Police have booked a Birmingham bar for the EDL, despite the objections of the bar management

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Downing Street protest (2)
English Defence League protesting at Downing Street in May

Police plan to control English Defence League supporters when they arrive in Birmingham on Saturday by basing them inside a PUB for up to three hours. The right-wing protestors will be kept at Bar Risa in Broad Street from around 11am to 2pm – raising fears of a repeat of the alcohol-fuelled disorder witnessed at a previous city rally in September 2009.

The West Midlands force has drafted in 1,000 officers to police the Centenary Square event, with hundreds of EDL supporters reportedly travelling from around the country via coach and rail to attend. Anti-fascist groups are planning a protest rival demonstration in nearby Chamberlain Square.

But in a bid to keep the factions apart the Mail has learned West Midlands Police will shepherd EDL supporters arriving in the city on coaches to the popular Bar Risa from around 11am. They will then be led to Centenary Square from around 2pm for the rally which is set to finish at 4pm.

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San Diego: Mosque threats lead to arrest, search

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Islamic Center of San DiegoSan Diego police had a bomb squad standing by on Wednesday as they searched the Clairemont apartment of a man suspected of making death threats at a nearby mosque during Ramadan.

No explosives or weapons were found in Larry Michael Rodgers’ apartment on Belden Street near Marlest Driver, police Capt. Brian Ahearn said.

Rodgers allegedly walked into the Islamic Center of San Diego in Clairemont early Monday morning, caused a disruption, then walked out saying, “I’m going to kill all of you,” Ahearn said.

Two men in the congregation followed him and called police, and officers caught up to him on Convoy Street. Rodgers was arrested on suspicion of making terrorist threats. He remained in jail on $50,000 in bail, and was to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon.

Ahearn said investigators were concerned that Rodgers may have been behind a series of verbal bomb threats made against the Islamic School of San Diego, next to the mosque, in May. One threat left on the school’s answering machine said, in part, “I’m going to throw a bomb at your (expletive) school.”

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Young Muslim woman abused and threatened with a knife in Trappes

Posted on by Bob Pitt

On Sunday 14 July in Trappes (west of Paris) a 21-year-old Muslim woman wearing the veil was attacked by two men in their 30s who lived in the same area as the young woman.

As she crossed the bridge in Trappes on her way home, accompanied by her two-year-old niece, the two assailants insulted her: “bitch”, “dirty veiled woman”. She didn’t reply and when she turned towards them one of them said “yes, I’m talking to you”.

Oblivious to the presence of the child, he pulled out a knife with a blade of 10 to 15cm while declaring “anyway we’re going to exterminate you Muslims, and you’ll be the first”. As he approached his victim with his knife, a man intervened and blocked his path, putting the two attackers to flight.

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Femen leader asks what can be more stupid than Ramadan, what can be uglier than Islam?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Inna Shevchenko anti-Islam tweet

Inna Shevchenko, the leader of topless feminist group Femen and one of the inspirations for the new stamp depicting Marianne, the feminine symbol of France, has created a mini-storm with a tweet slamming Ramadan and Islam in general.

The leader of feminist activist group Femen, Inna Shevchenko, on Tuesday sparked an online controversy after posting an anti-Islam message to her Twitter account.

Shevchenko is one of the inspirations for France’s new official stamp depicting Marianne, the feminine symbol of the French Republic – a fact that makes the accusations of Islamophobia she is currently facing even more inopportune.

The “tweet” in question, published on July 9, reads: “What can be more stupid than Ramadan? What can be more uglier then this religion?” Shevchenko’s tweet has since been deleted – “by Mohamed or by mistake, that is the same”, the feminist posted to her Twitter account.

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Unite Against Fascism calls for opposition to EDL’s Birmingham rally

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Oppose EDL in Birmingham

The English Defence League (EDL) has announced its intention to demonstrate in Birmingham this Saturday 20 July. This follows a series of attacks on Mosques as racists seek to escalate Islamophobia and intimidation of Muslims, following the murder of Lee Rigby in Woolwich in May.

