UKIP member suspended over racist Facebook comments

Tony Nixon UKIPUkip has suspended a member from North Yorkshire who allegedly posted anti-Muslim jokes on Facebook, including one of US President Obama mocked up to look like a chimpanzee.

Police are investigating whether pensioner Tony Nixon [pictured] committed any offence on the social networking site.

It is understood Mr Nixon had been canvassing for Ukip in Stokesley, ahead of the local elections. His Facebook account listed pages he “liked”, including numerous English Defence League sites and ones expressing strong anti-Muslim sentiments.

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EDL to hold Yorkshire protest against ‘mosque’ plan

Lingfield mosque site graffiti
Graffiti daubed on the wall of the disused Lingfield pub last February

The right-wing English Defence League, whose members were the targets of an aborted attack by Muslim extremists in West Yorkshire last summer, is planning a rally in Leeds this weekend. Its leader Tommy Robinson tweeted that the Saturday demonstration against a planned mosque in the city would be a “lively one”.

Saturday’s rally is planned outside the old Lingfield pub in Alwoodley. A counter demonstration by Unite Against Fascism is also planned.

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UKIP candidate barred over his far-right links

Nigel Farage with Chris ScottonA UKIP local election candidate was suspended yesterday after The Sunday Times exposed his support for the far-right English Defence League (EDL).

Chris Scotton, 24, faces expulsion from the party after repeatedly endorsing the EDL on Facebook and indicating that he has been an activist for the movement, which has gained notoriety for violent protests against Islam.

Scotton, who was due to stand in Leicestershire in Thursday’s council elections, also appears to trivialise racism on Facebook and “likes” a site called: “I hate [it] when I lose my black friend in the dark.”

His suspension will come as an embarrassment to Nigel Farage, the UKIP leader, who admits his party does not have the resources to vet its 1,700-plus candidates properly.

UKIP is predicted to win about 40-50 council seats this week and seriously damage Conservative prospects.

However, the unsavoury views and backgrounds of some of its candidates threaten to jeopardise its chances.

Yesterday a UKIP candidate in Suffolk was forced to resign after admitting to being a former member of the British National party (BNP). It also emerged that a candidate in Kent, who previously acted as an election agent to Farage, was once a National Front (NF) activist.

Scotton, who says on the internet that he has struggled to find a permanent job since leaving school at 16, has endorsed, or “liked”, at least eight pages related to the EDL on Facebook, including the page for the movement’s Leicester branch.

In November 2010 he sent a message to the EDL in Leicester with a link to a Vanity Fair article highlighting the organisation’s violent anti-Muslim demonstrations. Scotton said in his post: “Duno [sic] if you guys have seen this, we get a little mention in it.”

Scotton also “likes” Facebook pages attacking mosques and halal food, as well as a site called: “Racism?? Naa Mate its just ethnic banter.”

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Second EDL supporter sentenced over racist graffiti opposite Woking mosque

Shah Jahan Mosque

A young woman has been given a suspended prison sentence for spray-painting racist graffiti near a mosque and at other properties in the Maybury area of Woking, causing £3,000 of damage.

Georgina Gontar, 20, of Queen Elizabeth Way, Old Woking, pleaded guilty to a breach of an Asbo, four offences of racially aggravated criminal damage and two of causing criminal damage when she appeared at Guildford Magistrates’ Court last Wednesday (April 17).

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EDL organiser released without charge

EDL Mickey BaylissThe South West’s English Defence League coordinator has been released without charge by police investigating graffiti on a mosque and a Sikh temple.

Mickey Bayliss, 47, who lives near Bitton, was arrested on November 14 along with another man believed to have connections with the EDL.

Their arrests came after the letters “EDL” were daubed in red paint on the Sikh temple in Church Road, Redfield, and in grey paint on a mosque in Valley Road, Bedminster, in September.

After their arrests on suspicion of criminal damage, the homes of the two men were searched. But after months investigating the incident the two men were released from bail on Tuesday, police confirmed yesterday.

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‘Terrorist scumbags’ graffiti on Cambridge mosque site

Cambridge mosque facadeAnti-Islamic vandals have targeted the site of Cambridge’s planned new mosque. The graffiti artists daubed offensive messages on the hoardings of the Mill Road building site including “terrorist scumbags”. Police have launched an appeal for witnesses to the attack on the city’s Muslim community.

Planning permission was granted in August last year for Cambridge’s £17.5 million new mosque. The three-storey domed building will be built on the site of the former Robert Sayle warehouse. It will include a prayer hall with capacity for 1,000 people, a café and teaching rooms, plus a library, a mortuary, and a large public garden fronting the street.

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EDL anti-mosque protest in Plymouth

Plymouth EDL anti-mosque protest (2)A protest by a right-wing group and anti-fascist campaigners passed off peacefully this afternoon.

Members of the English Defence League (EDL) from across the South of England descended on Plymouth after the owner of the Dance Academy claimed he was thinking of handing the property over to a charity to be turned into a mosque.

About 25 EDL members from as far away as Bournemouth and Weymouth staged a two-hour protest outside the former New Palace Theatre in Union Street. They were confronted by a about 25 members of Unite Against Fascism (UAF).

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