Hooligan avoids jail after throwing bottle during EDL protest

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Nuneaton September 2010A man who took aim with a bottle as English Defence League supporters clashed with young Asians during an army parade has escaped being jailed – despite being sentenced for affray days before the clash.

Daniel Groves, 23, of Kettlewell Close, Warwick, pleaded guilty at the crown court in Leamington to a charge of affray and was sentenced to six months in prison suspended for two years. He was given 18 months supervision, banned from all pubs and clubs for three months and made subject to a 8pm to 6am electronic-tag curfew for the same period.

The court heard that Groves had convictions for affray and public order offences and four days before the clash had been given a community sentence for an affray in Warwick town centre.

Prosecutor Vicki Lofrese said in September the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers were on parade in Nuneaton when police spotted English Defence League (EDL) supporters heading towards a pub.

She said: “Large banners were being paraded and slogans shouted from members of that group, including ‘I am English ’til I die’ and ‘St George in my heart’. Police saw a group of about 20 in the drinking area outside singing the same slogans and ‘Taliban scum’ as a group of young Asian men began to congregate outside.”

As the tension mounted and police struggled to keep them apart, Groves was spotted throwing the bottle, which smashed near the Asian youths, and he was arrested after a struggle.

Leamington Courier, 23 April 2011

Terry Jones says he will defy judge’s order and protest at Islamic Center of America next week

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A defiant Terry Jones says he plans to protest next week at the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn despite a judge’s order that he stay from the mosque for three years. The Quran-burning pastor from Florida said his rights were violated Friday by a judge due to the influence of Islamic law.

“We plan to protest next week in front of the Islamic Center,” Pastor Terry Jones said today. “The arrests, the whole proceedings, were a definite violation of our Constitutional rights. As a matter of fact, we were arrested and had not even committed a crime. It is a complete violation of our First Amendment right of freedom of speech. It was clearly influenced by the mosque.”

Jones had wanted to protest Friday against jihad and sharia outside the Islamic Center on Friday, but was thwarted by authorities. The center is the largest mosque in metro Detroit, a region with a sizable Muslim population.

On Friday, Judge Mark Somers ordered that Jones and Pastor Wayne Sapp be remanded to jail after a jury determined they would be likely to breach the peace. In his decision Judge Somers set a $1 cash bond for Jones and Sapp, and also said Jones and Sapp could not go to the mosque or adjacent property for three years. The only exception would be if the leadership of the mosque, such as its board, decided it would be ok for him to visit, Somers said.

Jones said that was an example of the influence of sharia, or Islamic law, in Dearborn. “Sharia is much closer than we thought,” Jones said. “The judge even made a statement, that if the mosque elders and leadership would have desired the restraints placed on us of not going near the mosque be lifted, then he would have taken that into consideration. Thus proving that this whole thing is a direct violation of freedom of speech and that they are favoring the religion of Islam.”

Detroit Free Press, 23 April 2011

See also “Jones’ Jesus stunt and his inadvertent supporters”, Weblog of Dawud Walid, 23 April 2011

Pig’s head thrown at a mosque in Reims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Le Nouvel Observateur reports that a pig’s head was left outside the door of a mosque and Islamic centre in Reims.

Rachid El Haouari, the president of the association that runs the centre, said this was the culmination of increasing acts of Islamophobia that they had suffered since the construction of the mosque began at the end of 2009. These have included insulting emails, letters containing burnt pages of the Qur’an and a poster campaign against the building of a minaret. In November 2010 there was an arson attack on the site of the mosque.

In a statement the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) condemned the desecration suffered by the mosque and Islamic center and expressed its concern at the upsurge of violence and hatred against places of prayer and meditation. It said the number of such attacks had more than doubled in 2010.

Hundreds of Russian nationalists join anti-Muslim rally in Moscow

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Moscow anti-Muslim demonstration

Hundreds of Russian nationalists staged a racism-tinged rally in central Moscow on Saturday to demand an end to social payments for Muslim republics of the volatile North Caucasus region.

The sanctioned gathering came amid spiking social tensions and lingering security fears from a January suicide bombing at the main Moscow airport that killed 37 people and was claimed by the nation’s most feared Islamist warlord.

