Category Archives: UK

BNP links with Scottish Defence League exposed

Posted on by Bob Pitt

SDL demonstratorsLinks between the BNP and the right-wing Scottish Defence League can today be exposed by the Sunday Herald.

Both groups have publicly tried to distance themselves from each other, with the BNP claiming it would expel members found to be active in the Scottish Defence League (SDL) and its English counterpart, the EDL.

But one long-standing BNP member in Scotland told the Sunday Herald the party and the SDL shared many members and supporters, adding that the threat of expulsion was merely “a publicity thing” designed to placate the media. He said: “I am a member of the BNP and a supporter of the Scottish Defence League. A lot of the supporters are the same.”

On the threat of expulsion, he added: “That is a publicity thing. We both have the same views on radical Islam and we both don’t want Sharia law in Britain. We created our group [the SDL] to support what was happening down south with the English Defence League. I couldn’t say that the SDL was set up by BNP activists, but I was one of the early ones to support it.”

The claim that the expulsion threat was a publicity stunt was dismissed as “preposterous” by the party’s national press spokesman, who questioned the authenticity of the member who made the allegation.

However, information gathered by David Miller, a professor of sociology at the University of Strathclyde and a co-founder of the campaigning website Spinwatch, alleges that at least three BNP members are also Defence League supporters.

One is BNP Scotland member John Wilkinson. He leafleted on behalf of the party in the run-up to the European Elections, and is involved with running the SDL website. SDL supporter Iain Brooks, from Glasgow, is also listed on a leaked BNP membership list. And Adam Lloyd, the BNP organiser for Bridgend in Wales, is another listed as an SDL supporter, according to Prof Miller.

Sunday Herald, 13 December 2009

SIOE Harrow protest: fifteen Islamophobes respond to Gash’s call

Posted on by Bob Pitt

SIOE Harrow

An anti-Islamic protest near a north-London mosque has passed peacefully with no arrests.

Fifteen members of Stop Islamification of Europe (SIOE) protested near Harrow Central Mosque against plans for a new mosque nearby. About 200 members of Unite Against Fascism also gathered but a large police presence prevented the groups approaching the mosque or each other.

Ahead of Sunday’s demonstration, SIOE said it planned a peaceful protest against the building of a five-storey mosque next to the Station Road mosque. Leader Stephen Gash previously said he would only organise a protest if 2,000 SIOE supporters pledged to turn up.

BBC News, 13 December 2009

Still, Gash can take consolation in the fact that the actual turnout was a mere 1,985 supporters short of that figure.

Update:  See UAF report.

Multiculturalism helps integration, report finds

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslims in EuropeMuslims in Britain are the most patriotic in Europe according to a new study. The report, funded by George Soros found that on average 78% of Muslims identified themselves as British. This compares with 49% of Muslims who consider themselves French and just 23% who feel German.

The findings, based on more than 2,000 detailed interviews, suggest that Muslims may be better integrated in Britain than in other parts of the European Union. The report will reopen the debate about the merits of multiculturalism, a policy that has been criticised as a barrier to integration by Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

France prides itself on its secular notion of citizenship and has banned Muslim pupils from wearing the hijab, or headscarf, in classrooms. Yet the study, by the Open Society Institute, found only 41% of Muslims in Paris see themselves as French.

The report also discovered that 55% of Muslims across the EU believe that religious and racial discrimination have risen in the past five years.

“There is a disturbing message that emerges from these findings,” said Nazia Hussain, director of the research project. “Even though Muslims overwhelmingly feel British, they’re not seen as British by wider society. That said … there has been a policy of trying to accommodate difference here and it appears to be paying off.”

Sunday Times, 13 December 2009

Terror police to monitor nurseries for Islamic radicalisation

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Nursery-age children should be monitored for signs of brainwashing by Islamist extremists, according to a leaked police memo obtained by The Times.

