Category Archives: Scotland

Scottish Defence League plans anti-mosque protest

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Scottish Defence League is planning to demonstrate at Eastwood high school.

On Saturday January 25, members of the controversial group intend to gather to voice their concerns about a proposal to build a mosque in school grounds. The council decision on the subject is set for January 29.

An East Renfrewshire spokesman described the decision to demonstrate as “damaging to our communities and without local support”.

He continued: “A consultation with local residents around changes to a proposed site for a mosque has recently concluded. While there has been opposition to the site identified, the majority who disagreed were opposed only to a particular site and continue to support the view that a mosque is required in East Renfrewshire.

“This has been a robust consultation process on a local planning matter and nothing more. The attention of SDL is shameful and entirely for their own ends.”

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UKIP boss heaps praise on Islam-baiter

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Misty ThackerayThe interim chair of Ukip Scotland has been criticised over his support for a notorious far-right politician in the Netherlands who backs a ban on what he terms the “fascist” Koran. Misty Thackeray has described Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders, who said Islam was the biggest threat to civilisation, as “great”.

As revealed by the Sunday Herald, Ukip in Scotland is imploding due to tensions between senior members. Of nine shortlisted candidates for the European election, at least six quit over the alleged tactics used by one candidate, Otto Inglis. Ukip chief Nigel Farage then sacked ­Monckton by email. That led to Scottish chair Mike Scott-Hayward and fundraiser Malcolm Macaskill quitting in protest. Local branch officials also resigned in a show of solidarity with Monckton, who said Ukip north of the Border had been “wiped out”.

Thackeray said he had been asked to act as Scottish chairman until the next annual general meeting, but his hardline right-wing views are causing alarm. The Glasgow-based 52-year-old, described as a security consultant on a business database, praised Wilders on Facebook last year. Wilders has argued the Koran, which he calls a “fascist book”, should be outlawed. He has called for a block on new mosques and claimed Islam was the “biggest threat to our freedom and our civilization”.

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UAF complains over soft treatment of SDL by police during Dundee protest

Posted on by Bob Pitt

SDL Dundee 2013 (2)

Anti-fascist protesters claim the police were too soft in dealing with an extreme right-wing protest in the centre of Dundee, and have made a formal complaint.

The Unite Against Fascism (UAF) alliance has written to Police Scotland Chief Constable Sir Stephen House, Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill and Dundee City Council chief executive David Dorward about events surrounding the visit of the Scottish Defence League (SDL) on Saturday October 5.

The UAF alleges that officers took no action to deal with a double assault by right-wing demonstrators and fraternised with the extremists by lending them their police hats for photographs. Police also permitted them to drink alcohol in public, contrary to local byelaws, and display and shout offensive slogans, the UAF claims.

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SDL ‘heavily outnumbered’ by UAF counter-demonstrators in Dundee

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Dundee Together anti-SDL protest 2013

A major crowd control operation involving mounted police and almost 100 uniformed personnel was mobilised to deal with a demonstration by rival political groups in Dundee on Saturday.

The protest by the far right Scottish Defence League and counter demonstration by the Unite Against Fascism (UAF) alliance passed without any arrests thanks to strict segregation outside the City Churches.

The two groups – the SDL heavily outnumbered – confronted each other and traded chants but were kept apart by barriers and four mounted officers.

The SDL members, who were bussed into Dundee from as far as Sunderland, shouted their loathing for what they called militant Islam, but their message was drowned out by the UAF, who condemned their racial intolerance.

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Former soldier from Livingston admits racist Facebook outburst over death of Lee Rigby

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A former soldier from Livingston posted furious messages on a Facebook page urging people to “behead ragheads” on the day Drummer Lee Rigby was brutally murdered. Ex-infantryman Paul Fisher – who served two tours of duty in Iraq – claimed he was venting his anger following the killing outside Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, London.

Livingston Sheriff Court heard the 28-year-old – who suffers from combat stress – went on to the “Stop Destroying Our Armed Forces” Facebook page after being told soldiers were being banned from wearing their uniforms in public. Police officers in North Yorkshire who were monitoring the site – which had over 18,000 members – spotted the post and passed the information on to their colleagues in Scotland.

Fisher, who was described as having an “exemplary” service record in the army, admitted that his racist message was “intended to incite others to carry out serious violence and kill others”.

Fiscal depute Catherine Knowles, prosecuting, said Fisher told cops who asked who he was referring to in his posts that they were aimed at “extremists”.

She said: “When asked about posting to behead people he said that he did that out of anger but understood the gravity of the post and that people reading it would get the wrong impression. He was asked about the term ‘ragheads’ and stated this was an Army term from when he served in Iraq. He stated on a number of occasions he was not a racist.”

Fisher, of Dedridge, Livingston, appeared for sentence last week after earlier pleading guilty to committing a breach of the peace by his use of social media on May 22.

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Scottish Defence League planning return to Dundee

Posted on by Bob Pitt

SDL in Dundee

Controversial far-right group the Scottish Defence League are planning another protest in the centre of Dundee. They aim to hold a rally outside the Overgate Centre a week on Saturday in defiance of a council warning that they do not have permission for a gathering.

Police are drawing up plans to deal with any unrest from the extreme political organisation’s arrival in the city on October 5. The potential for disorder has been heightened by plans by an anti-fascist alliance to hold a demonstration against the SDL’s visit on the day.

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Man jailed for bacon attack on Edinburgh Central Mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A man who attached bacon to the handles of a mosque’s main door before throwing the meat inside has been jailed for ten months.

Wayne Stilwel, 25, was caught on CCTV throwing the bacon into Edinburgh’s Central Mosque on January 31, 2013. Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard Islam prohibits its followers from eating pork and Stilwel’s actions offended people at the mosque.

Stilwel pleaded guilty to a breach of the peace before Sheriff Gordon Liddle at a hearing last month. On Tuesday, the sheriff said his actions had been “grossly offensive” and he had no option but to jail him.

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