Leading Dutch retailer HEMA is being taken to court in Belgium after a female employee was fired for wearing a headscarf. The Belgian Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism (CGKR) is pressing charges against the firm.
HEMA dismissed the Muslim employee a year ago after customers complained about her headscarf. CGKR Director Jozef De Witte told Flemish media that his organisation made several attempts to broker a solution with the Dutch company, but without success.
British National Party and English Defence League supporters held a protest outside Burnley crown court on Friday. More than 25 protesters gathered as Judge Beverley Lunt prepared to set a date for a child sex offence case.
Holding Union and St George’s flags and banners reading “protect children, fight grooming gangs”, protesters were monitored by around 20 police officers in and around the Hammerton Street court. Members of the BNP played music and speeches for more than two hours in front of TV news cameras and newspaper photographers.
Lancashire Telegraph, 5 March 2012
BNP leader Nick Griffin recently announced that the party had lifted its ban on co-operation with the EDL, while prominent EDL member Hel Gower has joined a Facebook group advocating unity with the BNP, so it will be interesting to see how this pans out.
The Financial Times reports that Yusuf al-Qaradawi has been threatened with arrest in Dubai over his support for Syrian oppositionists who are facing expulsion from the United Arab Emirates because of their participation in an anti-Assad demonstration. We look forward to a post at Harry’s Place expressing their solidarity with Qaradawi.
France’s Jews and Muslims united Tuesday to complain they were being used as pawns in a presidential election increasingly dominated by bitter disputes over national identity and ritual slaughter.
“France’s problems are so major, as we are in a period of crisis, so how can the issue of kosher meat and halal meat be a major problem for France?” asked an exasperated Grand Rabbi of France, Gilles Bernheim.
For its part, the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) slammed what it said was the use of Muslims as “scapegoats” in the election campaign in which halal slaughter of animals has become a hot-button issue.
Muslim groups gathered in support of the New York Police Department in Manhattan this morning following revelations the NYPD set up surveillance of Muslim communities in two New Jersey cities and on 16 college campuses.
Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, the president of the American Islamic Foundation, on Monday thanked the NYPD for monitoring extremists as about three dozen supporters cheered and clapped. Jasser, who narrated the documentary “The Third Jihad,” which warns against the dangers of radical Islam, said the NYPD is doing work that Muslims should be doing.
France’s prime minister urged Muslims and Jews to consider scrapping their halal and kosher slaughter laws on Monday as President Nicolas Sarkozy and his allies stepped up their efforts to woo far-right voters.
Prime Minister Francois Fillon made the suggestion after Sarkozy called at the weekend for butchers to clearly label meat slaughtered according to religious laws and his allies warned immigrants might impose halal meat on French schoolchildren.
Fillon and other conservative leaders linked this tough stand on ritually prepared meat to issues such as immigration and French identity that the far-right National Front uses to tap into resentment against Europe’s largest Muslim minority.
Opposition to 9,500 capacity mosque and Islamic enclave of homes, shops and business units unveiled at recent site exhibition
This morning sees the launch of a new campaign against the proposed 9,500 capacity mega-mosque at West Ham, close to the site of the Olympic Stadium and Park.
At 6.30am volunteers from the MegaMosqueNoThanks campaign will start leafleting commuters at the nearby West Ham station and residents living in the area around the site of the proposed mosque. The campaign website www.MegaMosqueNoThanks.com will also be relaunched.
A series of articles by The Associated Press has exposed constitutionally suspect surveillance of Muslims in New York, New Jersey, Long Island and beyond. Unearthed police records noticeably lack any apparent link to suspected criminal activity, or any obvious payoff for public safety.
In particular, the A.P. reports revealed widespread police spying and the creation of police records containing information on Muslim people, mosques and campus groups, as well as luncheonettes, dollar stores and other legitimate businesses owned and frequented by Muslims, with no apparent reason to think anything wrong was going on….
It is a distressing fact of life that mistreatment of Muslims does not draw nearly the protest that it should. But not just Muslims are threatened by this seemingly excessive warrantless surveillance and record-keeping. Today Muslims are the target. In the past it was protesters against the Vietnam War, civil rights activists, socialists. Tomorrow it will be another vulnerable group whose lawful behavior is blended into criminal activity.
Mr. Bloomberg has reacted in the worst possible way – with disdain – to those raising legitimate questions about the surveillance program. Asking about its legality, and about whether alienating innocent Muslims is a smart or decent strategy, does not translate into being soft on terrorism, or failing to appreciate that it is a dangerous world….
We welcome last week’s statement by Attorney General Eric Holder that the Justice Department is beginning to review complaints about the N.Y.P.D.’s surveillance of Muslim and Arab communities to determine whether a full civil rights investigation is warranted. The review’s prompt completion should be a priority.
Meantime, we are wondering what happened to the Michael Bloomberg who stood up for fairness and religious freedom by backing a proposed Muslim community center near ground zero. We hope that mayor re-emerges soon to restore trust.
Editorial in New York Times, 4 February 2012
See also Michael Calderone, “New York Times weighs in on Muslim surveillance program by NYPD, calls out Mayor Bloomberg”, Huffington Post, 4 March 2012
Muslim women will be required to remove face veils as part of new identity check laws in NSW.
From April 30, anyone who asks a Justice of the Peace or lawyer to witness statutory declarations or affidavits will have to remove all head coverings including motorcycle helmets and masks to prove who they are.
NSW Attorney-General Greg Smith said JPs and lawyers will in future be required to see the face of anyone making statutory declarations or affidavits and to confirm their identity.
Laws forcing women wearing burqas to show their face when asking JPs and lawyers to witness their signature should be imposed in Victoria, the Law Institute says.