The real ‘two-tier system’ in operation

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Azhar Ahmed protest

This demonstration outside Dewsbury Magistrates’ Court tomorrow has been organised by the Yorkshire Division of the English Defence League in protest against Azhar Ahmed, the young man charged with a “racially aggravated public order offence” over a Facebook comment which, while arguably “threatening, abusive or insulting”, involved no actual racial element at all. (The EDL held a small demonstration against Ahmed in Dewsbury on Saturday which resulted in two of their members being arrested for causing criminal damage.)

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Croydon: Tory councillors vote down Islamic Centre plans after Gavin Boby is allowed to give evidence

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Law and Freedom Foundation logoTory councillors have been branded “perverse” after rejecting plans for an Islamic Centre in Purley. The six voted against the proposal despite planning officers recommending the development be approved.

And questions have also been raised as to why committee chairman councillor David Osland allowed “Mosquebuster” Gavin Boby to address the chamber, despite knowing of his links to the far-right English Defence League.

Councillors further clashed at the meeting – policed by around eight Met officers – which ended in plans for an Islamic place of worship coupled with multi-faith community facilities defeated by an all-Conservative six votes to an all-Labour five.

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‘Ken Livingstone: I will make London a beacon of Islam’ (it says here)

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ken Livingstone has promised to turn London into a “beacon” for the words of the Prophet Mohammed in a sermon at one of the capital’s most controversial mosques.

Mr Livingstone, Labour’s candidate for mayor of London, pledged to “educate the mass of Londoners” in Islam, saying:  “That will help to cement our city as a beacon that demonstrates the meaning of the words of the Prophet.” Mr Livingstone described Mohammed’s words in his last sermon as “an agenda for all humanity.”

He praised the Prophet’s last sermon, telling his audience: “I want to spend the next four years making sure that every non-Muslim in London knows and understands [its] words and message.” He also promised to “make your life a bit easier financially.”

Mr Livingstone was speaking at last Friday’s Jummah prayer at the North London Central Mosque, also known as Finsbury Park Mosque, formerly controlled by the terrorist recruiter Abu Hamza.

Hamza was removed in 2003 but the mosque is now controlled by an Islamist organisation, the Muslim Association of Britain, which has been linked to the banned terror group, Hamas.

Andrew Gilligan’s Telegraph blog, 19 March 2012

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Notorious bigot ‘courts controversy’ with book on multiculturalism in Dewsbury

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Danny Lockwood Islamic RepublicDanny Lockwood, an editor and publisher, has courted controversy by writing a book with a provocative title, The Islamic Republic of Dewsbury.

It is a blunt assault on multi-culturalism seen through the prism of his experience of immigration in the town of Dewsbury in West Yorkshire. Lockwood refers to his book as a “hard-hitting chronicle of the massive social changes in the district” and what he describes as “20 years of failed multi-culturalism.”

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Do young British Muslims support ‘honour’ violence?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Daily Mail honour violence

Here is a classic piece of Islamophobic reporting by the Daily Mail, featuring the paper’s usual contempt for factual accuracy when it comes to coverage of the Muslim community.

Headlined “More than two thirds of young British Muslims believe ‘honour’ violence is acceptable, survey reveals”, the article begins: “Most young British Muslims support violence against women who ‘dishonour’ their families, a Panorama investigation will claim today.”

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New York man charged in fire-bombing of mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Federal and state grand juries have indicted a New York man on suspicion of hate crimes in connection with five New Year’s Day Molotov cocktail attacks, including one against a mosque and another on a building used as a Hindu place of worship.

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn and the Queens District attorney on Monday announced their indictments separately in “parallel cases,” an unusual circumstance in which state and federal charges are brought over the same incident.

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France: referee refused to officiate women’s football match because some players wore headscarves

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A referee on Sunday refused to officiate a French women’s football match, when players for one of the teams took the pitch wearing Muslim headscarves, the club involved said.

The official sent a report to the Languedoc-Roussillon league in the south of the country about the incident involving players from Petit-Bard Montpellier, who had been due to play Narbonne in the regional promotion tie.

The league must now decide whether to order the match to be replayed or to award a win to Narbonne.

The two teams played a friendly match instead, with Narbonne winning 7-6.

Football’s world governing body FIFA banned players from wearing the Islamic headscarf in 2007, claiming it is unsafe.

But football federations and even the United Nations have urged FIFA to lift the ban, maintaining that concerns about safety are baseless and that it discriminates against Muslim players, particularly when no such restrictions apply in other sports.

Iran’s women’s team last year forfeited a 2012 Olympic qualifier because players wouldn’t play without wearing hijabs.

AFP, 18 March 2012