Arson attack on Berlin Islamic centre is third incident in a fortnight

Posted on by Bob Pitt

An Islamic centre in Berlin was hit by an arson attack on Thursday, with an assailant hurling a petrol bomb against the building’s facade. It was the third such incident involving a Muslim building in the capital in a fortnight.

The assailant threw a bottle filled with flammable liquid against the front of the cultural centre belonging to the Iranian community of Berlin and Brandenburg on Ordensmeisterstraße in the Tempelhof district, police said.

Greens MP Volker Beck held Chancellor Angela Merkel and Bavarian state premier Horst Seehofer indirectly responsible for the attack. This autumn Merkel declared that “multiculturalism has failed utterly” and Seehofer railed against Muslim immigrants – remarks widely seen as intensifying an already divisive debate over integration and Islam in Germany.

Residents alerted the fire department because an area of the building’s façade several metres wide was ablaze. Two people were in the centre at the time of the attack, but they were unharmed. The fire burnt itself out and left behind blackened brickwork. Police were investigating on the grounds of attempted arson.

Last month, similar attacks were launched against the Al Nur and Sehitlik mosques, both in the Berlin district of Neukölln. No one has so far been arrested.

Beck, who is the human rights spokesman for the parliamentary group of the environmentalist Greens, said Merkel’s comments and inflammatory remarks by Christian Social Union leader Seehofer had made sweeping judgements linking immigrants to people who refused to integrate and Islamists who opposed Germany’s constitution.

Former central banker Thilo Sarrazin, whose book “Abolishing Germany” kicked off the toxic immigration debate, as well as conservative politicians and even the populist Bild daily were pushing “an attempt at social division” that could “give impulse” to such attacks, he said.

The Local, 9 December 2010

See also “Berlin police probe spate of anti-Islam arson attacks”, AFP, 9 December 2010

Peterborough: Sikhs join with Muslims to oppose EDL

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Peterborough Sikh and Muslim leaders

Representatives from Peterborough’s Sikh community came out in opposition to the English Defence League (EDL) at a city mosque.

Representatives from the two Gurdwaras in Peterborough met with Muslims from local mosques at the Faizan e Madina Mosque in Gladstone Street last night. Their purpose was to show their support to the city’s Muslim community and to distance themselves from EDL leader Gurmeet Singh, who is also a Sikh.

A statement signed by representatives from Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara Sahib and Gurdwara Baba Budha Sahib Ji said:

“On behalf of the Peterborough Sikhs we vehemently oppose the views of the EDL and any of its members. In Peterborough, Sikhs have worked hard to build relationships with other religious communities and have expressed our concern that this demonstration could upset the balance of the wider community.”

Peterborough Evening Telegraph, 9 December 2010

New York: men accused of subway attack on imam face hate crime charges

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Two men accused of attacking a Muslim religious leader in a Manhattan subway station were the targets Thursday of a hate-crimes investigation.

The unidentified imam claimed the two men called him a “terrorist” and yelled ethnic and religious slurs when they assaulted him at the Canal Street station early Wednesday, sources said.

Eddie Crespo, 28, of Staten Island, was charged with third degree assault as a hate crime and two counts of second degree robbery, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said. Albert Melendez, 30, of Manhattan, is expected to be arraigned later Thursday.

The incident happened at 3:25 a.m. on the northbound A-train platform, prosecutors said.

New York Daily News, 9 December 2010

Update:  See also TPM, 10 December 2010

Corvallis, Oregon: locals donate time to help repair burnt mosque office

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Corvallis mosque repairsThursday morning, it was business as usual for the small crew of The Village Builder construction company. John Donohue of Albany and Bruce McVicar of Corvallis worked to secure new slabs of sheet rock onto exposed wall supports, while fellow crew members Peter Noone and Tom Olson measured and cut the next pieces to fit.

But, it wasn’t just any job, and the company wasn’t getting paid a dime. They wouldn’t have it any other way.

