Category Archives: UK

Cambridge News discovers ancient anti-mosque petition

Posted on by Bob Pitt

More than 1,400 people have signed a petition against a planned £17.5 million Cambridge mosque in another attack by the English Defence League (EDL). The latest bid to stop the construction of the mosque in Mill Road comes after a protest group was criticised for a legal application to block it being built in which they claimed it could be “a front for terrorism”.

Now an online petition launched by a Cambridge resident and EDL supporter named ‘Phillip Cufc Jackson’ has gathered 1,498 signatures on US based website causes.com. The ‘Stop construction of mosque on Mill Road, Cambridge’ petition claims it was launched “because us Cambridge people do not want this super mosque built on our doorstep and we have been lied to on the actual amount of opposition to this project”.

Cambridge News, 13 February 2014

It is difficult to see how this qualifies as news. It is quite misleading to state that the anti-mosque petition is the “latest bid to stop the construction of the mosque in Mill Road” and “comes after” Gash and Webra’s legal challenge. The petition was launched by Jackson – a supporter of the EDL and member of the East Anglian Patriots – back in August 2012, with a target of 3,000 signatures. Over the course of 18 months it has attracted just over half that number, and judging by the dates of the accompanying comments had become pretty well moribund, though the report in the Cambridge News will now no doubt give it a bit of a boost.

Update:  See the petition welcoming the mosque which has been signed by Richard Howitt MEP along with local councillors, trade unionists, community groups and others.

EDL member gets community order and curfew for anti-Muslim hate crime

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A member of a far-right group nailed a copy of the Koran to a proposed Muslim education centre. Graham French, 28, also sprayed EDL, which stands for English Defence League, on the former Melrose Arms in Shotton Colliery, in December.

It was after planning permission for a change of use, which has caused controversy, was granted.

French, of Dene Crescent, Shotton Colliery, admitted racial or religious aggravated criminal damage to the wall of a multi-faith centre. He was given a community order with six months supervision at Peterlee Magistrates’ Court plus a one-month tagged curfew between 10.30pm and 7am.

Sunderland Echo, 12 February 2014

EDL resists Islamification of Legoland

Posted on by Bob Pitt

FamilyFunDay Legoland adThe past few days have seen a frothing-at-the-mouth far-right campaign against a decision by Legoland Windsor to allow a Muslim organisation to hire the theme park for a family day out.

You may think you’ve heard this before, and you would be right. This is essentially a rerun of the campaign last year against an event at Chessington World of Adventures held by the same Muslim group, and in both cases the source of the campaign was a post on an extremist anti-Muslim website called Kafir Crusaders.

In the course of this latest outbreak of anti-Muslim hysteria the Legoland Windsor Facebook page has been assailed by angry bigots from the English Defence League and Casuals United, to the extent that Legoland evidently became tired of deleting abusive comments and took the page down. Opponents of the Family Fun Day have set up a Boycott Legoland Windsor Facebook page and are planning to demonstrate outside the park and harass the families who are attending the event. The EDL Facebook page has featured the usual calls for the venue to be blown up with all the people in it.

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Labour councillor claims anti-EDL protest will ‘create a battleground on the streets of Grantham’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Grantham counter-protest

A district councillor has condemned the actions of those organising a counter-protest in Grantham later this month.

The Journal broke the news online yesterday (Monday) that John Morgan, husband of Labour district and county councillor Charmaine Morgan, is organising a demonstration on St Peter’s Hill against a protest by the English Defence League, which opposes the building of an Islamic Community Centre in Mowbeck Way, Grantham.

But Councillor Ian Selby has reacted in horror and believes any counter-protest, planned for Saturday, February 22, would be “playing into the hands of the EDL”, and could see women and children getting seriously hurt if protests turn violent.

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Quilliam intent on maintaining close relations with former EDL leaders

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Lennon and NawazSince they announced the resignation of Stephen Lennon (“Tommy Robinson”) from the English Defence League at a heavily publicised press conference last October, Quilliam’s relationship with the former EDL leader hasn’t turned out to be quite the success they had anticipated.

Not only has Quilliam’s claim that Lennon had broken with extremism been widely recognised as baseless, but they have suffered the additional embarrassment of being publicly associated with a convicted criminal currently serving an 18-month prison sentence for mortgage fraud. Consequently, Quilliam’s initial expectation that they might win back some of their once generous state funding on the basis of facilitating Lennon’s departure from the EDL has failed to materialise. With Lennon incarcerated and out of public view for most of this year at least, Quilliam would have been well advised to move on, forget the whole sorry business and hope that everyone else did too.

