France to maintain a headscarf ban despite legal advice

Posted on by Bob Pitt

France decided on Monday to maintain a ban on Muslim headscarves for volunteer school monitors despite a warning that it overstepped the law requiring religious neutrality in the public service.

The Council of State, which advises the government on disputed administrative issues, said in a 32-page analysis that this neutrality did not apply to mothers who help escort schoolchildren on outings such as museum visits. Education Minister Vincent Peillon promptly announced the ban would continue because the Council’s opinion also said that schools could impose internal rules against religious wear. “The memo (establishing the ban) remains valid,” he said in a communique after the Council’s analysis was released.

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Woman accused of headbutting cop after EDL rally

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Hollie Smallwood EDL

A woman accused of trying to headbutt a police officer after a protest march by right-wing groups in South Tyneside will stand trial next year.

Hollie Smallwood denies obstructing or resisting a police officer in the execution of their duty, and being drunk and disorderly in a public place. The two charges relate to a march through South Shields by members of the English Defence League (EDL) and the North East Infidels on Saturday, August 31.

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France urged to scrap hijab ban for school trips

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The French government was urged on Monday to overturn a ban on Muslim mothers wearing the Islamic veil [hijab] while helping teachers on school trips. The move comes amid criticism of France’s strict application of its secular principles.

France’s Conseil d’Etat (Council of State) told the government to overturn France’s de facto prohibition on Muslim mothers’ wearing the Islamic veil while accompanying pupils and teachers on school trips. The Council, which acts as an advisory body to the government, ruled that mothers simply offering teachers additional adult supervision on school outings should not be “not submitted to [the requirements of] religious neutrality.”

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Pig’s head and ears left at Besançon mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

AFP reports that last Sunday morning a pig’s head and several pig’s ears were found outside the Souna Mosque in Besançon, which had previously been the target of Islamophobic acts.

Only last month a swastika and the slogan “Long live the FN” (Front National) were painted on the wall. The mosque had suffered an earlier graffiti attack in August when an SS sign, a Celtic cross, an Odal rune and the words “Vive la France” were sprayed on the building. In February, Star of David graffiti was daubed on the mosque.

Police patrols have been stepped up around the premises.

Lewisham Islamic Centre responds to Telegraph’s ‘irresponsible journalism’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Lewisham Islamic Centre logoResponse to the Telegraph Article

It is with regret that the Telegraph, namely its editors Sam Marsden and Tom Whitehead published an article with a large photo of the Centre featuring prominently in its article on 19 December 2013 entitled “Lee Rigby killers had links to Lewisham mosque that ‘attracts radicals’”. The article is seeking to mislead and implicate the Centre to the unlawful killing of Lee Rigby which is wholly baseless and without foundation. As was set out in our press release on 19 December 2013, at no point has the Centre formed part of the criminal investigations into the killing of Mr Rigby and it has been made unequivocally clear that the murderers of Lee Rigby were in no way, shape or form associated with our Centre. It is clear from our website that the Centre is a well-regarded institution within the London Borough of Lewisham as is noted by the various testimonials on our website.

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‘Lee Rigby colleges of hate face financial penalties’, Express reports

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anthony Glees University of BuckinghamAnthony Glees, with the assistance of the Sunday Express, has predictably exploited the jailing of Lee Rigby’s murderers to launch a characteristic scaremongering attack on educational institutions for supposedly encouraging violent extremism.

He told the Express: “The butchering of Lee Rigby ought now to serve as blowing the whistle on the wishy-washy thinking that goes on in schools, colleges and universities. There needs to be firm and clear academic leadership. All academics should make it clear to all students that extremists have no place in British society. If they don’t do it then the taxpayer funding of universities should be withdrawn.”

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Another ‘Muslim appeasement’ story from the Mail

Posted on by Bob Pitt

This year, it appears that Christmas hasn’t been banned because it offends Muslims – or at least I haven’t as yet come across that old familiar story or any of its many variants.

Still, the festive season wouldn’t be complete without some anti-Muslim story in the right-wing press. The Mail has run a report, which was then taken up by the Sunday Telegraph, that Muslim checkout staff at Marks & Spencer who do not wish to handle alcohol or pork have been told they can politely request that customers pay at another till.

You might wonder how prevalent this practice is at M&S – the Mail provides just one example of it happening. Other retailers – Asda, Morrisons and Tesco – appear to have adopted the more obvious solution that staff who object to handling certain products are not asked to work at checkouts.

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West Midlands: Religious hate crimes rise 60 per cent in two years

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Hate-fuelled crimes in which victims have been attacked because of their religion have spiralled by an alarming 57.6 per cent in the West Midlands over the past two years.

As the region prepares to celebrate Christmas – with its message of peace and goodwill – Home Office figures show that assaults incited by faith discrimination rose to 82 this year. Last year just 52 such cases were recorded by the police and the Crime Survey for England and Wales.

Community campaigners warn that it could be just the tip of the iceberg because of a general perception that the authorities are either powerless, or unwilling, to act on complaints.

And the shocking figures do not include the murder of grandfather Mohammed Saleem, who was murdered as he made his way home from Friday prayers at a Birmingham mosque in April. Nor do they include this year’s nail bomb attacks on mosques in the Black Country because they occurred after the latest figures available from Government statisticians.

Mr Saleem, 82, from Small Heath was murdered by neo Nazi Pavlo Lapshyn, who had travelled from the Ukraine with the mission of starting a race war on Britain’s streets. The 25-year-old extremist was jailed for life for killing the peaceful pensioner.

Police are also currently investigating an alleged hate crime at St Andrew’s in which two Middlesbrough fans have been accused of taunting Blues supporters by ripping up a copy of the Koran.

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