Three charged for attack on elderly man walking to Islamic Centre

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Three men have been charged with grievous bodily harm following an attack on a elderly Muslim man on Saturday night. A fourth has been bailed by police pending further enquiries.

The three are Daniel Giles, 39, of Wendell Court, Uxbridge; Ryan Newman, 19, of Iris Court, Nursery Road, Pinner; and a 17 year-old who cannot be named for legal reasons. They appeared at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court yesterday. All three were denied bail and remanded in custody to Isleworth Crown Court on Tuesday, July 23.

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‘No mosque here’ sprayed on disused bingo hall

Posted on by Bob Pitt

No mosque here graffiti

Yobs sprayed the words “no mosque here” on the side of a disused bingo hall even though there are no plans to turn it into a Muslim place of worship.

The slogan – on the former Gala bingo hall in Pitsea High Road – is believed to have arisen from rumours put about during May’s elections by far-right groups. The only planning application put forward for the site was a proposal to use it for a car wash, and that was refused by Basildon Council in January.

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Kirkcaldy Islamic Centre targeted with racist graffiti

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Kirkcaldy Islamic Centre graffiti

Extra police patrols are being sent out around a Muslim family centre in Kirkcaldy after it was targeted in a sickening hate crime.

Just hours before the start of Ramadan, the most holy festival in the Muslim calendar, anti-Islamic grafitti was spray painted on walls around the Kirkcaldy Islamic Centre in the town’s St Mary’s Road. And five vehicles belonging to members of the centre, where hundreds of Muslims go to pray as well as take part in many other community activities, were also targeted on Monday night. Crosses were painted on number plates, windows and on a bonnet.

Police in Kirkcaldy have put on extra patrols in the area and have spoken to the centre management about improving their security. And they have appealed to members of the public to report any information or suspicious behaviour in the area.

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Man says he threw pork at mosque as ‘a cry for help’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A man was given a conditional discharge after admitting throwing bacon and sausages over a fence at a mosque. Appearing at Hendon Magistrates’ Court on Thursday last week, Alexis Garner, 31, of Anson Road, Willesden Green, admitted throwing the meat on Wednesday, June 26, as “a cry for help”.

The court heard Garner purchased bacon and sausages from a shop, then threw the meat over the fence at the Mosque and Islamic Centre in Howard Road, Cricklewood, at 5.46am.

A man who attends the mosque arrived at 8am and saw the meat, following which police were contacted. Brent officers carried out enquiries and from CCTV footage at the shop where the meat was purchased, they were able to identify Garner and made the arrest.

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Posted in UK

EDL supporter gets CRASBO, narrowly avoids prison sentence

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Walsall protest (4)

An English Defence League supporter who shouted abuse and used threatening behaviour during a demonstration in Walsall has been handed a criminal anti-social behaviour order after narrowly avoiding a jail term due to health problems.

Jack Beasley travelled from Durham to take part in the protest which brought Walsall town centre to a standstill on September 29 last year, Walsall Magistrates Court heard yesterday. Trouble flared, in Leicester Street, during the rally. Miss Jo Taylor, prosecuting, said: “By the time the afternoon approached things were clearly getting out of hand.”

She said Beasley had been wearing a black EDL top and was identified on CCTV raising his arms and chanting. She said other people around him were throwing ‘missiles’ at police and Beasley looked as though he had picked up some items and was making a throwing action in various photos. He denied throwing any objects. Miss Taylor told the court: “As you can see from some photos, he is on the frontline behaving in an aggressive manner, chanting at police.”

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Russia’s Supreme Court upholds ban on Muslim headwear in schools

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A branch of Russia’s Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by a group of Muslims for the right of schoolgirls to wear traditional religious attire, specifically the hijab, in classrooms.

The appeal was made by a group of citizens of Muslim faith from southern Russia’s Stavropol Region. They complained that a decree by the local administration ordering all schoolchildren to appear in classes only in regular secular clothes, which came into force in January this year, infringes their freedom of faith as guaranteed by the constitution.

The controversy erupted when a group of schoolgirls was barred from classes for two weeks when they insisted on wearing hijabs. The girls then began attending to a local religious school, the parents saying their daughters would receive the mandatory universal secondary education at home. However the administration ruled that a religious school cannot replace a secular one.

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EDL supporter who called for mosque to be burned down whinges he has ‘lost everything’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Steven BallardA Facebook user who urged people to burn down Grimsby’s mosque – to put the town on the map “big time” – claims he has “lost everything”. Steven Ballard claimed he had lost his job, his girlfriend and his child because of the furore caused by his “menacing” comment. Ballard, 27, of Stainton Drive, Grimsby, admitted sending an offensive or menacing message on May 23.

Rebecca Dolby, prosecuting, told Grimsby magistrates that police searched an open group forum on Facebook linked to the Grimsby division of the English Defence League. Ballard posted a message at about 10pm following the murder of soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich. It read: “Burn the mosque down the end of Legsby Avenue. That will tell the clowns in charge in this country that we ain’t taking this s*** and it will start a nationwide action going. Grimsby will be on the map big time then.”

He later told police there were Muslim communities in every town and city – and made reference to the recent police activity in Saxilby. He claimed Muslims had “got it easy” and that, “if they go to prison, they will get it easy”. Ballard claimed he was not racist and that he was not aware of damage caused to the mosque. He claimed that, if a Muslim were killed, he would have it on his conscience but insisted: “We are walked over.”

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How phony fear of US jihadis obscures the real threat of far-right terror

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Since 9/11, American law enforcement has taken a disproportionate interest in American Muslims across the country, seeing a whole community as a national security threat, particularly in California and New York City. But here’s the thing: the facts that have been piling up ever since that date don’t support such suspicion. Not at all.

The numbers couldn’t be clearer: right-wing extremists have committed far more acts of political violence since 1990 than American. That law enforcement across the country hasn’t felt similarly compelled to infiltrate and watch over conservative Christian communities in the hopes of disrupting violent right-wing extremism confirms what American Muslims know in their bones: to be different is to be suspect.

Matthew Harwood at Comment is Free, 10 July 2013

Infidels’ leader who threatened police officer had 22 previous convictions

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Warren FaulknerAn anti-mosque protester avoided jail after he was found to be carrying cocaine following a street demonstration. Warren Faulkner also offered to “sort out” his differences with a police officer when they clashed during the protest in Millfield, Sunderland.

Newcastle Crown Court was told Faulkner was among a group demonstrating about plans to build a mosque in St Marks Road. The 42-year-old, of Webb Avenue, Westlea, Seaham, was then spotted by an officer in a back lane shouting “come on, come on, bring it on”.

The court heard Faulkner tried to trip up the officer, who was separating the right-wing demonstrators from the anti-fascist group. As he was being detained, Webb told the officer: “I will give you my phone number, and we can sort this out without your uniform on”.

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