Man who nailed bacon to mosque door walks free

SPARED JAIL ... John White nailed bacon to the door of a mosque

A churchgoer who stuck bacon to the door of a mosque in South Tyneside as part of a religious hate campaign was branded “un-Christian” by a judge.

But John White, 63, walked free from court after the chairman of the mosque wrote a letter to court, begging for leniency.

White was caught on CCTV carrying out the attacks in South Shields in January, Newcastle Crown Court heard. On January 2, the bacon was placed outside the Jam-E-Masjid mosque, in Baring Street, South Shields, which has about 200 regular worshippers. Throughout the month, meat was repeatedly left outside the mosque and a member’s home in Coston Drive, South Shields, was also targeted, with bacon even being stuck to the front door of the mosque.

Tom Moran, prosecuting, said: “Muslims are not allowed to eat or touch pork, and this was absolutely intended to be offensive.”

The bacon was found by the mosque’s treasurer, who covered it with a cardboard box to prevent other members from being offended, then called the police. In a victim impact statement, the family whose home was targeted said they feared that the action was the work of an extremist group.

Mr Moran said: “South Shields has a substantial Bangladeshi and Muslim community, and, by and large, they are well integrated. These offences coincided with a time when in other parts of the world, right-wing extremists were threatening to burn the Quran (the central religious text of the Muslim religion).”

Concerned that the attacks could be sinister threats from a right-wing group, police trawled through CCTV footage before arresting White. He admitted five charges of religiously aggravated harassment, but claimed that his motivations were personal, targeting a particular Muslim family, over a 20-year grudge.

The court heard that White, a Christian, has attended a church on the same street as the mosque for 20 years. White, of Homestall Close in South Shields, who suffers from asthma and a compulsive disorder, has worked in the town for 30 years, doing building work. He is said to have friends within the Muslim community, and claims to have worked on some of their houses for free.

He has been held in custody since he entered his guilty plea in July.

Simon Graham, defending, said: “He is thoroughly ashamed for what he has done. He was praying this morning. This is a man who has not been in trouble for 30 years. He is not in good health and has had a terrible time in prison.”

White submitted a letter to the court, apologising to the community for what he had done.

Despite the fear he caused to the Muslim and Bangladeshi community, chairman of the Jam-E-Masjid mosque, Mohammed Miah, asked the judge to show leniency. In a letter read out in court, Mr Miah described how he had known White since 1982 and said he was known and liked in the community.

He said: “We wish the courts to be lenient with John. Although we were upset initially, we do not wish for any serious consequences to happen to John.”

Judge Michael Cartlidge commended the forgiving attitude of the Muslim community and condemned White’s actions as “un-Christian” and “stupid”. White was given a six-month jail sentence, suspended for 12 months. He is also now banned for 12 months from going within 100 metres of the mosque or the family home he targeted.

Passing sentence, Judge Cartlidge said: “This is probably the most un-Christian way to settle a grudge. You will have to be very careful now, you have upset the community.”

The Shields Gazette

Thanks to Zaahid for the heads-up

A solution to a non-existent problem

Kenza Drider, wearing a niqab, leaves a shop in Avignon, southern France

Cynical, desperate electioneering fuels growing Islamophobia in Europe

From the beginning of next month, it will be illegal for a Muslim woman in France to wear a full-face veil (niqab) in any public place. An opinion poll last week suggested that Marine LePen, the new leader of the far-right National Front, could win the first round of next year’s presidential elections in France. These two facts are not unconnected.

President Nicolas Sarkozy is in a panic as the National Front gains in the polls, for his own core vote is also on the right. He has responded by ordering a countrywide debate on Islam’s place in secular France, and he has made it quite clear which side he is on: he wants no minarets in France, he tells journalists, and no halal food in school canteens. But the new anti-niqab law is the centrepiece of his strategy.

It is a solution to a problem that does not exist. There are around five million Muslims in France, about 8 per cent of the population, but only a couple of hundred Muslim Frenchwomen wear the niqab in public. They probably shouldn’t drive, since all that paraphernalia severely restricts their field of vision, but in what sense is their occasional presence in public spaces a threat to society?

There are probably more British women wearing niqab in my small patch of London than there are French women wearing niqab in the entire country. In Camden Town, I see them in the supermarket, on the bus, in the street — and when I overhear them talking to their husbands or their kids, I notice that most of them have London accents.

That’s because most of the niqab-wearers are not immigrants. They are the British-born daughters of immigrants, and the fact they now appear in public wearing this extreme garb — which was not normally worn by women back in Pakistan, or Algeria, or wherever their parents came from — is part of the crisis that always affects second-generation immigrants everywhere.

The men of the conservative older generation are horrified as their daughters absorb the values of the larger society around them, and try desperately to isolate them from those influences. It was a losing battle for Italian and Jewish fathers in New York a hundred years ago, and it’s a losing battle for Algerian and Indian fathers in London and Paris now.

But these things take time to work out, and in the meantime a tiny minority of British Muslim women wear niqabs, and an even tinier minority of Muslim Frenchwomen. So why would a French government ban women wearing niqab from taking a bus, entering a shop, or even just walking down the street, on pain of a 150-euro ($200) fine?

In addition to a fine, the wicked transgressors will be obliged to attend a citizenship class that stresses the egalitarian values of the French republic, including gender equality. This is a very large sledgehammer being used to crack a very small nut. But it will have served its purpose if it gets Sarkozy re-elected.

