Police made one arrest this afternoon during a demonstration by the English Defence League (EDL) in Shotton Colliery, County Durham.
There was also a counter protest by the Tyne and Wear Anti-Fascist Association.
A spokeswoman for Durham Police said that some 200 people were involved in the demonstration, which took place in the centre of the village between 1.30 and 2.30pm this afternoon.
When asked to rate their feelings for atheists and Muslims, fewer than one-third of U.S. adults fell on the favorable side of the scale.
As part of its 2013 American Values Survey, the Public Religion Research Institute asked respondents to use a 1 to 100 scale, with 100 being the most favorable, to rate how they feel about various groups.
Twenty-nine percent rated atheists 51 or higher, while 27 percent rated Muslims above 50.
Muslims received an average rating of 42.4, ranking them second-from-last on the list, just below atheists but above communists. Christians received the highest average rating, 74.6.
The Times has an interview with Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary, who among a number of other ill-thought-out opinions calls for the “burka” to be outlawed.
The second Islamophobia Awareness Month has been launched. The month-long campaign will see activities and projects held throughout Britain to combat the continuing rising tide of Islamophobia.
Islamophobia Awareness Month is being spearheaded by the Enough Coalition Against Islamophobia, the Muslim Council of Britain and ENGAGE, and other partners.
At the DHL Global Mail plant in Hebron, Kentucky, 24 Muslim workers took a break to pray. They say it cost them their jobs. The company denies any wrongdoing.
At a news conference Thursday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says the workers were fired unjustly. “These workers contend that they were dismissed from their jobs for asserting their right to a reasonable accommodation for their religious practices including daily prayer,” said Karen Dabdoub, executive director of CAIR-Cincinnati.
Exeter EDL News has an excellent piece demolishing the EDL’s justifications for their forthcoming protest in Exeter, as presented in their video promoting the event.
Exeter EDL News points out that most of the EDL’s accusations against the University of Exeter are lifted straight from a witch-hunting article posted on the website of Sam Westrop‘s misnamed organisation Stand for Peace.
Following the publication in Dispatch International of Ingrid Carlqvist and Lars Hedegaard’s interview with Stephen Lennon, CBN News has published an adulatory report on the former English Defence League leader, based on an interview apparently conducted shortly before his departure from the organisation. In the accompanying video, Lennon is hailed by right-wing televangelist Pat Robertson as a hero who is “fighting to save Britain’s future”.
MONTREAL — The minority Parti Quebecois tabled a toughened secularism charter Thursday and warned that it’s prepared to go to the polls if the bill is rejected. The PQ considers the bill a confidence motion and didn’t make any compromises to appease opposition parties whose support would be needed to pass it.
“If the Liberal Party objects, this is the kind of vote that involves the confidence of the government,” house leader Stephane Bedard told the legislature. He said the secularism charter is at the heart of the government’s program.
The PQ bill would bar all public service workers from wearing conspicuous religious symbols on the job. The ban would also apply to municipalities and universities, which had a “right of withdrawal” under earlier drafts of the charter.
Bernard Drainville, the minister in charge of the secularism charter, told a news conference the bill “marks a significant milestone in our history.” He has said the charter is a logical outworking of increased separation of church and state that began in the 1960s after 200 years of church control over Quebec society.
Municipal deputy of the Yakimanka District Dmitry Zakharov is going to address Moscow mayor Sergey Sobyanin with a request to ban wearing hijab in city. The author of the initiative answers the questions.
“I believe it is not right for any religious formation to demand special attitude. In fact, hijab is outer manifestation of such demand. It’s no good, I think we need to ban wearing it in public places: in the streets, in state and educational establishments,” Zakharov said in his interview published by the Metro daily.
A man was arrested at a Thatcham rally for the English Defence League, Newbury magistrates heard.
The trouble flared during the demonstration on October 5 this year, the court was told. In the dock on Thursday, October 24, was 38-year-old Brian Barnes [pictured], who had travelled from his home in Rectory Road, Hook in Hampshire, for the event.
Helen Waite, prosecuting, said: “The defendant was taking part in an EDL demonstration and was crossing Station Road in Thatcham.” She added that he was heard to shout abuse and swear at someone and that “there were three children nearby.”