Woman jailed for abusing and spitting at Muslims as they left mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Worshippers leaving a mosque in Colne were subjected to a tirade of racist abuse by a drunken woman who spat on them in the street, a court heard.

Brothers Quaram and Asim Majid were leaving the venue in Chapel Street on Wednesday when they were confronted by Emma Woods, Burnley magistrates were told. Woods, 24, of Laithe Street, Colne, hurled abuse at the pair and repeatedly spat at them, as their 14-year-old nephew looked on, said prosecutor Bill Maude.

The brothers tried to walk away towards Albert Road and Colne Lane but Woods pursued them across the Pendle town, in scenes which were described in court as “disgraceful”.

Woods admitted two offences of racially aggravated assault and breaching a suspended prison sentence order, also imposed for assault. Magistrates jailed her for 146 days.

Mr Maude said the defendant continued to pursue the pair, as one of the brothers attempts to guide their 14-year-old nephew to safety. Woods shouted: “No-one wants you here. Get out of our country. This is our town.”

Lancashire Telegraph, 23 July 2010

Posted in UK

Netherlands: Wilders to enter coalition talks

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders emerged Saturday as a possible member of the next Dutch government after the centrist Christian Democrats agreed to informal talks with Wilders and the free market party that won recent Dutch elections. “I am very happy … I hope we can sit at the table as soon as possible,” Wilders told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “It is positive news.”

Associated Press, 24 July 2010

Berlin: Islamophobic politician faces expulsion over invitation to Wilders

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Geert Wilders, the anti-Islam Dutch politician, is set to address like-minded Germans in October, triggering criticism Thursday in Berlin, with city Christian Democrats saying they may expel a politician who invited Wilders to the German capital.

Rene Stadtkewitz, a Christian Democratic deputy in the legislature of Berlin state, was unrepentant over his invitation to Wilders. He said they would meet October 2 to share views on how to fight political Islam. He gave no details of any public appearances.

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of Chancellor Angela Merkel is an opposition party in the Berlin regional legislature. The city and suburbs constitutes one of Germany’s 16 states.

Frank Henkel, caucus leader of the city CDU, said he would expel Stadtkewitz from the caucus if he did not call off the Wilders visit. “I won’t cancel the invitation to Wilders. That would go against my fundamental political convictions,” Stadtkewitz responded.

Stadtkewitz resigned his CDU party membership in 2009 in protest at a fellow member who has built bridges with city Muslims, but remains a member of the CDU caucus in the state legislature. He has campaigned against plans to build the newest mosque in the city. He has charged that the Merkel party is “too soft and too tolerant” towards “violence-prone, radical Muslims.”

Earth Times, 22 July 2010

EDL accused of threatening, intimidating and harassing Luton residents

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Luton July 2010

Luton Mayor Councillor Tom Shaw and council leader Hazel Simmons have said that threatening or intimidating behaviour in the town will not be tolerated after a stand off between EDL members and opposing groups yesterday afternoon.

Crowds of EDL members, in the town to support Kevin Carroll, who was in court appealing against public order offences relating to an incident at the Poachers’ homecoming parade last March, had to be separated from groups of other men by lines of police in St George’s Square. Officers from the Metropolitan Police, some on horseback, and the British Transport Police had to be drafted in to help keep the peace as angry exchanges broke out.

In a joint statement, Councillors Shaw and Simmons said: “It is not for us to comment on the decisions made in court, and it would not be appropriate for us to do so. We can say, however, that any behaviour carried out by any person to threaten, intimidate or harass others is completely unacceptable and we will not tolerate behaviour of this type in Luton.

“Luton is a diverse and vibrant town, with many people from all over the world coming together and living in harmony. The absolutely unacceptable behaviour of a small group of trouble-makers will be viewed with anger and dismay by the overwhelming majority of people in our town. We understand that most of those gathering in Luton today came from other parts of the country.

“We fully support the police in their actions to protect public safety.”