The right is in the ascendant in French politics, and this has unleashed a wave of panic-mongering over “multiculturalism.” Assimilation of second- and third-generation immigrants is actually proceeding at the normal pace, but in the midst of the process it is possible to believe that the cultural turmoil is leading to a permanently divided society. Most people on the right do believe that.

Whoever can more convincingly claim to have the solution for this imaginary problem wins the right-wing vote, and the National Front is drawing ahead of Sarkozy’s Union for a Popular Movement (UMP). Under the leadership of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the National Front came second in the 2002 presidential election; under the leadership of his daughter Marine Le Pen it could do even better.

The recent opinion poll commissioned by Le Parisien newspaper gave her 23 per cent of the vote, while Sarkozy’s party and the Socialists got 21 per cent each. She has ditched the National Front’s neo-fascist and racist rhetoric in favour of a low-key, “common-sense” style that is having a real political impact.

But all she can do is force a run-off second round in which, like her father in 2002, she would be overwhelmingly defeated. French political parties are divided on many things, but they would all unite to keep the National Front from power.

The tide of Islamophobia is running strongly on the European right at the moment. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been trumpeting the failure of multiculturalism for the past six months, and British Prime Minister David Cameron recently added his voice to the chorus. It is only a cynical political stratagem, but it could have real consequences.

Left to their own devices, the various immigrant groups in these countries, including the Muslim groups, will assimilate to the general society in a couple of generations, as immigrants generally do. You can accelerate the process a little with the right government policies, but not much. However, you could stall it entirely by attacking the minority groups and driving them into cultural ghettoes. That’s the game that Sarkozy is playing now.

Gwynne Dyer is a London-based independent journalist who is published internationally.

thespec.com

Are Muslims free to follow Islam in Canary Wharf?

“If a person doesn’t know how to drive properly and crashes his car, it’s not the car’s fault. If people are practising religion in the incorrect way, that’s not the fault of the religion.”

So says Viqas Sheikh, a global treasury senior business analyst who has been working at Citi for five-and-a-half years. For him there is familiar ring to the words spoken by David Cameron in Munich recently.

“It’s simply a regurgitation of what Tony Blair and others have said – it’s nothing new,” he says. “The dangerous thing is the debate that he made about multiculturalism and the relationship he’s drawing to extremist ideology. It is a show of confusion on behalf of the government. They blame it on multiculturalism, but the deep-rooted problem is something else.”

Viqas, 29, was born in the UK and lived in Pakistan between the ages of 10 and 18, before returning here to complete university. He considers himself a British Muslim.

“I don’t think the two [British and Muslim] are incompatible. Then there’s the terms moderate or extremist – I’m neither, I’m a Muslim.”

Author, journalist and former Docklands columnist Kia Abdullah also falls outside this simple binary split of Islam.

“I’m what I call a liberal Muslim,” says Kia. “I don’t wear a headscarf or pray five times a day but at the same time I dress relatively modestly, I don’t drink alcohol or eat haram (forbidden) food and I’m quite conservative when it comes to things like promiscuity.”

She shares Viqas’ sense of concern about the Prime Minister’s sentiments.

“It made me feel deeply uncomfortable,” she adds. “He made some valid points about integration, but criticising multiculturalism as a root cause of forced marriage and radicalisation was ignorant and fatuous.

“Britain is known for respecting private freedoms – freedom to wear what you want, say what you want, live where you want, be who you want. Hindering these freedoms to create a nation of ‘vanilla flavoured’ people is not going to solve our problems. We need better integration, yes, but vilifying multiculturalism will not achieve it.”

Viqas, who did not want to be photographed, says there are no such tensions in his Canary Wharf workplace.

“A lot of companies have a facility for prayer [multi-faith rooms] or provision for halal food. And when you have that facility to be able to fulfil the obligations to be a Muslim – beyond that there shouldn’t be any other hardship in one’s day-to-day life. We make sure there is communication between the faiths and there isn’t that gap, which can give rise to animosity.”

While Viqas’ workplace may be harmonious, he’s aware that things don’t always run so cohesively.

“We don’t have it at Citi, but I do mix with a wide range of people throughout the City who feel that, on the basis of their faith, they have been discriminated against. It may well be that are considered high maintenance or their belief system is considered contrary.”

In the workplace Kia says she has not faced discrimination head-on either.

“I think ‘discrimination’ is too strong a word,” she says. “It’s far more subtle than that. When I worked in a management consultancy, I made most of my contacts by networking at after-work drinks at the local watering hole.

“If I didn’t feel comfortable in this type of environment – and many of my Muslim friends don’t – then my career would certainly have been hindered. I would not suggest that these meetings take place elsewhere, because they are part of British work culture, but I think that companies need to recognise that people from certain demographics are at a disadvantage.”

Viqas does not attend after-work drinks because of his beliefs, but he doesn’t consider this puts him at a disadvantage compared with colleagues.

“I don’t go to bars, and my colleagues respect that – you don’t have to take that extra step,” he says. “There are a number of Muslims in the UK who don’t think the way they live their lives is contrary to anything in the British value system. You won’t necessarily go to the pub on the weekend, but is that absolutely essential to being British?”

Kia believes the majority or Brits are tolerant of these differences and questions Baroness Warsi’s assertion that prejudice against Muslims has passed the ‘dinner-table test’.

“I’m not sure I agree with Baroness Warsi,” she says. “I think there are two main groups that carry prejudice against Muslims: those that identify with the EDL and BNP, and those at the other end of the spectrum who are very privileged and super-educated but who may not have any daily contact with Muslims and hence view them as a frightening entity of ‘other’. I don’t think these groups constitute the majority in this country – or at least I hope they don’t.”

