Category Archives: UK

BNP protests after arrests

Posted on by Bob Pitt

BNP Burnley protestBNP supporters were demonstrating outside a police station after its members were arrested for stirring up racial hatred.

Four men were held this morning after a police investigation over the distribution of leaflets in Burnley, Lancashire, branding Muslims responsible for the heroin trade. Nick Griffin, leader of the far-right party, visited the town, to protest outside Burnley Police station at the “persecution” of its members arrested after “Gestapo-like dawn raids” by police.

Each of the leaflets features a harrowing photo of Rachel Whitear, 21, who was found dead at her flat in Exmouth, Devon, in May 2000, holding a syringe. The photo of Rachel made national headlines after her parents agreed for it to be released to warn other youngsters of the dangers of drugs. Rachel’s mother, Pauline Holcroft, 58, of Ledbury, Herefordshire, later said the leaflets were “insulting and offensive”.

The leaflet was distributed to homes in Burnley and is also reportedly circulating in other parts of Lancashire, Cumbria and Yorkshire. It says people should “heap condemnation” on Muslims and that it is time for them to “apologise” as it claims they are responsible for 95% of the world’s heroin trade.

The leaflets, which first appeared around March, were first distributed by a former BNP candidate, according to the party’s website.

Manchester Evening News, 19 November 2008

Update:  See also BNP report “BNP Men Questioned ‘After Pressure from Muslim Police Association‘”.

Mayor Johnson fails to condemn GPU smear by Policy Exchange

Posted on by Bob Pitt

MuradMurad Qureshi, member of the London Assembly, questioned the Mayor of London on the briefing circulated by Policy Exchange prior to the Global Peace and Unity event this year.

Murad asked: “In view of the warm welcome you sent to this year’s Global Peace & Unity Event at the Excel Centre, will you join me in condemning the irresponsible ‘briefing’ circulated by Policy Exchange which sought to associate this mainstream and well-attended event with extremism?”

Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, replied: “I am not aware of any such briefing, so I am unable to comment on it.”

The Mayor’s Director of Policy, Anthony Browne, and his Director of Arts, Culture and the Creative Industries, Munira Mirza, are both from Policy Exchange.

PX sought to discredit the hosting of the GPU this year and circulated a briefing note urging politicians and others to stay away. The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg MP, brought the briefing to light and wrote to Neil O’Brien, PX Director, criticising the organisation’s attempt to sully the reputation and intent of the GPU.

The Mayor’s response will seem unsatisfactory to many given the strong links between members of his administration and Policy Exchange.

ENGAGE, 19 November 2008

Children ‘bullied for their beliefs’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

BeatbullyingOne in four children with a religious belief is bullied at school as a result of their faith, research shows.

The findings have prompted anti-bullying campaigners to urge ministers to make it compulsory for schools to record all incidents of faith-based bullying, as they have to do in cases of racism and homophobia.

The survey of more than 1,000 pupils by the anti-bullying charity BeatBullying, showed that 23 per cent of the pupils were bullied as a result of their faith. In addition, 9 per cent of those with a faith were bullied as a result of wearing religious symbols to school. One 13-year-old Muslim girl said: “These two girls knew we were fasting, they got me in the toilets and tried to force crisps down my throat; they were all laughing their heads off.”

Independent, 17 November 2008

Read the Beatbullying Interfaith Report (pdf) here.

The report contains many other disturbing accounts of Muslim pupils being verbally abused and physically assaulted:

“They pushed me down the stairs, kicked me, dragged me by [my] hair, broke my tooth and hit me with a chair. They said my dad did 7/7.” (Jagatveer age 15)

“They would call me Paki, tell me to go back to Paki land and live with Osama.” (Mavish age 13)

“I got called a Paki and told that my religion was stupid.” (Jabeen age 12)

“Sometimes I hear boys laughing about bombs in Iraq. They do it in front of me, laughing that more Muslims have been blown up.” (Aruni age 13)

Still, not to worry – over at the National Secular Society website NSS president Terry Sanderson assures us that these are “claims to be read with a pinch of salt”.

Inayat Bunglawala – ally of al‑Muhajiroun

Posted on by Bob Pitt

More barking nonsense from David Toube of Harry’s Place at Comment is Free. Toube accuses Inayat Bunglawala of “rushing to the defence of the jihadists of al-Muhajiroun” in his recent CiF piece.