Village Builder owner Charlie “Chuck” Noone volunteered his crew’s services to help rebuild the fire-damaged office of Salman Alfarisi Islamic Center director Mohammed Siala. The contractor’s crew is donating labor to rebuild the office which that was heavily damaged by an arson fire Nov. 28.

Chuck Noone was shocked when he read about the arson at the mosque and dismayed at news coverage that reflected animosity and hate. “I thought this needed to be turned around,” he said. “Maybe a small amount of kindness would help turn things around a little … I thought if we did something nice in their time of need, that maybe other people would help and it would all kind of snowball.”

In addition to the fire damage, repairs are needed to replace windows and a door that was damaged when the fire department forced entry to quickly extinguish the blaze. The rest of the building – including the main worship area, was unharmed, and there were no injuries. The center’s insurance policy covered the cost of materials for the repairs. “I told (the mosque leaders) whatever their insurance didn’t cover, we would pick up the tab,” Chuck Noone said. “I don’t want them to have to pay for anything out of pocket.”

In addition to the sheet rock, Village Builder’s crew will replace the doors and trim. Noone will pay another contractor, Dan George, for taping and texturing the walls. Volunteers – including residents from the mosque – plan to paint the office.

Mosque members brought the work crew potato soup as a small thanks on Thursday. The arson was a terrible thing, Noone said. But, “it’s an opportunity for community to come together.”

Gazette-Times, 9 December 2010

Oldham: Muslims and Jews to unite against BNP

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Nick_GriffinJewish and Muslim communities in the north-west are readying themselves for a new campaign against the BNP if its leader Nick Griffin stands in the Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election.

The BNP leader hinted last Friday through the Twitter website that he might contest the seat. This came in the wake of the High Court upholding the decision to strip former Immigration Minister Phil Woolas of his seat, for lying about a rival in last May’s general election campaign.

This week Manchester Jewish Representative Council president Lucille Cohen said there had been discussions with the Board of Deputies about running an anti-BNP campaign, similar to that in Barking where Mr Griffin stood against Margaret Hodge in May. Sue Gillett, North West Conservative Party director during the election, said there was speculation that Mr Griffin would be challenged by Conservative parliamentary spokesman Kashif Ali.

Mr Ali said Muslim groups in Oldham would rally against the BNP. “I met the Jewish council just before the May elections and we discussed all of this. We stood together then because we’ve all got a common interest against the BNP. There is concern because Griffin stood in Oldham West and Royton in 2001, so he has some knowledge of Oldham.”

Griffin gained a record BNP general election result in 2001, coming third on a wave of popularity fuelled by the Oldham riots. But Mike Luft, of Oldham United Against Racism, said the BNP has since been in serious decline.

Jewish Chronicle, 9 December 2010

All Party Parliamentary Group on Islamophobia divided over ENGAGE’s role

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Over at the Jewish Chronicle, Martin Bright reports that the recently launched APPG on Islamophobia has been “forced to end its partnership” with ENGAGE, who were providing administrative support to the Group. According to Bright, the APPG’s chair Kris Hopkins MP and one of the vice-chairs, Lord Janner, “agreed on Tuesday to drop Engage”. However, he also quotes a statement issued by another of the vice-chairs, Simon Hughes MP, which reads:

“Engage is an organisation which promotes the participation and engagement of young Muslims in the public sphere. Occasionally this may mean that the group represents views that others may disagree with. But as long as they stay within the law and enter into the sprit of a democratic dialogue, I have no problem with them providing support to the APPG on Islamophobia, a group which exists precisely to advance reasoned debate on faith issues in our country.”

Bright claims that it was an attack on ENGAGE by Paul Goodman at ConservativeHome that prompted Hopkins and Janner to change their minds. And, as Goodman makes clear, his own article was based on an earlier piece entitled “Islamists establish a bridgehead in Parliament”, which was written by Andrew Gilligan, the hero of the English Defence League.