Viqas asserts that problems can stem from a tendency for people to want to “formulate a genre of Muslim”.

“There’s a standard I have to follow in Islam; and I’m not going to change that for the convenience of other people. I don’t want to have impressed on me what I have to believe in – and that’s what David Cameron also did in the speech. It’s patronising.”

The Docklands

Thanks to NewsHound for the heads-up

Homes attacked in Luton after racist EDL march

Windows broken, door sprayed with graffiti. One of two houses
attacked in Luton in the aftermath of the EDL's march on Saturday of last week.

Two homes in Luton were attacked late last night – their windows smashed and the word EDL painted on the front door – just hours after the English Defence League’s (EDL) racist protest through Luton town centre. The houses are on the edge of Bury Park – where many Asian people live.

Mr Iqbal lives with his mother, brother and sister in one of the houses. He told Socialist Worker, “It happened at around 11.40pm. I was awake but about to go to sleep. I heard a crash and ran to the front of the house to find a brick had been thrown through a window. When I opened the front door, I saw someone had painted EDL on it. I couldn’t sleep – I thought they may come back.”

Mr Iqbal is a Muslim. The other house that was attacked belonged to a neighbour a few doors away – who is a Christian. There is a crucifix on the front of the house, which the bigots of the EDL seemed to miss. The residents stayed up all night, fearful of further attacks.

It is not the first time that EDL supporters have been violent. In Stoke, Asian and white people faced EDL thugs on the rampage during an EDL protest last year.

Dave Barnes, a local Unite Against Fascism (UAF) organiser, said, "Everyone in Luton needs to unite with Muslims against racist attacks, and drive the EDL and racism out of the town. The attacks show why it was absolutely correct to protest against the EDL in Luton on Saturday."

Socialist Worker

Sikhs show opposition to EDL’s march

Muslim and Sikh leaders meet at the Faizan e Madina Mosque [Wednesday] night

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 [an] 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 Today

EDL cancels Bolton protest

The 'respectful' English Defence League having a spot of bother with the police

The right-wing English Defence League has cancelled its planned demonstration in Bolton

The group said it took the decision because a Hindu religious festival is due to be held there on the same day, March 6. It also claimed to have received information that 'far-left groups were planning to attack Hindus whilst dressed in EDL clothing'.

In a statement on its website however, the EDL said it would rearrange a demonstration in the town in 'due course'. It warned that 'no street, town or city was off-limits'.

The announcement of the Bolton rally followed ugly scenes in Manchester in October. The group's protestors made Nazi salutes and sang patriotic songs during a tense stand-off with United Against Fascism (UAF) around Piccadilly Gardens and Ancoats. It resulted in 44 arrests and 10 injuries as sticks and bottles were thrown when riot police and police on horseback intervened.

In the statement on Bolton, the EDL said: “This decision was taken in light of the fact that a Hindu religious festival is scheduled for the same day, at the same time and in the same location as our planned demonstration. Due to the respect we have for the peace-loving Hindu community, we deemed it only right and proper that we cancel our own plans to ensure their safety. We hope that the action we have taken will be taken as further proof that we stand only against Muslim extremists. No other decent, honest, peaceful person or group has anything to fear from the EDL.”

The group, which describes itself as a peaceful, non-political protest group campaigning against ‘militant Islam’, had contacted police informally by telephone about staging a demonstration in Victoria Square. A Fair Trade event is also planned for the town centre on the same day.

The announcement of the planned protest was greeted with widespread condemnation from Bolton MPs and religious groups.

Manchester Evening News

Private Hire Cars Suspend Service In City Centre, Store Takings Down And Council Clean Up Begins After EDL Violence

Most of the large private hire car companies suspended service in and around the city centre on Saturday night after verbal threats aimed at their drivers by groups of right-wing extremists. The threat of continued violence was so great, that the police gave out a warning to the companies and their drivers.

It seems that some firms also got phone calls from people threatening violent acts against any Asian drivers suspected of being Muslim. One of the companies targeted was Auto Cab Private Hire, working out of Normacot . They had threatening calls over the phone, in the end the company manager, Basharat Hussein , made the decision to stop cars in the area because of the safety of his staff and customers.

Another firm, City Centre Private Hire suspended service after a call from a sergeant at Tunstall police station warning them not to go out, and that work in Cobridge was also dangerous. Other firms such as Magnum in Burslem and Lucky Seven of Longton also stopped running.

Many shops and stores in the city centre closed early as lack of trade made it the worst day many of them had ever had, some reporting takings down as much as 90%. Many of the Fountain Square stalls packed up as early 2pm. Council work began soon after the protest ended and continued though Saturday night and into the early hours of Sunday to clear the debris.

Pits 'n' Pots

Children create cross-cultural harmony

Where's the best place to fight the attitudes of the BNP? Why, in primary schools, of course

The children of Shirley Manor, a primary school in a run-down part of Bradford, an area far-right activists call a powerbase, are stunned. They have just returned from a visit to a school in another part of Bradford, where almost every pupil is Asian. "But actually, they like pizza," the children report. "And they watch television. And one has an Xbox!"

Almost all these children are white British; some of their parents have played a part in the British National party's electoral successes in Bradford. For most of them, it has been their first social interaction with British Muslims. Barriers came tumbling down as representatives of the two schools began to list the things they had in common. Friendships were formed. "When are we meeting them again?" is the question ringing in teachers' ears.

