A man who threatened to bomb a mosque was today ordered to carry out unpaid work in the community. Garith Wood admitted behaving in a racially aggravated manner during his rant last May. The 27-year-old made racist comments about a 14-year-old Asian boy outside a mosque in Livingston. Part of his hateful tirade included threatening to bomb the Livingston Sunni Islamic Centre and Mosque, a court was told.
Category Archives: Scotland
Police and council block SDL’s Pollokshields protest
Authorities are to move against a planned weekend march by the far-right Scottish Defence League amid police concerns of serious public disorder and the impact on community relations.
The group, a fringe organisation that opposes what it considers to be a spread of Islam, has applied to parade through one of Scotland’s most multicultural areas to commemorate the birthday of Kriss Donald, the teenager who was murdered by an Asian gang almost a decade ago.
But Police Scotland said the planned march through Glasgow’s Pollokshields area “might reasonably be believed to be intended to be provocative to the Muslim community”, falling as it does in Ramadan.
At meetings with the police and Glasgow City Council it has also emerged that rather than discussing the parade as a “memorial event” the SDL said they “would go to where there was a problem and mentioned Asian gangs and the raping of young girls”.
Kirkcaldy Islamic Centre targeted with racist graffiti
Extra police patrols are being sent out around a Muslim family centre in Kirkcaldy after it was targeted in a sickening hate crime.
Just hours before the start of Ramadan, the most holy festival in the Muslim calendar, anti-Islamic grafitti was spray painted on walls around the Kirkcaldy Islamic Centre in the town’s St Mary’s Road. And five vehicles belonging to members of the centre, where hundreds of Muslims go to pray as well as take part in many other community activities, were also targeted on Monday night. Crosses were painted on number plates, windows and on a bonnet.
Police in Kirkcaldy have put on extra patrols in the area and have spoken to the centre management about improving their security. And they have appealed to members of the public to report any information or suspicious behaviour in the area.
SDL plans another provocative demonstration in Pollokshields
The far-right Scottish Defence League is planning a march in one of Scotland’s most multi-cultural areas in the middle of Ramadan.
The group has applied to Glasgow City Council for the event, which is timed to coincide with the birthday of Kriss Donald, the teenager murdered by an Asian gang in the city almost a decade ago.
However, talks were held with the group on Friday with an aim of steering them away from the Pollokshields area on Glasgow’s south side to an alternative venue. The Herald understands, though, that the group has refused the offer of a static protest at nearby Queens Park and is insisting upon marching.
TV prayer call is not first step to Sharia State
Aamer Anwar responds to the hysteria provoked by Channel 4’s announcement that it will be broadcasting the adhan every day during Ramadan
The unedited version of this article can be read here.
Bonnyrigg mosque plans prompt backlash
Plans to open a mosque and Muslim community centre in central Bonnyrigg have sparked concern among local residents. Midlothian Council has received 37 written objections to applicant Mohammed Asaf’s application to turn property at 81-83 High Street into a meeting place for local Muslims.
Man admits to mosque bomb jibe
A man threatened to bomb a mosque during a racist rant. Garith Wood yesterday admitted behaving in a racially aggravated manner during the incident on May 9 last year.
Livingston Sheriff Court was told that Wood, 27, made racist comments about a 14-year-old Asian boy near Deans Mosque, Livingston. He then turned his attention to another Asian, Abdu Raman Bismillah, calling him a “black b******”. Part of his hateful tirade included threatening to bomb the Livingston Sunni Islamic Centre and Mosque, the court was told.
Criminalising communities after Woolwich
Scotland: increase in anti-Islamic hate crime due mainly to SDL
Ministers have condemned prejudicial behaviour as “completely unacceptable” following the publication of new figures on hate crimes.
While there was an overall reduction in racial and religious hate crime in 2012/13, statistics show a rise in anti-Islamic charges and those relating to disabled people, compared with 2011/12. The figures were revealed in a series of reports on hate crime, religiously aggravated offending and the first annual statistics from the Offensive Behaviour Act.
Charges where conduct was derogatory towards Islam totalled 80 in 2012/13 compared with just 19 the previous year, however 57 of these were from one event, the Campaign to Welcome Refugees march in Glasgow, where there was a counter demonstration by the Scottish Defence League (SDL).
Terrorism is a monster with more than one face
Six Islamic extremists have been jailed for plotting a bloody terror attack on a right-wing march.
Meanwhile, four teenagers believed to have set a Muslim school on fire while 128 children and staff slept inside are being held on suspicious of arson.
Two terrible crimes about which we should all be concerned.
But maybe what should worry us even more is the language used to describe them.The one committed by the Islamists is regarded as terrorism. The one committed ON an Islamic target is… well, it’s just a crime.
Why? You tell me.
Bill Leckie in the Scottish Sun, 11 June 2013
Via ENGAGE