EDL opposes Anjem Choudary … by shouting abuse at Regent’s Park Mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anjem Choudary had announced that on Saturday afternoon, as a follow-up to their recent anti-alcohol protest in Brick Lane, his tiny group of extremists (now operating under the name of The Shariah Project) would be holding a Rally Against Gambling on the Edgware Road. Shortly before the event was due to start, however, Choudary issued a press release stating that the demonstration had been called off “due to severe weather conditions” – i.e. it was raining. Evidently the resources of The Shariah Project don’t extend to providing its supporters with waterproof clothing.

This is, of course, what we have come to expect from Choudary. Time and again he pulls the same stunt. The March for Shari’ah in London in 2009, a demonstration in Wootton Bassett in 2010 against the invasion of Afghanistan, a rally outside the White House the same year to advocate sharia law in the US, a protest against the royal wedding in 2011, a supposed conference at the Lal Masjid in Islamabad in 2012 – in every case Choudary announced some provocative action and then, having wrung the maximum amount of publicity out of the resulting controversy, he released a last-minute statement that the event has been “postponed”. The surprising feature of the Brick Lane anti-alcohol protest was that it even took place at all.

Despite the no-show from Choudary at Edgware Road, the English Defence League and its far-right allies – reportedly including March for England, the Casuals and the South East Alliance – went ahead with a counter-protest. One of the participating groups, Britain First, which originates in a split from the British National Party, declared that Choudary had bottled out of holding his demonstration “in the face of a threatened major turnout from patriots of Britain First”. Judging by their own photograph, the “major turnout” consisted of around two dozen people.

Continue reading →

Stoke EDL member stole chocolate bar from Marks and Spencers – before racially abusing and assaulting security guards

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anthony ForresterAlcoholic Anthony Forrester attacked two supermarket security guards – after they asked him to pay for a bar of chocolate he had stolen and eaten.

The 44-year-old was in the Marks and Spencer store, in Hanley, on October 17 when he picked up a 69p bar of chocolate and ate it without paying. North Staffordshire Magistrates Court heard yesterday how store security guards Ian Creed and Bekezela Ndlovu followed Forrester to Iceland, in Charles Street, to ask him to pay for the food.

Prosecuting, Giles Rowden said: “Mr Forrester picked up a bar of chocolate and ate it and threw the wrapper away. He was approached by the security guards and told them he would pay for it, but he then left the store. The security guards saw the defendant in the Iceland store where he became abusive.”

The court heard that he racially abused and swore at Mr Ndlovu claimed he was a member of the English Defence League.

Mr Rowden added: “He was using abusive language towards Mr Ndlovu, who was just trying to do his job. The other security guard was then punched in the head and bit on the hand. Forrester was then arrested, but on the way to custody he damaged a Perspex cage belonging to Staffordshire Police.”

Forrester, of St Luke’s Court, in Hanley, pleaded guilty to five charges which included theft, assault by beating, criminal damage and using racially abusive and offensive language.

Continue reading →

Tulsa police arrest Stuart Manning, suspected of assaulting woman; suspect charged with hate crime

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Stuart ManningA Tulsa man is facing a hate crime charge after an incident in December in which he allegedly yelled profanities at and assaulted a woman. Stuart Manning told police he had “a drinking relapse and did not remember the incident” for which he’s charged with assault and battery, malicious injury to property and malicious intimidation, or a hate crime, according to his arrest report.

Police say a bank security guard witnessed Manning strike the victim in the Bill and Ruth’s parking lot near Pine and North Lewis Dec. 13. The guard took down Manning’s tag number and when contacted by police identified Manning through a photo lineup.

Police contacted the Lebanese victim, who said a large white male became upset because she parked too close to his car. According to the police report, Manning said, “Hey f—ing b—- Muslim, why did you get so close to my car?”

Continue reading →

Swastikas scrawled on Stockholm mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Stockholm mosque Nazi graffiti

The doors to the central Stockholm mosque were covered in Nazi graffiti on Wednesday night, the first time vandalism has taken the shape of swastikas, representatives said.

The swastikas, which cover the men’s entrance to the mosque on Sodermalm island in Stockholm, were discovered on Thursday morning. The mosque was vandalized a month ago, but the damage was not overtly political. “It is the first time it’s been this way, it is usually normal graffiti but this is quite special,” mosque representative Mahmoud Khalif told the Aftonbladet newspaper.

Continue reading →

South Carolina: Man arrested after Muslim community reports gunshots and racial slurs

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Residents of York’s Islamville community are calling a recent incident in which a property owner allegedly fired a gun into the village only feet from homes and a shrine an act of terrorism.

But the neighbor who deputies accuse of public disorderly conduct and illegally discharging a firearm balks at the notion that the dispute was motivated by terrorism. Joshua Allan Casey, 37, claims that he has been wrongly accused of shooting a gun and targeting the community.

At about 8 p.m. Dec. 21, deputies were sent to Islamville, a village of Muslim families established more than 30 years ago, after residents reported hearing gunshots and racial slurs from a neighbor, according to a York County Sheriff’s report.

Ahmad Qadri, nephew to the neighbor who reported the shooting, said gunshots had been going off earlier in the day when village leaders were camping during a young men’s retreat. Hours later, he heard gunshots again. This time, he said he spotted Casey in his backyard shooting the gun in the direction of the village.

Casey’s Acclaim Drive home abuts Islamville, with an acre or so of woods separating the home from the village. Casey’s home is within walking distance of the community’s shrine for worship and prayer, and several family homes. “He started yelling obscenities,” Qadri told The Herald. “This was an act of terrorism. He terrorized our children … our women.”

Residents called deputies, describing the shooter as a bearded man in a light-colored shirt, the sheriff’s report states. Deputies saw Casey, who matched that description, walking out of the woods. Neighbors identified him as the shooter, deputies said.

The Herald, 31 December 2013

Police in South Yorkshire unable to monitor number of anti-Muslim hate crimes

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Police forces across the country have revealed a surge in the number of anti-Muslim hate crimes this year – but police chiefs in South Yorkshire claim they do not record offences in the same way as other forces.

Britain’s biggest force, the Metropolitan Police, recorded 500 offences from January to mid-November this year, compared with 336 in 2012 and 318 in 2011. In May, the month when two Islamic extremists murdered soldier Lee Rigby in south-east London, Scotland Yard recorded 104 anti-Muslim hate crimes, followed by another 108 in June. Greater Manchester Police recorded nearly double the number of Islamophobic crimes this year – 130 in 2013 compared with 75 in 2012.

But South Yorkshire Police said it was unable to provide like-for-like figures. A spokesman said its crime management system “does not facilitate the recording of anti-Muslim hate crime separately to other forms of religious hate crimes”. He said the system “solely relies on what information is entered by the inputter recording the crime”.

The force found five anti-Muslim hate crimes recorded from January to October, four in 2012, and five in 2011.

Yorkshire Post, 31 December 2013

Posted in UK

Bomb threat to Vancouver mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Mounties evacuated gatherers at a North Vancouver mosque Monday evening after police received a call there was a bomb in the building.

Officers and a police dog searched the building in the 300-block of Lynn Avenue into the night but have not yet found any trace of explosives, said North Vancouver RCMP Spokesman Cpl. Richard De Jong.

The threat came in around 5:50 from an unknown caller, he said. Police were told the bomb would go off at a certain time.

Vancouver Sun, 30 December 2013