Boca Raton, Florida: Man punches car after calling driver a Muslim, police said

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A man in Boca Raton punched the hood of a car because he thought the driver was Muslim, police said.

Boca Raton police got a call about a drunken man who had punched a car at about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at 101 Plaza Real.

The driver of the vehicle told officers a man, later identified as James Caputo, wandered into the street and was standing there. He stopped his car and waited for Caputo to get out of the street, but when he didn’t, he honked his horn to get him to move.

Caputo turned to look at the driver, who according to police has an olive complextion and dark hair, and started screaming at him.

According to the arrest report, Caputo cursed at the man, called him a Muslim and told him to go back to his country. The driver told police he is Lebanese but is not Muslim.

The driver yelled back at Caputo and then Caputo punched the hood of the man’s car, leaving a significant dent, police said.

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Muslim charities lose government help over ‘extremism’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Eric PicklesTwo Muslim charities have lost their grants after the government claimed they had links with Islamist extremism.

A spokesman for Birmingham-based Islamic Help, said it was “surprised, dismayed and angered” by the action. The Muslim Charities Forum (MCF), said the decision was based on “unfounded allegations”.

The Department for Communities and Local Government said it would not fund any group “linked to individuals who fuel hatred, division and violence”.

In a written statement the Secretary of State for the department, Eric Pickles, claimed Islamic Help had invited “an individual with extremist views” to speak at an event, and that the MCF – an umbrella organisation for Muslim charities – had “failed to reassure us that they have robust measures in place to investigate and challenge their members.”

A spokesman for Islamic Help said the speaker alleged to have extremist views had not been identified to them. The DCLG has so far refused to name him or her publicly.

The spokesman for Islamic Help, which provides emergency relief following major disasters and has worked in Gaza, the Central African Republic and Syria, has said its events are to raise money for humanitarian work and not political platforms.

He said although the amount of money they would lose [about £7,000] was a “drop in the ocean”, the move “besmirches the reputation and integrity” of people who had taken part in their campaigns. The charity had not received any notification from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), the spokesman said.

Mr Pickles said only programmes which “uphold fundamental British values” would receive aid.

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Patriots Defence League president allegedly spat on Canberra driver

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Aaron HudsonThe local head of an Australian “patriots” league allegedly spat on a Canberra driver after monitoring the activities of a local Islamic centre this week, police say.

Aaron Raymond Dudeck, 21, is accused of spitting on the man’s cheek and calling him a “Muslim c—” after their cars collided in Canberra’s south about 8.45pm on Monday, the night of the Sydney Lindt cafe siege.

Police believe Dudeck, also known as Aaron Hudson, is the president of the ACT branch of the Patriots Defence League, an organisation claiming to defend the Australian “way of life”.

He was allegedly driving in the car park of the Canberra Islamic Centre in Monash. The court heard suggestions he was acting on directions from the league’s Sydney branch.

Police say he was watching the centre, a focal point for the local Islamic community, to establish whether it was operating as a mosque or a library. Dudeck allegedly overtook the victim’s car as it approached the exit of the centre’s carpark. Court documents suggest Dudeck later slammed on his brakes, and the car behind him crashed into the rear of his vehicle.

Dudeck is accused of getting out of his car, walking up to the other man’s window, and saying: “Look what you have done you f—ing idiot, you stupid idiot, you Muslim c—.” He then allegedly spat through the man’s open window. Dudeck called police after the crash, allegedly telling them: “If he says one more word, I will knock him out, useless f—ing Arab c—.”

Dudeck was arrested the next day and appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court on Thursday. He pleaded guilty to an offensive behaviour charge, but not guilty to common assault and driving while disqualified.

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Texas school board let anti‑Muslim group pressure publishers to rewrite religion textbooks

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Last month, the Texas State Board of Education approved a set of social studies textbooks after some disputes between Christian Right members of the board and scholars who had reviewed the texts. Although experts recruited by the Texas Freedom Network to review the proposed texts managed to convince textbook companies to remove some objectionable material, some claims demanded by conservative members of the board remained, including assertions that Moses was a direct influence on the founding of the U.S.

