Miami-Dade Transit agrees to carry anti-Islam ads under threat of legal action

Posted on April 22, 2010 by Bob Pitt

SIOA ad

A public transit authority in Florida has reversed a decision to take down banner advertisements on buses that offer help to Muslims wanting to leave their faith. Activists are hailing the move as a victory for free speech and religious freedom. Not only will the ten originally planned ads appear on Miami-Dade Transit buses in coming days, but an additional 20 ads will be run at no extra cost.

The decision came after the group initiating the ad campaign threatened a lawsuit, claiming breach of contract and violation of First Amendment rights. It was confirmed in an agreement signed on Wednesday, according to lawyer David Yerushalmi, whose firm prepared a federal complaint together with the Thomas More Law Center.

CNSNews, 22 April 2010

Belgium to debate ban on Islamic veils

Posted on April 22, 2010 by Bob Pitt

Belgium lawmakers are due to debate legislation that would ban full-face Islamic veils in public. If, as expected, they approve the draft law, Belgium would become the first European country to ban the wearing of the burka or niqab in public places. It comes a day after France announced its own plans to ban the garments.

However, Thursday afternoon’s vote is under threat from a political crisis that could see the collapse of the Belgian government. A Dutch-speaking party is threatening imminent resignation from the ruling coalition unless action is taken to resolve a long-standing dispute about power-sharing.

BBC News, 22 April 2010

Update: See “Belgian government collapses after party quits coalition”, Guardian, 22 April 2010

Further update: See Intissar Kherigi, “A Belgian face-veil ban would be senseless”, Comment is Free, 22 April 2010

Sarkozy to submit bill banning Islamic face veils

Posted on April 21, 2010 by Bob Pitt

Sarkozy2 French President Nicolas Sarkozy has ordered legislation that would ban women from wearing Islamic veils that fully cover the face and body in public places, the government said Wednesday.

It is Sarkozy’s first political action toward an outright ban, though he has repeatedly said such outfits oppress women and are not welcome in France, home to a firmly secular government.

Government spokesman Luc Chatel said after a Cabinet meeting Wednesday that the president decided the government should submit a bill to parliament in May on an overall ban on such veils “in all public places.”

That ups the stakes in Sarkozy’s push against veils such as the burqa and niqab and chador. Some in his own party have bristled at a full-out ban, and France’s highest administrative body has questioned whether it would be constitutional.

Associated Press, 21 April 2010

Griffin on Islam

Posted on April 20, 2010 by Bob Pitt

“I look at Islam realistically, I’ve read the Koran, and what I see there isn’t fundamentally a religious book. It’s a manual for conquering other people’s countries, and wherever Islam has gone it has, what’s been called by historians ‘bloody borders’, it rubs up against other cultures. You can’t have Islam and democracy, you can’t have Islam and women’s rights.”

Nick Griffin’s response to a British Muslim caller on Nicky Campbell’s 5 Live radio show (which disgracefully provided this fascist with a platform) accusing him of being anti-Muslim.

Islam in Europe provides a transcript. See also ENGAGE.

Berlin – Geert Wilders solidarity demo flops

Posted on April 20, 2010 by Bob Pitt

Wilders Berlin demo

Over the weekend a “Solidarity with Geert Wilders” demonstration was held in Berlin. Organised by Pax Europa and Politically Incorrect, the demo was reportedly inspired by the London march in support of Wilders by the English Defence League, whose representatives attended the Berlin demo.

The event has received little coverage from its far-right supporters, no doubt because according to one report it attracted fewer than 80 people. However, photographs of the demo (carefully framed to disguise the fact that there was hardly anyone there) have now been posted, providing a helpful illustration of the sort of international links the EDL are building.

Postscript: And while we’re on the subject of the EDL, we note that they now have a website, “English Defence League … Extra”, which claims to offer a more theoretical take on the organisation’s anti-Muslim bigotry. The latest post is a rant against the Aylesbury Carnival Against Racism that will be held in opposition to the EDL’s planned provocation in that town on May Day. The author is evidently incapable of distinguishing between Steve Bell, secretary of the Bucks health branch of UNISON who took the initiative in organising the alliance responsible for calling the anti-EDL carnival, and Steve Bell of the Communication Workers Union who is treasurer of the Stop the War Coalition. But then, UNISON or the CWU – what’s the difference? They’re all communist organisations after all.

Mosque plan back on agenda in Lincoln

Posted on April 20, 2010 by Bob Pitt

A mosque proposal rejected over traffic concerns could still be built in Lincoln following the submission of an appeal.

The Islamic Association of Lincoln says it has spent the last six months searching for a new site after the City of Lincoln Council refused it permission to build a new mosque and community centre in Church Drive, off Boultham Park Road, following concerns about parking and traffic.

Dr Tanweer Ahmed said the group has decided to appeal the decision to the Planning Inspectorate after it could find no alternatives within the city.

Continue reading →

Head of Swiss Migration Office says Muslim converts are potential terrorists

Posted on April 19, 2010 by Bob Pitt

Alard du Bois-Reymond Some young Swiss converts to Islam are a potential threat to the country’s security, according to the head of the Migration Office.

Alard du Bois-Reymond was speaking about the Central Islamic Council (IZRS), founded by young converts in the western town of Biel. The group strongly denies his assertion.

Du Bois-Reymond told the German-language newspaper NZZ am Sonntag that such converts include people who want a “radically different society” and pointed to examples in Britain and Germany where such demands had provided “fertile ground for potential terrorists”.

Swissinfo, 17 April 2010

But don’t get the idea that du Bois-Reymond is simply anti-Muslim. He also believes that asylum seekers from Nigeria have come to Switzerland in order to carry out criminal activities.

Arrests after pig’s head thrown at Crawley mosque

Posted on April 19, 2010 by Bob Pitt

Three men have been arrested after a pig’s head was thrown into the car park of a mosque in West Sussex. Police were alerted by people attending Langley Green mosque, in Crawley, on Saturday after a white car drove by.

A 21-year-old man from Horley was arrested nearby on suspicion of a racially or religiously-aggravated public order offence, police said. On Sunday two other men, aged 20 and 25, both from Crawley, were also held. All three have been bailed until May.

BBC News, 19 April 2010

See also “Three arrested after pig’s head thrown at mosque”, GetSurrey, 19 April 2010

Update: See “No prosecution over Crawley mosque pig’s head attack”, Crawley Observer, 25 May 2010

Montreal protest against ban on veil

Posted on April 19, 2010 by Bob Pitt

Bill 94 protest About 120 people turned up Saturday afternoon outside Montreal City Hall to express their opposition to Bill 94, saying the legislation reflects cultural xenophobia and has no place in Quebec society.

The legislation, which would predominantly affect women who wear the Islamic niqab or burka, would require public employees, education and health workers to have their faces uncovered at all times.

The law would also apply to anyone seeking government services. Saturday’s protest, organized by a group calling itself simply “Kill Bill 94,” lasted for about two hours and drew representatives from the South Asian Women’s Association, Jewish organizations and Montreal’s Anglican diocese.

Montreal Gazette, 17 April 2010