Members of EDL breakaway group charged with violent disorder over attack on anti-fascist event

Posted on by Bob Pitt

NWI banner

Six men have been charged with violent disorder after anti-fascist campaigners held a fundraising event in Liverpool city centre. The men, aged between 17 and 52, are all believed to belong to the North West Infidels, an extreme far-right group.

Among those charged is Shane Calvert, 31, from Blackburn – known as “the diddyman” in nationalist circles and thought to be the Infidels’ second-in-command. The other men set to appear in court are: Peter Hawley, from Blackburn, Lancashire; Liam Pinkham from Wallasey, Merseyside; Nathan Smith of Huyton, Liverpool; Michael Kearns from Liverpool, and a 17-year-old boy also from Liverpool, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

All are charged with violent disorder and are due before Liverpool magistrates court on 7 February.

Continue reading →

Baroness Warsi: Fewer than one in four people believe Islam is compatible with British way of life

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Baroness_WarsiFewer than one in four people now believe that following Islam is compatible with a British way of life, Britain’s most senior Muslim minister will warn today.

Highlighting unpublished research showing that a majority of the country now believes that Islam is a threat to Western civilisation Baroness Sayeeda Warsi will say that “underlying, unfounded mistrust” of Muslims is in itself fuelling extremism.

And she will cite new figures from the Association of Chief Police Officers showing that between 50 to 60 per cent of all religious hate crimes reported to police in Britain are now perpetrated against Muslims.

“My fear is that seeing one community as the ‘other’ is a slippery slope that will enable extremists to advance their twisted interests unchecked,” she will say. “I don’t have to remind anyone what happens when an unfounded suspicion of one people can escalate into unspeakable horror.”

Continue reading →

‘Forgotten Estates’ activist admits leaving pig’s head outside Thurnby Lodge community centre

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Thurnby Lodge pig's head (3)A man who placed a pig’s head outside a community centre used for prayers by Muslims has been warned he faces a possible jail sentence for the offence.

Liam Ferrar (24) appeared at Leicester Magistrates’ Court today to admit religiously aggravated harassment aimed at the Muslim community.

The court heard that Ferrar had acquired the pig’s head at a wedding the previous summer and kept it in a freezer at his home in Brook Road, Thurnby Lodge, Leicester.

On Christmas night, December 25, he went to the Thurnby Lodge Community Centre, in Thurncourt Road, and placed the head by the locked doors, facing out towards the Muslim worshippers who arrived at the centre the following morning.

Continue reading →

Posted in UK

Three-month jail sentence for EDL supporter who hurled pig’s head at mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Newbury mosqueA Thatcham man was today (Weds) sentenced to three months’ imprisonment after admitting to one count of racially aggravated harassment and a section 4 public order offence at Reading Magistrates’ Court.

Rory Rowbottom, aged 21 of Poffley Place, pleaded guilty to the offences in connection with an incident in Newbury in October where a pig’s head was discovered outside a mosque in Pound Street (pictured).

Continue reading →

Opposition mobilises as EDL march announced in Cambridge

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The English Defence League (EDL), an extremist far-right pressure group, has announced that they are planning a march in Cambridge. The anti-Islamic group will gather on the 23rd February, following their controversial march in July 2011.

In response, the Cambridge branch of Unite Against Fascism (CUAF), a national anti-fascist campaigning organisation, has called for a “massive” counter march.

Continue reading →

Poll shows most Australians think multiculturalism works well

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Most Australians think multiculturalism works well, with only occasional problems.

A Galaxy poll of 1000 people run exclusively for News Limited revealed people’s attitudes in the run up to Australia Day to the sometimes divisive issue.

One in 10 said multiculturalism worked very well and made Australia what it is, while just over half said it worked generally quite well, causing only the occasional issue.

Continue reading →

ACLU files lawsuit over woman’s terrifying incident at Detroit Metro Airport

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Shoshana Hebshi (2)A 36-year-old Ohio woman who is half-Jewish and half-Arab is suing the FBI and other federal agencies, saying she was yanked off an airplane at Detroit Metro Airport on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, strip-searched, and jailed for more than four hours in a dirty cell because of her ethnic background.

Continue reading →

Toledo mosque arsonist withdraws guilty plea

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A former Marine who said he set fire to an Ohio mosque because he wanted to avenge the killings of American troops asked Tuesday to withdraw his guilty plea to federal hate crime charges.

In his request, Randy Linn said he was under duress and depressed when he entered his plea last month in the fire at a suburban Toledo mosque. “I made the wrong decision,” he wrote.

A deal between prosecutors and Linn had called for him to be sentenced to 20 years next April after he pleaded guilty to intentionally damaging and destroying religious property and two gun-related charges.

Associated Press, 22 January 2013