See John Esposito, “Tony Blair misreads Muslim terrorism”, Washington Post, 5 June 2013
And Nathan Lean, “Tony Blair is wrong about Islam”, Huffington Post, 5 June 2013
Lincoln prepares for hundreds of anti-Islam protestors
Urgent talks have been taking place this week as police, council officials and business leaders prepare for hundreds of protestors to descend on Lincoln city centre.
At 1pm on Saturday, members of the East Anglian Patriots will gather at Lincoln Central Station in St Mary’s Street. They will then be escorted 300 metres by police to City Square, where they stage a two-hour protest at plans to build a mosque in Boultham Park Road.
The group claims its mission is to show anger at the “increasing Islamic encroachment on our way of life”.
Former North Yorkshire Ukip canvasser arrested over racist Facebook posts
A former Ukip canvasser who allegedly posted anti-Muslim comments and racist pictures online has been arrested.
Police quizzed pensioner Tony Nixon in connection with a Facebook account containing jokes about destroying mosques, setting Muslims on fire and running over people from Pakistan with a bus.
The 66-year-old, of Great Broughton, near Stokesley, North Yorkshire, was arrested by Stokesley police on suspicion of stirring up racial hatred under the Public Order Act. He was released on bail while inquiries continue.
UAF calls vigil in Muswell Hill
DON’T LET THE RACISTS DIVIDE US
VIGIL
THURDAY 6 JUNE, 6-7PM
BRAVANESE CENTRE
116 COPPETTS ROAD, MUSWELL HILL N10 1JS
EDL send messages of hate as leaders call for peace after Muswell Hill Islamic centre is burnt to the ground
The leaders of an Islamic centre destroyed in a suspected fire bomb attack offered an olive branch to the culprits in a gesture of peace of just hours after the blaze.
Sayed Bana, 60, a committee member at the Somali Bravanese Centre in Muswell Hill, invited the thugs behind the blaze to end their campaign of violence and come to the negotiating table as the cross community hub lay in ruins.
He said: “To the perpetrators of this attack I say, forget about what you are doing and come join us in a dialogue and let’s move forward to a future without violence. I’m not angry at those behind the attack, I feel sad for them.”
His call for calm came despite English Defence League supporters taking to social media sites to praise the apparent attack and call for further attacks on the Muslim community. One user wrote on the Yorkshire-Leeds EDL Division Facebook page: “Crying shame, if only it had been full.” Another added on the same page: “Next time do one at 3pm on a Friday afternoon.”
Aylesbury: 78-year-old Asian woman physically assaulted as she becomes latest victim of racist backlash against town’s Muslims
A 31-year-old man allegedly went on a racist rampage through Aylesbury’s Alfred Rose Park, attacking an elderly woman and smashing the doors and windows of a house. It is the latest in a worrying line of racist attacks against the town’s Muslim population since Drummer Lee Rigby was killed in a terrorist outrage in Woolwich last month.
Thames Valley Police said today (Wednesday) that they had arrested a man in connection with a number of offences in the Fairfax Crescent/ Alfred Rose area of Aylesbury at around 6pm on Monday. The 31-year-old was arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated criminal damage, racially aggravated common assault and racially aggravated intentional harassment.
The Bucks Herald understands that the man allegedly racially abused passers-by in the park, broke windows and doors of a house belonging to an Asian family and racially abused a 78-year-old Asian woman before pushing her over.
North London mosque attack: Time to treat Islamophobia seriously
The Muslim Council of Britain today expressed its shock at the reported firebomb attack of a North London mosque in the early hours of this morning. Fire crews are said to have seen the words ‘EDL’ scrawled on the side of the building.
Farooq Murad, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain said: “This is the latest in a series of attacks on Muslim institutions since the horrific murder of Drummer Lee Rigby. The British Muslim community came out in droves to condemn this murder, and it is despicable that Muslims should be held to account and suffer in this way.”
Islamophobic hate crime: is it getting worse?
Homa Khaleeli examines the evidence.
Racist graffiti at Leeds site that will be Muslim centre
Racist graffiti has been daubed on a former pub that is being turned into an Muslim-run community centre in Leeds. Unknown vandals spray painted Islamophobic remarks and racist jibes on the walls and windows of the long-abandoned Lingfield pub, in Lingfield Drive, Moortown, overnight on Friday.
Plans for the UK Islamic Mission (UKIM) charity to turn the site into a public gym, IT suite, library, training room, café and prayer room for up to 70 people, were passed by Leeds City Council in February.
It is the second time the building has been targeted by vandals – the words “no mosque” were sprayed on the building before a council meeting discussed the plans earlier this year.
Student taunted over Woolwich murder in vicious racist attack
While it is of course the Muslim community who have borne the brunt of the backlash following the murder of Lee Rigby, the racists who target Muslims often make little distinction between the minorities against whom their hatred is directed. The Exeter Express and Echo carries a report of an unprovoked assault on a young woman of Chinese heritage who was harangued about the Woolwich killing before being punched repeatedly in the head.