The leader of Dudley Council has condemened today's "pointless" protests, which are expected to have cost borough taxpayers a further £150,000.
Councillor Anne Millward,said: “We are extremely saddened that Dudley has again been targeted by the English Defence League. Yet again this group of outside extremists have shown they are incapable of demonstrating peacefully and have brought public disorder and violence to our town.
“While the number of EDL protesters was significantly fewer than their protest in April, those that did come appeared to be intent on causing trouble.
“I hope the drop in numbers from around 1,500 to less than 500 is a result of more people seeing the EDL for what they are and recognising that they have no place in Dudley and make no positive contribution to local issues."
Mrs Millward added: "Dudley Council does not have the powers to ban this protest but we have made it clear from the outset that we are opposed to the EDL and have worked closely with the police to do all we could to protect, reassure and support local people.
“People from all backgrounds across Dudley get on well together and I am sad that many have felt intimidated and had their weekend affected by these outside extremists.
“Honest, hard working people who run local shops and businesses have again been hit as hard as anyone by the EDL’s pointless protest. While we were encouraged to see some open for business, many were again forced to close for the day.
“The local authority fully share their frustrations and expect the protest will have again cost the council in excess of £150,000. This was the same when the EDL protested in April and is clearly a complete waste of local taxpayers money.”
Stourbridge News
Saturday, 17 July 2010
HUNGARY PM VOWS TO OUTLAW FAR-RIGHT GUARD MOVEMENT
Hungary's prime minister said on Thursday he would outlaw the radical nationalist Hungarian Guard, a movement backed by the far-right Jobbik party, describing it as an agent of disorder. The Hungarian Guard, whose members stage marches in black uniforms in areas where they say security is low, was dissolved by a court ruling last year only to be resurrected recently under a different name. It seeks to protect what it calls national values, being criticised for staging anti-Roma marches. Its opponents say its uniform and insignia are reminiscent of the Nazi era. The Guard is backed by the Jobbik party, which became the third-biggest force with 47 lawmakers in parliament at elections in April and whose leader, Gabor Vona, took the oath of office wearing the movement's black waistcoat. Speaking at a news conference after meeting Jobbik MPs, Prime Minister Viktor Orban -- whose centre-right Fidesz holds a two-thirds majority in parliament -- said he opposed not just the movement but the philosophy behind it as well. Orban said the resurrection of the movement under a different name, the Hungarian National Guard, was the abuse of a right and that he would not accept any organisation challenging the state's monopoly on maintaining order. "This manner of interpreting the law points towards disorder. The Hungarian Guard itself sweeps Hungary towards a lack of order as opposed to order," Orban said. "I will not rest until legal regulation exists which unequivocally rules out the possibility of this game of hide and seek that we are now experiencing." "This is not worthy of a democracy and a constitutional system," Orban said. Fidesz had 66 percent support among decided voters in early July according to a recent poll, while Jobbik scored 12 percent.
Reuters
Reuters
Warsaw prepares to stage big gay rights rally
Tens of thousands of people are expected to take part in a landmark European gay rights rally in Poland's capital Warsaw.
It is the first time the annual EuroPride parade is being held in Central and Eastern Europe.
The event has attracted controversy in staunchly Roman Catholic Poland.
Several counter-demonstrations have been scheduled to coincide with the parade in the city.
Warsaw's authorities have also received a petition with more than 50,000 signatures from anti-gay groups demanding the event be cancelled.
The EuroPride parade's organisers say they expect a minimum of 20,000 people from across Europe to take part in what should be a noisy and colourful event.
This is huge by Polish standards but small compared with more than a million people who attended the march in Madrid three years ago, the BBC's Adam Easton in Warsaw reports.
Our correspondent says that is partly because it is so much more difficult to be openly gay in Poland, where both the influential Roman Catholic Church and politicians regularly say homosexuality is not normal.
In a recent survey, almost two-thirds of respondents said homosexual couples should not be open about their sexuality.
