EDL to return for rematch in Walthamstow

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Walthamstow anti-EDL demonstration

The English Defence League was planning to hold a demonstration in Norwich on 27 October, the primary purpose of which was to express solidarity with a notorious right-wing Christian Islamophobe, the Rev Alan Clifford, whose church has been refused permission to hold a stall on local authority premises after a well-founded complaint that it was distributing anti-Muslim hate literature.

However, having held a meeting with regional organisers to discuss the way forward following their organisation’s recent humiliation in East London, the EDL leadership has announced that the Norwich protest has been postponed and they intend to return to Walthamstow and hold a further demonstration there on that date.

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Daily Star claims security services saw Newham mosque as potential terrorist threat to Olympics

Posted on by Bob Pitt

It looks like the right-wing press is resuming its hysterical campaign against the proposed Tablighi Jamaat markaz at the Riverine Centre in Newham. “Bomb fear at mega mosque” is the shock horror headline to an article in the Daily Star Sunday, which follows the recent scaremongering report in the Evening Standard.

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California governor signs law protecting Sikhs, Muslims, from workplace bias

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jerry Brown at Sikh rallyCalifornia employers face new restrictions against shunting Sikh and Muslim workers to backroom jobs out of public view based on their wearing of turbans, beards and hijabs, under a law signed Saturday by Gov. Jerry Brown.

“This bill, AB 1964, makes it very clear that wearing any type of religious clothing or hairstyle, particularly such as Sikhs do, that that is protected by law and nobody can discriminate against you because of that,” Brown told some 400 Sikhs and supporters at a rally of the North American Punjabi Assn. on the steps of the Capitol.

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EDL member who attacked anti-racism gig to be thrown out of army

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Cavan LangfieldA soldier who smashed up an anti-racism event with his English Defence League pals is set to be kicked out of the Army.

Cavan Langfield, 18, and a gang of mates stormed a Rock Against Racism gig in Leeds last year. They smashed windows and hurled bricks and bottles, knocking a teenager’s tooth out.

Langfield, from the Yorkshire Regiment, and eight other members of the gang were convicted at Leeds Crown Court last week.

A source at the Ministry of Defence said: “The wheels are in motion to get him thrown out. That’s a whole promising career up in flames.”

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Anti-Islam ads on San Francisco buses put Muslims at risk

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Geller’s ads demonize Muslims at a time when they are under attack. As an educator, I fully support free speech and the open exchange of ideas. But hate speech like the bus ads has a destructive, cumulative impact on society. The term ‘savages’ has been used to demonize people of color and marginalize them throughout this country’s history.”

An excellent piece by Hatem Bazian condemning Pamela Geller’s racist anti-Palestinian advertising campaign on San Francisco buses and their role in aggravating a situation where the US Muslim community is the victim of hatred and physical assaults.

San Jose Mercury News, 8 September 2012

A planned mosque inches along, but critics remain

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The New York Times reports on the fight to build a mosque at Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, in the face of continuing Islamophobic opposition.

Pamela Geller is not happy: “Look at this mosquestrosity; you don’t have to be rocket scientist to see that this Muslim Brotherhood beachhead should never have been built on this street. Where is the money coming from to pay for this fortress?”

Oslo police monitor anti-Islam meetings: report

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Police investigators have for years been participating in meetings of far-right and anti-immigrant groups and individuals, including Anders Behring Breivik, in order assess the potential for violent attacks, according to a media report.

The meetings brought together groups opposed to immigration and Islam and were organized by the website Document.no, according to a report in the Aftenposten daily.  The meetings discussed subjects ranging from immigration to ecology, according to the newspaper.

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Michael Coleman conviction for blog comments is liberty’s loss

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Michael Coleman BNPWell, that’s the editorial view of Stoke-on-Trent’s local paper, the Sentinel, on the recent conviction of the city’s British National Party leader on a charge of racial harassment over articles he posted on his Stoke Patriot blog.

According to the Sentinel,  the racist abuse that fills Coleman’s blog merely amounts to “purple prose” and his views are “at worst objectionable”.

This is a man who couldn’t even bring himself to condemn the attempt to blow up a Stoke mosque. Stating only that he could not “sanction” their actions, Coleman described the two men jailed for this crime as “patriotic Britons” and wrote: “I understand and share the anger that must have been in their hearts as they witnessed this Mosque been [sic] built in their city.”

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EDL member charged over pipe bomb threat

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A man has been charged after allegedly making online threats to carry out an “Oslo-style” bomb attack on Muslims.

Kenneth Graham Holden, 30, will appear before magistrates later this month charged with two counts of sending offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing messages or matters.

Police launched a probe after race-hate posts were allegedly made on Facebook in April this year.

Detectives discovered comments threatening a pipe bomb attack on Ocean Road, in South Shields, South Tyneside, inspired by the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik.

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