Shirley Manor is one of a host of primary schools across Britain emerging as an unexpected frontline in the fight to stem rising support for the BNP. As battle lines are drawn for local and national elections, schools in areas with BNP councillors, or where BNP candidates are finding support, are taking radical steps to change the hearts and minds of future generations of voters – and their parents.

Predominantly white schools in deprived areas as far apart as Bradford, Solihull and Essex – all regions where the BNP has gained a presence on local councils over the last decade – are initiating programmes of exchange visits with inner-city schools that are predominantly non-white. The visits provide stimulus for public art projects and performances, to which parents are invited, celebrating diversity in Britain and condemning racism.

The action is not nationally co-ordinated. A series of independent schemes have come to life during the current academic term, most aiming for completion before the mooted May elections.

For example, this job advert was found in November on the internet noticeboard artsjobs, for a creative practitioner to work on a project with pupils at a primary school in Solihull, West Midlands: "The school is in an extremely mono-cultural area of high deprivation ... The area has a BNP councillor." The project? To oversee a series of exchange visits with a Birmingham school that is "100% Muslim", then help pupils to create a piece of "outdoor/environmental art or sculpture", to go on public display by May 2010.

The school is located at the centre of a large estate in an area of Solihull called Chelmsley Wood. The ward's BNP councillor won his seat in 2006 and is due for re-election in May.

This year's school development plan at a primary school in Epping Forest, Essex, where seven BNP members now sit on the district council and where around 90% of the school's population is white British, stated: "[In] 2008/2009 there was a rise in the number of recorded racial incidents. We need to raise levels of tolerance for all children…". The school is forging links with a primary school in Enfield described as "mainly Turkish".

Both the Solihull and the Epping Forest schemes are new; the content is still being negotiated and organisers are treading softly – as one commented, "wary of upsetting the parents", in other words, the parents whose support enabled the BNP to gain a foothold in the first place.

In Bradford, Shirley Manor was running exchange programmes as long ago as 2004 – the year a BNP councillor won a seat in the ward of Wyke, where the school is located. "Our pupils never really mixed with Asian children," says Hannah Brown, a year 4 and 5 teacher who has overseen the exchange programme. "They think they're from another planet." She says some pupils arrive at her school with "some" racism entrenched, but also considerable confusion: "They hear words bandied about and aren't sure what they mean."

Shirley Manor is at the beginning of a new relationship with Thornbury primary, a considerably larger school nearer the city where most pupils are of Pakistani heritage and nearly all are learning English as an additional language. The schools have been brought together by the Schools Linking Network, an organisation based in Bradford that is now rolling out its services across Britain. With funding from the Department for Children, Schools and Families the SLN is underwriting the cost to both schools of managing an exchange programme, paying for additional staff and coaches.

The two schools will first come together in a community centre for a day of games and activities. Everything is designed to let the children discover parallels in their lives, such as a game where you have to perform a certain action if, say, you have two brothers. "By lunchtime you see groups forming," says Brown. "Like boys who support a certain football team. It's never forced."

She makes a point of discussing discriminatory language with the children before the trip, and will encourage them to ask the Thornbury pupils: "Is this word offensive to you?"

The pupils will meet again in subsequent weeks when they visit each other's schools. In previous years, deep connections have formed. Brown tells the story of two girls crying at the end of the final visit; they later met up outside school. Many continue to correspond by email. One legacy of these exchanges is wall displays that line the corridors of both schools. Pupils create cut-out paper dolls of each other. The multiracial dolls will be mounted side-by-side, their hands touching.

Previous exchange visits have changed children's outlook, says Brown, citing an activity in which pupils define what makes someone British. When first asked, the children of Shirley Manor tend to say you are British if you are born in Britain and speak English. Following the exchange visits last year, year 5 worked together to word a new conclusion: "If you are prepared to follow rules and be a good citizen, you deserve to be British."

Angus King, headteacher at Thornbury, says his predominantly Asian population can be as monocultural pupils as in Wyke. The implicit danger is militant Islam. "Extremism can exist in any group," he points out. "It comes from a lack of knowledge and understanding. The children at my school don't normally meet white British kids en masse. I think the big thing is to give children the opportunity to meet other children."

Brown says it is essential that this work is conducted at primary level. "If it's left too late, the views of those around them are imposed," she says.

But politics is never mentioned. "The project gives the children information and encourages them to make decisions," says Brown. "We would never say, 'You mustn't vote BNP'."

She is now making plans to hold an adult "linking night" next year, in which the parents of children at the two schools will meet each other for the first time.

Guardian

Colour me suspicious

[Yesterday] morning, a story made my Crackers sense tingle. Not to tell me that a tabloid story was rubbish, but to tell me that something behind a few tabloid stories was very fishy indeed. there are wavy lines coming out of my head right now.

'Single mother of eight living in a £2.6m mansion - so much for Labour's housing benefit crackdown' is currently the top story on the Mail Online website. It's funny that Labour's housing benefit crackdown gets a mention in the headline, because the council responsible is Kensington and Chelsea, the toriest of tory councils.

The four-storey villa in Notting Hill, West London, which costs taxpayers £7,600 a month, has five bedrooms, three bathrooms, a double living room, study and roof terrace.

says the article. And here's why the family in question has been housed there:

Miss Walker was given the house last September on a three-year lease because a rule introduced in April 2008 forces local authorities to place tenants in private properties if suitable council homes are unavailable.

