Wilders Dutch hate speech case 'should be dropped' (Netherlands)

Dutch prosecutors have recommended acquitting leading anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders on all five charges of hate speech.

They said his comments had targeted Islam, not Muslims, and he had the right to comment on social issues.

The trial will continue next week and judges may still disagree with the prosecution and convict Mr Wilders.
Prosecutors were obliged to look at the case again after an appeals court decision last year.

The trial of Mr Wilders, who compared the Koran to Hitler's Mein Kampf, has gripped the Netherlands.

His Freedom Party's support is crucial to the country's new coalition government.

'Sowing hatred'
Prosecutors had initially declined to press charges against Mr Wilders in June 2008.

But they were ordered to do so in January 2009 by the appeals court, which ruled that there was significant evidence that the politician had sought to "sow hatred".

Prosecutors Birgit van Roessel and Paul Velleman reached their conclusions on Friday after studying interviews with, and articles by, Mr Wilders as well as his anti-Koran film Fitna.

"Criticism [of religion] is allowed," Ms van Roessel told the Amsterdam district court.

"It would be hurtful to many Muslims when Wilders calls for a ban on the Koran but the feelings of this group can play no role in determining the facts of the case."

Mr Velleman told the court that most of the politician's remarks seemed to have targeted Islam as an ideology rather than singling out Muslims for abuse.

Mr Wilders is accused of inciting hatred against Muslims and inciting hatred against Moroccans specifically as well as non-Western immigrants.

Since receiving death threats, Mr Wilders enjoys 24-hour state protection.

A week ago, a centre-right coalition was formed in the Netherlands between the Liberal and Christian Democrat parties, to rule as a minority government dependent on the support of the Freedom Party in parliament.

While the party of Mr Wilders will remain outside government, the new coalition says it plans to ban the full Islamic veil in the Netherlands.

BBC News

The new anti-Semitism (Germany)

Having seen the disastrous consequences of virulent anti-Semitism firsthand, Germany must lead the fight against Europe’s rising intolerance towards Muslims, writes The Local’s Marc Young.

Pedants never tire of pointing out that the term anti-Semitism should not solely apply to prejudice against Jews, but also other Semitic peoples like the Arabs.

For once, I’m for backing such Semitic semantics in light of the increasingly acrid debate about the integration of Arab and Turkish immigrants in Germany. In recent weeks, it’s become rather apparent that bigotry towards Muslims is Europe’s new anti-Semitism.

Last weekend, Horst Seehofer, the conservative state premier of Bavaria, sparked outrage by calling for an end to immigration from Islamic countries. Many German observers chalked up his comments as a ham-fisted attempt to bolster support for his Christian Social Union party by pandering to crass xenophobia.

But Seehofer’s remarks followed several of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives expressing unease over German President Christian Wulff’s recent statement that Islam was as much a part of German society as Christianity and Judaism. One Bavarian politician even said there could be no religious equality for Islam in Germany.

Of course, anyone who thinks Muslim influence on European culture was rolled back with the Turks at the gates of Vienna in 1683 should try living without the benefits of algebra for a day.

But the contentious national discussion started over the summer by the centre-left Social Democrat Thilo Sarrazin – who claimed in an inflammatory book that Muslim immigrants would be Germany’s downfall – should not be dismissed lightly as harmless populism by insecure politicians.

Just as the statistic-loving former Bundesbank board member Sarrazin wrongly reduced entire groups of people to numbers, Seehofer has maligned individual Turks and Arabs by damning them collectively.

And such publicly professed prejudice has consequences.

Two studies published this week showed German youths held widespread biases against Turks and that xenophobia in Germany was spreading.

Tragically it took something as horrific as the Holocaust to ensure Jews equal treatment in Western democracies like Britain and the United States, where anti-Jewish attitudes were rife prior to World War II. No-one should forget that it was only the incomparable crimes of Nazi Germany committed against Europe’s Jewry that made it no longer socially acceptable to express anti-Semitic sentiments openly.

But unlike many nations, Germans have unflinchingly confronted the darker parts of their past in order to learn from it. Accordingly, Germany must now not allow an entire group of people be discriminated against because of their religion or heritage.

Many German conservatives have recently mentioned the country’s “Christian-Judeo” traditions – something that would normally be expressed in English as being Judeo-Christian. But it’s not just the chronological order of the three monotheistic faiths Judaism, Christianity and Islam that makes it easy to include the Jews while excluding Muslims.

It’s also the Holocaust. People who these days deny the huge cultural contribution of Jews to German society are beyond the pale – and rightfully so. But it doesn’t take a huge stretch of the imagination to apply the ugly rhetoric currently being directed towards Muslims to Germany’s Jewish population before the war.

Let me be painfully clear here – I am in no way equating the persecution Jews suffered at the hands of the Nazis with the anti-Muslim sentiment now simmering in modern, democratic Germany.

However, just as it was once acceptable to badmouth Jews and scapegoat them for society’s ills – in Germany as well as Western democracies like America and Britain – millions of law-abiding, well-integrated Muslims are now being targeted unfairly.