Recently, the Kanz-ul-Iman Muslim Welfare Association Central Jamia Mosque in Tipton was attacked with a nail bomb, leading the Police to consider it a terrorist attack. Last month the Jinnah Road Mosque in Redditch was broken into and sprayed with a swastika, “EDL”, “NF”, “KKK”, and other racist graffiti, and a homemade bomb exploded outside the Aisha Mosque and Islamic Centre in Walsall.

The EDL’s demonstrations often descend into violence and intimidation of Muslims and other ethnic minority groups and disrupt otherwise peaceful communities. We have been campaigning in Birmingham to build support for a united community response against the EDL.

We want a peaceful counter demonstration on the day to show that Birmingham is a united, multicultural and peaceful community that does not want racist and fascist thugs intimidating or attacking Muslims or any other minority group in our city. We urge all who are concerned to reject the EDL’s attempt to divide our community and stand with us.

UNITE AGAINST EDL AND CELEBRATE MULTI-CULTURAL BIRMINGHAM
Sat 20 July, 12pm
Golden Boys statue, Outside the House of Sport, Broad Street, Birmingham

UAF news report, 17 July 2013

Muslim nominee for California student regent faces political opposition

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sadia SaifuddinThe University of California’s governing board plans to vote Wednesday on a new student member who would be the first practicing Muslim to hold the post and whose nomination is being vigorously opposed by some Jewish groups.

UC Berkeley senior Sadia Saifuddin was picked from a field of 30 applicants to serve on the UC Board of Regents during the 2014-15 academic year. As student regent-designate, the 21-year-old Pakistani American would participate in meetings but wouldn’t be able to cast votes during the school year that begins this fall.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, StandWithUs, conservative commentator David Horowitz and others have called on the board to reject Saifuddin’s appointment, alleging that some of her political activities as a student senator and member of the Muslim Students Association at Berkeley make her unqualified to represent the University of California system’s more than 222,000 students.

Those activities included co-sponsoring a bill calling for the divestment of university funds from companies with economic ties to the Israeli military or Israeli settlements on the West Bank, and authoring a resolution condemning a UC Santa Cruz lecturer who had linked the Muslim Students Association with terrorism “for inciting racist and Islamophobic rhetoric.”

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Walsall mosque bomb: Police issue photos of suspect

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Aisha Mosque suspectPolice have today (Wednesday) released pictures of a man they urgently want to speak to in connection with the attack on the Aisha Mosque in Walsall last month.

The images – released to the public as part of a major investigation by the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit – show a man, believed to be white, in his 20s or 30s and of slim to medium build.

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Stoke-on-Trent: Mosque the EDL tried to blow up is now open

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Rana Tufail outside Regent Road mosqueA city centre mosque has finally opened its doors – after years of delays and an attempt to blow it up. The building, in Regent Road, Hanley, is now being used for prayers ahead of its official completion.

Plans for the Islamic centre were first tabled back in 2000, but the project sparked controversy after it emerged Stoke-on-Trent City Council had agreed to lease the site for a £1 peppercorn rent. The mosque suffered a further setback after a plot to blow up the building caused more than £50,000 of damage.

But the £2 million mosque is now nearly finished and is expected to be officially opened next month. In the meantime it has been opened for prayers for the holy month of Ramadan.

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Non-Muslim hijab draws racist attacks

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Taking the decision to wear hijab after developing a sun allergy, Dennis Queen could not imagine the amount of racist attacks Muslim women face in their daily life.

“People immediately assume I’m Muslim. I don’t mind that but I find the racist comments just disgusting,” Queen told The Express newspaper. “I’ve been called a race traitor and it’s really opened my eyes to the kind of daily racism Muslims have to put up with.”

OnIslam, 17 July 2013

EDL recycles antisemitic propaganda

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Hey Imam cartoon

For those who question the links between the English Defence League and fascism, or indeed the clear parallels between Islamophobia and antisemitism, this is a cartoon recently posted on the EDL London Division’s Facebook page.

It is used to illustrate the conspiracy theory that graffiti featuring the letters EDL, which has proliferated on mosques and Islamic centres since the murder of Lee Rigby, is not the work of EDL supporters themselves but of Muslims intent on smearing the EDL.

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