Bulletin board at Wichita school showing Five Pillars of Islam removed

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Five Pillars of IslamA bulletin board at a Wichita elementary school that illustrated the Five Pillars of Islam has been removed “because of the misunderstanding that has been promoted by … one photograph,” district officials said Monday.

The bulletin board at Minneha Core Knowledge Magnet Elementary was intended to aid students’ study of major religions of the world, district spokeswoman Susan Arensman said in an e-mail. It featured five white, construction-paper columns and the words, “The Five Pillars of Islam.”

A photograph of the bulletin board, reportedly taken on the first day of school Wednesday, was posted over the weekend on a Facebook page titled “Prepare to Take America Back.” It has since been shared on several conservative blogs.

“Students at Minneha Core Knowledge Elementary School in Wichata (sic) Kansas were met with this their first day of school,” a caption under the photo said. “This is a school that banned all forms of Christian prayer. … This can not stand.”

As of Monday, the photo had been shared more than 3,500 times.

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Headscarf protest after pregnant Muslim woman attacked in Stockholm

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Gina Dirawi and Åsa RomsonA pregnant woman wearing a headscarf was harassed and assaulted in a south Stockholm suburb at the weekend, prompting a call on Monday urging woman to bear headscarves in show of support, regardless of their religious affiliation.

The woman was hospitalized with a concussion late on Friday night after having her head slammed into a car and passing out, she told Sveriges Television (SVT). “She was wearing a headscarf and she thinks her faith is the reason she was assaulted,” Klas Jensgård of Stockholm’s southern district police told the TT news agency.

No arrests have been made in the attack, which took place shortly before midnight in the south Stockholm suburb of Farsta.

Speaking with Sveriges Radio (SR), a friend of the pregnant woman explained that the victim had her headscarf ripped off during the incident. Several other women have since come forward with their own accounts of being harassed because they wear headscarves.

The incident, which also involved racist taunts, has sparked a call for all women to don headscarves in a show of solidarity with the pregnant woman.

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Call for ban on EDL marches after thuggery in Hull

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL assault victim Hull

Calls have been made to ban any future English Defence League (EDL) protests in East Yorkshire. It comes after a man was injured in front of horrified shoppers and families at St Stephen’s in Ferensway.

A member of the 300-strong EDL protest broke free from police and hit the man yards from where children were on a funfair roundabout. The man was injured moments after unfurling a banner promoting multicultural Hull.

Today, Daren Hale, deputy leader of Hull City Council, said he would be seeking a meeting with police to discuss having these marches banned from the city. He said:

“It is completely unacceptable and this is the sort of thing we were worried about. I think these should be banned now. I will always want to defend people’s freedom of speech but, in my opinion, the intention of this march was to cause distress and upset in our community and that is exactly what happened. They would not have had the opportunity to do this had the march not proceeded.”

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Mélenchon accuses Valls of adopting ideology of far right

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jean-Luc MélenchonLe Monde reports that in an interview with the Journal du Dimanche Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the Parti de Gauche candidate in last year’s French presidential election, has attacked interior minister Manuel Valls.

Endorsing a description of Valls as representing the “extreme right” of the socialist movement, Mélenchon accused him of falling under the influence of Marine Le Pen and trying to compete with the Front National in appealing to anti-Muslim bigotry. Mélenchon stated:

“Madame Le Pen is on the verge of winning her bet. Not only has she seduced most of the right but she has also contaminated Manuel Valls. And it is he who sets the tone for the government. See how he has polluted part of the summer over the question of the veil. Muslims in our country are the object of unbearable stigmatisation.”

Mélenchon added: “He decided cynically to use this unhealthy situation to establish his personality as a hard and violent man who is hunting on the territory of Madame Le Pen.”

Illinois: Police anti-terrorism class cancelled following protest by CAIR

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sam Kharoba Law Enforcement GuidePolice training officials have called off a local anti-terrorism class for officers after protests from a Muslim civil liberties group called the course’s instructor “notorious(ly) anti-Muslim.”

Officers from various local departments had been scheduled to attend instructor Sam Kharoba’s class, “Islamic Awareness as a Counter-Terrorist Strategy,” Monday at Lombard Village Hall. But late last week the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called for the training’s cancellation.

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Man attacked during EDL march in Hull

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL arrest HullEye-witnesses have told how they watched in horror as a supporter of the English Defence League attacked a man promoting multiculturalism during a march through Hull city centre.

Shoppers and families enjoying a Saturday afternoon in the city centre watched helplessly as the EDL supporter broke free from police ranks to attack the man outside St Stephen’s shopping centre in Ferensway.

The EDL marcher had to be dragged off the man, who had blood pouring from his head and his face, while children were playing on a funfair ride just yards away. He was wrestled to the ground by police while shoppers and passers by rushed to the aid of the injured man before he was led away in handcuffs, screaming abuse.

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Scottish Defence League heavily outnumbered by anti-fascists in Edinburgh

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Supporters of an organisation that says it wants “to stop the Islamisation of the United Kingdom” were met by counter-protesters as they marched through Edinburgh.

Around 130 supporters of the Scottish Defence League took part in the march from East Market Street down the Royal Mile and on to the Scottish Parliament on Saturday afternoon, according to police.

Some carried flags adorned with the St George’s Cross and bearing the words ‘Blackburn’ and ‘Sunderland Division’ while others held placards reading ‘Never forget Glasgow Airport’.

Meanwhile, a counter-protest of organisations and individuals including members of the Unite Against Fascism group was said to be 350 strong.

STV, 17 August 2013

See also “Hundreds of anti-fascism campaigners see off Scottish Defence League in Edinburgh counter-protest”, The Herald, 17 August 2013

Update:  See “Edinburgh UAF report on the successful countering of the SDL last weekend”, UAF news, 23 August 2013