More than 50 Old Firm internet hatemongers were last night facing arrest in a series of police raids.
A top cop warned: "We're coming to get you", as the operation to crush the bigots was launched.
A crack team will carry out the raids before tomorrow's Old Firm clash at Ibrox.
They were due to continue throughout today in Glasgow, Lanarkshire and Ayrshire.
Their targets are self-styled supporters who have been spewing religious and racial hatred on social networking and chat forums.
Among them will be people who have posted vile abuse about Celtic manager Neil Lennon and Rangers star El Hadji-Diouf.
The operation has been planned for nearly two months and involves officers from the Strathclyde Police Anti-Violence Directorate, which previously specialised in tracking down thugs setting up gang fights online.
Detectives have tracked their targets through internet accounts and website registrations.They will be arresting them for a variety of offences, ranging from breach of the peace to incitement to racially aggravated violence.
Action Superintendent Kirk Kinnell, who is heading the operation, said: "This is not a final warning. I want to reassure the public that we are taking action right now.
"We know who we are targeting. We have at least 50 live inquiries and we will be coming to the home addresses of people in the near future."
Supt Kinnell also revealed that the targets range from schoolboys to middle-aged men. As well as Facebook and Twitter, some of them have been promoting their sick views on football forums.
The superintendent added: "All of the inquiries are at different stages. It is a complex process but there is no hiding place on the internet.
"It is a broad-ranging inquiry and we are looking at comments about various individuals. This goes back to before the latest parcel bomb incidents.
"So some of them are sectarian comments about Neil Lennon and some are racist comments about El Hadji-Diouf, for example. But all are violent and hate-filled.
"These kind of comments have become particularly prolific over recent weeks and that has brought it into focus for us.
"It is at the point where they have become filled with hate and anger and are likely to incite violent behaviour so we are acting on these as quickly as we can.
"Everywhere we find people spreading the disease of hate online is where we will focus our activity."
Supt Kinnell said it was "routine business" for the anti-violence team to monitor social networking sites.
He said: "It is not difficult for us to track these people. We have cooperation from the Internet Service Providers Association and media companies which facilitate websites. They are helping us to identify those responsible.
"This operation will continue for as long as it needs to. We will be relentless in tracking these people down until they stop posting this kind of abuse on the internet.
"And if it stops in the coming weeks but flares up again next season, we will be right back on top of them again."
Daily Record
Saturday, 23 April 2011
Facebook removes the English Defence League's main page on St Georges Day (UK)
The exact reasons for this at the present time are unknown, although given the amount of anti-Islamic racism and religious hatred that was posted there, the chances that it was because of that are pretty damn high.
And adding to the fact that today is St Georges day in England, many EDL member's will be foaming at the mouth at this total embarrassment to their cause.
Happy St Georges day everyone.
Central Council of Jews renews call for neo-Nazi NPD party ban (Germany)
Referring to expectations of far-right trouble across the country on May 1, Dieter Graumann, president of the council, warned of an increasing political and social acceptance of the party.
“Sadly, the announced actions of the neo-Nazi scene for May 1 already practically belong to the sad events calendar of any given year,” he said.
He called for society to never get used to such things and for politicians to take their duties more seriously – and try again for a ban of the NPD – “instead of barricading themselves over-cautiously behind legal sophistry and avoiding the confrontation.”
“Those who bury their heads in the sand too timidly can only gain an overview with great difficulty. A strategy against the rightwing charlatans and enemies of our democracy looks different to this,” he said.
Referring to an incident in Winterbach in Baden-Württemberg on April 10, when a group of neo-Nazis set fire to a house in which five foreigners were living, he said, “Such attacks plumb the tragic depths, but it is about more than single attacks against foreigners or other minorities. Far right extremism does not start when the first blood flows.”
Public discrimination and defamation are also not to be tolerated, he said, adding that he found some recent court decisions which seemed to give fascists the right to spread what he called their poison, unbelievably damaging to society.
“We have to draw a line here and make clear what we in our society, which has a broad consensus which overcomes political and religious differences of opinion, will not accept,” he said.
He called on churches and religious communities, in particular Muslim associations, to, “step up much more clearly and convincingly,” on the matter. The attack in Baden-Württemberg showed that, “xenophobia, racism and discrimination are problems for all of Germany and all of society,” he said.
He added that a sense of citizenship and social engagement must be, “fostered and won every day and for every generation.”