In an article for Religion Dispatches today, one of TFN’s reviewers, David R. Brockman, who teaches religious studies at Southern Methodist University, writes about his experience as a textbook reviewer and his frustrations with the board’s process for reviewing curricula on world religions. “The curriculum standards and the adoption process in Texas don’t simply lack balanced and accurate coverage of the world’s religions; they work against it,” he writes. “And while textbook publishers generally struggle against this tide, they are sometimes dragged along with it.”

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French journalist envisages possible deportation of 5 million Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Eric ZemmourFrench journalist Éric Zemmour sparks controversy once again.

In an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere Della Serra, the essayist, whose remarks are often dubbed as racist, xenophobic and sexist, talked about a potential deportation of Muslims from France.

He said that Muslims’ tendency to isolate themselves in the suburbs and only live with each other will eventually lead to “chaos and civil war.”

Asked whether he would suggest deporting 5 million French Muslims, the controversial French journalist replied: “I know it’s unrealistic, but history is surprising.

“Who would have said that in 1940 almost a million Pieds-Noirs [literally meaning Black-foot, a term referring to people of French and other European ancestry who live in French North Africa], twenty years later would leave Algeria in order to return to France?”

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve issued a statement Tuesday in order to “condemn with the utmost firmness the words of Éric Zemmour.”

“The French nation is defined by living together, and France’s Muslims, like Christians, Jews, believers and unbelievers, are all its children,” he added.

Even internet users were quick to denounce Eric Zemmour comments under the hashtag #ZemmourDeporteMoi.

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Activists turn to social media to fight Germany’s spurt of right-wing protests

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Dresden für alle

A wave of right-wing protests in several German cities has received widespread media coverage in recent months. In October, protests organized by the “Hooligans Against Salafists” (HoGeSa) ended with sporadic violence in Cologne. Self-proclaimed “hooligans” from rival football clubs and far-right extremists joined forces to create HoGeSa to protest against Salafism in Germany.

In December, protests by the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of Occident (PEGIDA) gained attention when thousands of people took to the streets of Dresden to demand stronger laws for those seeking asylum. On Monday (15.12.2015), PEGIDA had its biggest protest to date – up to 15,000 people showed up in Dresden and there were smaller protests in some 15 German cities, including Bonn and Düsseldorf.

What has been taking place at the protests on the streets of German cities is also reflected on social media. Since its first post in mid-November, around 70,000 people have liked the PEGIDA page on Facebook. That figure isn’t far behind Germany’s biggest parties, Christian Democrats (CDU) and Social Democrats (SPD), in terms of popularity on Facebook. PEGIDA and HOGESA have used their social media sites to organize the protests and call for action against Islamic extremists.

The public demonstrations by anti-Islamic groups have generated an extensive debate about an increase in anti-immigration sentiment, xenophobia and right-wing extremism in Germany.

In reaction, several counter movements have sprung up in German cities; for instance the “Dresden for all, all for Dresden” counter protests and a march in Cologne under the motto: “You are Cologne – not Nazis.”

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Wilders will be prosecuted for inciting hatred and discrimination

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Geert WildersThe public prosecution department is to take anti-Islam party leader Geert Wilders to court for discrimination and encouraging hatred after he led supporters in an anti-Moroccan chant at a post-election meeting.

“Politicians can go far in what they say, that is part of freedom of speech. But the freedom is limited by the ban on discrimination,” the short prosecution department statement said.

The department said in October it was investigating Wilders and formally questioned him on December 8. Wilders said in a statement at the time he would not take back his words and that he did want “fewer Moroccans” and “less Islam” in the Netherlands. Wilders also said he would not allow himself to be silenced.

The investigation dates back to a post-vote meeting with supporters in The Hague in March, when Wilders asked the crowd “and do you want more or fewer Moroccans in your city and in the Netherlands?” To which the crowd chanted “fewer, fewer, fewer”. “We’ll arrange that,” Wilders said, smiling, when the chanting died down.

