Sweden has drawn up a plan to fight extremism in response to attacks in neighbouring Norway that killed 77 people last month, government ministers wrote in an opinion piece published Friday.
The national plan was needed to safeguard Sweden against similar attacks, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and two ministers wrote, describing the Norway killings as a “catastrophe of unimaginable dimensions”.
They identified the fringes of three extremist groups as the most dangerous: the white-power far-right, the far-left and Islamists.
“We need to have a broad concept of violent extremism and not limit our line of vision,” Reinfeldt, Justice Minister Beatrice Ask and Democracy Minister Birgitta Ohlsson wrote in the Dagens Nyheter newspaper.
“There are many similarities in the processes that lead individuals to use violence to reach political goals, regardless of the political or religious content of their extreme ideas,” they wrote.
The plan calls for close cooperation and expanded intelligence and information sharing between all strata of society, including police, national and local authorities, schools, social services and civil society.
The rightwing extremist who confessed to the twin July 22 attacks in Norway had much in common with the Islamic extremist behind the first ever suicide bombing in Sweden in December last year, the ministers said.
The Sweden attacker, 29-year-old Taimour Abdulwahab, was killed when apparently detonating his bomb by mistake in a deserted Stockholm side street. Two people were injured when his car exploded in an earlier blast.
Citing a report that around 20 percent of Swedish high school students showed intolerance towards minorities, the ministers emphasised the importance of reaching people who “risk making up the growth basis for future extremism.”
“It is important that vulnerable individuals who could be drawn to an anti-democratic message stand at the centre of our preventive work so they can be detected in time,” they wrote.
“Battling against violence-prone extremism is not just a task for the state. All of Sweden is needed to protect our democracy.”
They presented their plan two weeks after 32-year-old rightwing extremist Anders Behring Breivik bombed government offices in Oslo, killing eight people, and then shot dead 69 more on the nearby island of Utoeya where the ruling Labour Party's youth organisation was hosting a summer camp. - Sapa-AFP
IOL News
Monday, 8 August 2011
Twickenham BNP candidate booted out of party (UK)
Twickenham’s BNP parliamentary candidate has been booted out of the party after an undercover newspaper sting caught him giving a Hitler-style salute at a pop concert.
Chris Hurst, of Whitton, was said to have been warned by the BNP not to be seen saluting in public for fear of damaging its image.
However, he was pictured giving the gesture at a festival in Hungary as he watched far-right Swedish singer Saga, whose lyrics were said to have inspired Norwegian killer Anders Breivik.
Mr Hurst, who won 654 votes when stood against Vince Cable in last year’s general election, denied this week that he was a Nazi. He claimed he was drunk and had just copied everyone else in the crowd.
He did not answer his phone yesterday after the Sun revealed the BNP has expelled him.
Twickenham MP Dr Cable said the Sun’s investigation was a “clear warning” to voters in his constituency.
He said: “I don’t have any illusions about the BNP, they are a thoroughly nasty party with links to the neo-Nazi right.
“Fortunately the BNP have very little support in Twickenham, but this is a clear warning to local residents to be aware.
“Six hundred votes is not very much, but if there’s about 600 then probably they need to be more careful who they are voting for.”
Mr Hurst, who was the BNP’s London regional secretary, said he travelled to Hungary alone and friends there invited him to the festival, which was believed to have been attended by thousands of neo-Nazi’s from across Europe.
He described his right-arm salute as “a storm in a tea cup”.
He said: “I went to a concert, I’m 22-years-old, I got drunk and I did what everybody else in the club was doing and put my arm in the air.”
But the BNP took the gesture more seriously and kicked him out, the Sun reported.
The party told the tabloid newspaper, which sent an undercover team to the Hungarian festival, that Mr Hurst had put the BNP in an embarrassing position.
Rrichmond and Twickenham Times
Chris Hurst, of Whitton, was said to have been warned by the BNP not to be seen saluting in public for fear of damaging its image.
