The “Sikhs Against the EDL” campaign have today announced that they will be supporting the counter protest against the EDL in Walthamstow on Saturday 27th October 2012. The counter protest is being organised by a multi-cultural, multi-racial and multi-faith organisation known as “We Are Waltham Forest”, a broad-based network of local community groups, political organisations and trade unions. Their aim is to “celebrate diversity and oppose racism and fascism” and to show the EDL that they are not welcome in Walthamstow. The UK’s largest anti-fascism organisation, “Unite Against Fascism”, is also calling for a national mobilisation to support the “We Are Waltham Forest” demonstration.
EDL to be banned from marching in Waltham Forest
A ban on the far-right English Defence League (EDL) marching in Waltham Forest this weekend is set to be announced later today.
The Metropolitan Police is believed to have applied to the Home Office for the group to be barred from demonstrating in the borough on Saturday over concerns for public safety.
The Guardian, the council and community group We Are Waltham Forest have campaign against the EDL returning to Waltham Forest following a demonstration in September.
The group was blocked from marching to a rally near the town hall by thousands of residents and anti-fascist groups.
An event celebrating the borough’s diversity in Walthamstow Town Square will still go ahead on Saturday.
Informant: NYPD paid me to ‘bait’ Muslims
A paid informant for the New York Police Department’s intelligence unit was under orders to “bait” Muslims into saying bad things as he lived a double life, snapping pictures inside mosques and collecting the names of innocent people attending study groups on Islam, he told The Associated Press.
Nazi graffiti on French family’s house
France 3 reports that on Sunday morning a family at Pont-du-Château in Auvergne in central France found the walls of their house covered in Nazi graffiti. Of Algerian origin, the family has lived in the area for fifteen years.
Melbourne: Police investigate fake election leaflet
Police are investigating a fake council election flyer that claims a Muslim candidate wants to build more mosques in the suburbs. The flyer is purportedly from Moreland Council candidate Mohamed Elrafihi, who is standing for north-east ward.
It says: “I know that like me you believe that it is important to give minorities a voice. That’s why, after speaking to local congregations, I will be advocating for the construction of a Mosque in Moreland. It is important to me that we engage and give voice to our brothers and sisters in Coburg and Fawkner have a palce (sic) where they can pray… It’s time to deliver, time to deliver new Mosques in Moreland.”
Mr Elrafihi, 26, said today he had no such policy, but he believed that thousands of the fake flyers with his name misspelt had been distributed in Fawkner.
French Muslims demand group ban after mosque attack
The French Muslim Council (CFCM) urged the government on Monday to ban a far-right group that occupied a mosque on Saturday and issued a “declaration of war” against what it called the Islamization of France.
CFCM President Mohammed Moussaoui said the Council also wanted better protection for mosques and Muslim cemeteries against racist attacks, which he said jumped sharply in 2011 and continued to rise this year.
EDL leader ‘Tommy Robinson’ remanded in prison on charge of entering US illegally
The EDL members released on bail after being arrested on Saturday– apparently en route to the East London Mosque – didn’t include EDL leader Stephen Lennon, who has been remanded in prison on a charge of entering the United States illegally. This arises from his visit to New York last month to speak at the so-called International Freedom Defense Congress organised by Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer’s Stop Islamization of Nations (SION).
Texas church urges Americans to ‘Vote for the Mormon, not the Muslim’
A pastor is causing a commotion in his Texas town – and possibly hurting with his non-profit status – because of a politically motivated church marquee.
The Church in the Valley marquee reads, “VOTE FOR THE MORMON, NOT THE MUSLIM! THE CAPITALIST, NOT THE COMMUNIST!”
The sign was an obvious reference to President Barack Obama, who conservatives say is a secret Muslim even though he says he is a Christian and attends church with his family. He said in an August interview with a religious magazine that it’s not his job to convince people he’s Christian. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is a Mormon.
Headscarf debate highlights Russian Muslims’ grievances
A ban on girls wearing the Islamic headscarf to a school in southern Russia has angered Muslims and forced President Vladimir Putin, who has robustly defended the Orthodox Church, to affirm that Russia is a secular state.
Muslims in the town of Kara Tyube in the Stavropol region say the ban on the hijab at School No. 12 forces their children to choose between their religion and a state education.
The 10 most Islamophobic moments in the 2012 elections
Jillian Rayfield and Alex Seitz-Wald list the ten most egregious examples of anti-Muslim bigotry during the US election campaign.