Hey, I know this is Kensington and Chelsea, but do you think there might be cheaper properties in the borough. Like around Ladbroke Grove, or the World's End Estate or down towards Olympia and the West Ken Estate? Surely there are ex-council places up for grabs.

So, in the run up to an election year, a tory council just happens to reveal an extreme example of something that might make 'Labour's housing benefit crackdown' look stupid. With a single mother as the beneficiary. A dark-skinned single mother. A dark-skinned Muslim single mother. Ticks too many 'Daily Mail hatred' boxes to be an accident, right?

How about 'Taxpayers pay £1,600-a-week for family of ex-asylum seekers to live in luxury five-storey home'. Hey, this one ticks a lot of boxes too. Ex-asylum seekers (who ought to be referred to as 'refugees' by the Code of Practice that the Mail's Editor is in charge of) no less. Another set of tabloid boogeymen put in a really expensive house, this time in Westminster - the council involved in the infamous gerrymandering scandal of the 80s. We know there are lots of ex-council properties in Westminister, because the council sold off as many as they could to potential tory voters.

This time, the paper makes sure we're told:

'It's important to note that the amount of housing benefit payable for tenants is determined by government policy and not local councils. This rate is calculated and updated on a yearly basis according to the value of the local rental market. We have absolutely no discretion in this area.

'Property rents in Westminster are among the highest in the country so it is perhaps unsurprising that a family claiming housing benefit for a property of this size would need to submit a claim for this amount.

'We would, however, like to see the entire housing benefit system changed to enable councils to have more control'.

All Labour's fault, you see.

This story mentions another from last year for a win triple - 'Inquiry ordered over Afghan family living in £1.2 million 'council house''. Ooh, brown asylum seekers given ridiculously expensive housing in a tory council. Where have I heard that before?

Okay, I heard it here first since this is the oldest story, but this one caused a furore in which people ended up sacked. It took Smellyface to make the connections for us this time.

And those aren't the only differences between the first story and the two new ones. Check out the picture in the earliest story, with Ms Saiedi peeking out from behind her front door, not even opening it far enough for even the sneakiest of peeks to the inside of the house. Now look at the pictures in the two newest articles, as the residents allow an 'MTV Cribs' style showcase for the Mail.

Why, it's almost as if someone spotted the story from last year and said, "Hey - that's a jolly good way of attacking Labour," and deliberately contrived a couple more cases of scary tabloid boogeymen being given ridiculously expensive new accommodation. And then thought to remind us of the original with 'Afghan family STILL in seven-bed £1.2m house taxpayer has been funding for a year', with the nationality of the family in the headline. You know, in case we forgot.

What's the betting nobody gets sacked or disciplined this time round? Not because these two were deliberate in any way, of course, but because it's Labour's fault. I'm sure Westminster Council would never become involved in any trickery with their housing system to cynically troll for tory votes. Again.

I'm absolutely certain nobody looked at the way the loophole that allowed the original incident to occur was closed and thought, 'Ah, capped at a five-bedroom limit, eh? Let's see what we can do with that!'

That would be dishonest.

Five Chinese Crackers

Nazi Hands Off Muslim Graves

Over 100 people joined a UAF rally outside Southern Cemetery in Manchester last Sunday to protest against the desecration, for a third time, of Muslim gravestones. All of the twenty headstones toppled last week were in the Muslim section.

'This attack is not act of mindless violence. Those who did it knew exactly what they were doing. And we all know that they are a tiny, tiny minority in this City', said Cllr Val Stevens, deputy leader of Manchester City Council speaking at the rally. Police are treating the desecration as a race hate crime.

Many at the vigil were asking why is this is happening again? And why now?

"Since the first attack on the Muslim graves last month, we have seen the BBC put the Nazi BNP leader Nick Griffin on Question time, and we saw hundreds of racist thugs in the EDL march in Manchester city centre making Nazi salutes and carrying placards saying 'No More Mosques'", explained UAF spokesperson Mike Killian. 'This has created a climate of hatred against Muslims which we must stop'.

Widespread support at the vigil, included local MP John Leech, Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders, as well as from the African Caribbean community and trades unionists.

The support and solidarity with Muslim brothers and sisters that was shown at the vigil demonstrated the very unity and solidarity that those who desecrated the graves most fear. A stronger and broader Manchester UAF was established at a meeting following this protest.

Greater Manchester Unite Against Fascism

Fears grow over possible clash at Scotland's biggest mosque

Religious leaders fear militant Muslims will travel to Scotland to confront far-right racists planning an illegal march on the country's biggest mosque

They have warned that Islamic hardliners will be out in force to take on the neo-Nazi thugs planning to march in Glasgow under the banner of the Scottish Defence League.

We told last month how gangs of right-wingers, including senior BNP activists and members of the English Defence League, will travel from Birmingham, Luton, London and Carlisle. And there is growing concern that they will be met by counter demonstrators - including Muslim groups, trade unionists and left-wing activists.

A police insider said: "Senior respected figures in the Muslim community are worried that extremists will use the SDL event as an excuse to peddle their own brand of hate."

Sdl organisers have been using the internet to organise the demo on Saturday at Glasgow Central Mosque. They made contact with the council over plans to stage a march but plans did not comply with council procedures and did not go any further.

Trade unionists, political parties, antiracist organisations and faith groups called Scotland United have organised a rally on the same day to celebrate multicultural Glasgow at Glasgow Green.