Times of economic difficulties in particular meant that, “many people are obviously receptive to populist, defamatory and xenophobic theories,” he warned.
The Local Germany
Amsterdam to mark homes where Jews lived in WWII
A commemoration committee is asking thousands of Amsterdam homeowners to mark their houses if a former Jewish resident was arrested or deported to Nazi death camps during World War II.
The May 4-5 Committee, named for the date of the Netherlands' liberation from German occupation in 1945, made posters available Friday for display in windows of the former Jewish homes.
The poster reads: "1 of the 21,662 houses where Jews lived who were murdered in World War II."
Residents can look on the committee's website to see if their house had been occupied by a Jewish family during the war and the names of the people who had lived there.
More than 70 percent of Holland's wartime Jewish population were killed by the Nazis. The Dutch mark the end of the war on May 4 with solemn ceremonies of remembrance, followed the next day by parties and music to mark Liberation Day.
The poster was the initiative of Frits Rijksbaron, a marketing executive who discovered the title deed to his new home showed that it had once belonged to a Jewish family.
He told Dutch broadcaster NOS that he hoped to remind Amsterdam's citizens of the horrors of the Nazis' sweep of their city, during which some 61,700 Jews were arrested and killed.
He wanted "to show how big a trauma it was for the Jews and for Amsterdam, and how Jewish Amsterdam was."
Google Hosted News
The May 4-5 Committee, named for the date of the Netherlands' liberation from German occupation in 1945, made posters available Friday for display in windows of the former Jewish homes.
The poster reads: "1 of the 21,662 houses where Jews lived who were murdered in World War II."
Residents can look on the committee's website to see if their house had been occupied by a Jewish family during the war and the names of the people who had lived there.
More than 70 percent of Holland's wartime Jewish population were killed by the Nazis. The Dutch mark the end of the war on May 4 with solemn ceremonies of remembrance, followed the next day by parties and music to mark Liberation Day.
The poster was the initiative of Frits Rijksbaron, a marketing executive who discovered the title deed to his new home showed that it had once belonged to a Jewish family.
He told Dutch broadcaster NOS that he hoped to remind Amsterdam's citizens of the horrors of the Nazis' sweep of their city, during which some 61,700 Jews were arrested and killed.
He wanted "to show how big a trauma it was for the Jews and for Amsterdam, and how Jewish Amsterdam was."
Google Hosted News
Le Pen family feud over Nazi supporter's expulsion (France)
Rather like Shakespeare's ancient king, the founder of the NF, Jean-Marie Le Pen, 82, has surrendered power to his daughter, Marine. Like King Lear, Mr Le Pen is not ready to go into a peaceful retirement.
Yesterday he publicly chided his daughter for expelling a National Front official who was pictured on a news website giving a Nazi salute to a swastika flag. Mr Le Pen suggested that Marine, 42, who is on holiday in Thailand, had acted "hastily" and she might like to "appeal against her own decision" when she gets back.
The public spat – the first since Marine took over the presidency of the NF in January – could be electorally damaging for the new leader of France's far right. Ms Le Pen is riding high in opinion polls after abandoning some of her father's more extreme positions and promising to root out all signs of anti-Semitism and Nazi sympathies within the party.
Alexandre Gabriac, 21, a local party official and county councillor in the Lyon area, was shown in a photograph on nouvelobs.com last month giving a Nazi salute with his left arm to a swastika banner. The disciplinary committee of the party, including Jean-Marie Le Pen, accepted his story that the photograph had been faked. Earlier this week Marine Le Pen overruled the committee's recommendation that he should be given a warning and expelled him from the party.
In an interview with the French news agency AFP last month, Ms le Pen said she intended to be "firm and brutal" with any signs of neo-Nazi sympathies in the NF. She said of Mr Gabriac that he was a "bloke who belonged to the Oeuvre Française" – a far-right pressure group which sympathises with the wartime Vichy regime which collaborated with Nazism.
In an interview yesterday, her father, who remains the NF "honorary president for life" said he thought his daughter had acted "hastily without all the information available".
"There is nothing stopping her going from ill-informed to better in formed," he said. "She could appeal against her own decision."
The Independant
Perth “tarnished” by BNP manifesto launch (UK)
A decision to make Perth the venue to kickstart the British National Party’s Holyrood campaign was condemned yesterday.
A shocked trade union member claimed the Fair City’s reputation had been tarnished after it was chosen by the BNP for the launch of their manifesto for the upcoming Scottish Parliament elections.