Luton Today, 23 July 2010

Most of the media coverage of yesterday’s events referred to “rival groups of protestors”, but what appears to have happened is that the EDL racists who had come to Luton to support Carroll staged a provocative and intimidatory demonstration in the town centre and local people understandably reacted angrily against this.

Muslim women told to get off London bus because they were a ‘threat’ to passengers

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Two Muslim women have claimed they were refused a bus ride because one had her face covered by a veil.

The 22-year-old students, of Slough, Berkshire, were in London and boarded a Metroline bus from Russell Square to Paddington on Tuesday. But they said when they presented their tickets the driver told them they were a “threat” to passengers and ordered them off the bus. An investigation has been started by the firm as a matter of “urgency”.

The pair, who have made a formal complaint to the bus company, have asked the BBC not to reveal their full names.

Yasmin, who was wearing a hijab, and Atoofa, dressed in a niqab – which covers the face – were in London to hand in university work and would usually have taken the Tube, but because Yasmin’s feet were hurting they opted to travel by bus.

Yasmin said at first she boarded the bus by mistake when it was not in service to ask if it was going to Paddington station, but was told by the driver to get off.

“My gut reaction was just to laugh because I thought it was hilarious to be told to get off the bus,” she said. “About 10 minutes later… the passengers started getting on. When I went forward to show my ticket he said, ‘Get off the bus’. I presumed he was still angry because I got on the bus before.

“He said, ‘I am not going to take you on the bus because you two are a threat.’ I realised it wasn’t due to me getting on the bus, this may be a racist attack.” The student said the driver told her and her friend that they were a “threat” to both him and his passengers.

She asked for his contact details but when he refused she began to film him with her mobile phone and he covered his face with a magazine. “I said, ‘it’s OK for you to cover your face on my recording but it’s not OK for my friend to cover her face out of choice?’ There was no point arguing with him, we got off the bus and by then my anger turned into emotion. I stood there and my gut reaction was to cry.”

Atoofa, who had her face covered by the veil, said she hoped the driver would be educated about why women wear the traditional Islamic dress, rather than being sacked. “I think more than anything, I would like him to understand why we wear it and I think I would like an apology,” she added. “I think being sacked is a whole other league. I want him to sit there and talk to me about why he felt the way he felt and maybe to understand where we are coming from.”

BBC News, 23 July 2010

Memorial to Marwa El-Sherbini vandalised

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Marwa El-Sherbini memorial

Vandals have attacked an art project erected in honor of Marwa El-Sherbini, a pregnant headscarved Egyptian woman who was murdered in a German court room, organizers said Friday.

The Citizen.Courage group, which sponsored the display in the eastern city of Dresden, said that a few knife-shaped columns used in the open-air show had been knocked over several times and signs explaining the project were stolen.

“Citizen.Courage assumes this was a malicious, politically motivated attempt to destroy the project,” group chairman Christian Demuth said in statement. To warn against everyday racism, we will not restore the destroyed installations. But we will continue the project.” A police spokeswoman said authorities had opened an investigation.

During a trial last July, a Russian-born defendant suddenly attacked Sherbini – who was Muslim and wore a headscarf – plunging an 18 centimetre kitchen knife at least 16 times into her while she was three-months pregnant with her second child. Her son, Mustafa, three years old at the time, watched her bleed to death at the courtroom.

Sherbini’s husband, Egyptian geneticist Elwy Okaz, rushed to her aid but was also stabbed repeatedly and then shot in the leg by a police officer confused about who was attacking whom.

The 28-year-old assailant, who was sentenced to life in prison, attacked her out of revenge after she pressed charges against him for calling her a “terrorist”, “Islamist” and “whore” during a dispute over a playground swing.

The killing, and the initially muted reaction of Germany’s politicians and media, sparked outrage in Sherbini’s home country, as well as in the wider Muslim world. Many newspapers dubbed her the “veil martyr” after her headscarf.