However, he was pictured giving the gesture at a festival in Hungary as he watched far-right Swedish singer Saga, whose lyrics were said to have inspired Norwegian killer Anders Breivik.
Mr Hurst, who won 654 votes when stood against Vince Cable in last year’s general election, denied this week that he was a Nazi. He claimed he was drunk and had just copied everyone else in the crowd.
He did not answer his phone yesterday after the Sun revealed the BNP has expelled him.
Twickenham MP Dr Cable said the Sun’s investigation was a “clear warning” to voters in his constituency.
He said: “I don’t have any illusions about the BNP, they are a thoroughly nasty party with links to the neo-Nazi right.
“Fortunately the BNP have very little support in Twickenham, but this is a clear warning to local residents to be aware.
“Six hundred votes is not very much, but if there’s about 600 then probably they need to be more careful who they are voting for.”
Mr Hurst, who was the BNP’s London regional secretary, said he travelled to Hungary alone and friends there invited him to the festival, which was believed to have been attended by thousands of neo-Nazi’s from across Europe.
He described his right-arm salute as “a storm in a tea cup”.
He said: “I went to a concert, I’m 22-years-old, I got drunk and I did what everybody else in the club was doing and put my arm in the air.”
But the BNP took the gesture more seriously and kicked him out, the Sun reported.
The party told the tabloid newspaper, which sent an undercover team to the Hungarian festival, that Mr Hurst had put the BNP in an embarrassing position.
Rrichmond and Twickenham Times
Mosque Opens its Doors to English Defence League Members
The UKIM Islamic Centre and Khadijah Mosque (pictured) issued an invitation to local EDL members for a meeting to discuss the misconceptions about Islam.
The EDL styles itself as being against Islamic extremism and Sharia Law, and the mosque's invite drew interest from national leader Stephen Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson.
But a spokesman for the Islamic Centre Fiaz Kauser made it clear that the invitation was for EDL members local to Peterborough, rather than members of the national group.
It follows information stalls the Islamic Centre put up in Peterborough city centre in recent weeks, which prompted debate between mosque members and members of the EDL who approached them, where the mosque sought to dispel some preconceptions people have about Islam.
Fiaz Kauser, spokesman for the centre, : "We held the stall in Bridge Street at the weekend where we gave out information about Islam and the Qur'an on Saturday.
"We have put up the stall across the region on a number of occasions to clear any misconceptions people have of Islam.
"We also hope that people can challenge themselves to learn more.
"We always have a lot of interest because of what is happening elsewhere in the world and reports people hear about what the Qur'an says."
Mr Kauser said a member of the EDL actually stopped to talk with mosque members at the stall on Saturday.
He said: "A member of the EDL approached us and it actually was a very positive incident.
"He was asking questions and listening to the answers we were giving.
"We had a similar incident in Wisbech previously, where a member of the EDL approached us to talk about Sharia law - he did not know what it was, but had a number of misconceptions.
"We were able to explain what Sharia law was and answer all his questions.
"When he left he actually apologised for some of his previous views.
"He was more polite than some other people who approached us, who kept interrupting and not letting us finish.
"Following the day we decided to invite EDL members in Peterborough to come to the mosque for a question and answer session and to learn more about Islam.
"We would also like them to join us for a meal during Ramadan when we open our fast."
The EDL held a large march in Peterborough on Saturday, 11 December last year, with more than 1,000 protesters in attendance.
The protest group was set up two years ago by a group of football fans in Luton to oppose what they perceive as the rise of extreme Islam and Sharia Law.
(Ahlul Bayt News Agency)
The EDL styles itself as being against Islamic extremism and Sharia Law, and the mosque's invite drew interest from national leader Stephen Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson.
But a spokesman for the Islamic Centre Fiaz Kauser made it clear that the invitation was for EDL members local to Peterborough, rather than members of the national group.
It follows information stalls the Islamic Centre put up in Peterborough city centre in recent weeks, which prompted debate between mosque members and members of the EDL who approached them, where the mosque sought to dispel some preconceptions people have about Islam.