“We are tired of seeing the Caucasus youth creating mayhem on our streets and at our schools and universities and then going unpunished,” rally co-organiser Alexander Khromov told the Interfax news agency.

The event was officially titled “Stop Feeding the Caucasus!” and included leaders from far-right organisations that rights groups link to deadly attacks on migrants from Russia’s Caucasus and the Central Asian republics.

Recent polls have shown a rise in Russian xenophobia and a sense of voter frustration over the influx of mostly Muslim newcomers to cities that are already creaking under the strain of heavy crime and poorly-funded services.

Saturday’s demonstrators were comprised mostly of Russian youth wearing bomber jackets and hoods.

Several covered their faces with bandannas to hide their identities from the police while many more raised their right arms in Nazi-style salutes while chanting slogans in praise of ethnic Russians.

AFP, 23 April 2011

SPD fails to expel Sarrazin

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Protesters hold up placards showing the portrait of German central bank executive Thilo Sarrazin before a public reading to present his book 'Deutschland schafft sich ab' (Germany does away with itself) in Potsdam

Controversial former politician Thilo Sarrazin has held on to his membership in the center-left Social Democratic Party, overcoming efforts by party leaders to get him expelled for his inflammatory remarks on race.

Thilo Sarrazin’s book “Germany Does Away With Itself” raised the ire of the Social Democrats’ (SPD) party leadership and many in Germany for arguing that intelligence is partly determined by genetics and that Muslim immigrants were lowering German standards.

Some in the SPD wanted him out of the party. But Thilo Sarrazin remains a member of the struggling center-left party after proceedings against him were dropped late on Thursday by a party tribunal in his Berlin district.

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Detroit’s religious leaders unite against Terry Jones as pastor battles to hold anti-Muslim rally

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Dearborn demonstration

With some of metro Detroit’s biggest political and religious leaders united behind Muslims in Dearborn, Florida Pastor Terry Jones is expected to appear in court this morning for a jury trial that could determine whether he can hold a rally at the largest mosque in the city.

This “bigot does not represent” us, Imam Hassan Al-Qazwini, head of the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, declared to a crowd of about 700 on Thursday at a rally that drew U.S. Rep. John Dingell, a Dearborn Democrat, and the local heads of the Catholic and Episcopal churches.

Al-Qazwini’s mosque is where Jones wants to rally today against what he calls “the radical element in Islam.” Jones appeared in court Thursday and refused to post a bond for the massive security effort Dearborn says it would have to deploy if Jones were allowed to rally. The judge then ordered the trial.

As Jones addressed reporters during a chaotic day, Dearborn residents shouted at him. “Shame on you!” yelled Leyla Abdul-Ghani, 40, who is Muslim. “We are decent, hardworking people.”

Detroit Free Press, 22 April 2011

See also “Koran-burning pastor’s gun discharges outside of Detroit TV station”, Fox News, 22 April 2011

For Pamela Geller’s take on the situation, see “Sharia trumps Constitution in Michigan: Terry Jones denied permit to rally, could face arrest”, Atlas Shrugs, 21 April 2011

Tennessee: Republican politician defends right to ‘confront a political-militaristic-religion responsible for 10 out of the last 11 terrorist attacks on Americans’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Rick WomickDebate surrounding proposed state legislation that critics say unfairly targets Islam continues to spill beyond the halls of the state Capitol. In a fiery email response to a local Jewish man, state Rep. Rick Womick defended his confrontation with a Columbia Muslim after a House committee hearing this week.

Womick, a Rockvale Republican who serves on the House Judiciary Committee, wrote an email Wednesday to Aaron Nuell of Murfreesboro stating that he sat “respectfully and politely” and listened to four people, including Daoud Abudiab of Columbia, accuse him and fellow legislators of denying them their constitutional rights, inflaming intolerance, making false accusations and being hate-mongers, racists and white supremacists such as the KKK.

“And you write me to scold me because I dare speak up and defend my character and confront a political-militaristic-religion responsible for 10 out of the last 11 terrorist attacks on Americans?” Womick wrote.

