Category Archives: Anti-Muslim violence

SDL member posted Facebook call for arson attack on Edinburgh Central Mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

SDL AberdeenA man has been warned he could face jail for posting a Facebook comment about burning down a mosque in the wake of Lee Rigby’s murder. Derek Phin, 46, appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court on Friday where he pleaded guilty to posting the threatening and abusive remark on the social network last June.

British soldier Lee Rigby was off duty in southeast London when he was attacked and killed on May 22 last year. Radical groups then tried to exploit the soldier’s murder resulting in attacks and protests against the UK’s Muslim community.

Phin, of Aberdeen, admitted posting on Facebook that Edinburgh Central Mosque should be burnt down on July 2 during a counter demo. The mosque was due to be packed at the time for a meeting organised by pressure group Unite Against Fascism in response to extreme right wing protests.

Fiscal depute David Bernard told the court that police had been tipped off to Phin’s comment which he put online on June 30. He said: “On July 13 police received information that a comment of a racially motivated nature and thought to incite racial hatred had been posted on Facebook social network site on a page pertaining to the Scottish Defence League.

“One of the comments had been from a user account in the name of Derek Phin and had been posted on June 30, 2013 as part of a conversation about a Unite Against Fascism campaign to be held at an Edinburgh mosque on July 2. The comment attributed to Phin read ‘burn the mosque down when the meeting is ongoing’.”

Police confronted Phin at his home in Aberdeen on September 4. He was taken to a police station where he admitted making the comment and stated he was a member of the Scottish Defence League. He was then cautioned and charged.

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Harlow man charged over mosque bomb threat

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A 52-year-old man has been remanded in custody after he allegedly threatened to bomb a mosque.

Nigel Flanaghan has been accused of telling the police that there was an explosive device in a Harlow place of worship on January 8. Mr Flanaghan is also accused of causing religious aggravated fear or provocation of violence through words or behaviour, motivated towards Muslims.

After a court appearance in Chelmsford Magistrates’ on Tuesday the defendant of Wharley Hook in Harlow, just outside North Weald, has been remanded in custody.He will appear in court next week.

This is Local London, 30 January 2014

Six teens charged with race attacks at Sandwell mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Six teenagers as young as 14 have been charged after mosque worshippers including pensioners and a schoolboy were slapped and kicked. Members of the Cradley Heath Mosque & Islamic Centre were targeted, sparking an investigation from officers.

Today, West Midlands Police revealed a sales assistant aged 17 had been charged with three counts of racially-aggravated assault. He is accused of punching and kicking men aged 68 and 70 in attacks on October 16 and 17, and slapping an eight-year-old boy outside the mosque on October 24. Two 16-year-olds, two 15-year-olds and a 14-year-old, all boys from Cradley Heath, have also been charged with racially-aggravated harassment and criminal damage to a motor vehicle.

The six, who cannot be named, have been bailed to appear at Sandwell Youth Court on Monday.

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Kevin Carroll backs leader of violent racist campaign against Rohingya Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Hasan Lennon Nawaz and Carroll
October 2013: Quilliam announces Lennon and Carroll’s ‘break with extremism’

Since Stephen Lennon (“Tommy Robinson”) and his cousin Kevin Carroll appeared at a Quilliam press conference last year to announce their resignation from the leadership of the English Defence League, opponents of racism and fascism have concentrated on exposing the fraudulent character of Lennon’s supposed break with extremism.

With “Tommy” now safely locked up, beginning an 18-month prison sentence for his part in a £162,000 mortgage fraud, it is perhaps time to turn our attention to Carroll – who, just like Lennon, was presented by Quilliam as a man that had renounced his far-right, anti-Muslim past.

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Mosque plan at school site abandoned due to parent fears

Posted on by Bob Pitt

SDL protest against Eastwood mosquePlans for a mosque within the grounds of a school in one of Scotland’s most affluent suburbs have been dropped.

Council chiefs said the ­proposals, for Newton Mearns, south of Glasgow, had created a significant public response and that it was being abandoned, in part, due to criticism of the move.

A report on wider proposals for the East Renfrewshire area, which is expected to be agreed next week, says: “In view of the volume of representations received, the sensitivity concerning the proposal and the extremely wide range of issues raised, it is recommended that this proposed modification be pursued no further and is not included in the plan.”

The proposals for the mosque had been put forward by the local Muslim community as there is no permanent place of worship for Muslims in Newton Mearns, despite demand for more than a decade. The Muslim community had suggested a ­residual parcel of land next to the new Eastwood High School was its preferred site for a religious and community facility.

The Scottish Government’s Reporter, who adjudicates on planning issues, has recently been critical of the length of time it has taken local Muslims to secure a permanent place of worship in the area and allowed temporary change of use of a former nearby British Legion club for Muslim prayer services.

An alternative location north of Newton Mearns has now been recommended, but another suggestion would be dependent on wider development plans.

Proposing the plans, Nazir Ahmed, a trustee of the East Renfrewshire Mosque and Community Centre group, said the East Renfrewshire Muslim community had been resident for more than 40 years and is “one of the fastest growing communities that actively contributes to the vibrant and ethnically authentic nature” of the area.

