Manchester, Missouri: Christian group closes Muslim school

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Muslim Al Salam Day School off Weidman Road is closed Friday due to a Christian group’s promise to tout Christianity at the location, school officials said.

A letter, that reads as follows, was sent home to parents telling them there was no school on Friday. “Earlier this week we had informed members and parents of the community about a protest that will be taking place outside of the Islamic Foundation Property tomorrow. Due to the overwhelming incoming of increasing safety concerns from parents and teachers, we have decided to cancel school and after school activities for tomorrow, Friday, March 9.”

Ghazala Hayat with the Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis tells Patch that the group Reclaiming Missouri for Christ contacted St. Louis County Police to inform them the group planned to distribute literature during the Dar-Ul-Salam Mosque’s prayer services Friday between noon and 2 p.m. The Islamic Foundation offices, mosque and school are all located on the same property off Weidman Road.

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Anti-Sharia bill dies in Florida Senate

Posted on by Bob Pitt

ACLJ Shari'ah Law bookletAssailed by Muslim groups and quashed by Senate President Mike Haridopolos, an “anti-Sharia” law bill died in the Florida Legislature on Friday.

Senate Bill 1360 would have restricted state courts from considering foreign laws in most cases. Authored by Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, the bill was identical to HB 1209, which easily passed the House 92-24. But Hays’ bill became ensnared in a late-breaking political controversy when proponents distributed fliers and a pamphlet decrying the alleged intrusion of Islamic law into America’s courts.

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NYPD monitored groups based on religion, documents show

Posted on by Bob Pitt

NYPD secret report2The New York Police Department collected information on businesses owned by second- and third-generation Americans specifically because they were Muslims, according to newly obtained secret documents.

They show in the clearest terms yet that police were monitoring people based on religion, despite claims from Mayor Michael Bloomberg to the contrary.

The NYPD has faced intense criticism from Muslims, lawmakers – and even the FBI – for widespread spying operations that put entire neighborhoods under surveillance. Police put the names of innocent people in secret files and monitored the mosques, student groups and businesses that make up the Muslim landscape of the northeastern U.S.

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Bristol EDL member and BNP supporter smashed taxi window and racially abused drivers

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jamie TakleA racist thug downed more than 15 pints and numerous shots before abusing Asian taxi drivers and smashing a taxi window.

When police asked Jamie Takle how he thought the drivers felt about being racially abused, he replied: “To be honest I vote BNP – what does that tell you? They should all go back to their own country.”

Takle, of Aldwick Avenue, Hartcliffe, had been so aggressive on the night in question that a police officer had to spray CS gas in his face to arrest him.

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EDL and BNP supporter jailed over anti-Islam images in his flat window

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Darren Conway2A Gainsborough man who plastered his front window with vile anti-Islamic hate literature has been jailed for a year. Darren Conway, a self-confessed supporter of right-wing organisations, was given a 12-months’ sentence at Lincoln Crown Court.

The court was told on Tuesday that carer Conway had covered the front window of his ground floor flat in Heaton Street in Gainsborough with 17 photographs and posters. Many were offensive – attacking both the prophet Mohammed and the Muslim religion.

Conway, 44, had denied displaying the religiously aggravated hate material on April 16 last year. But he was convicted following a short trial earlier this year, when sentencing was postponed for reports to be prepared.

Judge Michael Heath told Conway: “To describe the material you put in your window as grossly offensive is an understatement. There is no place in a civilised society for conduct of that sort and the only sentence I can justify for it is an immediate custodial sentence.”

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Far right hardcore ‘willing to prepare for armed conflict’, new study finds

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A hardcore of far-right supporters in the UK appears to believe violent conflict between different ethnic, racial and religious groups is inevitable, and that it is legitimate to prepare even for armed conflict, according to a new report.

The study, From Voting to Violence? Rightwing Extremists in Modern Britain, by Matthew Goodwin, of the University of Nottingham, and Jocelyn Evans, of Salford University, was launched at Chatham House on Thursday. The report questioned more than 2,000 supporters of “radical-right” and “far-right” groups and found that many endorsed violence, with a “hostile inner core” apparently willing to plan for and prepare for attacks.

“What we have got here is a group of people who self-identify as supporters of the far right and who are, to quite a large extent, backing ideas about preparing for violence and appear to view violence as a justifiable political strategy,” said Goodwin, who is a specialist in far-right politics.

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Woman beaten and taunted as she wore hijab

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A young Muslim student was punched in the face and racially taunted as she walked down a Dublin street wearing a head scarf. A Dublin mother (23) has been convicted for assaulting the young Libyan, who was rescued by a passing motorist who stopped and helped her home.

Helen Doran’s victim was wearing a traditional Muslim hijab or head scarf. Doran followed her across a road after assaulting her and continued to shout racist insults at her.

Doran, of Castlecurragh Vale in Mulhuddart, admitted before Blanchardstown District Court to assaulting a 20-year-old Libyan student on November 2 last year. Judge Anthony Halpin sentenced Doran to three months in prison, suspended for one year.

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Kingston, Ontario: police seek woman over hijab assault

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Kingston, Ont., police are asking for the public’s help after a woman allegedly pulled on another woman’s hijab, which police are calling a hate crime assault.

Police said a woman was finishing her grocery shopping at a store around 5 p.m. ET on Jan. 28 when another customer came from behind her and pulled on her hijab. They said the suspect yanked the head covering so hard it forced the victim to bend backward. The suspect then let go and left the store without saying a word.

The female suspect is described as Caucasian, slim, about 40 to 45 years old, with long black hair and was with a male companion. Surveillance images of the suspect an associate and the victim can be viewed on the Kingston police website.

Anyone with information should contact Kingston police Const. Sean Leblanc at 613-549-4660, ext. 6250 or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8744.

CBC News, 9 March 2012

Amsterdam college sticks to its principles over demands for prayer room

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Islamic students at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA) are pressuring the faculty to provide a prayer room after the school’s “meditation room” was closed. But the school board is insisting that the University is a secular institution and has no obligation to provide space for religious activities.

According to HvA Rector Jet Bussemaker, the university decided to close the meditation room after it was commandeered by Muslim students as a prayer room.

An HvA spokesperson said: “This is not a mosque. The largest mosque in Amsterdam is just a 10 minute walk from here. Anyone who really feels they have to pray can walk to the mosque. The students also walk round the corner to get a cup of coffee or a sandwich.”

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