It is extremely rare to see gay couples holding hands even in Warsaw, the country's most cosmopolitan city, our correspondent says.
Those who do face verbal or physical violence, such as Ryszard Giersz, 25, from a small town near the German border.
He won a small amount of damages in court last year after neighbours repeatedly verbally abused him and threw tomatoes and stones at him.
Such behaviour is common in Russia, where gay pride marches are often banned and anyone attempting to defy a ban face arrest, our correspondent adds.
BBC News
It is the first time the annual EuroPride parade is being held in Central and Eastern Europe.
The event has attracted controversy in staunchly Roman Catholic Poland.
Several counter-demonstrations have been scheduled to coincide with the parade in the city.
Warsaw's authorities have also received a petition with more than 50,000 signatures from anti-gay groups demanding the event be cancelled.
The EuroPride parade's organisers say they expect a minimum of 20,000 people from across Europe to take part in what should be a noisy and colourful event.
This is huge by Polish standards but small compared with more than a million people who attended the march in Madrid three years ago, the BBC's Adam Easton in Warsaw reports.
Our correspondent says that is partly because it is so much more difficult to be openly gay in Poland, where both the influential Roman Catholic Church and politicians regularly say homosexuality is not normal.
In a recent survey, almost two-thirds of respondents said homosexual couples should not be open about their sexuality.
It is extremely rare to see gay couples holding hands even in Warsaw, the country's most cosmopolitan city, our correspondent says.
Those who do face verbal or physical violence, such as Ryszard Giersz, 25, from a small town near the German border.
He won a small amount of damages in court last year after neighbours repeatedly verbally abused him and threw tomatoes and stones at him.
Such behaviour is common in Russia, where gay pride marches are often banned and anyone attempting to defy a ban face arrest, our correspondent adds.
BBC News
Black Country couple who hurled racial abuse at neighbour jailed for four months
A Midland couple who hurled racial abuse at their neighbour have been jailed for four months.
Michelle and Gary Devey, of Stephenson Avenue, Beechdale, Walsall, admitted racially aggravated public disorder at Wolverhampton Crown Court.
Mum Carol Hilton was “terrified” during the two-and-a-half hour verbal attack the couple, who have children, launched on her.
Gary Cook, prosecuting, said that the Deveys woke Mrs Hilton in the middle of the night by standing in their front garden and shouting racist insults to her.
He said 53-year-old Gary Devey then went into his house and came back out with a fishing rod which he used to tap the bedroom window of Mrs Hilton’s home while shouting further abuse.
Mr Cook said the couple then proceeded to come out of their house every ten minutes for two-and-a-half hours to continue their verbal attack.
He said the insults left Mrs Hilton feeling “very scared and nauseous”.
Michael Anning, defending Gary Devey, said the couple were angry because they believed their son had been threatened by Mrs Hilton and her family.
He added: “The language was deeply offensive and he accepts it was not warranted.”
Blondelle Thompson, defending 47-year-old mother-of-four Michelle Devey told the court she was totally ashamed of her actions.
Judge Michael Mott told the couple: “I don’t know whether you are inherently racist or not, but it is hard to believe you are not when the thing you latched onto when you were drunk and angry was this lady’s colour.”
Birmingham Mail
Michelle and Gary Devey, of Stephenson Avenue, Beechdale, Walsall, admitted racially aggravated public disorder at Wolverhampton Crown Court.
Mum Carol Hilton was “terrified” during the two-and-a-half hour verbal attack the couple, who have children, launched on her.
Gary Cook, prosecuting, said that the Deveys woke Mrs Hilton in the middle of the night by standing in their front garden and shouting racist insults to her.
He said 53-year-old Gary Devey then went into his house and came back out with a fishing rod which he used to tap the bedroom window of Mrs Hilton’s home while shouting further abuse.
Mr Cook said the couple then proceeded to come out of their house every ten minutes for two-and-a-half hours to continue their verbal attack.
