not attend”. Consequently, “when it was attacked by Bob Pitt, it was able to squash his lies”.

It would be interesting to know what this “huge effort” the MFE organisers made to deter the far right consisted of. The BNP made it clear in advance that they supported the MFE and intended to send a contingent from their front organisation, Civil Liberty, to the Trafalgar Square event – but, apart from indicating that they didn’t want the BNP joining them, the MFE organisers appear to have made no serious attempts to counter this. The BNP later reported that 40 of its members had participated in the MFE (out of a total attendance of about 300), and having witnessed the protest I can confirm that the fascists were allowed to distribute their literature unhindered in any way by the MFE organisers.

Some MFE supporters saw the presence of the BNP as a welcome sign of the political breadth of the protest. Johann Hari noted approvingly that “communists mingled awkwardly with fascists” in Trafalgar Square. Another MFE supporter wrote to Tribune rejecting the National Assembly Against Racism’s criticism of fascist involvement in the demonstration: “Everyone was welcome to the rally regardless of their political or other allegiance. That is exactly how it should be…. Free speech cannot be abandoned on the basis of demagogic ‘anti-racist’ demands from self-appointed groups.”

However, other MFE supporters adopted the position of denying that the BNP were there at all. Peter Tatchell, who is of course regarded as a bit of a hero over at Harry’s Place, assured Comment is Free readers: “Contrary to the lies and scaremongering of the far left, there was no BNP presence at Saturday’s rally.” Tatchell’s sidekick, Harry’s Place blogger Brett Lock, took the same line. “Fascists don’t believe in freedom of expression,” he wrote, “and thus were explicitly banned from the march.”

If Harry’s Place want to denounce people for telling lies about the March for Free Expression, they would be advised to look a little closer to home.

Racist vandals target Muslim graves in Leeds cemetery

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Harehills cemetery vandalisedA third attack on Muslim graves in a Leeds cemetery in nine months is being treated as “mindless racial vandalism” by police. Detectives probing the damage to 24 graves at Harehills Cemetery on Sunday night are now combing CCTV footage.

Numerous name plaques were ripped from grave marker posts and a headstone was pushed over. Other grave marker posts were pulled up and strewn about causing great distress to relatives and friends of the buried.

After the second attack on Muslim graves in September police installed covert CCTV cameras to deter further damage and that footage is being examined by North East Leeds CID and further forensic work carried out.

Yorkshire Post, 14 December 2010

The first attack on the cemetery took place in March this year.

Man charged with assault after Portsmouth mosque protest

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A man has been charged with assaulting a police officer during a demonstration outside a Portsmouth mosque. The protest was held at the Jami Mosque on 13 November in response to the burning of poppies by Muslims Against Crusades in London on Armistice Day.

Blaise Robert Silvester, 20, of Stubbington Avenue, is also accused of affray. He was bailed to appear before Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court on 29 December.

BBC News, 16 December 2010

Foreign policy, not Luton, is the problem

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Al-Abdaly grew up in Sweden. The Daily Express reports that there was ‘a shift in his personality after he left Sweden in 2001 at the age of 19 to study sports therapy in Luton’. It doesn’t seem to occur to them that the date – 2001 when the US invaded Afghanistan – might be more important than moving to Luton.”

Ken Olende in Socialist Worker, 14 December 2010