Nottingham pig's head mosque race abuse man sentenced

A man who was involved in placing a pig's head on a pole outside the possible site of a mosque in Nottingham has been given a suspended sentence.

Christopher Payne, 25, from Beardsmore Grove, Hucknall, admitted racially aggravated public order offences after the incident on 23 June.

Nottingham Magistrates heard Payne failed to stop others placing the pig's head and had also left racist graffiti.

He was sentenced to 6 weeks imprisonment, suspended for a year.
'Wholly irresponsible'

The court was told Payne had taken delivery of a pig's head, that was later pinned on the pole outside waste ground on Collington Way, in the West Bridgford area.

Payne also admitted writing "no Mosque here, EDL Notts" on the pavement near the site of the proposed mosque.

He admitted causing racially or religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress and racially or religiously aggravated criminal damage.

He was also ordered to pay a £250 fine with £85 costs, complete 100 hours of community service and stay out of West Bridgford for 12 months.

A letter from Payne was read out in court in which he said he regretted his actions, and now understood and accepted it was wholly irresponsible.

He also told the court he had left the English Defence League.

In sentencing, District Judge Morris Cooper told the court he had reduced Payne's sentence by a third because he pleaded guilty.

BBC News

Police confirm five arrests made at Portsmouth’s EDL march

Five people have been charged with offences under the Public Order Act following an EDL demonstration in Portsmouth.

The five men were arrested during Saturday’s march by members of the far-right wing English Defence League and counter protests by groups affiliated with United Against Fascism.

They are Phillip Pallett, 35, of Pulborough Way, Bognor Regis, who is charged with breaching section 5 of the Public Order Act, behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

Timothy Lister, 23, of Lockyer Street, Plymouth. He has been charged with assaulting police and behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

They have been bailed to appear at Portsmouth Magistrates Court on July 26.

Daniel Clements, 34, of Jervis Road, Portsmouth, Graeme Stubbington, 50, of no fixed abode, and David Heard, 36, of Cumberland Street, Portsmouth, have been charged with breaching section 5 of the Public Order Act.

Mr Heard has also been charged with obstructing police.

The three will appear at Portsmouth Magistrates Court on July 25.

Two women arrested at the event have been released without charge after speaking to officers.

Portsmouth News

Seven arrested after Portsmouth far right march

SEVEN far right protesters were arrested during a heated protest that took over parts of Portsmouth today.

The English Defence League supporters – being quizzed on suspicion of crimes ranging from public order offences to assaulting a police officer – are among about 500 people who descended on the city.

Two counter protesters who took part in a demonstration in Guildhall Square were also arrested but released without charge at the scene, Hampshire Constabulary said.

Police who spent weeks gearing up for the protest ramped up the operation after tempers flared following the end of the march.

Moments after the protest ended in Edinburgh Road, riot vans were called to Guildhall Square as some EDL supporters tried to get at a group of about 150 counter-protesters.

Two vans blocked the entrance to the square where it meets Isambard Brunel Road and dozens of officers in high-visibility jackets formed a human barrier to stop the two rival factions from clashing.

The groups hurled abuse at each other and some EDL protesters tried to force their way through – but failed.

One man climbed a tree in front of the police cordon to shout insults.

Mounted officers from Thames Valley Police were also drafted in and police managed to quell the volatile situation.

Superintendent Rick Burrows, who led Operation Buscot, said: ‘They stuck to the procession route we had agreed with them.

‘The contingency plan was to block access to Guildhall Square and yes, we did have to push people back to prevent confrontation, but that was easily delivered using the mounted section.’

A short while earlier officers had managed to stop protesters who tried to break away in Isambard Brunel Road from grabbing hold of scaffolding on a truck parked nearby.

Vans and officers also blocked the road at the roundabout with Greetham Street, forcing them to turn back.

The flashpoint came after police escorted English Defence League supporters from all over the country who turned out for the first protest of its kind in Hampshire.

Edinburgh Road was shut from its junctions with Anglesea Road and Alfred Road to its junction with Stanhope Road and Unicorn Road from about 10am as police mounted Operation Buscot.

About 200 officers were drafted in to police the march – and escorted placard-bearing protesters with flags and banners from the start point at Edinburgh Road, past The Hard and back up Park Road and Anglesea Road to the start point where speeches where given.

Some protesters chanted. But others shouted racist abuse as the marchers were guided along the agreed route by EDL stewards and police.

However despite having to hold protesters back after they tried to surge forward at the start of the march, they were safely escorted for the remainder of the route.

Superintendent Rick Burrows said: ‘It’s gone 90 per cent to plan. All plans have to build in flexibility .

