A third man has been arrested in connection with the petrol-bomb attack on Grimsby’s Mosque.
Daniel Cressey, 24, of Manchester Square, New Holland, was arrested on Friday and has since been charged with arson with intent to endanger life. He is due to appear before Grimsby Magistrates Court later today.
Mainly excellent article on the English Defence League by Owen Jones in the Independent, slightly marred by an ultra-left line on the question of banning EDL marches.
Reports and comment from Islamophobia Watch 10-16 June 2013
The Islamophobic myth that Muslims are engaged in the gradual but inexorable conquest of the West takes different forms, depending on where you live.
In Tea Party circles in the USA you’ll encounter bizarre conspiracy theories about Muslim Brotherhood operatives having infiltrated the White House or even the top ranks of the Republican Party. In Europe the Islamic conquest myth more usually takes the form of scaremongering over demography – though US Islamophobes promote this version of the myth as well, presenting it as a horrible warning of the fate that will befall North America if it goes down the same road as Western Europe.
A notorious YouTube video entitled “Muslim Demographics” has proved particularly popular in such circles, having so far attracted nearly 14 million viewers. It claims that, as a result of population growth within European Muslim communities, “in 39 years France will be an Islamic Republic” and Germany “will be a Muslim state by the year 2050”.
This paranoid statistical gibberish has been debunked many times, notably by Doug Saunders in his book The Myth of the Muslim Tide: Do Immigrants Threaten the West? But that didn’t prevent The Commentator blog, which is an arm of the neocon-Zionist outfit the Henry Jackson Society, from posting an article last week under the headline “The Islamic future of Britain”. Subtitled “Britain is in denial. If population trends continue, by the year 2050, Britain will be a majority Muslim nation”, the article presents the usual nonsense about demographic change bringing about the downfall of western civilisation.
The head of the English Defence League leader Stephen Lennon was interviewed by Andrew Neil on the BBC’s Sunday Politics show earlier today. The Daily Telegraph reports that Lennon dismissed images of EDL supporters giving Nazi salutes as a “manipulated photo”. He told Neil: “I am not a Nazi, I hate Nazis, I hate fascism.”
If Robinson/Lennon is as vehemently opposed to Nazis as he claims, it’s odd that he raises no objections to the EDL engaging in joint activities with them – as shown in the picture above, which is from last September when the North East EDL joined the National Front and other neo-Nazis in organising a violent attack on a peaceful counter-Jubilee party in Newcastle.
As for Lennon’s professed hatred of fascism, it’s worth recalling that the EDL’s North East regional organiser is the fascist thug Alan Spence, a former British National Party parliamentary candidate who was given a 7-month prison sentence in 2011 for his part in an attack on a left-wing meeting. During the EDL demonstration in Newcastle last month, Spence was heard interrupting Lennon’s speech with the shout “send the black cunts home”, to loud applause from the ranks of the EDL.
And if Lennon is looking for evidence of fascist sympathies within the EDL, he can find it even closer to home. Hel Gower is an open admirer of both the BNP and the neo-Nazi group the British First Party, and she has publicly expressed her support for unity between the EDL and BNP. You’d have thought the EDL leader would be aware of that. Gower is, after all, his PA.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin criticized the Obama administration’s decision to supply weapons to the rebels in the civil war in Syria today, arguing that the U.S. should “Let Allah sort it out” until there is a stronger leader in the White House.
“Militarily, where is our commander in chief? We’re talking now more new interventions. I say until we know what we’re doing, until we have a commander in chief who knows what he’s doing, well, let these radical Islamic countries who aren’t even respecting basic human rights, where both sides are slaughtering each other as they scream over an arbitrary red line, ‘Allah Akbar,’ I say until we have someone who knows what they’re doing, I say let Allah sort it out,” Palin said at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference.
In an excellent article over at Socialist Unity, Andy Newman warns Labour Party members in the Brighton Pavilion constituency against selecting Anne Marie Waters of One Law For All as their parliamentary candidate.
The English Defence League in Ashton-Under-Lyne (Photos: Hope Not Hate)
Happily, today’s English Defence League demonstration in Ashton-Under-Lyne appears to have been a bit of a disaster all round. Turnout was only around 200-250, it featured the usual embarrassing Nazi salutes and arrests, and it has resulted in renewed conflict between the EDL leadership and the various fascist and neo-Nazi fragments with whom they had lately been trying to mend fences.
The issue over which the protest was called was an altercation at an Ashton-Under-Lyne bus stop a week ago between two groups of youths, one of which was of Asian heritage while the other was white. Mobile phone footage of this minor incident went viral and was seized on by the EDL and other sections of the far right as an example of virulent anti-white racism. Tweeting a link to the video, EDL leader Stephen Lennon described it as: “Muslims launch violent attack on innocent English boys and girls in Ashton.”
The EDL immediately announced a march to protest against this latest Islamic atrocity. “Wherever the barbaric 7th century cult strikes we will be there,” they declared. “TOMORROW Ashton-Under-Lyne NO SURRENDER.” The Ashton-Under-Lyne division of this self-styled non-racist organisation urged its supporters: “come on! Lets show em we ain’t Asian under Lyne, we’re Ashton under Lyne, lets have the biggest and best demo yet!”
A Muslim group in north London will be temporarily housed in a library after their community centre was destroyed in a suspicious fire.
Barnet Council confirmed that members of the Bravanese Community Centre would use East Finchley Library from Monday. The centre, also known as the Al-Rahma Islamic Centre, in Muswell Hill was gutted by fire on 5 June. The Somali Bravanese community will use the library from 17:00 BST on weekdays, Saturday afternoons and on Sundays.
HULL: Councillors are to be asked to support calls for police to ban future planned marches by the English Defence League (EDL).
A recent EDL march in Spring Bank saw ten people being arrested. At next week’s full council meeting, Myton ward councillor Colin Inglis has tabled a motion calling on the police to ban future marches in Hull by the group to avoid “blatant attempts to incite racial hatred”.