However, while it would be quite understandable if Quilliam were indeed getting cold feet over their links with Lennon and backtracking from the relationship, this is clearly not the case. Showing complete disregard for the first law of holes, Quilliam have in fact been working hard to attract further publicity for their protégé, on the basis of a claim that he has been the victim of physical violence from his fellow prisoners.

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Man charged with hate crime at football match

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Shrewsbury man is due to appear at court after pages were torn from the Quran and thrown during a football match.

Mark Stephenson, aged 25, from Napoleon Drive, Bicton Heath, Shrewsbury has today (8 February) been charged with causing racial or religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress after the incident during the Birmingham City and Middlesborough game at St Andrew’s on Saturday 7 December.

He is due to appear at Birmingham Magistrates Court on 28 February.

West Midlands Police news report, 8 February 2014

Stephenson himself appears quite relaxed about the whole thing:

Mark Stephenson tweet

Posted in UK

EDL to protest in Grantham against Islamic centre plan

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Grantham demo adThe English Defence League, an anti-militant Islam group, is planning a demonstration in Grantham against plans for an Islamic centre in the town.

According to the Facebook page of the Lincolnshire branch of the EDL, the group will come to Grantham on February 22 and demonstrate in the town at 1pm. A poster on the website says “Come march with the Lincolnshire division. Oppose the new mosque now!”

The Facebook page also has a picture of the plans for the Islamic centre which, if built, will be located near Alexandra Road. The plans include a prayer hall facing Mecca and says the design “will reinterpret Islamic architecture in the 21st century in modern Britain.”

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MYH study of young British Muslims and dissent

Posted on by Bob Pitt

British By DissentStand up and be counted: Young British Muslims are voicing their dissent, and that’s a good thing

The Muslim Youth Helpline (MYH) has today published a new report, British by Dissent, which explores the meaning of dissent to young British Muslims keeping in mind the underlying question of their integration within the larger British society.

Authored by Sughra Ahmed and Naved Siddiqi, it takes a look at how young British Muslims respond to social, economic, religious and public policy debates through various manifestations of dissent.

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Ukip MEP who supported Muslim code of conduct urged halal slaughter ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Gerard Batten website

A Ukip MEP who is under fire over his remarks about Islam also suggested banning halal and kosher slaughter of animals and outlawing the legal recognition of Islamic banking.

In 2011 Gerard Batten was the author of a four-page paper entitled “Confidential draft – Dismantling Multiculturalism”, which was billed as a policy discussion document with “suggested policies that could be adopted by political parties and governments”. It was sent to members of Christian Concern, a group that believes that abortion should be illegal and homosexuality is a sin. Batten said he held a meeting with them and sent a document to some of their members.

The paper claims that multiculturalism has failed and offers a doom-laden warning about the threat of radical Muslims. “Islamic fundamentalism is the cuckoo in the western multicultural nest. We can either address it now or be destroyed by it in the course of time,” he wrote.

A future government should also ban the religious slaughter of animals, he suggests. “Repeal the act of parliament that gives exception for ritual slaughter for religious reasons. These are outmoded and barbaric practices that have no place in the 21st century or in the light of humane animal welfare policies,” he wrote. Batten also suggested that Ukip might consider dropping any laws that recognise Islamic banking: “Repeal the Act (???) that gives official recognition to Islamic banking.” There are no references to Islamic finance in UK legislation, according to the Treasury.

Guardian, 5 February 2014

Drunken recluse threatened to bomb a mosque and wanted to see Muslims ‘hanging in the street’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A drunken recluse who threatened to bomb a mosque and who wanted Muslims to “hang in the street”, has today (Wednesday February 5) been jailed for 12 months.

Former warehouseman Nigel Flanaghan, 52, of Wharley Hook, Harlow, had drunk three litres of vodka before he rang 999 from Bush Fair at 4.30pm on January 8 this year. Chelmsford Crown Court heard Flanaghan told the operator in the Essex Police control room he had bullets and “he was going to put a bomb in a mosque”. Richard Stevens, prosecuting, told the court that during the call he referred to the killing of Private Lee Rigby in Woolwich and told the operator: “I want to see Muslims hanging in the street and kick the **** out of them”.

Flanaghan, who claimed he used to be an Army chef, pleaded guilty to communicating false information with intent to cause a false belief that a bomb was present at a location in Harlow. He denied a second offence of religiously aggravated fear of violence and the judge formally entered a not guilty verdict.

The prosecution said uniformed officers arrived at Bush Fair while Flanaghan was still on his mobile talking to the control room. He was taken into custody and repeated his anti-Muslim comments. He said: “I hate all them Muslims. I just want to bomb the *****”. He also stated: “I am gonna bomb all their cars” and “I wanna kill a Muslim”.

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