In an e-mail to community groups, an officer in the West Midlands counter-terrorism unit wrote: “I do hope that you will tell me about persons, of whatever age, you think may have been radicalised or be vulnerable to radicalisation … Evidence suggests that radicalisation can take place from the age of 4.”

The police unit confirmed that counter-terrorist officers specially trained in identifying children and young people vulnerable to radicalisation had visited nursery schools.

Times, 11 December 2009

Ken Livingstone speaks out to defend Harrow mosque from anti-Muslim bigots

Posted on by Bob Pitt

UAF Harrow Dec09

Ken Livingstone, chair of Unite Against Fascism and former mayor of London, spoke out today to condemn the anti-Muslim bigots who are threatening to march on Harrow Central Mosque this Sunday. UAF has called a solidarity demonstration on the day to defend the mosque, which was previously targeted by racists in September this year.

Livingstone said: “These protests and the ones by the English Defence League around the country are violent and overtly anti-Muslim. If anyone were to call a demonstration outside a synagogue or church this would rightly provoke a national outcry. There should be exactly the same response from the government, politicians, all religious faiths and the media to the call for a demonstration outside a mosque.

“The only possible meaning of this event is a protest against Muslims and Islam – a religion followed by more than a billion people across the world. People should wake up to the fact that these protests outside mosques are taking us back to the 1930s when fascist thugs marched against Jews and their places of worship. This demonstration should be condemned and banned on the grounds of being blatant religious discrimination and a threat to public order.”

Weyman Bennett, joint secretary of Unite Against Fascism, added: “Sunday’s anti-Muslim protest, the racist demonstrations by the English Defence League, and the rabid Islamophobia of the Nazi BNP are all linked together. We are seeing a rising tide of racism in society aided and abetted by fascist and Nazi groups. We have to take a stand against this poison that threatens our multiracial and multicultural society. That is why we urge all anti-racists to join the UAF solidarity protest in Harrow on Sunday.”

The UAF demonstration assembles at 12 noon on Sunday 13 December, outside Harrow Civic Centre on Station Road directly opposite the mosque (nearest tube: Harrow & Wealdstone).

UAF press release, 11 December 2009

Cameron’s accusations against Islamic school dismissed

Posted on by Bob Pitt

David Cameron’s allegation that a school was linked to Islamic extremism has been dismissed by authorities. Investigations by Haringey Council found no evidence of “inappropriate influence” at the Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation school, in Tottenham, north London.

The probe was launched several weeks before Mr Cameron attacked the Prime Minister during Question Time, claiming the ISF was an “extremist Islamist foundation” and was a front for radical Muslim group, Hizb ut Tahrir.

A spokesman for the authority said: “No evidence was found to suggest inappropriate content or influence in the school. The school is taking steps to make sure that pupils learn about different cultures and traditions, including joint work with a local Church of England primary school.”

Nursery funding for the school – which was suspended during the inquiry – has resumed, the spokesman added.

Press Association, 11 December 2009

Update:  See “Cameron stands by school claims”, Metro, 12 December 2009

Hizb ut-Tahrir barred from London university debate

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The University of London has cancelled the appearance of a speaker from an Islamic group that opposes democracy and integration into British society.

A representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir was due to appear at Queen Mary college in east London to debate Sharia law in the modern world. But the group was told it could not take part after students campaigned about its “blatantly aggressive” views.

The university’s union said the debate organisers acted to avoid controversy.

BBC News, 10 December 2009

Posted in UK

‘Open-minded’ non-Muslims reject Islamophobia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Almost two-thirds of Britons declared “no one religion is better or worse” when asked which faith they thought was “best” or “worst”. Of those who did name the “best” religion, 26 per cent chose Christianity, the Metro Harris Interactive survey revealed. In the 2001 census, 72 per cent of respondents described themselves as Christian.

The attacks on the US on September 11, 2001 and London on July 7, 2005 have had some impact on attitudes to Muslims. Fifty-six per cent admitted they had changed their attitude but a quarter of people said the atrocities had made them “more conscious of Islamic issues and points of view”. Just nine per cent said they had felt “nervous around Muslim groups” while only one per cent of people said they had changed seats or carriages on public transport.

