Category Archives: UK

Call for ‘solidarity’ after Stevenage mosque attack

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A member of a mosque which was targeted in a suspected arson attack has called for “solidarity”. Salman Lone, from the Stevenage Muslim Community Centre, spoke at a meeting with the police on Friday – three days after a flammable liquid was poured inside the mosque in Vardon Road and set alight.

A toilet extractor fan was smashed before the liquid was poured in at some point between the evening of Tuesday, February 25, and the following morning. The toilets had a tiled floor and walls, preventing the fire from spreading. However the smoke caused extensive damage throughout the building.

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Six arrested after firework thrown at Whitley Bay Islamic Centre

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Whitley Bay Islamic CentreA firework has been thrown at an Islamic centre in Tyneside.

Around eight people were inside the Whitley Bay Islamic Cultural Centre, on Hillheads Road, and were praying at the time of the attack just before 2.30pm on Wednesday afternoon.

Six men have been arrested for criminal damage. No one was injured.

Abdul Hannan, leader of the centre, said: “We were praying at the time of the incident and got such a shock as it sounded like a bomb had gone off. We could see smoke and fire at the window. We would never expect anything like this to happen and we don’t think that we were deliberately targeted as people in the area are very friendly and we get on well in the community. I think it’s just one of these things that could happen anywhere at any time.”

Police have arrested two men aged 29, and four other men aged 27, 25, 23 and 19, who are now helping police with their enquiries.

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Tory MP condemns ritual slaughter as un-British

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Andrew Rosindell and dogAn MP and animal welfare campaigner yesterday supported the leader of Britain’s vets by demanding an end to the religious slaughter of animals. Andrew Rosindell, secretary of Parliament’s animal welfare group, demanded that Muslims and Jews stop killing more than half a million creatures a week by cutting their throats in accordance with holy texts.

“If you asked the average British citizen whether they agreed with this, they would say ‘No’. An animal has to be killed for food, but it needs to be done in a humane way,” Mr Rosindell said. “Why should we allow that kind of thing to go on in this country when it goes against everything that we really stand for as a people?”

He spoke out after John Blackwell, president-elect of the British Veterinary Association (BVA), urged religious leaders to end unstunned slaughter voluntarily or face a ban as in Denmark.

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Legoland Windsor closes resort hotel after further threats

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Legoland is to temporarily shut its hotel amid safety and security fears. It comes after a private fun day organised by an Islamic group, due to be held on Sunday, was cancelled due to threats from far-right groups. Legoland said it received further threats and decided to close its hotel this weekend, saying the safety of guests and staff was its priority.

The theme park in Windsor, Berkshire, was already closed for the season. It reopens on 14 March.

Thames Valley Police said it is investigating offensive messages sent in connection with the event organised by the Muslim Research and Development Foundation. Legoland was forced to shut down its Facebook page due to a number of abusive posts. It also received threats through phone calls and emails.

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Michael Piggin terrorism trial: Jury discharged

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Michael Piggin bedroomThe trial of a Leicestershire teenager charged with terrorism offences has been halted due to problems with the jury.

Michael Piggin (18) of of Beaumont Road, Loughborough, went on trial at the Old Bailey earlier this week. He faces a number of terrorism charges and is accused of plotting a “new Columbine” at his former school in Loughborough.

But Recorder of London, Judge Brian Barker, discharged the jury trying the teenager today after two jurors were forced to drop out because of “personal problems”.

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Boris Johnson’s radicalisation myth-making

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Boris Johnson’s suggestion this week that children of Islamic extremists be taken into care to prevent their being radicalised illustrates perfectly our collective failure to understand the problem of terrorism.”

Arun Kundnani, author of the new study The Muslims Are Coming! Islamophobia, Extremism, and the Domestic War on Terror, responds to the Mayor of London’s proposal in his recent Telegraph column.

Huffington Post, 4 March 2014

Freedom of Information requests show Student Rights private correspondence with universities

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Students for Real Student Rights presents some revealing insights into the modus operandi of the Henry Jackson Society front organisation, the misnamed Student Rights.

Update:  See also Hilary Aked, “Student Rights gets a taste of its own medicine as fifth SU publicly condemns ‘anti-extremism’ group”, Huffington Post, 5 March 2014

Court hears teen ‘armed himself with guns, explosives’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Michael Piggin (2)A teenager described as a “would-be terrorist” armed himself with guns and explosives to plan a repeat of the Columbine massacre on his former school, a court has heard.

Michael Piggin was found with petrol bombs, air rifles, pistols and armour at his home which he planned to use for a terror attack on staff and pupils at his former high school in Loughborough, Leicestershire, it is alleged.

The teenager, who was 17 when he was arrested but can now be named after turning 18, also identified his college, Loughborough Mosque, a local cinema, Loughborough University and the town’s council offices as potential targets, the Old Bailey heard.

A Che Guevara notebook emblazoned with Nazi swastikas and English Defence League (EDL) mottos was found when his home was searched by police in February last year, the jury was told. Opening the case, prosecutor Max Hill QC said the notebook included drawings showing how Piggin would arm himself and discussed tactics to carry out “The New Columbine”. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold murdered 12 students and one teacher at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999 before both committing suicide in one of America’s worst mass shootings.

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British sense of fairness vis-a-vis Muslims is on trial

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Islamophobia, as a cultural racism with a religious element, has now flourished and is becoming entrenched in people’s psyche. In the current socio-political environment Islamophobes and anti-Muslim bigots from the counter-jihadist sphere (those who think Islam is the problem, and that Muslims are ‘taking over’) have become emboldened and as a result public space for Muslims has been curtailed. Muslims’ right to civic and political participation, particularly when it comes to criticism of government domestic and foreign policy, is frowned upon. Right wing groups are able to get away with demonising Muslims easily, but standing up to Islamopobia is often seen as a ‘victim mentality’ by some.”

Muhammad Abdul Bari examines the state of anti-Muslim bigotry in the UK today.

Huffington Post, 4 March 2014

Vile Britain First group visits Lancashire mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Britain First in BlackburnA group seen abusing Muslims outside a London mosque have now launched an ‘anti-grooming campaign’ in a Lancashire Town.

In the video members of the Britain First group, can be seen driving through a predominantly Asian area of Blackburn in what it states is a “new direct action campaign against the scourge of Muslim paedophile grooming gangs”.

In London there was widespread condemnation of the actions of the group with members swigging beer and seen abusing Muslims as they left the East London mosque. In the film, one man says: “This is our country. You want to live here, you adhere by our laws.”

Last year members of the equally vile ‘Muslim patrols’ who threatened strangers for holding hands, drinking alcohol and other behaviour they deemed ‘un-Islamic’ were jailed.

In the new video, Britain First Group chairman Paul Golding is seen spouting, “We have gone through some areas which are exclusively Muslim. Everyone has been told that we are the minority in this town. These areas we are going through now are 100% colonised by Muslims. We have been visiting establishments, bed and breakfasts and takeaways. We hope it will put a dent in the Muslim grooming in this town.”

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