Category Archives: UK

‘Fierce public opposition’ to expansion of Muslim burial ground

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Waltham Forest Muslim Burial TrustWaltham Forest’s Muslim burial ground will see two new buildings and a new carpark constructed despite fierce public opposition.

Dozens of angry residents packed the public gallery at last night’s (Tuesday) planning meeting. They voiced concerns over the disturbance that could be caused by the new buildings, which include a hall for funeral services, as well as a new 82-space carpark.

Concerns were also raised over the number of amendments made to the application since 2007 as well as the possible risk of flooding on the site. But the Environment Agency has said it is satisfied the flood risk has been resolved and officers insisted changes to the application were minor.

Run by the Waltham Forest Muslim Burial Trust, permission had already been given to extend the burial ground but was halted by a Sport England project. Cllr Midge Broadley said: “That permission still remains. To me, it’s quite obvious it will need service facilities. Most cemeteries have a carpark, so the principle of a carpark has got to be accepted.”

Officers also deemed the new use of the site to be in keeping with its status as green belt land. Permission has now been granted on the condition the new buildings are sustainable and energy efficient.

Waltham Forest Guardian, 30 September 2009

Posted in UK

Calling the EDL what it is

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Luton riotNick Lowles of Searchlight reports that he has been inundated with indignant emails from English Defence League supporters objecting to his description of them as “hooligans”. Perhaps Nick should be grateful they’re not threatening to take him to court for libel. But his reply to the EDL’s complaints is spot on:

“Nearly all their key people are football hooligans – many with related convictions and banning orders. Most of the people they are mobilising around the country are from the football hooligan networks. I do not call the EDL a fascist organisation because it is not (though this doesn’t make any less dangerous and of course there are many active fascists within it and at a senior level) but organically linked and driven by football hooligans it is. I should also add racist and Islamophobic as well.”

Hope Not Hate blog, 30 September 2009

Certainly a more accurate understanding of the character of the EDL than that shown by the Metropolitan Police Commissioner.

Scottish Defence League demo opposed by police

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Scotland’s largest police force has promised to “oppose” a demonstration by anti-Muslim extremists if the event is intent on stirring up racial hatred. It is the SDL’s intention to hold a demonstration in Scotland on November 14 that is worrying local authorities, police and community activists.

Authorities believe the SDL has earmarked George Square in Glasgow or land near the city’s sheriff court building as possible locations for the demonstration. The latter venue is close to Glasgow Central mosque, a focal point for Strathclyde’s 30,000 Muslims. Another option being considered for the protest, according to websites used by EDL supporters, is the Hillhead Tavern in Kilmarnock. Al-Huda Educational Society of Kilmarnock has hopes of buying the pub and turning it into Ayrshire’s first mosque.

However, the Sunday Herald understands that Strathclyde Police are ready to oppose any application for a rally that stirs up racial tensions. Inspector Brian Gibson reportedly told a public meeting in Glasgow last week that such a proposal would not be welcomed by his force.

Groups need a local council’s permission if a rally requires the use of a “public space”, such as George Square, or if a procession involves road closures. It is at the point of a formal application that a police force can advise a local authority on whether an event should take place.

Osama Saeed, chief executive of the Scottish Islamic Foundation, said: “We congratulate Glasgow City Council and Strathclyde Police for the stance that they’ve taken on the SDL. The likelihood is, though, that even if banned there will be an illegal protest. We have to be ready for that. Some sort of action against this protest is inevitable and necessary, though it is essential that it is peaceful.”

A police spokesperson said: “A police officer in attendance at the [public] meeting stated if an application was received from a group whom we believe were intent on causing racial hatred on the streets, then Strathclyde Police would oppose it.” A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said he was not aware of an SDL application having been made yet.

Sunday Herald, 27 September 2009

Continue reading →

EDL not extreme rightwing group, claims Met commissioner

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The significance of the far right should not be “overplayed” after clashes between anti-Islamic groups and Asian youths, the head of Scotland Yard warned on Thursday.

Far-right protests in Birmingham, Luton and Harrow had caused distress to Muslim communities, said Sir Paul Stephenson, commissioner of the Metropolitan police, “and I anticipate further problems”.

But he said: “We’ve got to be very careful to keep the problem in context and not to overplay [the far right’s] significance and give them an oxygen that serves their purpose.”

Sir Paul told the Metropolitan Police Authority the EDL and Stop the Islamisation of Europe were not viewed as extreme rightwing groups and could not be barred from protesting under the law that bans incitement to racial hatred.

Financial Times, 25 September 2009

What Stephenson told the MPA, in response to a question about the SIOE/EDL demonstration against Harrow Central Mosque, was that the EDL “per se are not viewed as an extreme right wing group in the accepted sense and have the right to protest”.