He said the insults left Mrs Hilton feeling “very scared and nauseous”.
Michael Anning, defending Gary Devey, said the couple were angry because they believed their son had been threatened by Mrs Hilton and her family.
He added: “The language was deeply offensive and he accepts it was not warranted.”
Blondelle Thompson, defending 47-year-old mother-of-four Michelle Devey told the court she was totally ashamed of her actions.
Judge Michael Mott told the couple: “I don’t know whether you are inherently racist or not, but it is hard to believe you are not when the thing you latched onto when you were drunk and angry was this lady’s colour.”
Birmingham Mail
EUROPEAN COURT RULES IN FAVOUR OF SLOVENIA'S 'ERASED' PEOPLE
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Slovenia did not effectively implement two Constitutional Court decisions concerning the rights of the country's so-called 'erased' residents. In its decision issued on Tuesday, the court found that "the Slovenian authorities had persistently refused to regulate the applicants’ situation in line with the Constitutional Court’s decisions. "In particular, they had failed to pass appropriate legislation and to issue permanent residence permits to individual applicants and had thus interfered with their rights to respect for their private and/or family life, especially where the applicants were stateless." In their application filed in 2006, the initial 11 applicants argued that they had been deprived the right to acquire citizenship or preserve their permanent residence status in 1991, and has suffered serious and negative consequences since that time.
The applicants, like thousands of others who faced similar situations, were mainly citizens of other former Yugoslav republics who were living as permanent residents in Slovenia at the time it declared its independence in 1991. The applicants either did not file for permanent resident status or citizenship within the deadline, or their requests were denied. As a result, their names were 'erased' from the Slovenian Register of Permanent Residents in 1992. While the court said that it would not determine remedial measures, it noted that Slovenia must adopt general and individual measures to remedy the violations, in particular by issuing retroactive residence permits. In its press release, the court noted that several thousand people are still believed to be in the category of the "erased".
Almost 26,000 people, mainly nationals of other Yugoslav republics, were deleted from Slovenia’s permanent residence registry in 1992. Many of the erased, including people who had lived in the country for years, either left Slovenia after their records were erased or were deported. Official data show that the erased include 14,775 men and 10,896 women, 5,360 of whom were children. According to the Slovenian Interior Ministry, about 7,300 of these people acquired Slovenian citizenship by January 2009, while around 3,600 received permanent residency status. There are no data on the status of more than 13,000 people affected by the erasure. The deletion of thousands of people from the country's permanent residence registery is considered one of the gravest human rights violations in independent Slovenia.
The Constitutional Court ruled the erasure illegal twice, once in 1999 and again in 2003, and said that that those affected should have their status of permanent resident reinstated retroactively from the day the records were deleted. A 2003 law which aimed to allow the retroactive reinstatement of status to the erased was rejected in a 2004 referendum called by the opposition. The Interior Ministry then started reinstating the status to the erased based directly on the Constitutional Court ruling and managed to issue some 4,000 decisions. In its ruling yesterday the court noted that in March 2010 the Slovenian parliament adopted amendments on the law on the "erased", which aimed to enable thousands of people whose records were deleted in 1992 to apply for permanent resident status. However, at the time the court considered this judgement, the amendments had not yet entered into force.
Balkan Insight
The applicants, like thousands of others who faced similar situations, were mainly citizens of other former Yugoslav republics who were living as permanent residents in Slovenia at the time it declared its independence in 1991. The applicants either did not file for permanent resident status or citizenship within the deadline, or their requests were denied. As a result, their names were 'erased' from the Slovenian Register of Permanent Residents in 1992. While the court said that it would not determine remedial measures, it noted that Slovenia must adopt general and individual measures to remedy the violations, in particular by issuing retroactive residence permits. In its press release, the court noted that several thousand people are still believed to be in the category of the "erased".