The “18 Stabs” installation, unveiled on the first anniversary of Sherbini’s death on July 1, featured 18 knife-shaped concrete pillars erected throughout the city with signs condemning racism and xenophobic violence.

AFP, 23 July 2010

Catalan mayor closes ‘too popular’ mosque, tells Muslims to ‘pray at home’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Spanish mayor has told Muslim worshippers to “pray at home” and closed the town’s mosque because it was too popular. Angel Ros, the socialist mayor of Lleida, in the northeastern region of Catalonia, complained that the mosque was too full and closed it on Wednesday until further notice.

The building, a former garage used to service trucks, was often filled with crowds exceeding a thousand people, the council said, when the authorised limit for the venue is 240. A new mosque is under construction on the outskirts of the town but work had been stalled because of a lack of financing during the economic crisis.

“The municipality has no obligation to provide places of worship,” Mr Ros said in response to complaints from the town’s Muslim population over the closure. “Those that wish can pray at home, as I do,” he added.

The move follows a recent ban on women wearing the burka or niqab in municipal building in the Catalan town. In June Lleida was the first town council in Spain to introduce a ban, which has since been adopted by half a dozen other councils, including Barcelona, the capital of the region.

Abdelwahab Houzi, the local imam, said the mosque closure had added to the Muslim community’s sense of “persecution” by authorities.

Daily Telegraph, 23 July 2010

Finsbury Park mosque calls on Khalid Mahmood to retract slanders

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North London Central Mosque

Press Release

Khalid Mahmood’s False Claims Increase Risk of Islamophobic Attacks on North London Central Mosque

We wish to put the record straight following false claims made by Khalid Mahmood MP for Birmingham Perry Bar, a former trustee of North London Central Mosque (NLCM). Until this week we intended to remain silent in the face of his provocative and ill-informed statements in the media but now we must speak out to defend the good name of our mosque, our community and our partners in Islington – Jeremy Corbyn, our MP, politicians and officials, police officers and faith and community leaders.

Equally, important, we must highlight the increased risk of Islamophobic attacks that we now face as a result of Khalid’s Mahmood’s false claims and the climate of anti-Muslim sentiment he is helping to stir up against NLCM.

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Leicester: Muslim women who wear veils suffer rise in hostility and abuse

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Muslim women who wear face veils say they are seeing a rising tide of hostility and abuse because of the way they dress. Women spoke out as police reported a sharp rise in crimes, ranging from verbal abuse to physical attacks, against Muslims in the past year.

Two women who wear the niqab, a veil which leaves only the eyes showing, said Leicester had become more “hostile” since the French Government said it planned to ban the garment and the burka, which covers the entire body.

The women also believe publicity surrounding Conservative MP Philip Hollobone’s decision to refuse to meet constituents wearing veils had deepened public hostility.

Mr Hollobone, an MP in Northamptonshire, also attempted to introduce a private member’s bill in the House of Commons to pave the way for a law similar to that being considered in France.

One of the women, a 29-year-old from Leicester’s Clarendon Park, said: “There is a more hostile than usual atmosphere at the moment. I have been called names like ”Taliban” and ”terrorist” and one man, who was drunk in the middle of the day, told me to go back to where I came from.

“I just want to live my life in accordance with my faith, I don’t see what harm I am doing by wearing the niqab.

“People talk about women who wear these garments being outside of society in some way. I was born and brought up in this country and don’t want to live anywhere else. I have been to university and I have a well-paid job, I live by the law and I love my family. How am I not taking part in society?”

Another woman, aged 32, from Evington, Leicester, said: “Women are saying that they feel intimidated by some of the comments they hear in the media or in the street. There seems to be this feeling now that women who choose to dress this way are some kind of threat to the British way of life.”

Police in Leicester have seen the number of cases of Muslims being verbally abused or physically assaulted rise in the past year. Between April 2008 and March 2009, officers in the city recorded 25 offences. In the following 12 months, it rose to 42.

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