BNP election candidates and other members gathered in the Royal George Hotel on Sunday for the event, then some of the 32 candidates being fielded by the party – four in each of the Scottish regions – posed in sunshine on the River Tay viewing platform.
Yet on the day members of the far-right party were basking in the “excellent” speeches made during the launch, the national press highlighted that the BNP had been reported to the Electoral Commission over a campaign leaflet which falsely claims there are more Muslims in the UK than Scots.
The press also reported that a pamphlet put through letterboxes across Scotland stated the BNP would put an end to mosque-building and were warning of a “flood” of Eastern European immigrants about to arrive in Scotland.
The BNP’s Perth event was not widely reported in the media, but it did not go unnoticed by active trade union member David McPhee.
“I was dismayed to discover that after a clandestine operation the British National Party chose Perth as the location for them to launch their Scottish manifesto,” said Mr McPhee, who went on to slam the Royal George Hotel for taking the booking.
“As an active trade union member and someone who has campaigned locally on a number of anti-racist initiatives I find it shocking that any local business could see fit to host such an abhorrent political party for the launch of their manifesto.
Protests
“Presumably the clandestine nature of their launch was to avoid the sort of protests which usually follow them around and which forced them to cancel their original planned manifesto launch in Falkirk last month.
“Unfortunately it seems they found a complicit business in Perth to allow them to do so.”
The BNP website reports the manifesto launch “was held in a top hotel in Perth, where we were welcomed very warmly indeed.”
It goes on to say “excellent” speeches were given by BNP Scottish organiser Gary Raikes and two election candidates, and adds: “We had one of the youngest members and one of our eldest Scottish members in attendance which was so emotional as they both gave speeches to the British National Party Scotland’s Manifesto launch.”
The website adds that the BNP handed out leaflets to passers-by before party supporters, “headed back to our respective homes to reflect on history being made, we have just launched the Manifesto that will get us into Holyrood!”
Mr McPhee laments that history did not repeat itself: “I understand that in 1936 the BNP’s forerunners – Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts – were effectively chased out of Perth with their tails between their legs.
“I wonder what our forefathers who had the courage of their convictions to do so would think of this damaging association which I believe has tarnished Perth’s reputation as the Fair City?”
Perth advertiser
A shocked trade union member claimed the Fair City’s reputation had been tarnished after it was chosen by the BNP for the launch of their manifesto for the upcoming Scottish Parliament elections.
BNP election candidates and other members gathered in the Royal George Hotel on Sunday for the event, then some of the 32 candidates being fielded by the party – four in each of the Scottish regions – posed in sunshine on the River Tay viewing platform.
Yet on the day members of the far-right party were basking in the “excellent” speeches made during the launch, the national press highlighted that the BNP had been reported to the Electoral Commission over a campaign leaflet which falsely claims there are more Muslims in the UK than Scots.
The press also reported that a pamphlet put through letterboxes across Scotland stated the BNP would put an end to mosque-building and were warning of a “flood” of Eastern European immigrants about to arrive in Scotland.
The BNP’s Perth event was not widely reported in the media, but it did not go unnoticed by active trade union member David McPhee.
“I was dismayed to discover that after a clandestine operation the British National Party chose Perth as the location for them to launch their Scottish manifesto,” said Mr McPhee, who went on to slam the Royal George Hotel for taking the booking.
“As an active trade union member and someone who has campaigned locally on a number of anti-racist initiatives I find it shocking that any local business could see fit to host such an abhorrent political party for the launch of their manifesto.
Protests
“Presumably the clandestine nature of their launch was to avoid the sort of protests which usually follow them around and which forced them to cancel their original planned manifesto launch in Falkirk last month.
“Unfortunately it seems they found a complicit business in Perth to allow them to do so.”
The BNP website reports the manifesto launch “was held in a top hotel in Perth, where we were welcomed very warmly indeed.”
It goes on to say “excellent” speeches were given by BNP Scottish organiser Gary Raikes and two election candidates, and adds: “We had one of the youngest members and one of our eldest Scottish members in attendance which was so emotional as they both gave speeches to the British National Party Scotland’s Manifesto launch.”
The website adds that the BNP handed out leaflets to passers-by before party supporters, “headed back to our respective homes to reflect on history being made, we have just launched the Manifesto that will get us into Holyrood!”