Daily Record

500 celebrate fascist no-show

The Secretary of the leading anti-fascist organisation Searchlight Cymru has congratulated the people of Newport for the support they gave to yesterday’s anti-fascist rally in the City’s John Frost Square.

The English Defence League (EDL) intended to hold a rally in the city protesting at Islamic fundamentalism but in doing so targeting the whole city Muslim community. They cancelled after their disastrous visit to Swansea last week, but hundreds of people still turned out in support of a multicultural Newport.

Ian Titherington stated, “The fantastic turnout in Newport today has clarified, if it was needed, what local people think about fascism visiting the streets of their city. It was the intention of the EDL to recruit for the Welsh Defence League in both Swansea and Newport, but their efforts have been a dismal failure.”

Today’s event had live music, as well as many supportive speeches from politicians and other organisations.

He added, “Newport Communities Against Racism deserves huge credit for today’s event. Such grass roots organisations are the most potent ways of facing up to and defeating organised fascism.”

He concluded, “The last two Saturdays have been disastrous for the EDL. Not only did they fail to build the Welsh Defence League as a consequence, but they created dozens of new anti-fascists across South Wales. It shows what passionate and peaceful protest can win, in the battle against the rise of fascism.”

Hope not hate

If Britain Were a Village of 100 People

Thanks to andyminion for the heads-up. :-)
You can read our article on this subject here.

Muslim graves smashed by vandals

Up to 20 Muslim graves have been targeted and vandalised at a cemetery in south Manchester.

The vandals struck at the Southern Cemetery on Barlow Moor Road overnight on Thursday. Staff found the Muslim section of the cemetery littered with broken headstones on Friday morning.

Det Con Rob Southern said: "Sadly, we are treating this as a hate crime. This sort of mindless, racist behaviour must be utterly condemned."

Police appealed to anyone who has information to come forward. Det Con Southern added: "This is the worst sort of vandalism imaginable. The graves of your loved ones should be a place where they can rest peacefully and that is absolutely sacrosanct. I'm sure the whole community will be outraged.

"The families of those whose graves have been vandalised will be rightly traumatised and deeply upset. If we do catch the people who committed these atrocious acts, then they should be made to see the grief and pain they have caused."

BBC

Birmingham's politicians clash over EDL protests

EDL supporters are nazis? Whatever gives you that idea?
An EDL supporter snapped at last Saturday's Birmingham demo.

City leaders have rejected claims that they can ban the controversial English Defence League group whose protests sparked violence and disorder in Birmingham city centre last weekend.

Senior councillors, although united in condemnation of the troublemakers, clashed how to deal with the demonstrations which resulted in 90 arrests. City cabinet members Alan Rudge, in charge of equalities, and Ayoub Khan, responsible for community safety, were both quizzed over the handling of the protests during city council question time. Opposition Labour group leader Sir Albert Bore accused them of lacking the will to ban the EDL, saying the council did just that in 2001 when they successfully lobbied the Home Secretary to ban a rally by the National Front at a time when UK cities were rife with race riots.

Coun Bore said: “I am speaking on behalf of shoppers and visitors who had witnessed disorder on the streets of Birmingham for the third time this summer.”

He suggested that the demonstrations had been down played by the ruling Conservative and Liberal Democrat administration. “In similar circumstances in 2001 Birmingham City Council and West Midlands Police secured a ban on the National Front.”

But Coun Rudge insisted that, working with West Midlands Police, they had done everything they could. “Coun Bore is trying to make a party political issue of this. We have done all we can within the law for the good of this city. There is a Labour Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, and perhaps Coun Bore should ask him to ban the demonstrations. Our advice is that the police had no power to ban a static protest.”

He told the council that the police had done an excellent job to contain the trouble and blamed a tiny number of people for provoking violence, which had been blown out of proportion by the media. “99.9 per cent of the communities of Birmingham had nothing to do with these protests and are behind us.”

Coun Khan pointed out that the first EDL protest on July 4 had been ‘brushed away’ as there were no rival protests to provoke trouble, but the August and September demonstrations met with rival protests and each time further escalated into serious public disorder, bringing violence to the city centre.

“Members of the EDL wore T-shirts and chanted slogans targeting the Muslim community which provoked a response and led to the anti-social behaviour.

“No amount of planning and intelligence could prepare for that,” he added.

Birmingham Mail

Man acquitted in BNP 'threats' case

A businessman who confronted British National Party members when they put a leaflet through his door has said he feels "vindicated" after being found not guilty of threatening the men.

Mohammed Latif, 38, was accused of swearing at Duncan Warner, 44, and Gerard Williams, 54, and calling them "Nazis" before trying to snatch their leaflets. But the business manager, from Stockport, Greater Manchester, who is married with two young children, insisted he did not use any foul language. And the court believed his version of events - that he was actually trying to hand the pamphlet back.

Mr Warner, organiser for the party's Stockport branch at the time, and Mr Williams, who has been a BNP member for five years, were delivering pamphlets on April 9 this year when the incident happened. The pair were distributing flyers in Broadstone Road, Stockport, when a "Muslim man" approached and asked if they were responsible for the material, Mr Warner told Stockport Magistrates' Court.

"I ignored his question and walked away. He came back and called us Nazi f***ers, and shouted "hey, I'm talking to you d***heads," he said. "I was very offended by this insult because members of my family died in the war fighting the Nazis."

But Mr Latif said he was handing the leaflet back because he did not want his wife or two young sons to see it. He said he only approached them to ask why they deliver leaflets without checking who lives in the houses.