It would be easy to say this new anti-Semitism started on September 12, 2001, but Europe’s immigration issues have little to do with overblown fearmongering about Osama bin Laden’s “Islamofascists” plotting world domination. Germany’s Muslim integration problems are of a longer festering sort caused first and foremost by the country’s denial for decades that immigrants from Turkey and elsewhere were here to stay.

There is no point disputing that Arabs and Turks could be better integrated in German society, but labelling them all as unwanted troublemakers simply because of their faith contravenes the core tenets of liberal Western democracy.

No matter your race, creed or colour, if you adhere to the principles of the constitution – the Basic Law in Germany’s case – you should be welcome. Anything else is bigotry, plain and simple.

The Local Germany



 

Jewish community mulls meeting with neo-nazi tagger (Canada)

Members of Calgary’s Jewish community will meet to decide whether they want a face-to-face conference with the neo-nazi who went on a racist vandalism spree.

The teen’s sentencing hearing was adjourned Friday so community leaders could discuss the possibility of such a gathering.

Adam Singer, president of the Calgary Jewish Community Council, said there are potential pros and cons to such a process.

“We need to give this serious consideration,” Singer said, after meeting with Crown prosecutors Jenny Rees and Karuna Ramakrishnan on the idea of holding a community conference with the teen.

“There could be an upside and there could be a downside.”

Youth court Judge Todd LaRochelle suggested such a get-together could be helpful for the offender, who went on an anti-Semitic spray-painting spree last Nov. 14.

“It might be beneficial for (him) to someday walk in someone else’s shoes,” LaRochelle said, before adjourning the case to Dec. 9.

Defence counsel Jim Lutz said his client was open to the idea of a community conference, a procedure under the Youth Criminal Justice Act which joins offenders with victims.

The teen earlier pleaded guilty to charges of mischief to property and promoting hatred against an identifiable group.

He had his now ex-girlfriend drive him around the city’s southwest where he targeted Jewish facilities, including the Chabad Lubavitch Jewish Synagogue and areas around the Jewish Community Centre.

He drew swastikas and wrote racist comments including “kill Jews,” and profane words on communal mailboxes, a nearby fence and a second place of worship, the House of Jacob Synagogue.

The teen, a known Aryan Nations associate, a well-known, neo-nazi group, can’t be identified under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

He remains at liberty pending sentencing.

Calgary Sun

A whirlwind of hatred against the disabled (UK)

Just how far are we, as a society, prepared to let violent crime against the disabled spiral upwards?

The details are sickening. For three days a gang of 18-year-olds tortured a younger autistic boy. They kicked him, stamped on his head, scraped his skin with sandpaper, pelted him with dog shit, forced him to drink alcohol until he passed out and stuck tape to his genitals.

The thugs laughed as they filmed themselves abusing their terrified victim, who can be heard whimpering for mercy. The ordeal only ended when his aunt saw a trainer print on his face. And why did they carry out these vile assaults? Simply because they were bored, they told a court this week.

Apparently Jonathan Geake, the so-called judge in the case, sympathised with their predicament. The three assailants were given just 80 hours' unpaid community work and a three-month curfew. No signing of the sex offenders register, despite the sexual overtones to the attack. No jail sentence. No justice.
Mencap is now leading a campaign to persuade the attorney general to review this shocking case. But tragically it is not an isolated event. It is just the latest horror story in an epidemic of hate crimes against people with disabilities.

The statistics should shame us all. Nine out of 10 people with learning difficulties have suffered bullying or harassment – indeed, even as the thugs from Eccles were being convicted this week, cases emerged of a disabled woman being bottled as she arrived at her home in Essex and a Yorkshire woman tipped from her wheelchair and mugged. And there is at least one trial going on over the killing of a disabled person, with another looming.

Three years ago there was outrage after the death of Fiona Pilkington, who killed herself and her disabled daughter after years of abuse. Politicians, police and council chiefs all said never again – then said it again after the death of David Askew earlier this year after similar harassment. Yet a recent report found evidence of 68 violent deaths of disabled people and more than 500 potential disability hate crimes over the past three years.
There is no official data on hate crimes against the disabled, since the government does not think it is worth publishing. One helpline has fielded a near-doubling in the number of calls from disabled victims this year, but there have been just 576 prosecutions over the last two years, compared with 11,264 for racial and religious crimes over the last year alone.

We need to wake up to this whirlwind of hate, driven by fear of difference and a symptom of a society that fails to embrace those with disabilities. Communities must look out for those in need of help. Teachers must stop tolerating hateful language and bullying. Police and council officials must tackle the low-level abuse that devastates life for so many – and, as in the Pilkington and Askew cases, can end up with a funeral.

We recognise the need to confront racist and homophobic abuse, but tolerate it against people with disabilities. Indeed, just as judges once told rape victims to cross their legs, teachers tell disabled pupils to toughen up, police tell people in wheelchairs that being abused is a fact of life, and local authorities move those who are harassed rather than their assailants. And in court, the evidence of people with learning difficulties is ignored: nearly three times as many prosecutions for disability hate crimes fail as compared with all other crimes.
In Manchester this weekend there are three sadistic young men swaggering around, no doubt still laughing, not least at how they escaped jail. And in another part of Britain their scarred victim is trying to rebuild his life, having being forced to move home as punishment for being tortured. Is this really the kind of country we want to live in?