The chanting, and other comments made several days earlier, led to two MPs, MEPs and a handful of local and provincial councillors breaking ties with the PVV. The public prosecution department also received over 6,400 complaints.

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‘Bigot’ Eric King who was spared jail for Islam hate mail says he will continue to share his views online

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Eric King (2)A man branded a “vile, reprehensible bigot” by police after he sent offensive photographs and social media posts to an Islamic community centre near Truro has been spared jail despite saying he will continue to share his views on Facebook.

Eric King, aged 60, was handed a four-day-a-week curfew and a suspended sentence when he appeared before Truro magistrates on Tuesday.

King, of Wheal Eliza Close, St Austell, smeared dog excrement on images depicting the prophet Mohammed having intercourse with a pig and of a naked woman squatting on an Islamic State flag with the letters “IS” scrawled across her buttocks and posted them to Tipu Choudhury, general secretary of the Cornwall Islamic Community Centre at Carnon Downs.

At an earlier hearing, King admitted sending two indecent or grossly offensive messages to the centre via its Facebook page and sending an indecent or grossly offensive letter to Mr Choudhury.

Gail Hawkley, for the prosecution, said when King was arrested he told officers he was a member of the English Defence League and the British National Party. When asked if he would stop after he had been to court he said: “I shouldn’t think so,” said Ms Hawkley, who added: “[He said] ‘I was hoping that whoever saw the letter would kill themselves’.”

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As Pickles’ commissioners arrive, Tower Hamlets hits back at bungling Tories

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Tower Hamlets Town Hall protest against government commissionersSenior figures have slammed the decision to send commissioners into Tower Hamlets, whilst Communities Secretary Eric Pickles describes spending £1600 a day of local residents’ cash on them as ‘modest.’

Yet apparently Eric Pickles thinks that £1600 a day (plus generous expenses) of Tower Hamlets residents’ money on the Commissioners is a ‘modest sum.’ It might be very modest for Pickles who spends £500,000 of our money on limos, or for PwC who run multi-billion tax avoidance schemes while being slammed by Transparency International for ‘undue influence’ on Whitehall. But in Tower Hamlets where half of our children live below the poverty line,£1600 a day plus the £1million cost of the PwC report is anything but modest.

As Pickles’ hit squad arrived today, they were greeted with local trade unionists gathering at the Town Hall to oppose their appointment (video here). It is a sinister development and seems no coincidence that Tower Hamlets as the council which has most successfully resisted austerity is being singled out by the Tories. In spite of serious concerns with multiple local authorities, Pickles has gone for the one that blocked the hated bedroom tax, reinstated EMA and stood up to him over cuts.

In a disproportionate measure, twenty-six inspectors were deployed for seven months with few checks and balances following a questionable recruitment process, and the £1million cost to Tower Hamlets residents has been described as ‘punitive.’ And now they’re sending in commissioners.

But no failings have been found in Tower Hamlets’ high performing, multi award winning frontline services.

Tower Hamlets welcomed the PwC report’s clarification that they have not found evidence of undue publicity spending, of inappropriate property sales, bias in grant funding or of corruption. A good rebuttal from one of our councillors can be found here. But Pickles appointed commissioners to watch these functions anyway, and we’re paying for it.

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Sydney siege aftermath: Man charged following alleged hate threats to Auburn mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Hundreds of extra police will flood popular destinations in Sydney following the Martin Place siege and alleged hate threats, including hoax phone calls threatening to destroy a mosque in Auburn.

Assistant Commissioner Michael Fuller said police dealt with a number of “hate and bias” crimes following the fatal siege but said extra officers were being stationed across Sydney’s CBD to ensure people felt safe.

“There has been some issues of hate or bias crime but it’s certainly minimal compared to the outpouring of support and you’ve all seen the flowers at Martin Place,” Mr Fuller said.

The announcement of additional officers came as police arrested a man who allegedly made threatening phone calls to a mosque in Auburn in western Sydney. Police allege the man, 30, rang the mosque and made several threats.

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