"Maybe if I wanted to plaster my bedroom in BNP leaflets I might have taken them. I wanted a civil conversation. I didn't threaten to follow anyone home. In fact I told the police I was worried for my own safety, in case there were any reprisals," he said.

Speaking after the case, Mr Latif urged people to stand up for what they believe in. He said: "I feel vindicated. I was an innocent man who was dragged through the courts, causing a lot of distress to my family and friends. I do not want other people to go through what I have been through but everyone should try to find a voice to defend their beliefs. It is so important."

Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Accrington BNP supporter spared jail after targeting Asian family

A man who made his Asian next door neighbours’ lives a misery with his anti-social and racist conduct was spared immediate jail.

Burnley Crown Court heard how Nigel Hesmondhalgh, 36, who had a British National Party sticker in the window of his Accrington home, was abusive and insulting to the couple, repeatedly picking on the wife. He piled dog dirt up in the alley outside their home and told them: “It’s a white country, not a Muslim state.”

Hesmondhalgh, said to be the carer for his brother, who has learning difficulties, told the husband of the couple he should be scared and shouted support for the BNP.

The couple had lived in their home for 14 years before he moved in. The defendant, who has since moved but wants to go back to the property on Higher Antley Street, had earlier admitted racially aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress.

Hesmondhalgh, who has almost 90 previous convictions and has been flouting the law since he was 11, had struck while on bail for similar allegations which were left to lie on the file. He kept his freedom but his hostile and anti-social conduct was slammed by a judge, who warned the courts would not tolerate it.

The defendant, of Stanley Street, Accrington, was given 36 weeks in custody, suspended for two years, with 18 months supervision and the Thinking Skills programme.

Martin Hackett, defending, said the offence was unpleasant. Hesmondhalgh had been very close to his mother who died last July and he may have been adjusting.

Lancashire Telegraph

Former mayor slams BNP

A former Lord Mayor of Manchester has branded the BNP as the 'grandchildren of Hitler'.

Coun Afzal Khan says the British National Party share the same ideas as the Nazi Party, who persecuted Jews and many others before and during the Second World War. He was speaking at a meeting on 'community cohesion' at Manchester Jewish Museum on Cheetham Hill Road. The museum is near to where recent anti-terror raids resulted in 12 Pakistani nationals being arrested. They were later released without charge, but are facing deportation.

Coun Khan said: "The rise of the BNP to a level we have not seen for 30 years can strengthen the relationship between the Muslim and Jewish communities. All good, decent people are concerned about this, it is something we share. This is what the BNP are - the grandchildren of Hitler, they share the same ideas, forgetting all humans are the same.

"We all ultimately come from Africa and if you want to be blind to that, it is your problem. Both Jewish and Muslim communities have been victims of extremist elements. There may be political differences over Palestine and Israel, but there are hundreds of years of a strong relationship between the Muslim and Jewish communities. The issue of the BNP affects them both."

The meeting discussed improving relationships in Cheetham Hill, which is home to 23 separate racial groups - and 46 different dialects are spoken. Racist graffiti has recently been daubed on one of the pews at the museum, which is working at promoting tolerance. The meeting was attended by the MP for Blackley, Graham Stringer, as well as museum trustees and directors and curator Alex Grimes.

Director Stuart Hilton said: "Jewish people and the Irish have been in Manchester from the 1750s, so does it make those families not British? I was talking to someone in the Muslim community the other day whose family has lived here three generations. Does that not make them British? Our relations with our Muslim neighbours here are excellent and we believe we can work together to promote understanding of each other. There is a great deal of interaction, but I think the challenge for the future is moving from a state where we are in existence amicably next to each other, to where we cross over the boundary."

Asian News

CCTV call after yobs smash gravestones

Yobs desecrated Jewish and Muslim gravestones in a spate of vandalism in Preston Cemetery.

Headstones were smashed in half and pushed to the ground and there are calls for CCTV cameras to catch the vandals.

Louts targeted the Hebrew and Muslim sections of the New Hall Lane site with some graves dating back to 1925 damaged. In the Muslim section, stones were toppled while memorial areas were trampled on and flowers ripped out. Yobs are believed to have climbed into the cemetery before jumping over separate fences.

Police today said the vandalism was "indiscriminate" and not deliberately anti-Semitic or anti-Muslim. But Iqbal Adam, chairman of Preston's Muslim Burial Society, said of the vandals: "They are not being civilised – they don't have feelings for anybody. They just make fun out of it – it's pretty bad. These gravestones are people and they are memories for the families. I feel very sorry for the families.It would be much better if they had CCTV."

Mr Adam – who said nothing had been sprayed on the damaged gravestones to suggest it was a racist attack – said work had begun to repair the damage.

Graham Lewis, trustee of the Preston Hebrew Congregation, said: "We are very distressed and for the families concerned who are very upset."

When asked if the attacks were racially motivated, he said: "I don't know. Given there was damage to the Muslim section and the Jewish section, it does not appear to be a deliberate target only to the Jewish community."

Det Insp Dave McKenna said: "They have damaged confined areas in the cemetery and pushed over some headstones in the Jewish and Muslim sections. We've been investigating and there is no suggestion of any racist overtones. We just think it's indiscriminate vandalism. We will be looking to take preventative measures in the future, such as CCTV. And we're appealing for anyone with information to get in touch."

A Preston Council spokesman said: "Since we began locking the main cemetery gates two and a half years ago, incidents of vandalism have decreased by 50%. Since this unfortunate incident we have begun closing the gates to the Hebrew and Muslim sections to act as a further deterrent. We are also in the process of applying for funding for cemetery railings which would further increase security.

