Category Archives: Anti-Muslim violence

CAIR-NY calls for hate crime probe of attack on Muslims outside mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Tayba Islamic CenterThe New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) today called on law enforcement authorities and public officials to investigate an alleged attack on Muslim worshippers on their way to prayers at a Brooklyn mosque as a possible hate crime.

On Friday evening, witnesses say passengers in a Lexus drove by the Thayba Islamic Center shouting anti-Muslim slurs, including “This is for your Allah,” and threw eggs at several members dressed in traditional Muslim attire. A 70-year-old Muslim in traditional Pakistani attire and wearing an Islamic Kufi (scullcap) was reportedly hit in the chest by an egg.

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Lansing: Muslim woman attacked in mall

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A civil liberties group said Monday that an incident in which a woman was assaulted at the Meridian Mall on Saturday should be investigated as a possible hate crime.

Meridian Township police confirmed that officers responded to an assault that occurred at the mall Saturday but would neither confirm nor deny the description of events offered by the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI).

Dawud Walid, executive director for CAIR-MI, said two white men and a white woman surrounded a 26-year-old Muslim woman and tried to pull off her face veil and abaya, a full body dress worn by some Muslim women. They knocked her to the ground and shouted expletives at her, he said.

“We urge state, local and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate a possible bias motive for this troubling incident and to make every effort to bring the alleged perpetrators to justice,” said Walid.

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Raping Palestinian women would deter attacks on Israel, says Geller ally

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Mordechai Kedar at SION conferences
Mordechai Kedar at Stop Islamization of Nations conferences in New York in 2012 and Melbourne in 2014

Mordechai Kedar, a lecturer at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University who likes to be introduced as director of the Center for the Study of the Middle East and Islam (which is still “under formation”, despite having been first announced back in 2011), is a popular figure among US Islamophobes.

In 2011 Kedar wrote an article for Daniel Pipes’ Middle East Quarterly entitled “Shari’a and violence in American mosques”, which claimed that 81% of US mosques promoted “violent jihad”. His co-author was David Yerushalmi, the lawyer behind the movement to ban sharia law in the US. Kedar is also a regular contributor to David Horowitz’s FrontPage Magazine. But his closest links are with Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer.

When Geller and Spencer launched their organisation Stop Islamization of Nations in January 2012, Kedar was one of a handful of individuals who gave their immediate support to this enterprise, becoming a founder member of the SION advisory board. In September 2012 he was a star speaker at SION’s New York conference. In March this year he was on the panel of presenters at the 1st International Symposium on Liberty and Islam in Melbourne, which was jointly organised by SION and the Q Society. You’ll note that his name appears third on the bill, just below those of Geller and Spencer.

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Prisoners who ‘expressed deeply racist and anti-Muslim views’ sent letter bombs to solicitors

Posted on by Bob Pitt

HMP Full SuttonTwo inmates at a maximum security prison have been condemned by police for posting crude explosive devices and racist letters to solicitors in West Yorkshire.

Bret Atkins, 23, and Jamie Snow, 27, prisoners at HMP Full Sutton near York, sent a series of threatening letters which police say were “designed to instil fear in their recipients”. Officers from the North East Counter Terrorism Unit were alerted to what they were doing by prison officers after they intercepted a letter containing an incendiary device.

A jury at Leeds Crown Court found Atkins guilty of conspiracy to send an explosive substance with intent and Snow, originally of Potternewton, Leeds, previously admitted sending an explosive substance with intent and two offences of threats to kill. They will be sentenced in September.

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Muslim girl spat at and racially abused in Bristol city centre – and no one came to help

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Corn Street BristolA teenage girl walking home from school through Bristol’s city centre was spat at in one of the busiest streets in the centre – a place where she should have been safe. And while the incident took place, leaving the 17-year-old feeling humiliated, nobody stopped to intervene or help.

Now councillors in the inner city ward where the girl lives say they fear there could be a backlash in Bristol if more “Islamophobic” incidents occur.

The girl, who has asked not to be named, was walking in the city centre along Corn Street wearing a headscarf when a man approached and started hurling insults at her. She tried to take the abuse in her stride, but the tirade got worse. The man began spitting in her face and all over her clothes and school bag.

The Bristol Post understands that he was swearing and shouting insults against Islam and her supposed birth place – even though the girl was born in Bristol, has never lived outside the city and considers herself British. Eventually the girl ran off and phoned her father who immediately came to pick her up. He took her to Trinity Road police station and made a formal complaint.

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Wrexham EDL supporter told shop owner ‘I’m a racist and I kill Muslims’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL not racist not violentA man entered a shop and told its Muslim owner “I’m a racist and I kill Muslims,” on the first anniversary of the death of soldier Lee Rigby.

Daniel Lee Lewis, of Church Street, Wrexham, entered the shop on Chester Street in Flint after midnight on May 23. He asked the owner where he was from and if he was a Muslim. The owner replied he was Turkish but had an English passport and told Lewis he was Muslim.

Lewis told the owner: “It’s alright, I won’t cause any trouble. It’s my country, I will do what I want. I’m a racist and I kill Muslims.” He spat on the shop floor and invited the owner outside for a fight. But the police had been called and he was arrested.

The 32-year-old told police: “It’s one year today to the death of Lee Rigby, there will be thousands of us in Manchester on Saturday,” before chanting EDL [English Defence League] at them.