Almost 26,000 people, mainly nationals of other Yugoslav republics, were deleted from Slovenia’s permanent residence registry in 1992. Many of the erased, including people who had lived in the country for years, either left Slovenia after their records were erased or were deported. Official data show that the erased include 14,775 men and 10,896 women, 5,360 of whom were children. According to the Slovenian Interior Ministry, about 7,300 of these people acquired Slovenian citizenship by January 2009, while around 3,600 received permanent residency status. There are no data on the status of more than 13,000 people affected by the erasure. The deletion of thousands of people from the country's permanent residence registery is considered one of the gravest human rights violations in independent Slovenia.
The Constitutional Court ruled the erasure illegal twice, once in 1999 and again in 2003, and said that that those affected should have their status of permanent resident reinstated retroactively from the day the records were deleted. A 2003 law which aimed to allow the retroactive reinstatement of status to the erased was rejected in a 2004 referendum called by the opposition. The Interior Ministry then started reinstating the status to the erased based directly on the Constitutional Court ruling and managed to issue some 4,000 decisions. In its ruling yesterday the court noted that in March 2010 the Slovenian parliament adopted amendments on the law on the "erased", which aimed to enable thousands of people whose records were deleted in 1992 to apply for permanent resident status. However, at the time the court considered this judgement, the amendments had not yet entered into force.
Balkan Insight
Town braces itself for EDL return
A large scale police operation is currently under way in Dudley this morning as the town braces itself for yet another English Defence League (EDL) protest.
Over a thousand EDL supporters are expected to begin arriving in the town centre from around noon while a counter demonstration, also set for today, from Unite Against Fascism, is also expected to attract significant support.
Dudley Council has sealed off roads around the two protest sites – Stafford Street and Tower Street - and police are stationed around the town centre.
Many town centre traders have shut up shop for the day, alongside the market, as businesses – many which have been boarded up - prepare to lose yet another day’s trade.
Last time the EDL and UAF protested in Dudley, the town centre lost thousands of pounds of Saturday trade and Dudley taxpayers were left with around a £500,000 bill.
Today’s protests will take place between 1.30pm and 3.30pm.
Dudley News
Over a thousand EDL supporters are expected to begin arriving in the town centre from around noon while a counter demonstration, also set for today, from Unite Against Fascism, is also expected to attract significant support.
Dudley Council has sealed off roads around the two protest sites – Stafford Street and Tower Street - and police are stationed around the town centre.
Many town centre traders have shut up shop for the day, alongside the market, as businesses – many which have been boarded up - prepare to lose yet another day’s trade.
Last time the EDL and UAF protested in Dudley, the town centre lost thousands of pounds of Saturday trade and Dudley taxpayers were left with around a £500,000 bill.
Today’s protests will take place between 1.30pm and 3.30pm.
Dudley News
Far right gains ground in pluralistic Europe
Whether the recent approval of the ban on burqa-style Islamic veils by the French lower house will work towards greater equality for women in French society is debatable, but experts have already started seeing it as a step to woo voters from the far right.
That’s a pointer to the fact that the right wing is acquiring political traction and not just in France. Global developments like the increasing number of immigrants, and the post 9/11 and post-London bombing Islamophobia have alarmed many political theorists who fear that these could result in a possible rise of far right support in traditionally pluralistic Europe.
That changing demographics can cause insecurity in sections of the native population is hardly surprising. Those living in conditions similar to the immigrant workforce may see the newcomers as competitors and become susceptible to far right ethno-nationalist propaganda. Operating as protest parties to gather populist support, the far right typically offers simple solutions for complex economic and social problems. For instance, immigrants are the reason of poor living conditions, Islam is responsible for all terrorism and crime rates will drop if gypsies are driven out of the country, and so on.
Hence, in any crisis situation the immigrants and ethnic minority can become the first target of these radicals. What’s changed from the past is that rather than peddling a theory of biological race supremacy, the far right now typically plays the fear card, claiming that immigrants not only pose an economic threat for the natives, but can also damage the traditional culture of their homogenous society.
