Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia

Britain First anti-Brotherhood protest outnumbered by counter-demonstrators

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Britain First Cricklewood protestThe far-right group Britain First arrived in north west London this afternoon to protest against the Muslim Brotherhood having established an office above a shop on Cricklewood Broadway.

Barely 30 fascists turned up, headed by Britain First chairman Paul Golding, a former British National Party councillor from Kent.

The numbers fell away quite sharply when Golding and his followers found themselves confronted by a much larger counter-protest, spontaneously joined by local people, which drowned them out with anti-fascist chants. By the end of the protest, Golding found himself in the embarrassing position of having more flags than people to carry them.

Cricklewood anti-fascist demo

(Photos: Kilburn Herald and Pete Firmin)

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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Alabama board OKs 11 textbooks after complaints they favored Islam

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Alabama’s school board voted 5-2 on Friday to recommended 11 social studies textbooks, effectively dismissing complaints from critics who said the texts favored Islam over other religions.

The vote is only a recommendation since local school districts still get to decide which texts their students will read, Department of Education spokeswoman Erica Pippins said. The board was originally scheduled to vote in December, but then decided to review the texts again after receiving complaints. Members of Act for America and the Eagle Forum of Alabama said the books devoted too much content to explaining Islam and not enough on Christianity and Judaism.

“Why is so much text devoted to Islam?” Larry Houck, the founder of Act for America’s Birmingham chapter, wrote in a letter to the school board. He said the books “proselytize for Islam.”

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Support for Lincoln anti-racism rally, despite far right disruptions

Posted on by Bob Pitt

LARF rally

Tensions were high at an anti-racism rally in Lincoln on Wednesday night as far right supporters targeted the meeting.

The Lincoln Against Racism and Fascism (LARF) campaign group hosted the ‘Rally Against Racism’ meeting at the Lincoln Labour Club on Newland on January 15, ahead of the planned ‘March Against Racism’ on January 18 – at the same time as the East Anglian Patriots’ second anti-mosque protest.

In the hours before the meeting, the venue was plastered with National Front stickers, which have now been removed.

Around 20 people attended the meeting, which was briefly interrupted by shouting from outside the building.

Two men, wearing Union Jack hats, were asked to leave after they demanded entry, saying: “We’re not here to throw punches, even though some people wanted to come and smash them to bits. It’s all going to come to a head on Saturday.” The men were removed by police.

LARF spokesperson Nick Parker said: “The attempt to delay the proceedings and intimidate us should not be ignored. We will not be intimidated into remaining silent when the far-right organises in our communities, and we won’t ignore their threat and hope they’ll go away.

“We’re calling for everyone to come out onto the streets and join us on Saturday to mobilise against the racism and division that the far-right seeks to spread.”

Steve Score, an anti-racism activist from Leicester, made a guest speech at the rally. He said: “Groups like the East Anglian Patriots cannot be just ignored and hoped to go away. I hope that, at the very least, the demonstration on Saturday shows that there is opposition to these groups coming to Lincoln to try and stir things up.”

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Robust policing set for second Lincoln mosque protest

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Robust policing will be in place in Lincoln city centre on Saturday, January 18, for a planned anti-mosque protest and an anti-racism counter demo.

Lincolnshire Police and City of Lincoln Council said they have carefully planned resources to minimise the impact on residents and shoppers during the two protests.

The East Anglian Patriots will hold an anti-mosque protest in Lincoln from 12.45pm to 1.45pm, the second protest after an initial demo in the city in June 2013.

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Cricklewood protest against ‘terrorist’ Muslim Brotherhood

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Britain First Cricklewood protestA far-right organisation is planning to hold a protest outside the headquarters of a major Egyptian political group in Cricklewood on Saturday.

Members of Britain First (BF) plan to march into the borough following revelations that Muslim Brotherhood (MB) are operating from a flat above shops in Cricklewood Broadway.

MB was a praised political group in Egypt but were ousted from power amid popular demonstrations. They are believed to be launching a fight-back against Egypt’s military rulers from their new home.

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Judge rules in favor of Muslim woman on no-fly list

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Rahinah Ibrahim (2)A Muslim woman now living in Malaysia struck a blow to the U.S. government’s “no-fly list” when a federal judge ruled Tuesday (Jan. 14) that the government violated her due process rights by putting her on the list without telling her why.

Muslims and civil rights advocates say the no-fly list disproportionately targets Muslims, and they hope the ruling will force the government to become more transparent about the highly secretive program.

“Justice has finally been done for an innocent woman who was wrongly ensnared in the government’s flawed watch listing system,” Elizabeth Pipkin, a lawyer representing Rahinah Ibrahim, said in a statement.

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French MEPs criticise government’s silence over mosque desecration

Posted on by Bob Pitt

French members of the European Parliament from the Alliances des Outre-Mers and Front de Gauche have issued a joint statement criticising leading figures the government for failing to condemn the desecration of a mosque in the French overseas territory of Mayotte, allegedly by soldiers in the French army.

Against a background of official denunciations of the antisemitism of Franco-Cameroonian comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, the MEPs’ statement warns the government against applying double standards when it comes to taking a stand against racial and religious hatred.

Coalition calls on Michigan Republican Party to condemn anti-Muslim comments by National Committeeman

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Dave AgemaA coalition of American Muslim and Arab-American organizations based in Michigan today call on the Michigan Republican Party to condemn recent hostile comments made about American Muslims by Republican National Committeeman Dave Agema.

Agema recently posted on his Facebook account: “Have you ever been to a Muslim hospital? Have you heard a Muslim orchestra? Have you seen a Muslim band march in a parade? Have you witnessed a Muslim charity? Have you seen Muslims shaking hands with a Muslim Girl Scouts (sic)? Have you seen a Muslim Candy striper? Have you ever seen a Muslim do anything that contributes positively to the American way of life?”

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Quebec values charter takes a beating at opening day of public hearings

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Samira LaouniA Muslim woman wearing a hijab put the Parti Québécois on the defensive in a sharp exchange on the first day of hearings over the secular charter that would prohibit public sector employees from wearing overt religious symbols.

Samira Laouni told the minority PQ government that its proposed legislation was creating social tensions unheard of in Quebec until now. Some Muslim women have been spat on and have had their head scarf torn off, she said. “I’ve been here for 15 years. I have never seen it like this until now,” she told the committee.

Ms. Laouni was among the first seven to appear at the National Assembly, but 250 parties have submitted briefs and 200 hours have been set aside for presentations over the next several weeks.

The issue has divided Quebeckers, and opposition parties accuse the PQ of trying to take advantage of the storm of protest to attract enough voter support, especially in predominantly francophone ridings, to win a majority government in an election many expect will be held this spring.

The PQ minister responsible for democratic institutions, Bernard Drainville, went to great lengths to defend the bill he tabled last November. He argued that only 20 per cent of Muslim women in Quebec wear the veil. “That is one in five that won’t be affected by the restrictive measures,” he said.

Ms. Laouni lashed back by reminding the minister that it was his responsibility to protect minorities. “In a democratic country you need to think about the 1 per cent that is affected. You don’t think about the absolute majority, you think about the minority that is being crushed,” she said.

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