Appearing at Wrexham Magistrates Court yesterday, Lewis pleaded guilty to using threatening or abusive words or behaviour with intent to cause racially aggravated fear of or provoke unlawful violence. He also admitted failure to surrender to bail.

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Fine for man who called for terrorist attacks on mosques

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ryan HarbisonA former footballer has been fined £1,000 for a post on a social network inciting racial violence. Ryan Harbinson, 19, posted on Facebook asking people to start terrorist attacks after the murder of soldier Lee Rigby.

Falkirk Sheriff Court heard Harbinson was a talented player whose career was cut short after he was stabbed in 2011. His defence argued that he had suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in the attack.

On 23 May last year – the day after Fusilier Rigby was murdered on a London street by two Islamic extremists – Harbinson posted: “Anyone up for starting our own series of terrorist attacks, little bit of petroleum would set fire to the mosque nicely :)”.

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Revealing report on anti-Muslim racism in Ireland

Posted on by Bob Pitt

AMR reportAn informative report by Dr James Carr on racism and bigotry against Muslims in Ireland has been published by the University of Limerick. Based on a survey of Irish Muslims on their experiences of anti-Muslim hostility, complemented by one-to-one interviews and focus group discussions, the report found that 36% of respondents felt they had been targeted on the basis of being identified as Muslim.

Dr Carr writes: “The manner in which this hostility manifested varied. Participants reported experiencing physical assaults (22%) ranging from being struck, having hijabs forcibly removed, to being pushed, spat at; some reported being threatened or harassed (20%). A white Irish male revert to Islam recalls his experiences of physical forms of abuse: ‘I have been pushed and have had people spit in my face, for being Muslim’. Fewer participants (14%) indicated that they had property damaged. Those who detailed how this manifested referred to tyres being slashed, having eggs thrown at their home inter alia.”

The survey found that women, who were more easily identified as Muslim because of their dress, experienced higher levels of anti-Muslim hostility (44%) and discrimination (40%) than men (28% and 22% respectively). Women interviewees also reported their frustration at being subjected to anti-Muslim stereotyping and regarded condescendingly as passive victims of male oppression.

Dr Carr adds: “The discourse of oppressed Muslim women also serves to ‘legitimise’ the deployment of ‘liberation tactics’ by those would be ‘liberators’ of the oppressed. The impact these ‘tactics’ have on the Muslim female participants in this study includes shock, depression, feelings of fear and vulnerability. Jada explains how she was told to ‘take that thing rag off your head you you’re too good looking for that’ by a patient in the hospital she works in.”

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Police release CCTV image of Warrington mosque attack

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Warrington mosque attack CCTVCheshire Police has released a CCTV image of suspects they are hunting, believed to be involved in an attack on the mosque in Warrington town centre.

Officers are again appealing for information after the mosque on Arpley Street was vandalised.

One man can be seen, apparently about to smash a window, with another man in the background of the image.

Police say they are treating the incident, on Monday, July 7, as racially aggravated criminal damage.

Sgt Rob Horton, of Warrington Town Centre NPU, said: “Enquiries are still ongoing and we would like to speak to anybody who may know the people seen in the CCTV footage.”

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 quoting incident 1041 of 7th July, 2014. Alternatively, information can be passed via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Warrington Guardian, 14 July 2014

Teenager arrested over alleged mosque threat on Facebook

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Leon RichmondA teenager has been arrested after allegedly posting a racist threat against a mosque on Facebook.

Leon Richmond, aged 18, from Smithills, is alleged to have made an “offensive” comment about the proposed new mosque in Blackburn Road, Astley Bridge, on a Facebook page. He has been bailed by police, who have warned that more arrests will follow.

The proposed mosque, which was given approval by Bolton Council members earlier this month, will be built on a plot of land off Canning Street.

Det Insp Charlotte Cadden, from Bolton North Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: “An 18-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of making racial threats to cause criminal damage. This is the first of a number of arrests we will be making.

“People seem to think they can make racially offensive comments online with impunity but they can’t because it’s offensive and people are rightly concerned. If you have put something like that online I would advise you to remove it. We have captured some of the comments already and we are prioritising the most serious ones. The arrest made by police is a warning to people.

“All people have a right to a lawful protest if they are unhappy about something but this has far overstepped the mark and turned into racial verbal abuse and threats to damage that have caused a lot concern and upset in all communities. The comments are offensive to lots of people.”

The mosque plans, submitted by Taiyabah Islamic Centre, include a dome, minaret tower and 19 classrooms. They have prompted protests by objectors [see here and here] in the lead-up to the planning meeting on July 3. Protestors shouted abuse at councillors as the proposals were approved.

Cllr Guy Harkin, for Crompton Ward, praised the police for taking action against people suspected of using racist abuse.

Cllr Harkin said: “The people who use racist abuse don’t realise that there is an electronic audit trail of what they are up to and that what they are saying is against the law. Some people had legitimate concerns about the planning application but other people were hiding behind that when the agenda was really Islamaphobia and racism.

“People who have legitimate planning objections will be listened to but at the end of the day, some people were using that as a smokescreen for out-and-out racism. I’m glad the police are getting a grip of it. At the end of the day people break the law and police deal with it.”

He said one of his colleagues has been at the brunt of some of the abuse and said it was “appalling and unacceptable”.

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