Category Archives: UK

EDL thug who hurled fire extinguisher at police jailed for 31 months

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ashley Rowland, James Cocks, Melvyn Parker and Jason Harris
Clockwise from top left: Ashley Rowland, James Cocks, Melvyn Parker and Jason Harris

An English Defence League supporter who hurled a fire extinguisher at police officers at “almost point blank range” as violence flared in Birmingham has been jailed.

Ashley Rowland was among up to 300 people involved in bloody clashes with police during a demonstration in the city centre on July 20 last year. Thirty officers were injured with one needing hospital treatment.

Judge Richard Bond said Rowland was the most heavily-involved of more than 50 defendants due to be sentenced over the violence and had moved between various pockets of trouble.

He chanted racial and anti-religious slogans with others and aggressively confronted officers in Centenary Square.

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Birkbeck College buckles to far right, cancels Islamophobia Conference booking

Posted on by Bob Pitt

IHRC logoAn academic conference tackling the alarming rise in Islamophobia in the UK has had to be relocated after the London University College hosting the event gave in to far right Islamophobes threatening to demonstrate outside the venue.

Birkbeck College has withdrawn the go-ahead it originally gave for the conference organised by the Islamic Human Rights Commission citing its inability to arrange sufficient security in time for the event this Saturday. The conference will now be held at an alternative venue.

The turnaround came after calls were made on social media by Britain First, a xenophobic far right group which styles itself as the ‘British Resistance’, to demonstrate at the event. Britain First is being supported by another extreme right wing group, Casuals United, an alliance of football hooligans from various clubs, formed to tackle what they see as growing Muslim influence in Britain. In recent months the groups have adopted a policy of using bullying tactics to force venues to cancel Muslim-organised events and intimidate Muslim communities.

On Wednesday, IHRC staff who were on a routine site visit were dragged by college officials into an impromptu meeting to discuss the far right calls in which they were surprised to find local council PREVENT officer already in attendance. PREVENT is a key plank of the government’s CONTEST strategy which seeks to combat terrorism and is directed almost exclusively at Britain’s Muslim community. IHRC sees little reason for a council officer to be involved in a private matter between itself and the college. It seems odd that instead of tackling the immediate threats to a legitimate and peaceful event, the College appeared to be more interested in using the issue as an excuse to involve anti-extremism and radicalisation officials.

In fact during the meeting both parties seemed to be more worried about the prospect of a counter-demonstration by an anarchist and anti-fascist student group. The police involvement has also fallen a long way short of what is required. We find it hard to understand why local police were only in contact with the College about the event and did not see fit to discuss matters with IHRC until after Birkbeck College’s decision to cancel.

While IHRC believes that the safety of everyone is paramount it is not justifiable to allow threats and intimidation by a tiny minority to disrupt the normal flow of everyday life. The College has clearly bowed to Islamophobic pressure and may even have Islamophobic motives itself for cancelling the booking without sufficiently exploring other security options. The College even rejected IHRC’s offer to arrange its own security for the event.

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Man convicted over Islamophobic spitting incident in Bristol

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Hasina KhanA Muslim woman who was spat at during a racist rant in Cabot Circus has spoken of her shock at the people who turned a blind eye.

Jack Hughes, 26, of Upton Road, Bristol, was fined £336 for assault at a court hearing this week for his attack on Hasina Khan.

As reported by the Bristol Post when it happened in July, Hughes spat on her hand and hijab head dress while launching into an Islamophobic rant.

Hasina issued an passionate plea for help to track down the perpetrator through this newspaper.

Following his conviction, which includes 120 hours of community service, she said: “It is my body and if I chose to cover it that’s my decision. There are lots of beautiful women who chose to cover their bodies and they should not live in fear of being attacked.

“What is frightening is that a small woman was attacked by a male in broad daylight in a public place, there were many onlookers who turned a blind eye and who did not even approach the woman to ask if she was okay. That is a very bad snapshot of society.

“I hope other women come forward and report the attacks they have experienced.”

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English Defence League DJ taken off air by police raid

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Davey Russell crusader photoshopA far-right shock jock operating a pirate radio station out of house in Herne Bay has been raided by police.

Officers burst into Davey Russell’s detached home near the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital. Broadcasting and communications watchdog Ofcom led the raid, which saw radio equipment removed from the house.

Russell, 44, is a leading member of the English Defence League (EDL) and runs what he calls an internet talk/rant show on his station Motiv8 Radio.

In a camera rant on his Facebook page following his arrest, Russell says strange lines and messages began appearing on his computer in the days before his arrest. “I am being severely looked at,” he says. “It’s not good people. Something has got to be done. Do you understand? Something has got to be done.”

Russell also tells his 3,500 followers that 14 police officers and five Ofcom officials came to his house while he was in bed and seized equipment, including a mixer, a hard drive, a computer and a transmitter with a reach of five miles.

