Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, AKA Robinson, is not a changed man. He may have disengaged from the EDL but it’s no victory for counter-extremism, argues Matthew Goodwin.
Monthly Archives: October 2013
Hundreds vow to fight mosque refusal
Hundreds of supporters of a bid to turn a pub building into a mosque vowed to fight a decision to refuse the proposal.
Around 200 people gathered outside a packed council chamber last night as Waltham Forest Council’s planning committee decided on the application from the Faizen-e-Islam organisation for the Waltham Oak in Lea Bridge Road, Walthamstow, which has been closed for a year.
Residents and committee members expressed concern at the loss of a landmark historical pub, which they said has been an important part of the community in that part of Walthamstow. The application was then denied on the grounds of potential disturbance to people living in sheltered housing next door and predicted parking congestion in the area at prayer times.
In emotional scenes outside the town hall, Ghulam Rabbani, Faizan-e-Islam director, announced the committee’s decision and vowed to appeal. He told the crowd: “This is the beginning of our fight. We will be fighting in a democratic and legal way. We are going for appeal. Our intention was to support the local community regardless of race, creed or colour. We are proud of our work.”
‘Hate group’ sues to re-run controversial FBI ads on Metro buses
An anti-Muslim organization has sued the King County for refusing to allow the purported hate group to re-run controversial FBI advertisements on Metro buses.
Metro previously allowed the FBI’s “Faces of Global Terrorism” announcements to appear on the buses before the bureau pulled the ads. The FBI ads – which picture 16 terrorism suspects, most of whom are non-white, Muslim and living overseas – were dropped in June over concerns they perpetuated negative stereotypes of Muslims.
The New York-based American Freedom Defense Initiative and organization president Pamela Geller have sued King County claiming the county is violating the free speech rights of the organization’s members by not allowing it to replicate the defunct FBI ads.
Crazed EDL supporter jailed after air rifle incident at Muslim home
A crazed English Defence League supporter from Rowley Regis has been jailed for brandishing an air rifle as he shouted racial abuse at a Muslim family’s home.
Neighbours of the Muslim family were terrified after seeing Shaun Havelin, aged 28, screaming and shouting racial taunts with the gun whilst wearing an EDL sweater.
The incident was sparked after an argument with his mother at her Warley Hall Road in which he shook his beloved sweater in her face and said: “I want to die in this.” He then charged round to the Muslim’s family’s house in a nearby street not realising they were not at home.
Mishal Husain, the veil and the Mail
Sabbiyah Pervez responds to a particularly ignorant article in the Daily Mail.
NYPD Muslim spying program does not exist, City claims in lawsuit response
A lawyer for New York City on Monday denied that the NYPD has a surveillance program to spy on Muslims.
Responding to an ACLU lawsuit claiming religious discrimination that seeks to force police to turn over surveillance records, city lawyer Peter Farrell claimed “there is no Muslim surveillance program. … I 100 percent disagree that there was ever a Muslim surveillance program.”
Muslim security guard fired over beard awarded $66,000 in back pay
A federal judge has awarded back pay and other costs to a Muslim man who said he was fired from his security-guard job two years ago for refusing to shave his close-cropped beard.
Abdulkadir Omar, 23, who worked for American Patriot Security in 2009 and 2010, was awarded over $66,000 in back wages, attorney fees and court costs. U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik ordered a default judgment against American Patriot on Sept. 27 after the company declined to mount a defense.
EDL supporter said he would kill ‘foreign people’, drew up list of targets
A teenage neo-Nazi accused of plotting a “new Columbine” brought a gun into college and pulled out knives in the middle of a lesson, the Old Bailey heard (Tues). The 16-year-old English Defence League supporter bragged about getting a machete for his birthday and making bombs in his bedroom, it is said.
One college pal said the teenager once pulled a large knife out of his trench coat pocket and told him “look at this”. Two weeks later, he brandished three knives in class when the teacher left the room, it is alleged. “He took me right to the bottom of the corridor and showed me this really long knife”, said the defendant’s fellow student. “It was in his trench coat, he had a massive pocket. He just goes: ‘Look at this’, then he put it back.”
He told jurors the teenager pulled out a knife from his boot and two other small blades when challenged by other students. “People were saying why don’t you get your knife out, the teacher was not in the room at the time”, he said. “He got them out in his hand on the table, from under the desk. He pulled one out of his boot, and he showed me all three.”
The boy, who is now 17 and cannot be named, is on trial accused of plotting a terrorist attack using weapons, homemade bombs, and explosives he had stockpiled in his bedroom. He allegedly planned a Columbine-style massacre at his former school in Loughborough, Leicestershire, and wanted to attack the council offices, a local cinema, and Loughborough University.
The court has heard the Nazi and EDL-obsessed teen had threatened to shoot and stab fellow college students, and had drawn up a list of targets for his attack in a notebook.
Quilliam clears the way for closer co‑operation among ‘counterjihadists’
Stephen Lennon and Kevin Carroll’s surprise announcement that they have left the English Defence League has been enthusiastically welcomed by Pamela Geller.
Geller writes that she and Robert Spencer – recently banned from the UK because of their record of inciting hatred against Muslims – both “strongly endorse” Lennon and Carroll’s decision. It has become “clear to all of us that the best way to proceed is to leave the EDL behind and move forward in new directions”, says Geller, and she and Spencer “look forward to working with Robinson and Carroll in the future as we continue this great struggle for freedom”.
Tommy and cousin Kev quit the EDL
The English Defence League demonstrating alongside the neo-Nazis of the National Front
Today the internet has been buzzing with the news that Stephen Lennon (“Tommy Robinson”) and Kevin Carroll have resigned from the English Defence League. It even qualified for coverage on national TV.
The EDL leaders’ break with the organisation they helped to found was announced this morning in a press release from the Quilliam group (“Quilliam facilitates Tommy Robinson leaving the English Defence League”), which quotes Lennon as saying: “I have been considering this move for a long time because I recognise that, though street demonstrations have brought us to this point, they are no longer productive. I acknowledge the dangers of far-right extremism and the ongoing need to counter Islamist ideology not with violence but with better, democratic ideas.”
Lennon and Carroll will expand on their motives for leaving the EDL at a press conference this evening which has been organised by Quilliam.