Cork councillor calls for veil ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Cork councillor has called for a ban on burkas, balaclavas or other any clothing that masks identity, on the grounds of public safety.

Cllr Joe O’Callaghan (FG) said now was the time to deal with the issue as those affected are a “tiny minority”. His comments were rejected by, among others, Ali Selim, of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland, who described the proposal as “unnecessary”.

Mr O’Callaghan proposed a motion to Cork City Council, calling on Minister for Justice Alan Shatter to ban burkas and give gardaí powers to order youths to remove their hoodies.

“I knew this would cause controversy but I live in a free country and if I have an opinion I will express it. I’m doing it now because I feel now is the time to address this issue, not in five years’ time,” he said. The councillor said burkas, along with balaclavas and hoodies, have become unacceptable in public places for reasons of “public safety and common sense” following recent riots in London.

He added the burka had no place in modern Irish society. “Wearing a burka is an affront to women in this day and age and this view has been endorsed by one of our local Muslim leaders in Cork. I fail to accept that anyone with any cop-on would like to wrap themselves in what looks like a curtain all day,” Mr O’Callaghan said.

He endorsed the introduction of an Irish law making it obligatory not to cover one’s identity in public.

Mr Selim said the councillor was placing the burka, which has religious significance, in the same context as the hoodie, which has a criminal context.

“How many women has he talked to? And if some women choose to dress this way, why is he imposing a different way of clothing upon them?” Mr Selim said. “Ireland is a society with a good understanding of religion. There are lots of traditions shared between Irish society and Muslim communities. We should aim to unite on friendly ground, not aim to cause conflict among members of the same society.”

Irish Times, 20 August 2011

Via ENGAGE

Promoting sharia hysteria down under – Maryam Namazie arrives in Australia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Maryam Namazie with Douglas Murray
Maryam Namazie with Douglas Murray at an OLFA meeting in London in January

In Britain, Maryam Namazie’s campaign against sharia law has earned her plenty of hate mail. But what really bothers her is the silence of parts of the media and the inaction by the British government over what she says are sharia’s attacks on the fundamental rights of Britain’s Muslim citizens.

Her group, One Law for All, has been fighting since 2008 to stop what she describes as the rise of political Islamism in Britain.

She is in Australia for a week-long speaking tour in the hope of helping ensure this country learns from the mistakes of Britain, where sharia tribunals enjoy a form of legal recognition in family law. “You are facing quite a lot of similar issues in Australia. It might not be as entrenched as it is in Britain, but you can see a lot of similarities,” Ms Namazie said.

Ms Namazie, who is an Iranian exile, said any form of legal accommodation with sharia “is like trying to incorporate apartheid into a non-racist system of law – they are simply incompatible”.

Yet she says her message is frequently ignored by some British newspapers and broadcasters. “A lot of the media that is considered liberal does not want to touch it because it is seen to be racist.”

The Australian, 23 August 2011

EDL Kingston demo cancelled due to rain

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL KingstonEfforts by the English Defence League to hold a “meet and greet” in Kingston fizzled out in heavy rain yesterday.

The far-right group had been due to start their first formal event in the borough at 1.30pm on Saturday. Police, who maintained a highly visible presence in town and outside Kingston Mosque, said they recognised a number of suspected EDL members around town. However, they did not deliver any leaflets after heavy rain hit the town in the early afternoon.

About 20 people from the GMB union, Kingston Green Party, Socialist Workers Party, Unite Against Fascism and the South London Anti-Fascist Alliance held their own counter demonstration.

Matthew Smith, of Kingston GMB, said: “Unlike eight EDL members stuck on a table in Wetherspoons, we were out in the rain distributing 500 leaflets. It was an effort to make sure anyone who could be suseptible to know why the EDL are wrong.”

David Gair, of Kingston police, said: “Whether their resolve was weakened by the weather I don’t know. We have seen a few suspected EDL members, but they did not come out in great numbers.”

Surrey Comet, 21 August 2011

“Fizzled out in heavy rain”? Whatever happened to “NSE”? How can the EDL hope to repel the Islamic hordes if its members bottle out as soon as they’re faced with the prospect of getting a bit wet?