Board of Deputies and CST call on government to boycott MCB

Posted on by Bob Pitt

In a joint statement to the Department of Communities and Local Government, the Board of Deputies and the Community Security Trust have demanded that the government must make any future engagement with the Muslim Council of Britain “contingent on them representing a greater range of views than those of the Islamists, and firmly rejecting violence in all circumstances, including in overseas conflicts”.

Jewish Chronicle, 24 September 2009

See the reponse by ENGAGE, who write:

“We wonder what the BoD would think if UK Muslims were to write to the CLG demanding that the government break off relations with them until they represent a wider base of British Jewish opinion than they currently do as a condition to government engagement with it? And what if the MCB were to lambast the BoD leadership as ‘Zionist’, in the same way that the BoD calls the MCB’s views ‘Islamist’? …

“During Israel’s criminal aggression against Gaza – now widely recognised as war crimes – the BoD supported a rally in Trafalgar Square in support of Israel. The question to be asked now is whether, given the extensive documentation (Breaking the Silence, Amnesty International, UN) of Israeli war crimes in Gaza, the BoD itself should be critiqued for its allegiance to a state guilty of perpetrating them?”

Update:  See also ENGAGE’s letter to the JC.

Sun apologises to Ummah.com

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Extremist threat to UK Jews“Our story on January 7 about a ‘hit list‘ of top British Jews on the website Ummah.com was based on claims by Glen Jenvey who last week confessed to duping several newspapers and Tory MP Patrick Mercer by fabricating stories about Islamic fundamentalism. Following Mr Jenvey’s confession, we apologise to Ummah.com for the article which we now accept was inaccurate.”

Sun, 23 September 2009

See also the Guardian and the report by the Press Complaints Commission.

Muslim teenager was killed in ‘drunken racist attack’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Mohammed al-MajedA teenage Muslim student was killed after he and his friends were attacked by a gang of drunken racist thugs, a court heard yesterday.

Mohammed al-Majed, 16, suffered serious brain injuries when he was punched in the face by George Austin. The blow sent him flying and he hit his head on the road.

Al-Majed, who was days from returning to Qatar after studying English here, was chatting with fellow foreign students outside a kebab shop when a group of young white men and women allegedly began taunting them.

Paul Rockett, 21, allegedly took a drunken swing at Mohammed’s 17-year-old black friend Peter Henworth after demanding: “Where are you from?” His attempted punch missed and Peter fled – as one thug yelled: “Come back here, you n****r,” the court was told.

Rockett and Quinn later told police that Mohammed’s friends had started the midnight fracas and claimed the students were a gang who were “trying to turn all the kids into Muslims”.

Daily Mirror, 22 September 2009

Update:  See “Man convicted of killing Qatari student”, Guardian, 16 October 2009

Damian Thompson on ‘the Islamic settlement of Britain’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Damian Thompson 2Torygraph blogs editor Damian Thompson offers his thoughts on the demolition of the migrants’ camp in Calais:

“How interesting that French police waited until the end of Ramadan before forcibly dismantling the Calais ‘jungle’. That tells us something we really need to remember about a huge proportion of the illegal immigrants seeking to enter Britain: that they are pious Muslims.

“Note that there was a bigger fuss about the taking down of the mosque than there was about the removal of the makeshift houses. And note, too, that the refugees declared their determination to enter Britain (‘nothing will stop us’) almost in the same breath as their devotion to their place of worship.”

Thompson observes resignedly that he’ll “no doubt be accused of Islamophobia”. But that would be unfair. He isn’t some bigot who thinks Muslim migrants are all potential terrorists, he explains. He’s just against them because … well, because they’re Muslims.

SIOE plans to return to Harrow Central Mosque to protest

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Stephen GashAn anti-Muslim group forced to call off a 9/11 protest in Harrow for fear of violent reprisals is planning to return if it can raise 2,000 supporters.

Stop the Islamisation of Europe had planned to demonstrate against Islam outside Harrow Central Mosque on Friday, September 11, but was forced to abandon the demonstration because of police fears of a riot in the streets of Wealdstone.

A handful of supporters who did turn up were chased away by hordes of predominantly Asian men, some wielding sticks as weapons, who had broken away from more than 1,000 pro-Mosque supporters who had gathered outside Harrow Central Mosque, in Station Road.

However, Stephen Gash, the SIOE organiser, told the Harrow Times he was thinking of organising another demonstration in Harrow, and a message has been posted on the group’s website confirming it will return if 2,000 people pledge to turn up.

Mr Gash said 60 people had traveled to Harrow on September 11, and insisted they had a right to protest against what he claimed was totalitarian mosques preaching Jihad.

The first protest was widely condemned by leading members of the Harrow community, but police have conceded they have no powers to ban a lawful and peaceful protest.

Harrow Times, 22 September 2009

Before you get too worked up about Gash’s threat, bear in mind that when this pathetic little man organised his “Stop Kuffarphobia” demonstration in London two years ago he told the police he expected a thousand protestors to join him. The actual attendance was variously estimated at between 15 and 30.