But the Eastwood High mosque plans sparked an opposition campaign, with parents complaining about a religious facility being built on non-denominational school grounds. Parents said they had concerns at the possibility of violent protests outside the school gates and the potential for vandalism, fireraising or even terrorist-style bomb attacks following interest in the proposal from far-right extremists.

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EDL member nailed Qur’an to pub wall in protest against Islamic centre plan

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Graham FrenchA member of a far-right group nailed a copy of the Koran onto a pub which is due to be transformed into a Muslim education centre.

Graham French also wrote “EDL” on the wall of former Melrose Arms in Shotton Colliery – which has been the centre of demonstrations by the English Defence League in the village, after planning permission to change the use of the building was granted.

Since buying the property, local businessman Kaiser Javeed Choudry has been a repeat victim of crime, Peterlee Magistrates’ Court heard. Prosecutor Vicky Wilson said there had been great opposition to the plans and Mr Choudry’s property had been targeted with spray paint and windows had been smashed.

Ms Wilson said on December 14, EDL had been daubed twice in white paint on the building, causing £500 of damage, and an open Koran had been nailed onto a wooden board covering a window. She added: “Police took the Koran for forensic analysis and found several links to the defendant, including a palm print on the page.”

She told the court that information on Facebook showed French, of Dene Crescent, Shotton, is a member of a group called the Shotton Defence League. When French was arrested, he said it was a “revenge attack” after he was followed home from the pub one day by a female wearing a Burka.

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Police alerted to threats against Croydon Islamic centre

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EVF Croydon mosque harassmentPolice are investigating threats made against an Islamic centre by supporters of two right-wing groups. A video, posted on the internet, shows three men connected to the English Defence League (EDL) and one of its splinter groups, outside Anjuman-e-Zaini, in Brighton Road, South Croydon, late on what is believed to be Sunday night (January 19). Two of the men are seen ringing the door bell before one tells the camera that the building is an “illegal mosque”. When no one answers he says they will be back to “have the place over”.

The Advertiser alerted the community centre, which is a fully licensed place of worship, who contacted the police on Tuesday. Anjuman-e-Zaini is run by members of the borough’s Dawoodi Bohra Community, a branch of Islam.

Secretary Shaukat Dungarwalla said the incident was the latest example of the centre being targeted by extremists, including an attempt to set the building on fire during the riots in 2011. He said:

“Given what’s happened in the past we’re very concerned. This is far from the first time we have been targeted. During the riots someone pushed a pile of rubbish against the door and set fire to it in hope of burning us down. Bricks have been thrown at the building on at least four occasions and our windows have been plastered with anti-Islamic posters. As soon as we were informed of this video we contacted the police. There’s no smoke without fire. We’re on full alert.”

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Feds indict Klansman who designed radiation gun to kill Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Glendon Scott CrawfordAfter nearly seven months, federal prosecutors have decided to move forward with charges against one of two men charged with conspiring to build a portable, remote-controlled device designed to deliver fatal doses of radiation to Muslims – or “medical waste,” as the plotters called their intended targets.

Glendon Scott Crawford, 49, [pictured] was charged in an indictment last week with attempting to produce a radiological device, conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction and distribution of information related to weapons of mass destruction. Another suspect, Eric Feight, 54, was named in the original complaint but was not indicted. Both were arraigned last June.

According to sources who spoke with the Times-Union of Albany, Feight and his lawyers are working on a plea agreement in exchange for testimony against Crawford.

The case has been under investigation by a Joint Terrorism Task Force since at least April 2012, when Crawford went to a Schenectady synagogue, Congregation Gates of Heaven, and “asked to speak with a person who might be willing to help him with a type of technology that could be used by Israel to defeat its enemies while they slept.”

Crawford, with Feight’s help, had designed a device he described as “Horoshima on a light switch.” The device, he explained, was a “weaponized radiation device” that would deliver a deadly dose of radiation.

“[T]he target(s) and those around them would not immediately be aware they had absorbed lethal doses of radiation and the harmful effects of that radiation would not become apparent until days after the exposure,” court documents say.

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New review of threats to Sweden’s mosques

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Stockholm mosque Nazi graffitiIn the wake of several high-profile incidents, Muslim groups in Sweden plan to carry out a comprehensive survey of threats facing the country’s mosques.

The Muslim Council of Sweden (Sveriges muslimska råd, SMR) is concerned that several mosques and prayer centres have been vandalized and damaged in the last year, Sveriges Radio (SR) reports. There have also been several instances of threats and harassment.

“It’s only a matter of time until someone is seriously injured or dies,” SMR chair Helena Hummasten told the broadcaster. A study carried out five years ago by Mid Sweden University revealed that four out of ten Muslim congregations had been subjected to crimes, and Hummasten believes things have gotten worse since then.

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Lincoln: Far-right protestors chant ‘burn the poppy we will burn the mosque’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EAP anti-mosque protest January 2014 (2)Around 150 East Anglian Patriot demonstrators descended on Lincoln this afternoon to protest against the building of a mosque in the city. The group says it does not want the mosque to be built on the site of the Old Dairy in Boultham Park Road.

The protestors marched into City Square while chanting songs including “burn the poppy we will burn the mosque”.

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