Melbourne’s mayor accused of attack on Santa

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Robert Doyle has compared burqa-wearing Muslims to Santa Claus.

Melbourne’s Lord Mayor yesterday said banning the burqa for security reasons could equally apply to people dressed as Santa. “After all, he’s got that red cap with the white band pulled down low over his forehead and then he’s got this false beard that hides most of his face in the lower part. So maybe those guys should be banned because you can’t really identify them,” he joked.

But anti-burqa senator Cory Bernardi said that Santa had no place in the debate. “It surprises me that the thought bubble from Robert Doyle would question one of our great cultural traditions in defence of something that is so alien to most Australians,” he said. “Unfortunately, there are already too many instances when our cultural traditions and celebrations have been abandoned to appease the disease of political correctness.”

A group of Victorian youths held an anti-burqa protest on Monday in response to the case of a Sydney woman who, because of identity issues caused by her wearing a burqua, successfully appealed against a jail sentence for deliberately making a false statement.

Cr Doyle said that calls to ban the burqa were offensive and a sign of prejudice and that there were procedures in place for police and customs staff who needed to properly identify someone wearing a burqua.

Herald Sun, 20 July 2011

See also Helen Szoke, “Burqa rally is about stoking fear not promoting security”, Sydney Morning Herald, 20 July 2011

EDL member admits to racist graffiti on mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Charlotte_DaviesA single mother said to be a member of the English Defence League (EDL) has admitted her part in an incident which saw racist remarks daubed on buildings including a mosque.

Charlotte Christina Davies, 19, intends to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit racially aggravated criminal damage, Durham Crown Court heard yesterday.

The teenager, from Aylesbury, in Buckinghamshire, was charged after slogans were spray-painted on the Nasir mosque, in Hartlepool, and the Albert Guest House and Milko store, in Shotton Colliery, County Durham, on November 16, last year.

Ms Davies sent text messages suggesting people throw pork scratchings, leave a pig’s head and daub Merry Christmas above a door the day before the beginning of the Muslim festival of Eid, David Crook, prosecuting, told the court.

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Tennessee: protestors oppose Wilders film

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Cookeville protestCOOKEVILLE — A crowd of more than 100 peaceful protestors gathered outside the courthouse last night with signs saying “We love Muslims” and “All religions believe in justice,” among many others, showing their opposition to the Tennessee Freedom Coalition’s showing of what they call a highly controversial film about the Islamic religion.

“A Warning to America,” by Geert Wilders, a Dutch politician who has spoken out against Islam, was shown in the county commission chambers last night. DVDs of the film were also available for purchase at the event.

“We’re here to voice another side,” Pat Handlson, minister of Cookeville First Presbyterian Church and event organizer said. “I think it’s sad there’s been such negativity surrounding the Murfreesboro mosque.”

Wilders, according to Rachel Welch, organizer of the film showing and vice-chair of the Putnam County Republican Party, has been under persecution in his country for hate speech and speaking out against Shariah law. “This is certainly not a hate film,” Welch said. “It’s about facts and Islam being a political ideology shrouded in a religion.”

Very few confrontations between the two sides were reported and both Welch and Handlson were pleased with how peaceful it was.

“I just wanted everyone here to be a witness to this event,” Handlson continued. “To be a witness to love your God and love your neighbor. We all can co-exist.” Handlson is concerned about this film being shown locally because Cookeville is home to a large group of Saudi Muslims.

Herald-Citizen, 20 August 2011

See also Cookeville Times, 20 August 2011

Police flood Kingston as EDL prepare to gather on streets

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Police are out in force after the English Defence League said it would hold a “meet and greet”. The event, which will also include leafleting, is due to start at 1.30pm in Kingston town centre.

A group of about 15 anti-fascist campaigners from Kingston and south-west London are handing out leaflets of their own.

Last November about 60 people marched from Hampton Wick to Kingston in a protest against poppy burning. A small group of men attacked Kingston mosque later the same day.

Surrey Comet, 20 August 2011

Lutfur Rahman threatens legal action if Met doesn’t apply for ban on EDL march

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Lutfur at press conferenceThe Mayor of Tower Hamlets has given the Metropolitan Police Commissioner until Monday to seek a Home Office ban on the English Defence League marching through London’s East End on September 3. Lutfur Rahman has thrown the gauntlet down and told the commissioner he will go to court unless an application is made.