Ian Birrell  The Guardian
The author is the father of a child with profound learning difficulties

Protester cleared of assaulting policeman (UK)

An English Defence League activist has been acquitted of assaulting a police officer at the organisation’s Bolton protest earlier this year.

Amanda Rutland was accused of “lashing out” at a police dog and its handler as officers tried to disperse the crowds in Le Mans Crescent on March 20.

The mum-of-four, aged 36, walked free from court yesterday after Bolton Magistrates found her not guilty of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour and assaulting PC Simon Ritchie.

The court heard that Rutland, of West Turville, Buckinghamshire, was bitten on the arm by a police dog during the protest and was later approached by PC Ritchie.

PC Ritchie claimed Rutland was aggressive, shouted at him, tried to headbutt him and scratched his face.
She said she had not kicked the dog and denied assaulting him. Magistrates said they had seen no evidence of Rutland being violent or abusive.

Her husband, Ben, told the court that PC Ritchie had demanded his wife came with him for medical attention and, when she refused, stopped her walking away by grabbing her wounded arm “right in the middle of the bandage”.

Speaking outside court, Mrs Rutland said: “I’ve been vindicated.”

This is Lancaster

Racist billboard taken down (USA)

A billboard widely criticized as racist for its cartoonish caricatures of President Barack Obama was taken down Friday after the unknown person who put it up received death threats.

The artist, Paul Snover, who was paid $500 for the artwork on the billboard, also received hate mail and threats.

Snover's cartoon showed four versions of Obama -- as a terrorist, a gangster, a Mexican and a homosexual man -- seated around a poker table.

A local Tea Party group had reportedly planned a rally around the billboard Friday, but it was taken down before they got to the location.

"While we do not condone threats of violence of any kind against anyone, we are pleased that the billboard has come down. The type of rhetoric it articulated has real consequences," said Brad Clark, executive director of One Colorado, a LGBT advocacy group. "With national attention focused on the devastating impact of bullying and harassment in our schools, adults should be setting the example, not fueling the fire. Hateful, irresponsible messages like these only serve to perpetuate stereotypes and harassment against our friends and neighbors.

"They do not unite a community."

KDVR

Police Chief Claims Racism In Fight With Councilors (USA)

Dozens of people rallied Friday in support of a small town police chief who they claim is being targeted because he is black and on an opposing side of a small town political quarrel.

The town council of Brooklyn, a small community in Morgan County, intended to meet in executive session to discuss the future of Chief Chris Hester, 6News' Rick Hightower reported.

Because of a technicality in the public notice posting about the meeting, councilors couldn't proceed. Hester and media members weren't allowed inside.

Outside, Hester was backed up by about 100 supporters as he claimed at least one council member made racially sensitive remarks about him and wants him ousted as chief.

"I believe (racism) by one or two of them, yes. I believe they're just still stuck in the 1800s, 1900s," he said. "I have proof. I have audio, and I have witnesses. This is just absolute harassment, in my opinion."

Four Indiana State Police troopers were on hand to ensure no trouble erupted between opponents.

"It's just discrimination against people I think is wrong," said Erika Underwood, one of Hester's supporters. "Chris is a very good person and policeman."

Council members left without speaking to the media, but 6News interviewed Frank Sams, one of the men Hester accused of making racial remarks, later at his home.

"I have no idea why they would ever think it's racist," Sams said, adding that he doesn't think there is audio of him uttering a racist remark. "I'm unhappy with the job he's doing."

Sams claimed that Hester hasn't cut speeding in town and that he's hard to find.

An executive session was rescheduled for Oct. 21. It will be followed by a public meeting where the council could take action against Hester, who filed complaints with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The Indy Channel

Cats star backing anti-racism drive (UK)

Sundeland's star striker has backed the club's involvement in a nationwide anti-racism campaign.

Darren Bent is an ambassador for Kick It Out, which has organised One Game, One Community to encourage diversity in all levels of football.

As part of the scheme, the Black Cats will be hosting a day of action on Saturday,One Game, One Community started yesterday and runs until October 26.
Sunderland's contribution is one of more than 1,000 events taking place across the country at every professional club, as well as schools, universities and community centres.

Against Villa, England striker Bent will join his team-mates in wearing One Game, One Community T-shirts for their pre-match warm-up, a giant flag bearing the logo will be carried out by the ball boys and Sunderland's staff will be wearing One Community badges for the game.

Bent said: "The work that Kick It Out has done has made a real difference.

"It's become a mainstay of the football calendar, and I'm proud to be an ambassador.

"All of the players at Sunderland support the initiative, and we will continue to do everything we can to promote inclusion."

SAFC Foundation, the club's official charity, is working with young people to promote integration between communities in a safe environment.

Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn said: "The week of action has been instrumental in helping to promote our sport in a more positive light, and I'm delighted that it continues to go from strength to strength.

"It's fantastic to see players, clubs and fans coming together under the powerful message of One Game, One Community, and Sunderland will continue to fully support and embrace this cause."

Lord Herman Ouseley, chairman of Kick It Out, said: "Collectively, we continue to make strides in the fight for equality across the game. Clubs, however, have a unique power to act as the catalyst for this progress.