Fiaz Kauser, spokesman for the centre, : "We held the stall in Bridge Street at the weekend where we gave out information about Islam and the Qur'an on Saturday.
"We have put up the stall across the region on a number of occasions to clear any misconceptions people have of Islam.
"We also hope that people can challenge themselves to learn more.
"We always have a lot of interest because of what is happening elsewhere in the world and reports people hear about what the Qur'an says."
Mr Kauser said a member of the EDL actually stopped to talk with mosque members at the stall on Saturday.
He said: "A member of the EDL approached us and it actually was a very positive incident.
"He was asking questions and listening to the answers we were giving.
"We had a similar incident in Wisbech previously, where a member of the EDL approached us to talk about Sharia law - he did not know what it was, but had a number of misconceptions.
"We were able to explain what Sharia law was and answer all his questions.
"When he left he actually apologised for some of his previous views.
"He was more polite than some other people who approached us, who kept interrupting and not letting us finish.
"Following the day we decided to invite EDL members in Peterborough to come to the mosque for a question and answer session and to learn more about Islam.
"We would also like them to join us for a meal during Ramadan when we open our fast."
The EDL held a large march in Peterborough on Saturday, 11 December last year, with more than 1,000 protesters in attendance.
The protest group was set up two years ago by a group of football fans in Luton to oppose what they perceive as the rise of extreme Islam and Sharia Law.
(Ahlul Bayt News Agency)
RIGHT-WING MP DISTANCES HIMSELF FROM ONLINE HATE SPEECH (Finland)
The chairman of a far-right political party in Finland has accused the opposition of using the Norwegian terror attacks as a tool to link his party with extremism. Timo Soini said that even though Norwegian Anders Behring Breivik referred to True Finn MP Jussi Halla-aho in his manifesto, it does not mean that the anti-immigration party shares the mass murderer’s views. “We’re talking about an individual fanatic, a psychopath and his murders,” argued Soini in the YLE report. “I understand that this topic has caused turbulence in Finland as well, but in Norway the tragedy has been kept in proportion quite nicely,” he added. “The tragedy has not been made a political bone of contention there, all the parties have come together to help their people through a difficult time.
Politicians are not blaming each other, or demanding statements from each other there.” Breivik, who had strong anti-Islamic and anti-immigration views, has admitted carrying out the double terror attacks in Norway on 22nd July that left 77 people dead. Shortly before the attacks he published a 1,500-page manifesto online, outlining his extremist beliefs. Soini has defended the right to exercise free speech online, but claims that he does not in any way condone Breivik’s actions. He also called for the use of real names in such online debates in order to encourage a moderate tone. “It is clear that I do not accept violence or threats of violence,” said Soini. “Hate is a destructive force, which first destroys the target of the hatred and then the hater himself. I do not accept hatred. It is dehumanising and brutalising and damages others’ human dignity.”
Ice News
Politicians are not blaming each other, or demanding statements from each other there.” Breivik, who had strong anti-Islamic and anti-immigration views, has admitted carrying out the double terror attacks in Norway on 22nd July that left 77 people dead. Shortly before the attacks he published a 1,500-page manifesto online, outlining his extremist beliefs. Soini has defended the right to exercise free speech online, but claims that he does not in any way condone Breivik’s actions. He also called for the use of real names in such online debates in order to encourage a moderate tone. “It is clear that I do not accept violence or threats of violence,” said Soini. “Hate is a destructive force, which first destroys the target of the hatred and then the hater himself. I do not accept hatred. It is dehumanising and brutalising and damages others’ human dignity.”
Ice News
Calls to ban far-right German party pose propaganda risk (Germany)
Right-wing extremist parties in Europe have come under fresh scrutiny in recent weeks, following the twin attacks in Norway which killed 77 people.