Incidents like Prophet Muhammad’s cartoon row, the 2004 attacks on mosques and churches after the murder of Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh, race riots in French suburbs and skinhead parades are evidence of these new social tensions, but does this sentiment really translate into votes in elections? The jury is out on that one.
In spite of having a pan-European presence with traditional strongholds in some specific areas, these parties have seldom managed a vote substantial enough to have a strong national presence. The rise of Jean-Marie Le Pen’s radical right National Front in France alarmed several experts when Le Pen polled over 16 per cent of the votes cast in the first round of the French presidential elections. Similarly, in 1999, the Freedom Party of Austria won one-fourth of the popular vote and became part of the coalition government. However, both parties have seen their vote banks eroded in recent years.
At present, the Freedom party (Austria), Danish People’s Party (Denmark), Lega Nord (Italy) and Party for Freedom (the Netherlands) are the only far right parties which poll nearly 10 per cent or more votes in national elections. The National Front (France), Slovak National Party (Slovakia), Greater Romania Party (Romania), Freedom Party of Switzerland and League of Tessins (Switzerland) have either lost their vote share or have an extremely low support base.
The results of the 2009 European Union elections hit international headlines when for the first time the so-far liberal Britons elected two MEPs (Members of the European Parliament) belonging to the extreme nationalist Nick Griffin’s BNP (British National Party). There were 30 other far right MEPs from 10 countries. However, the xenophobia that characterises most of these parties makes it unlikely that will be able to form a far right block.
The Times of India
That’s a pointer to the fact that the right wing is acquiring political traction and not just in France. Global developments like the increasing number of immigrants, and the post 9/11 and post-London bombing Islamophobia have alarmed many political theorists who fear that these could result in a possible rise of far right support in traditionally pluralistic Europe.
That changing demographics can cause insecurity in sections of the native population is hardly surprising. Those living in conditions similar to the immigrant workforce may see the newcomers as competitors and become susceptible to far right ethno-nationalist propaganda. Operating as protest parties to gather populist support, the far right typically offers simple solutions for complex economic and social problems. For instance, immigrants are the reason of poor living conditions, Islam is responsible for all terrorism and crime rates will drop if gypsies are driven out of the country, and so on.
Hence, in any crisis situation the immigrants and ethnic minority can become the first target of these radicals. What’s changed from the past is that rather than peddling a theory of biological race supremacy, the far right now typically plays the fear card, claiming that immigrants not only pose an economic threat for the natives, but can also damage the traditional culture of their homogenous society.
Incidents like Prophet Muhammad’s cartoon row, the 2004 attacks on mosques and churches after the murder of Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh, race riots in French suburbs and skinhead parades are evidence of these new social tensions, but does this sentiment really translate into votes in elections? The jury is out on that one.
In spite of having a pan-European presence with traditional strongholds in some specific areas, these parties have seldom managed a vote substantial enough to have a strong national presence. The rise of Jean-Marie Le Pen’s radical right National Front in France alarmed several experts when Le Pen polled over 16 per cent of the votes cast in the first round of the French presidential elections. Similarly, in 1999, the Freedom Party of Austria won one-fourth of the popular vote and became part of the coalition government. However, both parties have seen their vote banks eroded in recent years.
At present, the Freedom party (Austria), Danish People’s Party (Denmark), Lega Nord (Italy) and Party for Freedom (the Netherlands) are the only far right parties which poll nearly 10 per cent or more votes in national elections. The National Front (France), Slovak National Party (Slovakia), Greater Romania Party (Romania), Freedom Party of Switzerland and League of Tessins (Switzerland) have either lost their vote share or have an extremely low support base.
The results of the 2009 European Union elections hit international headlines when for the first time the so-far liberal Britons elected two MEPs (Members of the European Parliament) belonging to the extreme nationalist Nick Griffin’s BNP (British National Party). There were 30 other far right MEPs from 10 countries. However, the xenophobia that characterises most of these parties makes it unlikely that will be able to form a far right block.
The Times of India
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