"The One Game, One Community weeks of action illustrate this perfectly, as clubs, along with players and fans, combine to send out the strongest message that football is our game, and there to be enjoyed by everyone."

The campaign is backed by football's governing bodies and is the largest sporting initiative of its kind worldwide.

To find out how to get involved or to learn about local activities and events, visit www.kickitout.org.

Jarrow and Hebburn gazette

Show racism the red card as the Iron take on Doncaster Rovers (UK)

THE Iron is throwing its weight behind a campaign to kick racism out of football at today's derby match.

Players will wear Kick It Out T-shirts before the midday kick-off against Doncaster Rovers and a banner parade will urge everyone to show racism a red card.

The full squad and manager Ian Baraclough are behind thecampaign, which is running an action week under the title 2010 One Game One Community.

Abid Khan, who has been involved with Kick It Out for seven years, is delighted to have their backing.

He said: "It's very important to raise awareness to ensure that racism does not exist.

"It has no place in the game but a lot of people tell me in the lower divisions and the basement leagues there's a lot of racism out there.

"We have to get this message across and we've got a long way to go."

A national week of action, running until Tuesday, October 26, will take in activities from local parks right up to the Premier League.

"We have maybe 45 nationalities playing football and they understand the language of the sport," said Mr Khan. "It brings people together, whatever their background.

"We want to encourage more participation in football.

"We have very few Asian professional footballers and we need more role models."

He hopes the campaign will raise awareness to encourage long-term change in attitudes.

The events at Glanford Park are being supported by BEM Sport North Lincolnshire and link in closely with the work of the SUFC Trust.
Iron right-back Cliff Byrne is an ambassador for the anti-racism initiative and has pledged his support.
He said: "Scunthorpe United 100 per cent supports the Kick It Out campaign and I'm delighted to be an ambassador."

Sarah Teal, Scunthorpe United disability and equalities officer, said: "This year the club is striving to make equality and diversity the forefront of every agenda.

"The banner parade and the posters are only the surface of the constant developments at the club. We hope all the supporters take on board the message and celebrate a great campaign."

As well as events at professional clubs across the country, the campaign will involve community groups, grass roots clubs, schools, colleges and places of worship.

The aim is to encourage all football fans to get involved in events, activities and celebrations in their local area and unite under an anti-racism message.

Lord Herman Ouseley, chair of Kick It Out, said: "Collectively, we continue to make strides in the fight for equality across the game.

"Clubs, however, have a unique power to act as the catalyst for this progress.

"The One Game, One Community weeks of action illustrates this perfectly, as clubs, along with players and fans, combine to send out the strongest message that football is our game and there to be enjoyed by everyone."

The campaign is gathering momentum across Europe, with Football Against Racism In Europe giving it a voice at Champions League fixtures. To get involved and find local events, visit www.kickitout.org

This is Scunthorpe

ROMA EXPULSION ORDERS CALLED INTO QUESTION BY LAWYERS (France)

At dawn on August 14, seventy Roma were evicted from the house in which they were squatting in the city of Montreuil, just south of Paris. Fourteen men were separated from their wives and children and placed into police custody. As evening neared, the men left the police station after each had been handed an official document: an Obligation to Leave the French Territory (OQTF), a month’s notice to pack their bags. The document clearly states the reason for their expulsion: they’ve lived in France for over three months, have insufficient financial resources to stay and no family obligations in the country. In accordance with European law, this gives France sufficient reason to demand their departure. The group’s lawyers, Helene Clement and Guillaume Traynard, think otherwise. The documents issued to the 14 Roma families are identical, save the blank space where their names and dates of birth were filled in by hand. Clearly, Clement and Traynard, argue, French authorities have failed to check the status of each of the Roma.

The Montreuil eviction does not appear to be an isolated case. Since 2008 French immigrant advocacy groups have voiced their concern over prewritten and identical declarations presented to all occupants of evacuated Roma camps across the country. “We can’t write it off as mere negligence by some policemen. It is clearly a national policy,” says Claudia Charles, who works with the French organisation Information and Support Group for Immigrants (GISTI). French and European laws are clear on this point: the personal circumstances of each OQTF candidate must be reviewed to determine their legal status. “The only thing these men have in common is that they belong to the Roma community,” says Traynard. “It’s an obvious singling-out of a population.” Among the 14 men, many insist they have not spent three months in France. Their assertion, however, is impossible to verify. As European citizens, they have no obligation to register in their host country, or to have their passports stamped when crossing the border. The evicted Roma families are now living in a house lent to them by the Montreuil city authorities. Their lawyers have filed a motion to overturn the OQTF’s issued on August 14.