Ramadhan Foundation head Mohammed Shafiq said it showed Britons were “open-minded”. “Most people are educated enough to know the difference between extremists and the vast majority of Muslims who believe violence is forbidden,” he said. “The key thing to overcome is ignorance. The nine per cent of people who are running scared of Muslims – how much interaction have they had with normal Muslims on a day-to-day basis?”

And Mr Shafiq stressed it was “not a big issue” for British Muslims to live in a “predominantly Christian” country. “We are a multi-faith society with Christianity as the dominant faith,” he added. “That’s our strength, that’s why the world wants to come to London.”

Metro, 7 December 2009

‘Hizb ut Tahrir: new tentacles spreading in London’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Andrew Gilligan joins the Centre for Social Cohesion in calling for a debate at Queen Mary, University of London between Hizb ut-Tahrir and Brendan O’Neill of Spiked to be banned.

Daily Telegraph, 8 December 2009

No doubt all those people who hopped up and down in indignation at the ban on Geert Wilders will now be rallying to the defence of HT and its right to free expression.

Muslim woman ‘abused’ over dress by Christian hotelier

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Free speech for Ben and SharonA Muslim woman was asked by a Christian hotelier if she was a terrorist and a murderer because she was wearing Islamic dress, a court has been told.

Ericka Tazi told Liverpool magistrates she faced a tirade of abuse from Benjamin Vogelenzang and his wife Sharon, at their hotel on Merseyside. She said it was because she was wearing a hijab head covering and gown.

Mr and Mrs Vogelenzang deny using threatening, abusive or insulting words which were religiously aggravated. Members of campaign group The Christian Institute demonstrated in support of the couple outside the court.

Mrs Tazi, who converted to Islam 18 months ago, spent a month at The Bounty House Hotel on Church Avenue, Aintree, Liverpool, while attending a course at Aintree Hospital. Prosecutor Anya Horwood told the court Mr Vogelenzang, 53, called the prophet Mohammed a “warlord” and likened him to Saddam Hussein and Hitler. And his 54-year-old wife told Mrs Tazi her Islamic dress represented “oppression” and was a form of “bondage”, the court heard.

Mrs Tazi had worn European dress during her four-week stay, but the row flared after she came down on her last day in traditional Islamic dress. She said Mr Vogelenzang asked her “Why are you wearing those clothes?” and began laughing at her, the prosecutor told the court.

Ms Horwood said the hotelier then began to discuss his Christian faith but became angry – at which point his wife joined in. Mrs Tazi walked away but was followed by Mr Vogelenzang, who was acting like “a whirling dervish”, repeatedly asking her if she was a “terrorist”.

Giving evidence, Mrs Tazi told the bench that dressing in her hijab seemed to “trigger something” in the hotelier. The 60-year-old, who suffers from fibromyalgia and lives with chronic pain, said: “He just couldn’t accept the way I was dressed. He asked me if I was a murderer, if I was a terrorist. I’m a 60-year-old disabled woman, I couldn’t understand where it was coming from, it was shocking to me.”

Mrs Tazi said Mr Vogelenzang followed her into the dining room “flailing” his arms and “jumping up and down”. She added: “Sharon came running in, she was shouting ‘you started this with your dress’ and she was pointing in my face and I was frightened at this stage. I was absolutely traumatised by it all.”

Guests at the hotel told the court that Mrs Tazi was left distraught by the row. Pauline Tait, 52, a committed Christian, described it as “a very upsetting and volatile exchange”. Another guest, Shirley Tait, said she was in her bedroom when she heard Mr Vogelenzang shouting the words “Nazi” and “warlord”.

BBC news, 8 December 2009

Cf. Christian Institute, 8 December 2009, Daily Mail, 21 September 2009 and BNP news report, 20 September 2009