Vandals daubed sick racist graffiti on a Plymouth underpass. The vile slogans were spray painted on the walkway which connects Sheridan Road with Shirley Gardens in Manadon during the early hours of Sunday morning.
PC Paul Coppola, based at Crownhill police station, said the writing mentioned “killing Lee”, believed to be a reference to the murder of soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich last week. And it made reference to Muslims and the Quran.
A Finsbury Park Mosque leader has branded Lee Rigby’s killers “sick” while calling for a halt to a spate of racist attacks in which worshippers have been called “terrorists”.
Mohammed Kozbar, chairman of the mosque, called for calm while announcing Islington’s Muslims stand united with the wider community against acts of terrorism which are not in the name of Islam.
A list of more than 200 English Defence League supporters councillor that was published on the internet yesterday after the far-right group’s records were hacked by the activist group Anonymous.
The Daily Telegraph reports that the list of supporters includes teachers, company directors, former and serving soldiers, council officials and small business owners from across Britain. The EDL has international backing, with adherents in the United States, France, Australia, Norway, Belgium, Holland and Canada.
Among listed as financial supporters of the EDL is John Fletcher, a City of London Corporation member for the Portsoken ward. The Telegraph points out that this ward “includes part of Tower Hamlets and Whitechapel. Nearly a third of residents in his ward are Muslim”.
Update: See also “What type of place do EDL donors come from?”, Guardian, 31 May 2013
Under the title “British Christianity dies while Islam thrives. Why?”, the Telegraph website features a podcast of a discussion with Anglican bishop Michael Nazir-Ali and Damian Thompson of the Catholic Herald, who is also editor of Telegraph Blogs. Thompson was most impressed by Nazir-Ali’s performance and has posted a report of the bishop’s contribution on his blog, with the above headline.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said today it has shared its recently-published security guidelines, “Best Practices for Mosque and Community Safety,” with the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) after a number of incidents targeting that nation’s mosques.
MCB said the guidelines would help to review its own advisory, circulated to all affiliates immediately after the recent killing of a soldier in London. That attack was strongly condemned by CAIR, America’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, and by British Muslim organizations.
A man who posted a vile racist rant on Facebook after the murder of soldier Lee Rigby is facing jail. David Lee, 48, of Ullswater Drive, Middleton, wrote comments encouraging people to carry out attacks on Muslim businesses.
Lee hung his head as his words were read out at Bury Magistrates Court – littered with expletives, derogatory to Muslims and urging people to vandalise a shop near his home.
He pleaded guilty to sending numerous messages and Facebook profile comments that were of a grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character on May 22 and 23.
A teenager took a handgun to a bowling alley in Barnwood and told colleagues it was “protection against Muslims”. Armed police burst into tenpin bowling centre on Sunday afternoon after the 17-year-old took the Second World War handgun to his workplace.
The boy was arrested and later cautioned for possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. He was also suspended by his bosses and admitted it had been “stupid”.
Police are continuing their investigation into reports of an attack on a mosque in Brixton, south London.
Officers were called at 3.04am last Monday (May 27) to deal with vandals who threw a stone which smashed a window of religious building and Islamic Cultural Centre, in Gresham Road. Although no one has been arrested as of yet, the police has informed The Voice it will continue to investigate the crime.
Police are investigating reports of racially offensive Twitter messages as they appealed for calm in the wake of the Woolwich terror attack. Officers have moved to reassure faith groups and have made visits to the Capital’s three main mosques at Potterrow, Blackhall and
Annandale Street.
It comes as a number of allegedly racist and offensive tweets made by a user going by the handle @edininfidel were reported to the police. It is understood there were two complaints in response to tweets posted after the Woolwich terror attack on Wednesday last week. Officers confirmed they were investigating the tweets, and said they were monitoring social networking sites.