The Roma question
Sitting on one of four double beds that fill the main room on the ground floor, Badarut Lunca, 33, speaks jokingly about his day at the police station. “The translator told us we had to leave France, but we were not obligated to return to Romania. We can just go to Belgium and return.” Like all his Roma friends, Lunca has no intention of returning to Romania. The European Research Council on Roma (CERR), a Budapest based pro-Roma advocacy group, says it has documented five cases identical to Montreuil’s in the last two months. But its indictment of French authorities goes beyond bureaucratic negligence. “The OQTF’s being churned out are not the whole story. When we talked to people who had been handed the documents we found a general climate of fear and intimidation by law enforcement agents,” says Victoria Vasey, director of legal affairs at CERR. On September 29, the European Commissioner for Justice, Viviane Reding, gave Paris an October 15th deadline to demonstrate that it is carrying out Roma expulsions in compliance with European law. “The Commission wants to know if France failed to implement directives and the procedural rights of EU citizens in a systematic way,” said Reding’s spokesman, Matthew Newman. An unsatisfactory response, the European Commission has warned, could compel it to take France to the European Court of Justice. But immigrant rights groups fear that for the sake of appeasement, the Commission could limit its investigation to legal concerns. “Where France is guilty is in its procedure,” decries GISTI’s Charles.

Burden of proof
“We will bring forth all the evidence, all the necessary guarantees, that there was individual examination [of each Roma expulsion case] in August," immigration minister Eric Besson told France’s Senate television channel on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the lawyer Guillaume Traynard says his clients are “sure to win” since they are European citizens and are protected by EU laws. A court in Montreuil will hear their case early next year. In Montreuil the Roma families huddle around their lawyer as he distributes a new official document. A court paper stating that an appeal of their OQTF is under consideration. “If the police stop you, show them this. They cannot deport you with it,” explains the lawyer. Nodding as they accept the document, the group looks far from convinced.

 France 24

Geert Wilders trial continues with prosecution case (Netherlands)

On Tuesday, the prosecutors Birgit van Roessel and Paul Velleman said the MP should be found not guilty of the concept of group insult.

By likening the Koran to Hitler's Mein Kampf, Wilders was focusing on Islam and the Koran, rather than Muslims, even if the statement can be considered upsetting, the public prosecutors said during court hearings in Amsterdam.

The public prosecution department was forced to take the case by the high court after anti-racism campaigners protested at its refusal to prosecute Wilders.

The defence will begin its case later this month.

Dutch News

One New York hate crime suspect is released while another is arrested (USA)

He faces similar charges as the other suspects, which include assault as a hate crime, police said.

One of the other 10 suspects was released on bail Thursday after a hearing in Bronx Criminal Court.

Ruddy Vargas-Perez faces 10 charges in the case, including four counts of robbery, second-degree gang assault, hate crime, harassment, unlawful imprisonment and criminal possession of a weapon. His bond was set at $25,000.

Defense attorneys for the nine other suspects waived bail for their clients, all of whom appeared Thursday in court. Attorneys had been assigned to some of them just moments before.

The attorneys also reserved the right for their clients to testify before a grand jury.

Two court dates have been set after a grand jury considers indictments: Some will appear on October 21 and others on October 22.

Vargas-Perez was surrounded by friends and family after the court appearance.

Vargas-Perez's attorney, Benjamin Heinrich, said Tuesday after his client's arraignment, "He had nothing to do with any of that horrific conduct, and he was as mortified as we all are by what happened to that poor man."

Vargas-Perez's family also maintained his innocence in the October 3 attacks.

The case involved three victims being held against their will by several assailants who beat them in an unoccupied apartment and sodomized two of them, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said last week.

A fourth victim was beaten and robbed in connection with the attacks, which New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg described as "torture."

The string of attacks began when members of a street gang calling themselves the Latin King Goonies learned that an aspiring member is gay, authorities said.

According to Kelly, the 17-year-old pledge was forced into the apartment around 3:30 a.m. Sunday and questioned about his contact with a 30-year-old man. He was thrown into a wall, forced to strip, hit in the head with a beer can, cut with a box cutter and sodomized with the wooden handle of a plunger, the commissioner said.

His assailants let him go, but threatened to hurt him or his family if he talked, Kelly said.

The victim went to a hospital for treatment, but said his injuries were from an attack by unknown assailants on the street, the commissioner said.

The same day, another 17-year-old was beaten and questioned about the same 30-year-old man, robbed of jewelry and held against his will in the same apartment, Kelly said.

About an hour after that, the 30-year-old man was lured to the location where the second 17-year-old was being held, was forced to strip and was tied to a chair opposite the teenager, Kelly said. The teenager was forced to hit the older male several times in the face and burn him with cigarettes, after which the suspects assaulted him with their fists and a chain and sodomized him with a small baseball bat, the commissioner said.

The 30-year-old man was later dumped outside his home, the commissioner added. Five of the suspects then went to the apartment the 30-year-old victim shared with his older brother and let themselves in using a key they'd taken from the man, Kelly said. There, they beat the man's brother and demanded money from him, Kelly said.

When the man refused, the assailants put a cell phone to his ear and he heard his younger brother say that he was being held against his will and to "give them the money," the commissioner said. The older brother told the suspects where they could find the money, after which they tied him up and left the apartment, Kelly added.

Ten of the suspects live in the Bronx, police said.

Pending charges include unlawful imprisonment, abduction, sodomy, assault, robbery, and menacing, all as hate crimes, the commissioner said.