In Germany, the attacks re-launched a debate into the political legitimacy of the country's main nationalist party, the National Democratic Party (NPD). Politicians from the main opposition party, the SPD, have made fresh calls for the party to be banned.
But a spokesman for German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich told Deutsche Welle that Friedrich could not support another attempt at a ban.
"He doesn't seek a renewed case to ban the NPD," said the spokesman. Friedrich justified his position on the basis that a ban had already failed in 2003.
In 2003, a high-profile case for banning the NPD party came before the Federal Constitutional Court. The case, however, was thrown out after it was revealed that a number of the NPD's inner circle were in fact undercover agents or informants of the German secret services.
Since the government bodies were unwilling to fully disclose their agents' identities and activities, the court found it impossible to reach a verdict and the case was dropped.
This item continues at DW World
In Germany, the attacks re-launched a debate into the political legitimacy of the country's main nationalist party, the National Democratic Party (NPD). Politicians from the main opposition party, the SPD, have made fresh calls for the party to be banned.
But a spokesman for German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich told Deutsche Welle that Friedrich could not support another attempt at a ban.
"He doesn't seek a renewed case to ban the NPD," said the spokesman. Friedrich justified his position on the basis that a ban had already failed in 2003.
In 2003, a high-profile case for banning the NPD party came before the Federal Constitutional Court. The case, however, was thrown out after it was revealed that a number of the NPD's inner circle were in fact undercover agents or informants of the German secret services.
Since the government bodies were unwilling to fully disclose their agents' identities and activities, the court found it impossible to reach a verdict and the case was dropped.
This item continues at DW World
Friday, 5 August 2011
Neo-Nazi shoots self as police find his dead son (Germany)
Authorities are conducting an autopsy on the son of a known neo-Nazi after his body was found with a gunshot wound to the head – next to his father who shot himself as the police approached the scene.
Anton Pfahler, 65, one of Germany’s best-known neo-Nazis, shot himself in the stomach as officers approached the scene near Ried in Bavaria on Wednesday afternoon, but did not kill himself.
He was operated upon in hospital and is recovering, although he is not yet in a fit condition to be questioned, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on Thursday. The body of his 23-year-old son, who has not been named by the media, was found next to him with at a gunshot wound to the head.
Officers found Pfahler sitting outside a hut in the woods after an acquaintance called for help, saying something strange was happening, according to public broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk.
As they approached Pfahler, he aimed a gun against his own stomach and pulled the trigger, badly injuring himself, they said.
Now an investigation has been launched to determine under what circumstances Pfahler’s son died.
Anton Pfahler was involved with Gundolf Köhler, the neo-Nazi who carried out the 1980 bomb attack on the Munich Oktoberfest, which killed 13 people including Köhler.
Pfahler and Köhler were members of the banned neo-Nazi organization Wehrsportgruppe Hoffmann. Also during that period, Pfahler belonged to the far-right Viking Youth group.
His property in Oberhausen-Sinning was for years used as a meeting place for German neo-Nazis and a publishing centre for the extremist Deutsche Stimme newspaper. He had said he wanted to establish a community of similarly thinking Germans in the area, who would lead ‘species-specific’ lives.
In 1999, the Bayerischer Rundfunk reported, he was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison for breaking weapons laws after he was discovered trading with hand grenades and machine guns.
The Local Germany
Anton Pfahler, 65, one of Germany’s best-known neo-Nazis, shot himself in the stomach as officers approached the scene near Ried in Bavaria on Wednesday afternoon, but did not kill himself.
He was operated upon in hospital and is recovering, although he is not yet in a fit condition to be questioned, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on Thursday. The body of his 23-year-old son, who has not been named by the media, was found next to him with at a gunshot wound to the head.
Officers found Pfahler sitting outside a hut in the woods after an acquaintance called for help, saying something strange was happening, according to public broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk.
As they approached Pfahler, he aimed a gun against his own stomach and pulled the trigger, badly injuring himself, they said.
Now an investigation has been launched to determine under what circumstances Pfahler’s son died.