“This has all but wiped me out,” he says. “It was overkill. This is not a big outfit, but it’s something we have to suffer. We are not earning money out of it. I might just get a slap on the wrist and get the kit back, most of which is my disabled son’s. But this has been an attempt to silence us.”

Ofcom and Kent Police say the raid was carried out because Russell, a married father-of-two, was suspected of breaching section 35 of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006. The section of the Act relates to installing, using or establishing a station for wireless telegraphy without a valid licence.

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Extremist who attacked George Galloway is jailed for 16 months

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Neil Masterson

A man who attacked the Respect MP George Galloway in a London street has been jailed for 16 months.

Drug addict Neil Masterson, 39, left the pro-Palestine MP for Bradford West with cuts and bruises to his head and ribs and requiring hospital treatment after the frenzied assault in Notting Hill in August.

Masterson, who was wearing a pink t-shirt with an Israeli Defence Force logo when he was arrested nearby, told police he felt “morally justified” in attacking the MP because he was a “Nazi” with a “shameful” attitude towards Jews, Isleworth Crown Court heard.

Galloway, the court heard, believes he would have been killed if Masterson, who had “recently undergone a conversion towards Judaism”, had been armed with a knife during their chance meeting.

Masterson, of Kensington, who used to work for the Department of Work and Pensions and as a manager at the BBC, had previously admitted assaulting Mr Galloway and a second charge of common assault against a man who had been posing for a picture with the MP as the attack happened.

Judge Aidan Marron QC told the clean-shaven and smartly suited Masterson: “While you are no longer facing a charge of religiously aggravated assault, it would be unreal to ignore that the motivation for this … was your profound hostility to Mr Galloway’s views.”

He added that Masterson’s “loathing” of Galloway was manifested by what he did at the start of the assault and said afterwards in interviews.

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Disabled EDL supporter who burned a copy of the Koran jailed after battling police while on crutches

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Joshua, Hill, Harrington and Beebee
Clockwise from top left – Lee Joshua, Jake Hill, James Harrington and Adam Beebee

A disabled English Defence League supporter who posted a picture of himself burning a copy of the Koran on Facebook has been jailed after he battled with police while still on crutches.

Right winger Lee Joshua got involved in clashes with police while on a protest rally where officers were pelted with paving slabs and bottles. Joshua, 43, of Netherton, West Midlands, claimed to have “enjoyed every minute” of violent scenes which left 30 police officers injured. He was sentenced to 16 months at Birmingham Crown Court today.

The court heard that a Muslim prayer cap and a Pakistani flag were set on fire in the street during the disorder in July 2013. Around 200 EDL supporters were involved in the violence in the Broad Street and Centenary Square areas of Birmingham, which lasted for around two hours.

Joshua, said to have been at the fore-front of attempts to break through police lines, was sentenced alongside fellow EDL supporters Jake Hill, James Harrington and Adam Beebee.

Passing sentence on the men, who all admitted violent disorder, Judge Richard Bond said much of the conduct seen at the EDL rally had been “plainly racist and/or anti-Muslim”. The judge told them:

“There were seven separate sites where violence was either used of threatened. Even officers trained for public disorder and who have experience of such situations told both juries (in earlier trials) how scared they were of what was taking place. They had not seen aggression like this before despite their experience.”

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The Sun exposes Britain First

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jayda Fransen abuses worshippers at Gillingham mosque
Britain First deputy leader Jayda Fransen abuses worshippers outside Gillingham mosque last month

It is of course the case that the mainstream right-wing press has played a major role in whipping up the atmosphere of Islamophobia that has allowed far-right anti-Muslim hate-groups to flourish. Nevertheless, yesterday’s Sun featured a very effective exposé  of Britain First. You can read it here.

The report is based on an interview with Matthew Lester, the former BF member who to his credit recently broke with the organisation and visited a mosque in Crayford that had previously been the victim of BF harassment in order to apologise.

Matthew Lester’s message is clear – Britain First is a would-be paramilitary organisation that represents a significant threat to community cohesion and “has to be stopped”.

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‘Shame on you for hosting racist speaker!’ PSC protest against Sussex Friends of Israel

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Brighton PSC protest against Mordechai Kedar (2)30 anti-racist and feminist demonstrators braved freezing temperatures last night to express their anger and indignation after local Zionists failed to cancel a talk by Mordechai Kedar. Kedar is an Israeli lecturer with an appalling record of racist and misogynist views.

Despite cancellations of many of his other UK speaking engagements at synagogues and Jewish schools, following publicity about his outrageous statements, Sussex Friends of Israel provided him a platform at Ralli Hall in Hove.

This is perhaps not surprising, in view of SFI’s consistent record of unquestioning support for Israeli apartheid. What is puzzling is the failure of the Home Secretary, Theresa May, to deny Kedar entry to the UK. She has frequently exercised her power to exclude Palestinian visitors who posed far less of a threat to community relations.

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