Toube continues: “In relation to my call to arrest those who are presently running al-Muhajiroun, Inayat states ‘it is not entirely clear what crime Choudhury is meant to have committed’. Let me help him out. In 2006, the government banned al-Ghurabaa and The Saved Sect, which is what al-Muhajiroun at that time called itself. They’re on the list of proscribed terrorist organisations. There is no difference between the personnel, the organisation, or the message of those groups, and ‘Islam4UK’. Indeed, the site gives Choudhury and Omar Bakri Mohammed’s phone numbers as contacts. There is no legal reason that Choudhury should not be arrested. He ought to be. I hope that he soon is.”

As AllyF points out in the comments:

“So David, you’ve now written two separate blog pieces saying that Choudhury should have been arrested for incitement and membership of a proscribed organisation, without presenting a single shred of evidence in your support.

“One of the legal problems with proscribing organisations like Al-Muhajiroun / Saved Sect is that they abolish themselves and reappear under different names. It doesn’t give the police the right to retrospectively arrest people for prior membership of now banned organisations.

“And several times now you have accused Choudhury of incitement to terrorism without producing a shred of evidence in support of the claim. I’m amused that you don’t intend to sue Inayat for libel. If I were you I would cling to hopes that Choudhury has similar intentions towards you, because accusing people of serious criminal offences without evidence can be an expensive business.”

Continue reading →

Man who firebombed community centre escapes jail

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A man who admitted firebombing a former Methodist chapel as it was undergoing conversion to an Asian community centre walked free from court yesterday.

Anthony Foster, 38, from Falmouth, and another unknown man threw bottles filled with flammable liquid through a window at the building at Quenchwell, Carnon Downs, near Truro. Magistrates in Truro yesterday gave Foster an eight-week suspended sentence for arson, which met with “disappointment” from the police officer in charge of the case who said he believed the incidents were racially motivated.

Speaking after the hearing, Insp Mark Richards from Truro police said he did not think the Asian community would be reassured by the magistrates’ actions. He added: “I’m disappointed with an eight-week suspended sentence. We were treating this series of offences as religiously or racially motivated. Foster has made limited admissions to the court. I don’t think the community are under any misapprehensions about the motivation for some of the attacks that have taken place at Quenchwell.”

The targeted building was being renovated and Foster was caught on CCTV set up by police after the site was previously attacked and racist graffiti painted on the walls. At a previous hearing, Foster’s defence barrister Michael Gregson said Foster was helping a friend who said he had a grievance with a builder working on the site. Foster was unaware of the building’s former status as a chapel or of its conversion to an Asian community centre.

The court was told the site was subjected to a number of vandalism attacks in June and July of this year. [See here, here and here.]

Insp Richards said he did not think the Asian community would be reassured: “At the end of the day, we are talking about someone who has thrown two petrol bombs into a premises without checking who or what is in there.” The inspector sought to reassure people in the Asian community that the police were continuing to do everything they could to investigate and prevent other offences.

Western Morning News, 12 November 2008

Anti-Semitism is ’embedded in many of the political manifestations of Islam’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Alasdair Palmer reviews Denis MacShane’s new book Globalising Hatred: The New Antisemitism:

“Anti-Semitism – virulent, violent anti-Semitism – is flourishing, principally because it is embedded in many of the political manifestations of Islam….

“If we are going to defend liberal values in Britain – if we are not to allow the ‘Endarkenment’, as MacShane calls the encroachment of fundamentalism – to erode the existence of a tolerant, secular society, then we have to fight bigotry, dogma and lies wherever they manifest themselves.

“Bigotry, dogma and lies are three of the essential planks of anti-Semitism in all its forms, and so long as radical Islam has anti-Semitism at its heart, it will be incompatible with any decent social order. That’s the message of MacShane’s book. I hope it is one that we all take to heart.”

Daily Telegraph, 13 November 2008

Plans for small Islamic centre threaten ‘traffic chaos’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Plans for an Islamic educational centre near Ardenham Street in Aylesbury have been welcomed by a district councillor despite fears the scheme will lead to traffic chaos.

Under the proposals, the currently disused industrial building at Friarage Works in Middle Lane would be turned into a religious centre which will teach up to 20 children in Islamic Studies, as well as help them with their English and maths skills.