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Springfield: community backs Islamic Center against threats

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Vandalism and threats aimed at a local Muslim community have inspired others in Springfield to stand with the Muslims and in opposition to bigotry. Representatives of faith groups, human rights advocates and city government will join members of the Islamic Center of Springfield on Saturday afternoon to speak against recent incidents at the center and for religious freedom.

Carl Haworth with the Interfaith Alliance, which organized the event, said “everyone who supports religious freedom” is invited to join. “We want to show that we feel everyone has the right to be here as long as they want to contribute to the Springfield community and make this their home,” said Haworth.

City Councilman Bob Stephens said representatives from the city will be on hand. “Because those acts of vandalism were so despicable, we felt there definitely needs to be some representation from the city,” he said. “Springfield is not like this.”

George Davis, president of the city’s Human Rights Commission, said Saturday’s event will “show unity in diversity”. “Our community has people of many faiths and cultures,” he said. “We want to make it clear bigotry will not be tolerated through displays of actions.”

Francine Pratt, president of the local chapter of the NAACP – National Association for the Advancement of Colored People – said the civil rights organization will also be represented. “We want to show them that we love them and embrace them,” she said. “We have to stick up for what’s right.”

Members of the Islamic Center will be on hand to greet the community visitors.

“The wide range of response from the community at all levels … is very profound,” said Wafaa Kaf with the center and a member of the Interfaith Alliance. “All, from the ground up and from top down, agreed upon a call to action in response to hate crimes, burning the holy Quran, and the threatening letter against Islam and Muslim community of Springfield.

“The crowd wants to show that they, ‘average citizens,’ are united, and that such hatred actions against Islam are not welcome in our community, which promotes mutual respect and trust between interfaith groups. Every one of us is adding a hand toward shaping a better community.”

News-Leader, 22 April 2011

Vandals desecrate Muslim graves in High Wycombe

Posted on by Bob Pitt

High Wycombe Cemetery broken gravestone

Vandals have attacked 20 Muslim graves at a cemetery in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Headstones were pushed over and ornaments from the graves strewn around the cemetery in Hampden Road. The graves were vandalised between 2100 BST on Wednesday and 0800 BST on Thursday.

Thames Valley Police said it took the incident extremely seriously and was supporting families and the community as well as hunting the vandals. Supt Gilbert Houalla said:

“I am disgusted that these people could be so thoughtless and cowardly and cannot believe that anyone could do something so unbelievably shocking to the graves of loved ones. The community should feel reassured that we take incidents of this nature extremely seriously and will be doing all that we can to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice.

“It appears that the vandals have specifically desecrated Muslim graves and I am at a loss as to what was going through the minds of those involved. This is not only an attack on the Muslim community but is an attack on us all. We must now all work together to find whoever has done this.”

BBC News, 22 April 2011

See also Bucks Free Press, 21 April 2011

For the likely inspiration behind the attack see here, here and here.

Update:  See “Community outcry after Muslim graves desecrated in High Wycombe”, Bucks Free press, 24 April 2011

Gang of schoolgirls attack Muslim woman wearing headscarf

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A gang of schoolgirls attacked a Muslim woman after mocking her for wearing a headscarf. Four teenage girls, two wearing school uniform, kicked and knocked the woman to the ground before trying to remove the item of religious dress during the incident in North Cheam between 7pm and 9pm on Wednesday, April 13.

The 26-year-old was walking along Stonecot Hill towards London Road, near the territorial army centre, when she noticed she was being followed by the girls, who were teasing her about her headscarf. One of the girls kicked her, before she crossed the road in an attempt to get away. The girls caught up with the victim, kicked her again, and during a struggle to remove the victim’s headscarf, kicked her again after she fell to the ground.

The attackers fled after a car pulled over to help the woman. The driver then took the woman home.

Police are now appealing for information to catch those responsible. One of the girls is described as 5ft 7in tall, of medium build with long blonde hair extending to her mid-back, and wearing a white shirt and navy skirt school uniform. Another wearing the same uniform was 5ft 6in tall, with dyed red hair. A third is described as Eastern European in appearance with small eyes.

Anyone with information should call Sutton Police Station on 0300 123 1212 and ask for the Community Safety Unit quoting reference number 4004250/11.

Sutton Guardian, 21 April 2011