The Coordination contre le Racisme et l’Islamophobie reports that on 20 May in the town of Argenteuil near Paris a 17-year-old Muslim woman named Rabia B., who was wearing a headscarf, was attacked by three men who punched and kicked her, and tore off her headscarf, while shouting “dirty Arab” and “dirty Muslim”. The CRI condemns the inadequate response of the police and local council to the incident.
In an interview with Oumma TV, Rabia describes the attackers as skinheads.
Former Respect leader Salma Yaqoob’s appearance on BBC’s Question Time last night was typically impressive and won her at least one unlikely admirer.
Salma’s appreciation of the support she received was soured by the revelation that an EDL supporter with the Facebook identity of Steve Littlejohn had posted threats against both Salma and Unite Against Fascism joint secretary Weyman Bennett.
He wrote: “if that salma yaqueb’s there, cut her fucking throat, rip weyman bennets teeth out with pliers and carve edl across all the asian scum who try and attack us”.
Hundreds of people came together this evening to hold a vigil outside the Islamic community centre in Muswell Hill that was destroyed in a suspected arson attack.
Residents, politicians and anti-fascist groups turned out to show their solidarity with staff and users of the Somali Bravanese Centre in Coppetts Road, which burnt down in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
DON’T LET THE RACISTS DIVIDE US
VIGIL
THURDAY 6 JUNE, 6-7PM
BRAVANESE CENTRE
116 COPPETTS ROAD, MUSWELL HILL N10 1JS
The leaders of an Islamic centre destroyed in a suspected fire bomb attack offered an olive branch to the culprits in a gesture of peace of just hours after the blaze.
Sayed Bana, 60, a committee member at the Somali Bravanese Centre in Muswell Hill, invited the thugs behind the blaze to end their campaign of violence and come to the negotiating table as the cross community hub lay in ruins.
He said: “To the perpetrators of this attack I say, forget about what you are doing and come join us in a dialogue and let’s move forward to a future without violence. I’m not angry at those behind the attack, I feel sad for them.”
His call for calm came despite English Defence League supporters taking to social media sites to praise the apparent attack and call for further attacks on the Muslim community. One user wrote on the Yorkshire-Leeds EDL Division Facebook page: “Crying shame, if only it had been full.” Another added on the same page: “Next time do one at 3pm on a Friday afternoon.”
A 31-year-old man allegedly went on a racist rampage through Aylesbury’s Alfred Rose Park, attacking an elderly woman and smashing the doors and windows of a house. It is the latest in a worrying line of racist attacks against the town’s Muslim population since Drummer Lee Rigby was killed in a terrorist outrage in Woolwich last month.
Thames Valley Police said today (Wednesday) that they had arrested a man in connection with a number of offences in the Fairfax Crescent/ Alfred Rose area of Aylesbury at around 6pm on Monday. The 31-year-old was arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated criminal damage, racially aggravated common assault and racially aggravated intentional harassment.
The Bucks Herald understands that the man allegedly racially abused passers-by in the park, broke windows and doors of a house belonging to an Asian family and racially abused a 78-year-old Asian woman before pushing her over.
The Muslim Council of Britain today expressed its shock at the reported firebomb attack of a North London mosque in the early hours of this morning. Fire crews are said to have seen the words ‘EDL’ scrawled on the side of the building.
Farooq Murad, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain said: “This is the latest in a series of attacks on Muslim institutions since the horrific murder of Drummer Lee Rigby. The British Muslim community came out in droves to condemn this murder, and it is despicable that Muslims should be held to account and suffer in this way.”
Homa Khaleeli examines the evidence.
EDL News has the details.
A plasterer who smashed a window at a mosque in Huntingdon with a chair has appeared in court.
Gary Abbott, of no fixed abode, was arrested near Huntingdon Islamic Education and Prayer Centre in Coneygear Road on Thursday (May 30), shortly after the offence.
The 45-year-old was charged with racial or religiously aggravated criminal damage and appeared at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court on Saturday (June 1), when he was released on bail.
At Huntingdon Magistrates’ Court yesterday (Tuesday), Abbott pleaded guilty to the criminal damage charge and will be sentenced at a later date.