Anton Pfahler was involved with Gundolf Köhler, the neo-Nazi who carried out the 1980 bomb attack on the Munich Oktoberfest, which killed 13 people including Köhler.
Pfahler and Köhler were members of the banned neo-Nazi organization Wehrsportgruppe Hoffmann. Also during that period, Pfahler belonged to the far-right Viking Youth group.
His property in Oberhausen-Sinning was for years used as a meeting place for German neo-Nazis and a publishing centre for the extremist Deutsche Stimme newspaper. He had said he wanted to establish a community of similarly thinking Germans in the area, who would lead ‘species-specific’ lives.
In 1999, the Bayerischer Rundfunk reported, he was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison for breaking weapons laws after he was discovered trading with hand grenades and machine guns.
The Local Germany
FEARS RAISED ABOUT HATE GROUPS IN BRITISH SOCCER (uk)
The head of British soccer’s anti-racism body warns that extremists are trying to infiltrate the game, citing the massacre in Norway as a wake-up call.
Herman Ouseley, chairman of Kick It Out and a member of the House of Lords, fears right-wing hard-liners could exploit the country’s economic troubles, with “massive deprivation” in parts of England having the potential to foment hatred and exclusion. The racial abuse of black players that blighted English soccer in the 1970s and ’80s has largely been eradicated thanks in large part to the work of the Kick It Out group. “Extremists are still trying to get back into football,” Ouseley told The Associated Press. “We’ve managed to push them off the terraces, away from grounds. But it’s still out in the community and it’s important that we understand that they are trying win over the minds of young, vulnerable people and a lot of football fans are young and vulnerable. “We must always use football as a basis to help young people have a better understanding to have open minds, to see the dangers lurking within those who are offering them easy solutions through hatred.”
Ouseley is concerned that confessed Norwegian killer Anders Behring Breivik could inspire disaffected people in Britain. He raised the issue while addressing top soccer officials at an anti-racism event at Wembley Stadium. Breivik says he carried out last month’s twin-attacks, which killed 77 people, to launch a revolution against a Europe that he contends has been spoiled by Muslim immigration. “Events in Norway over the last week reminds us that the hatred … exists not far from our shores,” Ouseley said. “Because, believe you me, there are people like that living among us in the U.K. and organizations that are very hateful.” The leader of the English Defense League, a far-right group mentioned by Breivik as an inspiration, was convicted last week of leading a brawl involving 100 fellow supporters of Luton Town in Aug. 2010. Stephen Lennon, who was chanting “EDL till I die,” was given a 12-month rehabilitation order. “Norway has happened on a big scale that is a phenomenal human tragedy,” Ouseley said. “It is a reflection of is what is going on in many countries within Europe. Some would say it’s worse in eastern Europe but it’s just as bad in western Europe.”
Ouseley said soccer can be a positive force by inspiring more black and ethnic minority coaches to become involved in the game. On Tuesday, he launched the first initiative backed by all of English soccer’s main governing bodies to ensure coaching is not a white-dominated preserve. When the Premier League season starts next week, not a single black manager will be in charge. “There’s no doubt that English football has been graced by some fantastic black players over the years—Viv Anderson, Cyrille Regis, Andrew Cole, Rio Ferdinand, John Barnes, Ashley Cole and Paul Ince,” said Football Association chairman David Bernstein. “But, for whatever reason, that talent just hasn’t transferred itself from the field of play to the dugout.” The only two black managers in the 72-team Football League are Chris Hughton of Birmingham City in the second-tier League Championship and Chris Powell of Charlton Athletic in third-tier League One.
