Three teenagers have been arrested in connection with last month’s arson attack on the Harlow Islamic Centre.
Two 16-year-old boys and a 17-year-old boy, all from Harlow, were arrested on suspicion of arson and bailed until October 30 pending further enquiries.
A 28-year-old man from Harlow had previously been arrested on suspicion of arson in connection with the incident and released on bail until October 30 pending further enquiries.
Bradford West MP George Galloway has urged the Police and Crime Commissioner and the Chief Constable of West Yorkshire to help ban a proposed march in Bradford by the far-right English Defence League.
The Respect MP said he fears the intended march on October 12 could mirror the EDL’s national rally in London at the weekend, which resulted in more than 160 arrests.
Quebec Premier Pauline Marois says she didn’t mean to offend anyone with comments blaming multiculturalism for social unrest and bombs in Britain.
She said her comments were made in the context of a discussion about different models of integration around the world. Marois added that she didn’t intend to interfere with United Kingdom policies. “It’s up to Quebec to develop its own model, according to its own values and history,” Marois said Saturday in a statement posted to the Parti Québécois website.
The statement is Marois’ first on the subject since an interview published Friday with Montreal’s Le Devoir, which set off a flurry of criticism.
About 600 supporters of the EDL tried to march to the East London mosque on Whitechapel Road on Saturday but were stopped by police near Aldgate East station, around 600 metres from the mosque.
East of the police lines a far larger counter-demonstration waved Unite Against Facism and Hope Not Hate banners.
The march started just after 1pm south of Tower Bridge and the marchers walked through the City of London shouting and singing: “England” and “I’m English till I die.” Marchers included members of similar groups from Poland, Finland and Germany.
A Muslim teenager who suffered a slew of sickening racial taunts at school told how he “flipped” moments before threatening a fellow student with a knife.
Hassaan Mansoor, aged 17, snapped following vicious abuse from classroom bullies at Garnock Academy who branded him a “terrorist”. Mr Mansoor, of Howat Crescent in Irvine, was warned that because his mother wore a headscarf she would be stabbed if she came to school.
Appearing at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court, he was spared jail and given a year’s supervision and told to serve 130 hours of unpaid work.
Outside court, an emotional Mr Mansoor said: “The abuse had been going on for so long but nobody did anything about it. I said sorry to the boy right after I took the multi-tool out of my pocket. I’m sorry for what I did and it’s the only time I’ve ever been in trouble. It was totally out of character and it only happened because of what they had been doing to me for so long. I went to another school after that and the abuse stopped.”
Mr Mansoor was one of just two Asian students and the only Muslim at 1300-pupil Garnock Academy in Kilbirnie. The court heard that his knife threat came after “prolonged and horrific racist bullying” in the classroom and canteen.
Leaders of the English Defence League have lost a High Court fight for the right to demonstrate in an area which they say is “subject to Sharia law”.
They objected to police preventing a English Defence League (EDL) march – planned for Saturday – entering Tower Hamlets in east London. Police said they had imposed restrictions on marchers because they feared an outbreak of “serious public disorder”.
Judge Mr Justice King ruled that the police decision was reasonable and proportionate, following a High Court hearing in London. He blocked an EDL attempt to pursue a judicial review.
Evening Standard, 6 September 2013
The East London Mosque has issued a statement calling for peaceful opposition to the English Defence League in Tower Hamlets tomorrow.
Leaders of the English Defence League have begun a High Court fight for the right to demonstrate in an area of east London which they say is “subject to Sharia law”.
They told a judge at a hearing in London that they objected to police preventing an English Defence League (EDL) march – planned for Saturday – entering Tower Hamlets. Police have told Mr Justice King that they imposed restrictions on the route marchers could take because they feared an outbreak of “serious public disorder”.
The Face Covering (Prohibition) Bill will get its second reading in Parliament today, and if passed into law the bill would would make wearing burqas in public illegal.
The bill was proposed by Conservative MPs Philip Hollobone [pictured], Peter Bone and Christopher Chope as one of 40 proposals in their “alternative Queen’s speech” in June. The proposals, which included leaving the EU and tougher regulations for asylum seekers, have earned the trio the epithet “Tory Taliban” from Labour MP Angela Eagle.
Last Thursday night the English Defence League’s Bournemouth Division held a demonstration outside the Havana Winebar in the Charminster district of the Dorset town. They were protesting against an alleged assault on a woman customer that took place during a fracas outside the bar over a month ago, under circumstances that are unclear and which are still under investigation by the police.
Why should this incident be of particular interest to Bournemouth EDL? As they explained on their Facebook page, their overriding concern was that the bar owner is “of Muslim decent”. This soon expanded into the claim that the Havana Winebar is “notorious for abuse towards non Muslim females”, followed by the assertion that “Charminster is becoming a beach head for Muslims in Bournemouth. Only we can stop it”.