‘The 10 per cent that didn’t is probably the initial policing of the procession when it set off, which required [police] holding them back and re-setting it.

‘We had asked the EDL stewards to do that and it looked like they didn’t have the resilience to do that so we had to play catch-up and do it ourselves.’

‘The engagement with the protest organisers from both sides was very positive.

‘It’s about having a proportionate and appropriate numbers – you have also got to bear in mind policing of the whole of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.’

Portsmouth News

Postman gets the Sack

A few weeks ago I wrote this article regarding the Sheffield BNP Organiser - Jordan Pont and a phone call he made to the Toby Foster Show on Radio Sheffield.
Well as a result of this call it appears that Pont has been sacked from his job by the Royal Mail.
Details are a bit sketchy at the moment but Pont put up a post on Facebook last night -



I'm awaiting confirmation from Royal Mail which I doubt I will get until Monday.

EDIT Update

So using lack of diversity training as a defence didn't work then?

Traders raise concerns at route taken by EDL march

Businesses have raised concerns over the decision to allow the English Defence League's protest march at the Barbican over the weekend.

As hundreds of people enjoyed the scene and historic part of the city, many voiced their dismay at the large police presence and the slogan-chanting of the EDL. One shopkeeper – who asked not to be named – said: "They are allowed to march, that's democracy. But why march them along here, where all our tourists are, where our businesses are trying to show the best of Plymouth?"

Professor David Wheeler, who chairs the Waterfront Partnership, witnessed the march as it travelled the length of Southside Street and onto Madeira Road. He expressed his "serious disappointment" that the march had been "routed through the touristic heart of the city."

He said: "The waterfront businesses are multi-cultural in ownership and in their customer base. As the showcase of an international marine city, the Barbican should not be used for demonstrations that many would find divisive and offensive. I was especially concerned that children on the Barbican might have found the tone of the demonstration frightening and that Race Week business could suffer. I will be writing to the police authorities asking for information on how such demonstrations can be prevented in the future."

A police spokesman said: "There was consultation between both march organisers and the police concerning the route of their processions. There were inevitably going to be some parts of the community who did not want either march to go through their respective area. However, we are duty bound to respect the right to peaceful protest and that meant accommodating both marches in the best way possible by lessening impact on the local community wherever we could.

"Initial feedback from many areas of the community concerning the police operation on Saturday has been very positive and we would thank all residents for their co-operation in helping this process."

A 28-year-old is due before magistrates on July 20 charged with possession of an offensive weapon. Four more men arrested on public order offences and another man arrested on suspicion of assault have been released on police bail pending further inquiries.

This is Plymouth

EDL could march again in Cambridgeshire

The English Defence League (EDL) could target Ely following its march in Cambridge. Muslims want to build a ‘miniature mosque’ at Paradise Centre fields, but the EDL could take to Ely’s streets against it.

Police estimated more than 1,000 people attended the two marches on Saturday - the EDL march and counter-protest in Cambridge by Unite Against Fascism and the Trades Council.

Arbury resident Ross Ground, 32, a member of EDL’s Cambridge Division, said: “I cannot confirm there will be a march in Ely but members of the East Anglian branch who came on Saturday said they were looking into it if the plans for a mosque go ahead. I think the march on Saturday went off pretty well and there were only a few arrests. We had about 700 to 1,000 members attend. The police were fully co-operative with us.”

The management committee of the Ely centre told the city’s Muslims it would lease them part of its land if they gained planning permission. The group has around 50 members who gather inside the centre on Fridays.

Mohammed Tahir, from Ely, said: “The EDL have threatened to march in Ely if the Muslim community of Ely go ahead with plans to build a mosque here.”

More than 650 officers and staff from six forces, including Cambridgeshire, policed the EDL and opposition march by the Trade Union Council and Unite Against Fascism, which claimed it had around 2,000 attend. Police praised Cambridge residents following Saturday’s protests.

Insp Robin Sissons said: “They are familiar with and generally supportive of protest activity and this was evident on Saturday. Their tolerance, combined with the joint operation by police and partner agencies, meant the protests were largely peaceful with only minor disorder and some minor disruption to residents, visitors and businesses in the city.”

He added: “It was heartening to hear that members of the community who reported tension before the protests, then praised the tone and nature of the policing operation after it was complete.”

Cambridge News

Thanks to NewsHound for the heads-up

Ban the march of hate

On Saturday 3 September the English Defence League plan to march through the streets of Tower Hamlets. They want to peddle their racism and hatred through the heart of one of Britain’s biggest Muslim communities. I would like your help to stop them.