The Associated Press
Herman Ouseley, chairman of Kick It Out and a member of the House of Lords, fears right-wing hard-liners could exploit the country’s economic troubles, with “massive deprivation” in parts of England having the potential to foment hatred and exclusion. The racial abuse of black players that blighted English soccer in the 1970s and ’80s has largely been eradicated thanks in large part to the work of the Kick It Out group. “Extremists are still trying to get back into football,” Ouseley told The Associated Press. “We’ve managed to push them off the terraces, away from grounds. But it’s still out in the community and it’s important that we understand that they are trying win over the minds of young, vulnerable people and a lot of football fans are young and vulnerable. “We must always use football as a basis to help young people have a better understanding to have open minds, to see the dangers lurking within those who are offering them easy solutions through hatred.”
Ouseley is concerned that confessed Norwegian killer Anders Behring Breivik could inspire disaffected people in Britain. He raised the issue while addressing top soccer officials at an anti-racism event at Wembley Stadium. Breivik says he carried out last month’s twin-attacks, which killed 77 people, to launch a revolution against a Europe that he contends has been spoiled by Muslim immigration. “Events in Norway over the last week reminds us that the hatred … exists not far from our shores,” Ouseley said. “Because, believe you me, there are people like that living among us in the U.K. and organizations that are very hateful.” The leader of the English Defense League, a far-right group mentioned by Breivik as an inspiration, was convicted last week of leading a brawl involving 100 fellow supporters of Luton Town in Aug. 2010. Stephen Lennon, who was chanting “EDL till I die,” was given a 12-month rehabilitation order. “Norway has happened on a big scale that is a phenomenal human tragedy,” Ouseley said. “It is a reflection of is what is going on in many countries within Europe. Some would say it’s worse in eastern Europe but it’s just as bad in western Europe.”
Ouseley said soccer can be a positive force by inspiring more black and ethnic minority coaches to become involved in the game. On Tuesday, he launched the first initiative backed by all of English soccer’s main governing bodies to ensure coaching is not a white-dominated preserve. When the Premier League season starts next week, not a single black manager will be in charge. “There’s no doubt that English football has been graced by some fantastic black players over the years—Viv Anderson, Cyrille Regis, Andrew Cole, Rio Ferdinand, John Barnes, Ashley Cole and Paul Ince,” said Football Association chairman David Bernstein. “But, for whatever reason, that talent just hasn’t transferred itself from the field of play to the dugout.” The only two black managers in the 72-team Football League are Chris Hughton of Birmingham City in the second-tier League Championship and Chris Powell of Charlton Athletic in third-tier League One.
The Associated Press
NORWAY: 'HATE-CAMPAIGN AGAINST MUSLIMS SIMILAR TO JEWS IN THE 1930S'
Erna Solberg, head of the Norwegian Conservative Party, says that the hate campaign against Muslims today is like the one Jews suffered in the 1930s. She wants Norwegians to confront the everyday racism we see around us, at work, in clubs and on the internet, reports VG. "The way the extreme, anti-Islamic groups talk of Muslims today is comparable to the way extreme, antisemitic groups spoke of Jews in the decades that led up to WWII," Solberg told VG. Solberg stresses that Muslim don't get the same brutal treatment Jews did, but still thinks that the extreme harassment of Muslims has obvious similarities to Jew hatred. She says that it gives pause for thought that you can't dismiss this as something coming from outside Norwegian society.
The feeling is quite strong. It would have been easier to dismiss the acts if that person hadn't been raised in Norway and was apparently quite normal. "In 2011 Norwegians are different than in 1960, and if Norwegians who have a slightly different background, who have parents from another place, constantly see a politician debate which asks if they're just as Norwegians as others, it contributes to them feeling more distanced," Solberg told VG.
Aftenposten
The feeling is quite strong. It would have been easier to dismiss the acts if that person hadn't been raised in Norway and was apparently quite normal. "In 2011 Norwegians are different than in 1960, and if Norwegians who have a slightly different background, who have parents from another place, constantly see a politician debate which asks if they're just as Norwegians as others, it contributes to them feeling more distanced," Solberg told VG.
Aftenposten
Griffin's day gets worse by Nick Lowles at Hope Not Hate (UK)
John Walker, former party treasurer and the host of the BNP's (awful) Red White and Blue radio station has today quit the party.