Mr McPhee laments that history did not repeat itself: “I understand that in 1936 the BNP’s forerunners – Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts – were effectively chased out of Perth with their tails between their legs.
“I wonder what our forefathers who had the courage of their convictions to do so would think of this damaging association which I believe has tarnished Perth’s reputation as the Fair City?”
Perth advertiser
BNP faces meltdown at local polls after defections and infighting (UK)
Party to field 450 fewer candidates than in 2007 as leader Nick Griffin comes under pressure over organisation's finances.
The British National party is facing political meltdown in next month's local elections after a string of defections and growing concern over its finances.
Dozens of prominent BNP figures have either been suspended or have resigned and in the past few weeks several former members have announced they are to stand for rival far-right and nationalist organisations.
The BNP is standing around 250 candidates in next month's elections, compared with approximately 700 in the equivalent polls in 2007.
The turmoil comes as the Electoral Commission announced this week that the party had "failed to comply with the legal requirement to keep adequate financial records" for the second year running, further increasing the pressure on the BNP leader, Nick Griffin, who fought off a leadership challenge last year.
"The position of the party is extremely dire," said Professor Matthew Goodwin, from Nottingham University, an expert on far-right politics. "The defections and rebellions are going strong and we have seen a whole host of key figures leave to join other far-right groups … Nick Griffin is becoming increasingly isolated."
The BNP says it is focusing on the elections to the Welsh assembly, where it claims it could secure two seats, but anti-Griffin rebels say the BNP should be making more progress in England as cuts bite and economic instability increases.
"There is growing anger within the party because there was a period when it looked like Nick Griffin may have been able to force the BNP into the political mainstream," said a spokesman for the anti-racist campaign Hope not Hate. "But it is clear Nick Griffin will himself be the BNP's nemesis. His mismanagement, arrogance and dictatorial leadership have dragged his own party off a political cliff."
The BNP's election prospects took a blow earlier this month when it emerged that around 15 former members, including some key figures such as former Yorkshire organiser Chris Beverley, had defected and are standing for the English Democrats in next month's elections. On his blog Beverley said it had been a "huge decision" and blamed the actions of Griffin and his leadership team for the party's problems.
Goodwin said: "There are just over 200 BNP candidates but there are 390 far-right candidates in total so what we are seeing quite clearly is that the far right is splintering, not just among one or two parties but among a whole host of groups and factions … it is the classic case of far-right parties in the UK shooting themselves in the foot."
Analysts say BNP infighting has allowed other far-right and nationalist groups to come to the fore. Organisations such as the English Defence League, the English Democrats and the British Freedom party are now challenging the BNP, but perhaps its biggest threat is a resurgent UK Independence party, which beat both the Conservatives and Lib Dems to come second in a byelection in Barnsley last month.
"The activists that are frustrated with the incompetence of the BNP are going to the EDL or other rightwing factions and many [former voters] are going to Ukip if they want something more respectable," said Goodwin. "The BNP are being outflanked on all sides."
Opponents say the defections and wider splits mean the party is struggling to stand candidates in some of its core areas.
BNP spokesman Simon Darby dismissed the defections, saying: "People have gone, that is it … but wait and see about that, I think they are going to regret that, just wait and see."
He defended Griffin, insisting he was still a popular leader and that it was "a miracle" the party was still operating following what he said was a relentless campaign to undermine it by the media and the state. "I am just pleased we are still here putting up a campaign in seats we may win … we are still in the game and are looking to regroup after all the dust has settled on this election," he said.
Griffin has come under growing pressure since the BNP's poor showing in last year's general and council elections, when it lost all but two of the 28 councillors up for re-election and was wiped out in its east London stronghold of Barking and Dagenham. It now has 23 councillors, compared with 54 a year ago, and several senior figures, including election co-ordinator Eddie Butler and London assembly member Richard Barnbrook, have come out against Griffin.
The rebels' anger is focused on Griffin's leadership style and concern about the party's debts which were exacerbated this week when the Electoral Commission said the BNP had failed to keep adequate financial records for the second year running.
"We have sought an urgent meeting with the party to discuss the steps they need to take to comply with the law," said a spokesman for the commission.
The party is reportedly £500,000 in debt although Darby said that the figure was "coming down".
"We are making good progress on that, that debt will be serviced," he added.
Although a poor showing in next month's elections would increase the pressure on Griffin to stand down, Goodwin said that remains unlikely.