CNN

Serbian thugs are the toys of nationalist and neo-fascist leaders (UK)

For the second time in three days Serbian thugs have laid waste to a European city in riots that have combined wanton and random violence with organisational talent and political backing. Yesterday in Genoa, the Scottish referee Craig Thomson had first to delay the kick-off for the Euro 2012 qualifier between Italy and Serbia by 45 minutes because of fans' rioting, and then call the game off after seven minutes. Earlier the angry young men from Belgrade went on the rampage in the Mediterranean port and Uefa have opened a "full and thorough" investigation into the incidents.

"Serbia is a land of sporting heroes, not of vandals and hooligans," Snezana Markovic-Samardzic, the sports minister, said. From Monica Seles to Novak Djokovic, there have been ample heroes. But the hooligans have been a fixture of Serbian life for decades, often used and abused by ruthless politicians, warlords and organised crime.

On Sunday many of the same hooligans turned the streets of Belgrade into a battlefield, ostensibly protesting against a Gay Pride march through the city, but running rings around the heavy police presence. The street violence was orchestrated politically by ultra-nationalist and neo‑fascist leaders. The rioters attacked the offices of the party of the president, Boris Tadic, and the offices of other political enemies, state television company and relatively liberal media outlets. They were egged on by extreme-right politicians who blamed the violence on the government for allowing a gay parade.

Extreme, aggressive nationalism was also on display in the stands at Genoa. Serbian fans burned Albanian flags and shouted slogans such as "kill a Shiptar" (a pejorative term for an Albanian). The message was one of recalcitrant and violent nationalism – that Serbia is keeping the breakaway Albanian province of Kosovo which declared independence two years ago.

Government officials see the two outbreaks of rioting as linked and distinctly political. "After these two incidents, I can say that these hooligans are a part of organised groups with financial support," Slobodan Homen, a justice ministry official, said. "Opposition parties are not directly involved but are exploiting the situation."

Football riots are common in former Yugoslavia, recently in Bosnia and Croatia and particularly in Belgrade where the big rivalry between Red Star and Partizan routinely results in tribal warring. High unemployment, no future prospects, 20 years of war, state collapse, Nato bombing and criminalisation all mean that bad behaviour from Belgrade youth is hardly surprising. But the hooligan problem has always also been a political toy.

The delije – or hardmen – that are the Red Star supporters have played several roles over the past 20 years: from brutal foot soldiers for militia leaders in the ethnic cleansing campaigns in Bosnia and Croatia; to revolutionary masses in the throng that overthrew Slobodan Milosevic as president in 2000; to street fighters in the neo-fascist campaign against the government, against the rest of Europe, against the US.

An early signal of the nationalist turmoil tearing old Yugoslavia apart came in 1990, when the Red Star hardmen fought Dinamo Zagreb's hooligans at the Maksimir in the Croatian capital. The wars started a year later.

The Belgrade thugs were led by Zeljko Raznatovic, aka Arkan, the gangland boss and warlord who later used the Red Star fan base to recruit his Tigers militia to carry out atrocities in Croatia and Bosnia. He was assassinated in 2000, having been indicted for crimes against humanity by the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

The rioting in Belgrade on Sunday was explicitly political. Extremist political leaders were arrested and police say they recovered detailed riot plans from the detainees. Officials also believe the estimated 3,000 that went to Genoa were acting on orders from leaders in Belgrade. "We had reports this was going to happen," Tomislav Karadzic, the head of the Serbian Football Association, said. "These kids are just doing what they're told. Those issuing the orders are in Belgrade."

That football hooliganism in Serbia is as much a political as a social problem is clear from current attempts by prosecutors to have 14 fan organisations banned. They bear names such as Brain Damage, the Ultras, Alcatraz and the Belgrade Boys. They should be outlawed because of "activity aimed at the violent destruction of the constitutional order, violation of human and minority rights, and inciting racial, national and religious hatred", said the prosecutor's office.

Savo Milosevic, the former Aston Villa striker and Serbia's most-capped player, also saw a political agenda behind the Genoa carnage. "It's one of the blackest days in the history of Serbian football. Some people are again using football for certain other aims."

Ian Traynor for the Guardian

Beautiful Budapest is Returning to Fascism (Hungary)

The beautiful Budapest and much of the rest of Hungary is returning to fascism. Recent elections in Hungary have put the right wing Fidisz Party and the anti-Semitic Jobbik Party in power. New laws have given the government control over much of the media. Civil servants can now be fired without cause. The Chair of the anti-Semitic Party, Gabor Vona, recently showed off a uniform that was reminicent of the Nazi party during WWII.

Hungary embraced their version of the Nazi party during WWII. Called the ArrowArrow Cross Party, it was still sending Jews to their deaths after Adolf Eichmann had fled. After WWII Hungary became a satellite country of the USSR.

It is troubling to see a country that seems on the surface so civilized and accomplished turn to a disgraced and hate inspired philosophy.

"Neo-fascist thugs attacked RomaRoma families, killing six people in a series of murders. The right-wing populists of the Fidesz Party won a two-thirds majority in the parliament, while the anti-Semitic Jobbik party captured 16.7 percent of the vote, making it the third-largest party in Hungary, next to the Socialists. Unknown vandals defiled the Holocaust Memorial with bloody pigs' feet"Der Spiegel

Watch a video report. Fascists on the Rise Hungary

Ainsworth backs Racism: Kick It Out at Shrewsbury Town (UK)

Shrewsbury winger Lionel Ainsworth has cited racist abuse as a teenager as one of the reasons for  backing the Racism: Kick It Out day at the Prostar Meadow.