“I will instruct lawyers on Monday to go to the High Court and seek injunctive relief if the Met Police fail to act,” he told a Town Hall news conference this-afternoon. “We will not let the EDL or any other bunch of extremists divide our community. The EDL just wants images of our young people fighting on the streets to show that multi-cultural Britain doesn’t work – but we stand united in the East End against hatred and Racism. The authorities must act to ban the EDL.”

He is challenging Home Secretary Theresa May to use her powers to stop the EDL coming to Whitechapel on September 3 on the grounds of public safety. He was backed at the news conference in his call for a ban by community and religious leaders who have come together under the United East End alliance.

“Fear and anxiety grows every day that passes without action from the police of Home Secretary,” the mayor added. “If no action is taken, we have no option but to protect our residents and take the police and Home Secretary to court.”

Tower Hamlets council’s legal department has written to the Acting Commissioner to demand they apply to the Home Secretary to ban the march under the Public Order Act, in the light of last week’s London riots. Legal proceedings will begin, they warn, if there is no response by Monday or if the response is not in favour of a ban.

East London Advertiser, 19 August 2011

EDL member admits spray paint attack on mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A member of the English Defence League has admitted taking part in a spray paint attack on a mosque. Charlotte Davies, 19, will plead guilty to conspiracy to commit racially aggravated criminal damage.

She travelled from her home in Irving Path, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, to Durham Crown Court where she indicated she admitted her part in the graffiti attack in November. The Nasir Mosque in Hartlepool, a shop and a guest house were sprayed.

The plea was not formally entered although the case was adjourned for a pre-sentence report to be carried out and she will be sentenced in October.

Anthony Smith, 24, of Neptune Way, Easington Colliery, County Durham, and Steven Vasey, 32, of Prior’s Grange, Pittington, County Durham, are accused of the same offence and they will enter pleas next Friday.

Northern Echo, 19 August 2011

‘We’ll burn your mosques’: Taunts of hate by an EDL supporter

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A member of a far-right group threatened to burn down mosques during a drunken rant in Halifax town centre, a court heard.

Andrew Ossitt, 40, from Newquay, came to Halifax on April 2, along with around 60 other English Defence League protesters. He was part of a group who came into town after a demonstration in Blackburn. They congregated outside the Courtyard pub, Wards End, Halifax.

Another man, Dennis Farrell, 26, of High Lees Road, Halifax, also appeared at Calderdale Magistrates’ Court. He will face trial on November 3 after denying two charges of using threatening words and racially or religiously aggravated harassment.

Scores of police went to the pub at 6pm and marched the group back to the train station.

Vanessa Schofield, prosecuting, said: “Officers’ attention was drawn to Andrew Ossitt. He was walking along, slightly behind the group. He raised both arms in the air and shouted, ‘These are our streets, Muslims off the streets’.”

Ossitt admitted using threatening words to cause harassment alarm or distress and a second charge of religiously aggravated harassment and was fined £100.

Mohammed Farooq, representing Ossitt, told the court although he joined in with chanting, he was not an instigator. He said: “At no point was it his intention to be part of any demonstration outside the pub. A few members began chanting, a few more joined in. Due to him being in drink at the time he began to chant ‘You burn the poppies, and we will burn the mosques’.

“Andrew Ossitt says at the time of making these remarks he did not feel he was going to cause anyone any alarm, harassment or distress. With hindsight he said had there been members of the Muslim community there, they would have done.”

His solicitor said Ossitt felt “aggrieved” at being prosecuted. “He has been singled out from that demonstration and used as a scapegoat here in court. He has said there should be 60 or so EDL stood next to him,” said Mr Farooq. He said Ossitt has not attended any English Defence League meetings since April.

As well as the £100 fine, chairwoman Anthea Atkinson told Ossitt to pay £85 costs and a £15 victim surcharge. “Our aim is to punish you, which we believe this will do. If this offence had not been religiously aggreviated, you would have paid £30 but it has been increased to reflect the religious aggreviation,” she said.

Halifax Courier, 19 August 2011