The EDL want to whip up racism and terrorise the local Muslim community. There can be no other explanation for their provocative march. They are coming to East London looking for a confrontation and trying to provoke a violent reaction. This is the last thing the people of Tower Hamlets want or need.

We are calling on the authorities to ban this hate march.

We have shown before that we can force the authorities to act. We stopped the EDL from marching through a predominantly Muslim neighbourhood of Bradford last year. More recently we forced the Home Secretary to ban the controversial US preacher, Pastor Jones, from entering Britain.

Now we need to stop the EDL from marching in Tower Hamlets in September.

Tower Hamlets has a long and proud history of immigration and resistance to racism and fascism and so we must stand up against the EDL now. We’ve made a difference before and I know we can be successful again. Please sign our petition.

We will be handing in the petition to the police in Tower Hamlets in early August.

"We, the undersigned, call on the authorities to ban the proposed march by the English Defence League (EDL) in Tower Hamlets on Saturday 3 September. The EDL is a violent racist organisation that seeks to vilify Muslim communities and damage community relations. Its planned march is designed to whip up fear and incite violence. We reject entirely the EDL and its anti-Muslim racism and we don’t see why the people of Tower Hamlets should pay for its march of hate. We are proud of Tower Hamlets, a vibrant multiracial area, which has a long and proud history of immigration and resistance to racism. From Cable Street in the 1930s, to Brick Lane in the 1970s and to Millwall in the 1990s, the people of Tower Hamlets have come together to see off racism and fascism before. We will now stand united against the racist and anti-Muslim EDL. We believe that everyone has the right to live in peace and without the fear of abuse or violence. We stand against all prejudice, whether it’s racism, Islamophobia, antisemitism, sexism or homophobia. We oppose all extremism – from whatever quarter – and we recognise that extremism breeds extremism. We condemn the extremist EDL just as we condemn Islamist extremism. We say a plague on both their houses. We believe that the people of Tower Hamlets should be allowed to live without the threat of violence and fear. This is why we are standing together with the Muslim community against the hatred of the EDL and Islamophobia more generally. We believe in HOPE not hate. That is why we are calling on the authorities to ban the EDL march of hate."

Hope not hate

Bush Hill Park Q&A scrapped after objections to BNP and Christian candidates

A hustings meeting ahead of a by-election has been axed amid objections to some candidates being invited.

The nine candidates standing for the vacant Enfield Council seat in Bush Hill Park had been invited to a question and answer session next week ahead of the poll. But the Bush Hill Park Residents Association, which was organising the session, has pulled the plug amid fears of protests and political bias.

The British National Party have entered a candidate – London organiser Steve Squire – for the first time in Bush Hill Park, but Labour candidate Ivor Wiggett is understood to have refused to share the platform with him under party policy. Objections were also raised to Christian Party representative Clive Morrison being invited, owing to alleged inflammatory comments made during his bid for the Edmonton Parliamentary seat last year.

Tony Kingsnorth, chairman of the association, said they were worried about the event being beset by protests outside and decided to call it off. The issue has been further complicated as Mr Kingsnorth is a candidate himself, standing as an independent, with vice chairman John Jewson running his campaign. This meant organising the debate would have to fall to other members of the committee, and the association did not want to risk being political by holding the event.

Paul Smith, the Lib Dem candidate, expressed his disappointment at the debate's cancellation on his blog, saying: “To be clear, the Lib Dems will appear at such events regardless of who else is on the platform because we believe that voters are drawn to fringe and extreme parties primarily because the major parties are seen as ignoring them. Get out onto the doorstep, meet these voters at hustings and they are given the voice they want and deserve and they can see how false the arguments from the extremists are.”

The BNP has never contested Bush Hill Park before, but Mr Squire is believed to have entered as a test in Enfield ahead of next year's London Assembly elections to see how the party fares.

Polling day is Thursday, July 28, with the result expected the day after.

Enfield Independent

Grab it while it's warmish...

No more News of the World? Read this instead!

As expected, the leadership challenge in the BNP has thrown all sides into something akin to chaos. The British Democracy Forum is awash with pro-Griffin sock puppets, most of them sounding remarkably similar to dumbass Patsy Harrington, the liar who runs Solidarity, the BNP's fake union that was created solely to keep Harrington off the dole.

In response to the many smears coming from the Griffin camp, the challenger Andrew Brons has complained to the leadership election officer Geoff Dickens, a Griffin loyalist. Quite why Brons expects Dickens to play fair is beyond me, but that's bizarre BNP-style democracy for you.

