Christmas trees, Islam and right wing populism: a Danish Christmas story

Susi Meret shows how a housing association’s decision not to buy a Christmas tree this year was exploited by the far-right Danish People’s Party with the assistance of the mainstream media. Conservative and liberal figures helped to reinforce the narrative that Danish culture is under attack from Muslims.

“The most worrying aspect of this controversy was the total lack of response from the other side…”, Meret writes. “Those who violently oppose non-western immigration could make their point – extensively. And the voices that should have contradicted them were nowhere to be heard.”

Open Democracy, 3 November 2012

Caught on camera: Yob throws glass at police at Tipton EDL rally

Tipton EDL hooliganPolice are hunting for this yob after he hurled a beer glass at their van during an English Defence League protest in Tipton on August 11.

Supporters of the far-right anti-Islam group staged what officers have called a “peaceful protest” in the town, but this man broke ranks and attacked the vehicle, narrowly missing an officer with the glass.

Sandwell police are keen to speak to anyone who may recognise the hooligan, or who witnessed the attack, which came as the demonstration passed “largely without incident”, they said.

The man wore a grey cardigan-style jacket over a turquoise blue t-shirt, plus jeans and trainers.

Anyone with information should call Sandwell police on 101 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

Birmingham Mail, 3 December 2012

South Carolina: Walmart employee fired after abusing Muslim co-worker and threatening to cut her throat

A Rock Hill Walmart employee was fired Saturday after police say she grabbed a co-worker’s arm, threatened to cut her throat and called her an anti-Muslim, derogatory name, according to a police report.

Police spoke with the victim, 23, who said she was on her break at the Walmart on Old York Road and tried to buy some items, according to a Rock Hill police report. While in the checkout line, a co-worker stepped behind her but tried to check out first by skipping in front of the woman and moving her items.

The two employees began to argue before the co-worker called the victim a derogatory, anti-Muslim name. She grabbed the woman’s arm twice and said she was going to cut her throat, the victim told police.

The employee told her manager, who fired the employee, according to the report. No arrests were made. The victim will seek a courtesy summons against her former co-worker, according to the police report.

The Herald, 3 December 2012

Hijab handout clears US misconceptions

Fighting misconceptions associated with Muslim headscarf, Muslim students at California State University arranged a hijab handout to their colleagues to educate them about criticism and negative image drawn by media over the past decade.

“The goal was to teach what Islam really is because there’s so much negativity going around about Muslim people who are portrayed so negatively in the media,” Amina Hasan, organizer for the Muslim Student Association (MSA), told Daily 49ER, the university’s news website, on Sunday, December 2. “We’re regular people just like anyone else.”

The event, held last Thursday on a rainy afternoon, was sponsored by students of MSA at California State University Long Beach (CSULB).

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EDL supporter photographed with stick moments before attack on Kingston Mosque is spared jail

Henry Hunter with stick

Henry Hunter with stick

A teenager found guilty of violent disorder following an attack on Kingston Mosque has been spared jail.

Henry Hunter, 19, was convicted last month after a gang of young men laid siege to a mosque in East Road, having previously attended a protest march against Muslim extremism, in November 2010. But he was acquitted of racially aggravated criminal damage.

At Kingston Crown Court this morning, Hunter, from Ashford in Middlesex, was sentenced to six months at a young offenders’ institute, suspended for 12 months. He was fined £1,000, given 250 hours of unpaid work, and handed a four month curfew order banning him from leaving his home on Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights. Hunter was also given an exclusion order banning him from Kingston town centre for a year.

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BNP launches campaign against new Oswestry prayer centre, warns against Muslim ‘colonisation’

BNP Islam Out of BritainThe far right British National Party says it will stage “numerous days of action” over plans to create a new Muslim centre in a Shropshire market town.

Members of the Shropshire branch of the BNP say that they believe the word “mosque” has been deliberately omitted from a recent planning application to convert a former church in Oswestry.

The Oswestry Muslim Society wants to convert a former Presbyterian Church in the town into a Muslim Centre.

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Worcester Park, Sutton: anti-mosque opposition gathers ahead of planning committee meeting

Worcester Park disused bank

More than 4000 people have signed a petition against a controversial plan to convert a disused bank into a mosque ahead of a meeting next week to decide its future.

Councillors will decide on Monday whether the bank chambers in Green Lane can be developed into a mosque. Worcester Park resident Jacki Chillman appealed to others who do not want the plans to go ahead to make sure they make their presence felt at the meeting.

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Brussels: Christmas tree is cancelled because it offends Muslims

Brussels Christmas treeThousands of people have signed a petition against an abstract light installation replacing the traditional Christmas tree in Brussels city centre.

More than 11,000 signatures have been gathered in the online petition and a Facebook page attacking the new feature has been launched. Critics accuse officials of opting for the installation for fear of offending non-Christians, especially Muslims. But the mayor’s office said it was part of a theme this year of “light”.

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Two arrested at EDL Shotton Colliery protest

EDL Shotton Colliery protestTwo men were arrested yesterday during a protest over a planned Muslim education centre in the North.

Police estimate that around 200 members of the English Defence League turned out to the protest in the former pit village of Shotton Colliery, County Durham.

The arrests were made for breach of bail conditions, a spokesperson for Durham Police said.

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‘15,000 militant Islamists’ to rally in support of Newham ‘mega-mosque’, Daily Star claims

NRAP Riverine Centre designUp to 15,000 militant Islamists are set to descend on east London this week to pressure town hall chiefs into allowing a 9,000 capacity mega-mosque.

Supporters of Islamist sect Tablighi Jamaat are irate after Newham Council rejected plans for the group’s new HQ. The sect, which has been linked to shoe bomber Richard Reid and 7/7 terrorists Mohammed Siddique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, owns the Abbey Mills site near the Olympic Park in West Ham.

In a YouTube video, extremist cleric Sheikh Haitham al-Haddad urged Muslims to come together to support what should be a “big Islamic symbol in the heart of London”.

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