Asylum seeker and baby sexually attacked in Glasgow

An Algerian woman and her one-year-old baby were sexually assaulted in broad daylight in Glasgow in a racially aggravated attack.

The 33-year-old woman was pushing her son in his pram through the Yoker area of the city when a group of young men threw stones at them and kicked the woman. One man then exposed himself, indecently assaulted the woman and attempted to perform an indecent act on the one-year-old boy.

The woman, who cannot be identified, had her headscarf torn from her head. She escaped by snatching her son from his pram and running away, leaving behind the pram, headscarf and a baby’s bottle.

She took her son to hospital and he was released later that day. Her son was assaulted but she rescued him before the man could commit any sexual act.

Police are appealing for the young men involved to come forward and identify the man who committed the assault. The suspect is described as a white male, aged 20 to 25, with very short hair, who is tall and thin. He was wearing white and blue track suit trousers.

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Downing Street unmoved by protests over ‘mega mosque’ petition

Number Ten Downing Street have refused to amend a petition on their website threatening “terrible violence and suffering” against Muslims. Scores of outraged members of the public emailed Tony Blair’s website manager after a petition was posted which predicted violence unless plans for a “mega Mosque” on the Olympic site in east London was dropped. No.10’s webmaster has so far not responded to Blink’s protest, but told a concerned reader Downing Street was powerless to change the petition’s wording once it had been accepted.

BLINK, 11 April 2007

Muslims poised to seize Somerset orchards

Over at the British National Party website, the fascists give a boost to their candidate for Yeovil Town Council, one Robert Baehr. In an attempt to provide a “progressive” cover for its racist programme, the BNP promotes Baehr as “a veteran environmentalist campaigner and former Green Party candidate”.

This is the same Robert Baehr who once explained to the Observer that he left the Greens because of their commitment to feminism and multiculturalism and because he was “worried that the orchard that he plans to bequeath to his sons will be seized by the Islamic republic he believes Britain is set to become”!

TUC battles against workplace Islamophobia

Abdul Bari at TUCMuslim and trade union organisations announced on Monday that they are to hold a joint seminar on improving the job prospects of Muslim workers and combating Islamophobia.

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) and the Trades Union Congress (TUC) will hold the event on Thursday. The two groups will discuss not only job prospects for Muslims but how to combat the effects of Islamophobia and far-right activity in parts of Britain. The event follows pledges by the TUC and the MCB last year to work together to encourage more Muslims to join trade unions.

Monday’s statement also backed efforts to improve community relations, both at work and in society. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said:

“We do not underestimate the scale of the challenge facing us today. Islamophobia is a real and present threat, fuelled by prejudice and misunderstandings, and the rise of the far right and electoral success of the BNP are alarming features of recent years. Local elections are approaching once again and, by working together, the TUC and the MCB can expose the far right for what they really are and work towards a better deal for everyone in the workplace.”

MCB secretary general Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari said: “We believe in social justice and equal rights for all. The Muslim community is facing real problems of discrimination and poverty – a third of Muslims are living in the 10 per cent of most-deprived neighbourhoods of the country, but we have a tremendous amount to offer the British workplace in terms of skills, optimism and energy.”

The seminar will be held at the Congress Centre in London. It will be chaired by TUC general council member Mohammed Taj and keynote addresses will be given by Mr Barber and Dr Bari.

Morning Star, 10 April 2007

Radical Islam: ministers get the message

Martin Bright 2“Attitudes about how to deal with radical Islam are now shifting so quickly within Whitehall that it is hard to keep up. The detailed announcement from Ruth Kelly, the Communities and Local Government Secretary, on how she will spend £5m on grass-roots hearts and minds projects is a genuine break with the recent past, when ministers preferred to fund self-appointed national representatives of Islam such as the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB)….

“In July of last year, I wrote a controversial pamphlet published by the think-tank Policy Exchange in which I exposed the extent to which the British government and the Foreign Office in particular had made a compact with radical Islam. In the Middle East, this constituted a dialogue with the Muslim Brotherhood, which works towards an Islamic state through the democratic process; at home this was largely expressed by the Labour government’s long-standing relationship with the Muslim Council of Britain.

“Leaked Foreign Office documents showed that officials and ministers had adopted a policy of what one diplomat described as ‘engagement for its own sake’ with ostensibly moderate Islamist groups in an attempt to counter the influence of more extreme organisations. This policy had also been allowed to seep into domestic policy, over which the Foreign Office had, until recently, an extraordinary degree of influence. Using a series of articles in this magazine and a documentary on Channel 4, I argued for a change in policy to broaden the scope of the dialogue.

“The influence of Ruth Kelly has been hugely significant in this respect.”

Martin Bright in the New Statesman, 9 April 2007

Mosque imam fears fire was arson

Madni Masjid MosqueA Nottingham mosque has been severely damaged in a fire described by a leading imam as “an act of terrorism against Muslims”.

Police and fire investigators are trying to determine the exact cause of the blaze at the Madni Masjid Mosque on Alberta Terrace in Forest Fields. Imam Raza ul Haq said he believed paint was thrown around the inside of the mosque and then set alight.

The fire, which started on Thursday night, is being treated as suspicious. “It’s not fair. It’s our understanding and belief that this is an act of terrorism against the Muslims,” Imam Haq said. “It’s completely something which people have done deliberately. Someone has entered the building – he has thrown the paint all over the place.”

More than 900 people worship at the converted church which has been used as a mosque for at least 20 years.

BBC News, 6 April 2007

Stop the ‘cancer of Islam’ spreading in universities, urges fascist

“… there are now huge numbers of overseas students that are swamping our halls of education. This means that the future of our country – our students – must work that much harder to achieve office and prevent the growth of the cancer of Islam spreading.”

A BNP blogger responds (rather belatedly, and with some confusion over gender) to the election of Fadhil Bakeer Markar and Ruhana Ali as, respectively, General Secretary and Education & Welfare Officer for the LSE Students’ Union.

Home of the Green Arrow, 5 April 2007

Kelly continues to sideline MCB

The government is planning to intervene in some mosques to support Muslims who want to marginalise extremists. Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly will announce a new role for the Charity Commission, strengthening its task of overseeing religious institutions. A £600,000 faith unit within the commission will help Muslims strengthen governance and leadership in mosques.

Ms Kelly’s department has changed government strategy by launching talks with a broader range of Muslim groups. But at the same time, the largest body, the Muslim Council of Britain, has fallen out of favour, leading to claims that ministers are talking only to those prepared to agree with government.

BBC News, 5 April 2007