No doubt ENGAGE will publish a clarification of the situation in due course. However, if the APPG has indeed severed its links with ENGAGE, we would be faced with the bizarre spectacle of an APPG whose purpose is to combat Islamophobia taking its first major decision on the basis of a witch-hunt led by two of the country’s leading Islamophobes! This hardly bodes well for the APPG’s future.

Update:  Bright’s JC report has of course been seized on byHarry’s Place who dismiss Simon Hughes’s support for ENGAGE in the following terms:

“Hughes has form as a supporter of Islamist politics. He is a regular speaker at the Islam Channel’s Global Peace and Unity Event, which showcases hate preachers. This is quite remarkable – Simon Hughes is a gay man and, supposedly, a liberal. Yet, he consistently allies himself with political groups which attack liberal Muslims, are virulently homophobic and would like to establish a state in which gay men would be executed. What is wrong with him?”

Are these the sort of forces Kris Hopkins and Lord Janner really want to align themselves with?

Further update:  See the “Joint statement from Kris Hopkins MP and Lord Janner” which announces their intention “to call a meeting of the group at the earliest opportunity, to recommend that we dispense with the services of Engage”.

A more appropriate response from the APPG would be to remove Hopkins and Janner and replace them with a chair and vice-chair who are prepared to stand up to Islamophobic witch-hunts from the likes of Andrew Gilligan, Paul Goodman and Harry’s Place.

Meanwhile, over at his Torygraph blog, Gilligan is hailing the news under the headline “Great news: Islamists lose their Parliamentary foothold”.

One more update:  Read ENGAGE’s detailed response to Paul Goodman’s criticisms here

Plan to turn disused Bletchley pub into a mosque prompts complaints

Posted on by Bob Pitt

BNP Bletchley mosque protestA plan to turn a disused pub into a mosque has raised some complaints in Buckinghamshire.

The Plough in Manor Road, Bletchley, could be turned into a mosque if Milton Keynes Council approves the proposal. Some residents around the building have written letters of objection saying there would not be enough parking to accommodate worshippers.

Continue reading →

Wrexham man receives suspended sentence after threatening to burn down mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

WDL Wrexham
‘Welsh’ Defence League protest in Wrexham, November 2009

A man was abusive and threatening to two British Muslims outside Wrexham’s new mosque and threatened to burn it down. David Jared Evans, 36, sent texts to people suggesting a visit to the mosque in the former Miner’s Institute and a demonstration and said flame throwers made “good legal weapons”.

Evans received a suspended sentence after he admitted using threatening, abusive and insulting language and behaviour towards Abdulla Anwar which was racially and religiously aggravated. He had a similar previous conviction in 2006 after he abused a black woman.

The judge said Mr Anwar and a colleague had approached Evans outside the mosque and offered him help. “For that, they were subjected to a torrent of disgraceful abuse,” the judge said. The comments were religiously and racially aggravated, persistent and escalated to threats of violence.

A prison sentence was inevitable but the judge took into account Evans had already served the equivalent of a six month sentence on remand. He had pleaded guilty and rather than sending him back into custody for what could only be a matter of weeks he believed it would be better to tackle his “intransigent attitudes”.

Evans, of High Street, Rhos, received a 36 week prison sentence, suspended for a year. He must carry out 200 hours unpaid work and attend an offending behaviour programme run by the probation service specifically to address his racially motivated behaviour.

Evans was also made subject of a two month 7pm-7am curfew at weekends and Judge Parry told him to pay £500 towards prosecution costs and £150 compensation to Mr Anwar. A restraining order was made which bans him from going to the mosque or approaching Mr Anwar.

The Leader, 6 December 2010

The report refers to text messages found on Evans’s mobile phone in which he asked one contact if he was “up for a visit to the mosque tonight” and suggested the use of a flame thrower. An earlier report indicated that the text messages were sent to English Defence League supporters.

A year ago the EDL held a protest in Wrexham at the site of the proposed new mosque in the name of its sister organisation the Welsh Defence League, though most of the participants were reportedly of English origin.