"It was in a youth game when I was 15. I didn't make a fuss, but I was mad inside," he told BBC Radio Shropshire.

As an ambassador for the scheme, the 23-year-old believes Kick It Out has helped improve things over the years.

"There's not the huge abuse I've heard about from the past, plus there's been a big influx of foreign players."
Ainsworth has the backing of his team-mates at Shrewsbury to mark the Kick It Out fortnight.

"Old fashioned banter could be hurtful. Nowadays it's all about what's happened on a night out, things like that," he added.

"Whether players are black, white, yellow, whatever - everyone's got to be protected, especially younger ones, and the dressing room wants to see this through.

"My mum was brave to marry a black man, and she told me a few stories about those days.
"I'm thinking about my mother, my friends, everyone who's suffered abuse.

"Nowadays it's more noticeable when things are said, but it is better now. I'm grateful for the Kick It Out campaign, and so are many players.

"I'm a black Englishman and very proud of it. I've played for England at various levels, and I want to get to the top and play for them again."

The 2010 Kick It Out campaign lasts for a fortnight, Shrewsbury starting their contribution to it at their home game with Lincoln on 16 October.

BBC News

Report highlights mental health discrimination (Ireland)

A study of more than 300 people with mental health problems, carried out by Dublin City University (DCU), found that 95 per cent of participants had experienced some level of unfair treatment because of a mental health problem.

Launched to coincide with World Mental Health Week, starting on October 10, the report found that 86 per cent of respondents had experienced some level of distress as a result of unfair treatment, while 64 per cent of people reported unfair treatment in making or keeping friends. Some 63 per cent reported having been avoided or shunned because of a mental health problem and 61 per cent of people reported being treated unfairly by family.

The DCU study was carried out by the School of Nursing and was part of Amnesty International Ireland’s mental health and human rights campaign, ‘Hear My Voice: Challenging Prejudice and Discrimination’.

Findings also highlighted that 44 per cent of people said they were treated unfairly in terms of personal safety, 36 per cent of people reported being unfairly treated in finding a job and two thirds of the participants stopped themselves from applying for work because of the manner in which they were treated.

The new research findings highlight the need for Government action to challenge mental health prejudice and discrimination, according to Amnesty. Colm O’Gorman, Executive Director of Amnesty, said: “At the heart of ‘Hear My Voice’ is not statistics, but human stories. You hear about the job offer that disappeared at the mention of a mental health problem. Or someone else outlining so simply, yet so powerfully, the dramatic effect a mental health problem had on their social life. No telephone calls, no visiting, no invitations.

“In Ireland to date, there has been little research about the nature, extent and impact of discrimination that people with mental health problems face.”

The report makes a number of recommendations to Government including: Ireland should ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol without further delay; the Office for Mental Health and Disability should adopt immediate, effective and appropriate measures to combat prejudice and raise awareness of the impact of discrimination; and the Equality Authority should collect, analyse and disseminate information on the prevalence and nature of discrimination against people with mental health problems.

Amnesty also recommends the implementation of specialised education programmes targeted at key State agencies to improve attitudes and conduct of officials; to identify indirect discrimination against people with mental health problems that may be occurring as a consequence of the application of laws and policies; and to undertake measures to redress these and monitor the impact.

Irish Medical Times

Two Hemet white supremacists guilty in 2008 attack (USA)

Two members of a Hemet white supremacist gang have been convicted of attempted murder in the 2008 beating and stabbing of a rival white supremacist gang member from the San Fernando Valley.

Timothy True, 22, and Steven Lemeur, 25, were both found guilty of attempted murder, burglary by forced entry and committing a felony to benefit a criminal street gang.

Defense attorneys could not be reached Wednesday.

Both men, who have swastikas tattooed on their heads, are members of the Hemet-based COORS Family Skins, which stands for Comrades of our Racial Struggle. They were arrested after the August 2008 attack of Cory Smith at a Yale Street apartment.

Prosecutors said Smith had shared a prison cell with Lemeur in Chino.

COORS members tried to recruit him into their gang in Hemet but he refused, saying he was trying to escape the gang lifestyle, Deputy District Attorney Sean Crandell said.

Police in that Riverside County city were called to an apartment where Smith was shooting heroin with a girlfriend. They found him stabbed about six times and beaten with a baseball bat. He had lost about six liters of blood and was within 30 minutes of dying, Crandell said.

Smith was in a coma for several weeks after undergoing surgery. He was released from Riverside County Regional Medical Center after six weeks in intensive care, according to a Hemet police affidavit. Smith did not remember the attack, but witnesses identified True and Lemeur as suspects by identifying their tattoos.

Authorities believe the men conspired to attack Smith for snitching to law enforcement about a previous crime. Lemeur had wanted to attack Smith while in prison but was stopped by gang elders.

The two men could face at least 15 years to life when they are sentenced Jan. 7 in a French Valley Courtroom, outside Murrieta.