Now a new player has entered the field, who has allegedly sent a printed magazine out to all the current BNP members who are eligible to vote in the leadership election. The magazine is entitled 'A Report on the Mismanagement of the BNP' and can be read online here or is available in PDF form, should you care to download it and have a peruse, here. Brons and his minions deny that it is anything to do with them.

The magazine is a mish-mash of facts and hearsay, with a couple of obvious mistakes thrown in to confuse anyone who is attempting to track down the creator(s). Its interest for us is that it repeats many of the accusations that every anti-fascist has been making for years - that Griffin is a lying crook, that he surrounds himself with deviants, thugs and other lying crooks and that the BNP is near-bankrupt to a degree that, if it were a company, its directors would be jailed for trading while insolvent. There is, unsurprisingly, much talk of missing money.

You've read most of it before, but it's a bit of a laugh to look through and as you read it, reflect that Porky Griffin will be apoplectic with fury at the content while serial liar Patsy Harrington will be threatening to sue everyone in the universe - his usual behaviour when cornered.

Whodunnit? Possibly Paul Golding and James Dowson, former Griffin allies. That's only a guess though and if you have a better one, feel free to post it in the comments section. :-)

EDL demo: Five people arrested and police officer injured

EDL scumbag at the Eureka Children's Museum with
smuggled-in pint and bag of cocaine. Picture courtesy of Hope not hate.

Hundreds of police officers were deployed in Halifax today to keep English Defence League protesters under control.

Around 450 members of the far-right group came to the town, with coaches arriving from the Midlands and other parts of the country. Some clashed with a counter demonstration in King Cross but were marched to the designated protest site at Eureka car park. There was also some who arrived in Sowerby Bridge and marched from there into Halifax.

Police had to don riot gear when the protesters broke their way out of the car park and onto the childrens museum site. The protesters were herded back onto coaches and trains and out of Halifax by around 5pm.

Five people have been arrested on suspicion of public order offences. A 21-year-old has also been arrested on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon. A police officer was injured. He suffered a broken collar bone.

Around 70 people were at the counter demonstration in King Cross.

Halifax Courier

Thanks to NewsHound for the heads-up on the pic

Three arrests as EDL and UAF march through Plymouth

Three people were arrested as far-right group the English Defence League and anti-fascist group United Against Fascism marched through Plymouth today.

The rally and counter-rally were heavily policed and passed without incident, according to city officers.

EDL estimated they had 200 people at the event although other reports put the figure between 120 and 150. UAF claimed to have 500 people at their counter-event although figures of 300 to 400 are reported. There were 400 police at the events.

Devon and Cornwall Police closely monitored both peaceful protests and ensured the communities of Plymouth were allowed to go about their normal business as much as possible. Traffic was kept moving in the city centre throughout the day by what officers described as 'a proportionate policing operation which was welcomed by the community'. The marches began shortly after 1pm and were completed by 3.30pm.

Superintendent Craig Downham said: “This was a considerable policing operation and my hope is that the public felt reassured by the number of police officers and PCSOs on the streets talking to them. Our aim was to lessen the impact of the marches as much as possible while allowing their right to peaceful protest. With only three arrests and no incidents of note, this should be deemed a success.”

Officers from Devon and Cornwall, Avon and Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire police were all involved in the operation which also involved mounted units from Avon and Somerset.

A 28-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon, a 45-year-old man on suspicion of breach of the peace and a 25-year-old man for assault occasioning actual bodily harm and possession of cannabis. All three men currently remain in police custody.

Supt Downham added: “We are experienced in policing large public events and today’s activity was no different. What it does do is give us a chance to test our operational capabilities as well as build on the close working relationship we have with our other forces regionally. It was a demonstration that we can deal with large numbers and keep our communities running as normal as much as possible, while ensuring people feel safe and supported throughout.”

This is Plymouth

Five arrests during Cambridge EDL and anti-fascist marches

Five people were arrested after scuffles broke out as the English Defence League (EDL) and anti-fascists marched in Cambridge.

The number of people marching with United Against Fascism (UAF) and the TUC swelled from about 300 to 1,000 during the day, police said. About 350 people were on the EDL march, according to police.

More than 650 officers from six forces took part in the policing operation. Police said it was largely peaceful.

Those arrested were: a 36-year-old man from Norwich, on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly; a 48-year-old man from Colchester, Essex, on suspicion of a public order offence; a man aged 27 from Ely, Cambridgeshire, on suspicion of a public order offence; an 18-year-old man from Peterborough on suspicion of affray; and a man aged 28 from Cambridge, arrested on suspicion of a racially-aggravated public order offence.

Insp Robin Sissons said: "In the end it was a largely peaceful protest with only minor disorder and some minor disruption to residents, visitors and businesses in the city."

BBC