Objections to the scheme focus on fears over increased traffic and parking problems in the area. Aylesbury Town Council’s planning committee said it felt the scheme would necessitate a residents’ parking scheme, and that during the winter months, parents dropping their children off at the centre would coincide with people coming home from work.

The Aylesbury Society also calls for the proposals to be rejected, claiming it would intrude on the amenity of residents living in homes backing onto the lane and causing access problems for emergency vehicles.

But Cllr Kevin Peters, district councillor for the Gatehouse ward, believes the scheme should be approved.

Bucks Herald, 13 November 2008

Posted in UK

Anti-Muslim bigot opposes … anti-Muslim bigotry

Posted on by Bob Pitt

No doubt the Muslim community can scarcely believe their good luck. Hard on the heels of Douglas Murray rallying to the defence of European Muslims, we now have David Toube (“liar, racist, buffoon” – Jews Sans Frontieres) taking a stand against “anti-Muslim bigotry”!

As we observed some time ago: “Anyone who reads his posts at Harry’s Place will know that David T has two faces. He tries to maintain the appearance of being a sensible, rational and liberal sort of chap (after all, the bloggers at Harry’s Place are the self-proclaimed defenders of Enlightenment values) but sometimes he seems to lose control, and this frothing-at-the-mouth anti-Muslim bigot bursts out – a sort of Islamophobic version of the Incredible Hulk.”

In the three years since then, the frothing-at-the-mouth side of Toube’s character has come to dominate his posts at Harry’s Place – to the point where you feel it’s almost redundant to attack him, as he does such an effective a job of discrediting his views himself. So it’s a bit of a surprise to see him resurrect his Mr Reasonable persona. Trust us, it won’t last.

Update:  How right we were. See Toube’s characteristically stupid rant against this perfectly reasonable piece by Sheikh Yasir Qadhi, whom Toube denounces as “utter scum” – a term that could far more appropriately be applied to Toube himself.

Journalists speak out against Islamophobia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Peter Oborne of the Daily Mail is on Saturday (November 15th) joining a platform of journalists and Muslim leaders in London to discuss media coverage of Islam in the context of the “war on terror”.

Investigative reporter Nick Davies of The Guardian has also been added to the bill and will speak alongside the campaigning Irish journalist Eamonn McCann.

Entitled “Under Siege: Islam, War and the Media“, the conference will bring together practising journalists from print and broadcast media to address concerns over standards of coverage.

David Crouch, chair of conference hosts Media Workers Against the War, said: “We’re delighted Peter Oborne and Nick Davies have agreed to join us on Saturday – it shows just how important the event is viewed in journalistic circles.

“A proper debate about reporting Islam is long overdue. Many leading journalists now acknowledge that too often our industry has resorted to crude stereotypes of Muslims that fuel racism and extremism.

“The election of Barack Obama as US president is a result of the rejection of war and racism on the part of millions of Americans. We need a full debate in Britain about how the “war on terror” has fuelled racism against Muslims.

“Amid all the current agonising about the BBC insulting individuals and sections of its audience, can there be any area more worthy of scrutiny than reporting Islam?

“This conference will set out the issues and debate how best to campaign to improve standards. It will seek to identify the main sources of Islamophobic bias as a first step to providing media workers with tools and resources for combating it.”

Writing recently, Peter Oborne said: “We think we should all feel a little bit ashamed about the way we treat Muslims in the media, in our politics, and on our streets. They are our fellow citizens, yet often we barely acknowledge them. We misrepresent them and in certain cases we persecute them. We do not treat Muslims with the tolerance, decency and fairness that we so often like to boast is the British way.”

MWAW press release, 12 November 2008

Engage writes to the Press Complaints Commission

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Poppies bannedENGAGE has sent a letter to the Press Complaints Commission concerning the headline in the Daily Star on 6 November, Poppies banned in terror hotspots. The letter states:

“The use of the term ‘banned’ in the headline is clearly inaccurate and misleading given that there is clearly no ban in operation at all. The headline obviously contravenes Clause 1 of the PCC’s Code of Practice.

“In addition, we would argue that the headline was designed deliberately to incite anti-Muslim prejudice – a practice that Richard Desmond’s papers seem to indulge in day in and day out, sadly without any censure from the Press Complaints Commission.”

The full letter can be read here.

ENGAGE, 12 November 2008