 The Press Enterprise

Racist 'Bandit' Obama billboard sparks storm in US city

"It?s beyond distasteful, and it?s disrespectful of the commander-in-chief," said Martelle Daniels, chairwoman  of the local Mesa County Democrats, calling it "clearly racist and homophobic."

"Certainly (it) is not designed for intelligent discourse at all," she added in Grand Junction, in the western US state of Colorado.

Beneath the cartoonish figures of Obama -- also depicted as a cigar-chomping gangster -- are rats, labeled as trial lawyers, the Inland Revenue Service (IRS), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Federal Reserve bank.

Chuck Pabst, the local Republican Party chairman, told the local paper the Grand Junction Sentinel that the billboard is in bad taste.

"It?s reprehensible and disrespectful, and that?s not what any honorable person would put forth," Pabst said. "To ridicule somebody in this manner is juvenile."

Politically, Mesa County is Republican-dominated and increasingly conservative, with several active Tea Party organizations -- which are making waves ahead of mid-term elections next month.

After two years in the White House, Obama is struggling to avoid a drubbing for his Democratic party in the November 2 ballots, and the race is getting increasingly hard-fought as the polls get nearer.

The provocative picture is the work of artist Paul Snover, who frequently posts on constitutionalist and Tea Party websites.

Snover couldn't be reached by AFP for comment, but he told the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel in an e-mail that he is "not allowed to say" who paid for the billboard.

Dennis Lucas, a Grand Junction businessman who owns the billboard, said, "I cannot tell you who it?s rented to," and hung up.

Doris Downey, the owner of a company whose parking lot is being invaded by people taking a closer look, is angry that her business is being disrupted.

"I have no problem with freedom of speech, but I do have a problem with causing problems for others, and this is causing problems for us on top of all this," she said.

"I don?t know who commissioned that thing, which I think is despicable, but they should own up to it," Downey said. "Anonymous opinion gets no respect from me."

AFP

Benefit plans could aid far right groups (UK)

Plans to cut housing benefit could boost support for the British National Party, according to the Labour MP who defeated the leader of the far-right group in the general election.

Margaret Hodge accused the government of deliberately forming policies to drive the poorest families from central London for political motives, and said the moves would create tensions in areas such as her Barking and Dagenham constituency.

The government is proposing a series of reforms to housing benefit, including setting limits on the maximum amount of local housing allowance that can be claimed at between £250 and £400 a week depending on property size.

Speaking in a parliamentary debate on the impact of housing benefit cuts on local authorities, Ms Hodge said the government is ‘deliberately forcing tens of thousands of families out of central London in a shameful act of social engineering and political gerrymandering which will cause irreparable damage to our communities’.

She added this would ‘inevitably reignite tensions’ that allowed far-right groups to establish a foothold in her constituency. BNP leader Nick Griffin secured 14.6 per cent of the vote in Barking and Dagenham in the general election in May.

Responding on behalf of the government, Department for Work and Pensions minister Steve Webb denied the changes would destroy settled communities.

‘The idea that there are these static communities where any sort of disruption will undermine the sense of community seems to me a parody of what is going on,’ he said.

He added that there is evidence that housing benefit is currently ‘subsidising landlords’ rather than vulnerable people.

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Simon Hughes, the MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, said he was sure the government was not deliberately trying to move people from central London, but added ‘there can be unintended consequences’.

Inside Housing

Online city Muslim group pledging death to all non-believers of Islam 'could be fake' (UK)

Concerns have been raised over a rogue online group claiming to represent Lincoln's Islamic community.

The group, named the Muslim Defence League – Lincoln Division, was created on September 30 of this year by a Facebook user known as Ibrahim Alauri.

In its Facebook description, the group make clear their ethos is to unite Lincoln's Muslims against the English Defence League – and pledge "death to all non-believers" of the Islamic faith.

The group has since been reported to Lincolnshire Police, who are monitoring their activity.

But Just Lincolnshire, a recently established group dedicated to preserving racial equality and promoting human rights throughout the county, warn it could be a fake group created to discredit genuine Muslim intentions.

Paul Elliott, chief executive of Just Lincolnshire, said: "It appears from reading the official Muslim Defence League (MDL) Facebook site description that it has been set up in response to the activities of the English Defence League.

"The official MDL Facebook site, which has 11,258 Facebook friends, also describes its purpose as 'wishing to defend all races and religions', which is in stark contrast to the unacceptable aggressive Facebook description of the unofficial Lincoln MDL branch, with just two friends.

"It is not clear the Lincoln Branch of MDL actually exists, or whether this may be a spoof site set up to discredit the bona fide official MDL Facebook pages which have previously been infiltrated in a similar fashion."

Alaa Alnajafi, a 20-year-old student in Lincoln and member of the Islamic faith, said that groups such as the MDL Lincoln Division in no way represented the beliefs of the Islamic faith.

She said: "We, as the Islamic community of Lincoln, disassociate ourselves from any Muslim groups or individuals who commit un-Islamic acts.

"Those who commit acts of terror, murder and cruelty in the name of Islam are not only destroying innocent lives, but are also betraying the values of this faith they claim to represent."


This is Lincolnshire