"The issue of CCTV is one which we have looked into, however we do not believe it is feasible for a number of reasons. There are huge costs involved, the large number of surrounding trees make it impossible for all areas to be covered by cameras but, most importantly, people feel they are intrusive and the cemetery is a place that should be private."

Lancashire Evening Post

How the flying Dutchman was stopped in his tracks

In a blaze of publicity, the anti-Islam campaigner was refused entry to Britain

Three days ago, few people in Britain, other than those of the far right, knew of the Dutch politician Geert Wilders. Yesterday though, in an own goal by the British Government, the anti-Islamist was handed a stunning PR opportunity when he was turned away from Britain.

Apart from two empty rows at the front – reserved for Mr Wilders and his two giant, shaven-headed bodyguards – there wasn't a spare seat on flight BD104 from Amsterdam to London. One third of the plane was filled with reporters and cameramen, there to chronicle the moment the Dutch demagogue defied a Home Office ban on him entering the country.

Mr Wilders, 45, had been due to show his film Fitna, which equates Islam with fascism, in the House of Lords last night. He never arrived – but did garner much helpful publicity. At the front of the plane, Mr Wilders held court. "I am no champion of anything," he said. "I'm just trying to exercise my right to free speech.

"My message to the British Government is that I am sad that the ghost of Chamberlain still resides in Britain instead of the ghost of Churchill. I would say to [Britain], even if you don't like me, even if you don't like my thoughts, be brave and defend freedom of speech. If you don't then you are weak and you are cowards."

When the plane landed at Heathrow at 2pm, the circus continued. Two plainclothes immigration officers walked on to the plane and escorted Mr Wilders off for questioning – pursued by the media pack and bodyguards. "Is this how Great Britain meets a democrat?" the blond populist demanded.

He was sent back to Amsterdam on the next flight at 4.30pm. It is thought to be the first time Britain has refused entry to an elected European politician since the creation of the EU in 1993.

Mr Wilders seemed happy to have used the one-hour flight to rail against the British Government, which he accused of appeasing "Islamofascists" and stifling free speech. He repeated some of the criticisms of Islam that have made him so reviled.

Most Dutch passengers seemed to understand what all the fuss was about but Bridget Naughton, an Australian living in Utrecht, was nonplussed. "To be honest I don't even know who he is," she said. "All I do know is that he's taken my seat. When I checked in online last night I was in the front row, but now it appears this Mr Wilders has taken it."

Mr Wilders had been invited to the House of Lords by Lord Pearson, a Ukip peer. His 17-minute-long documentary Fitna is named after the Arabic word for "civil war", and was shown last night regardless. The film links Islamic texts with footage of terrorist attacks and calls the Koran a "fascist book". It has caused waves of protests across the Muslim world, which Mr Wilders responded to by warning of a "tsunami" of Islam swamping the Netherlands; calling for an outright ban of the Koran in Holland and a halt on the construction of any new mosques. He faces prosecution in Holland for inciting hatred and discriminating against Muslims and their religion.

Yesterday, he denied any suggestion that he was being hypocritical to demand a ban on the Koran while simultaneously criticising the British Government for attacking his right to free speech. "I don't see a problem there," he said. "I'm talking about the Koran, I'm not talking about the people. Unlike in the UK, in Holland we have banned [Hitler's] Mein Kampf and I see a comparison between the two books. They are both books full of totalitarian ideologies and they both incite violence."

Muslim groups in Britain reacted angrily to his comments yesterday and praised the Government for deporting him. Mohammed Shafique, director of the Ramadhan Foundation, a group that promotes interfaith dialogue, said: "Mr Wilders' film is all about demonising and attacking Islam and Muslims. He is a modern-day Hitler, his hatred on Islam is based on fiction and his presence in the UK may lead to community tensions. This is not about freedom of speech but about stopping the incitement to religious hatred this man promotes. The Government has been right in banning this man and there should be no let-up in letting him through."

Mr Wilders said he intended to return the UK soon, regardless of whether or not the ban on him is lifted. The Netherlands has pressed for a reversal of Britain's decision to ban him.

Holland's Foreign Minister, Maxime Verhagen, said: "It is highly regrettable that a Dutch MP should be denied entry to another EU country." The Dutch ambassador to Britain, Pim Waldeck, was at Heathrow to offer Mr Wilders assistance.

In a final, somewhat surreal gesture on the flight to Britain, a Dutch gossip journalist handed the politician a pink burqa and said he should try to enter the UK wearing it in order to fool immigration officials.

Double Dutch: The view from Holland

NRC Handelsblad

"The British ban appears to trample on fundamental rights enshrined by the EU and the Council of Europe but it also harms the concept that Europe is one open space. London used to be a refuge for extremists and radicals who came from all corners of the world. Russians, Chechens, Algerians and other radical Muslim groups were allowed to settle there. Karl Marx fled to London from Paris. Wilders had a return ticket. Even under a stricter regime, it should be possible for him to come to London.

De Volkskrant

"Whatever one thinks of Wilders' views, he is an elected representative of an EU country. He has a diplomatic passport to allow him to travel freely. The EU is a symbol of the free exchange of persons and ideas and Britain cannot swoop down on this freedom just by using the argument that Wilders wanted to spread 'extremism'. The British appear unimpressed by efforts by Dutch ministers to get them to reconsider. But the Dutch will have to take them to task over this."

Independent