"Griffin will hang on because the BNP constitution means it is almost impossible to oust him... [He] is doing the party in, it is not connecting with voters, they are running out of money but he is not going to go anywhere... they truly are a fading star and it is almost entirely because of Griffin's incompetence."
The Guardian
The British National party is facing political meltdown in next month's local elections after a string of defections and growing concern over its finances.
Dozens of prominent BNP figures have either been suspended or have resigned and in the past few weeks several former members have announced they are to stand for rival far-right and nationalist organisations.
The BNP is standing around 250 candidates in next month's elections, compared with approximately 700 in the equivalent polls in 2007.
The turmoil comes as the Electoral Commission announced this week that the party had "failed to comply with the legal requirement to keep adequate financial records" for the second year running, further increasing the pressure on the BNP leader, Nick Griffin, who fought off a leadership challenge last year.
"The position of the party is extremely dire," said Professor Matthew Goodwin, from Nottingham University, an expert on far-right politics. "The defections and rebellions are going strong and we have seen a whole host of key figures leave to join other far-right groups … Nick Griffin is becoming increasingly isolated."
The BNP says it is focusing on the elections to the Welsh assembly, where it claims it could secure two seats, but anti-Griffin rebels say the BNP should be making more progress in England as cuts bite and economic instability increases.
"There is growing anger within the party because there was a period when it looked like Nick Griffin may have been able to force the BNP into the political mainstream," said a spokesman for the anti-racist campaign Hope not Hate. "But it is clear Nick Griffin will himself be the BNP's nemesis. His mismanagement, arrogance and dictatorial leadership have dragged his own party off a political cliff."
The BNP's election prospects took a blow earlier this month when it emerged that around 15 former members, including some key figures such as former Yorkshire organiser Chris Beverley, had defected and are standing for the English Democrats in next month's elections. On his blog Beverley said it had been a "huge decision" and blamed the actions of Griffin and his leadership team for the party's problems.
Goodwin said: "There are just over 200 BNP candidates but there are 390 far-right candidates in total so what we are seeing quite clearly is that the far right is splintering, not just among one or two parties but among a whole host of groups and factions … it is the classic case of far-right parties in the UK shooting themselves in the foot."
Analysts say BNP infighting has allowed other far-right and nationalist groups to come to the fore. Organisations such as the English Defence League, the English Democrats and the British Freedom party are now challenging the BNP, but perhaps its biggest threat is a resurgent UK Independence party, which beat both the Conservatives and Lib Dems to come second in a byelection in Barnsley last month.
"The activists that are frustrated with the incompetence of the BNP are going to the EDL or other rightwing factions and many [former voters] are going to Ukip if they want something more respectable," said Goodwin. "The BNP are being outflanked on all sides."
Opponents say the defections and wider splits mean the party is struggling to stand candidates in some of its core areas.
BNP spokesman Simon Darby dismissed the defections, saying: "People have gone, that is it … but wait and see about that, I think they are going to regret that, just wait and see."
He defended Griffin, insisting he was still a popular leader and that it was "a miracle" the party was still operating following what he said was a relentless campaign to undermine it by the media and the state. "I am just pleased we are still here putting up a campaign in seats we may win … we are still in the game and are looking to regroup after all the dust has settled on this election," he said.
Griffin has come under growing pressure since the BNP's poor showing in last year's general and council elections, when it lost all but two of the 28 councillors up for re-election and was wiped out in its east London stronghold of Barking and Dagenham. It now has 23 councillors, compared with 54 a year ago, and several senior figures, including election co-ordinator Eddie Butler and London assembly member Richard Barnbrook, have come out against Griffin.
The rebels' anger is focused on Griffin's leadership style and concern about the party's debts which were exacerbated this week when the Electoral Commission said the BNP had failed to keep adequate financial records for the second year running.
"We have sought an urgent meeting with the party to discuss the steps they need to take to comply with the law," said a spokesman for the commission.
The party is reportedly £500,000 in debt although Darby said that the figure was "coming down".
"We are making good progress on that, that debt will be serviced," he added.
Although a poor showing in next month's elections would increase the pressure on Griffin to stand down, Goodwin said that remains unlikely.
"Griffin will hang on because the BNP constitution means it is almost impossible to oust him... [He] is doing the party in, it is not connecting with voters, they are running out of money but he is not going to go anywhere... they truly are a fading star and it is almost entirely because of Griffin's incompetence."
The Guardian
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