And in good old fashioned BNP style, he has not gone quietly. Using his Twitter account to address the BNP's Nazi shame exposed earlier today, Walker wrote:
#NickGriffin re Sun today, not so many years ago he attended similar events. What rank hypocracy, the clear out should start with HIM!
Griffin may have had other things on his mind however. It looks as if the ever diminishing BNP funds will be taking another hit. We're hearing that Griffin lost his appeal in court today against party rebels, known as the Decembrists, which could cost more than £100,000.
I think we'll sleep very well tonight!
Hope Not Hate
Thursday, 4 August 2011
FEARS OF FAR-RIGHT RISE IN CRISIS-HIT GREECE
They descended by the hundreds – black-shirted, bat-wielding youths chasing down dark-skinned immigrants through the streets of Athens and beating them senseless in an unprecedented show of force by Greece’s far-right extremists. In Greece, alarm is rising that the twin crises of financial meltdown and soaring illegal immigration are creating the conditions for a right-wing rise – and the Norway massacre drove authorities to beef up security on Monday. The move comes amid spiraling social unrest that has unleashed waves of rioting and vigilante thuggery on the streets of Athens. The U.N.’s refugee agency warns that some Athens neighborhoods have become zones where “fascist groups have established an odd lawless regime.” Greek police on Monday said they have increased security checks at Muslim prayer houses and other immigrant sites in response to the Norway shooting rampage that claimed 77 lives. “There has been an increase in monitoring at these sites since the events occurred in Norway,” said police spokesman Thanassis Kokkalakis. Greece’s fears are shared across Europe. Last week, EU counter terror officials held an emergency meeting in Brussels on ways to combat right-wing violence and rising Islamophobia, warning of a “major risk” of Norway copycats. The massacre by Anders Behring Breivik prompted continent-wide soul-searching about whether authorities have neglected the threat of right-wing extremists as they focus on jihadist terror.
Greece, however, may be particularly worrisome because of the intersection of extreme economic distress and rampant illegal immigration, which can create fertile ground for the rise of rightist movements. Immigrant scapegoating has been rife here as unemployment balloons amid economic catastrophe. Even as Greece flounders under mountains of debt, illegal immigrants have been streaming into the country across the Turkish border – turning Greece into the migrant world’s gateway to Europe. Last year, Greece accounted for 90 per cent of the bloc’s detected illegal border crossings, compared to 75 per cent in 2009. The UNHCR and Muslim groups say hate crimes have risen sharply, although police do not have hard numbers. The xenophobic rage exploded in May, when youths rampaged through a heavily immigrant neighborhood in broad daylight, knifing and beating foreigners. The attacks left at least 25 people hospitalized with stab wounds or severe beatings. Athens has since suffered a spate of hate attacks by far-rightists. Last November, the leader of a neo-Nazi group won a seat on Athens’ city council, with an unprecedented 5.3 per cent of the vote. The UNHCR warns of daily attacks by fascist groups in central Athens. “There has been a dangerous escalation in phenomena of racist violence targeting indiscriminately aliens, based solely on their skin color or country of origin,” the UNHCR wrote in a June report. “In certain areas of Athens, cruel and criminal attacks are nearly a daily phenomenon staged by fascist groups that have established an odd lawless regime.”
Immigrants testify to the growing atmosphere of hostility.
“I receive threats all the time,” Naim Elgandour, the Egyptian-born head of the Muslim Association of Greece, said in an interview. “Things have gotten much worse lately. It’s an alarm bell from the rest for Europe,” he said. “There may be 5,000 hardcore extremists in Athens, they are gaining sympathy and tolerance by the day.”
Mr. Elgandour said at least 10 makeshift mosques – basements and coffee shops converted by immigrants to use as prayer sites – have been damaged in firebomb and vandalism attacks in the past year. Under the strain of fast-growing unemployment and new immigrant arrivals, once middle-class neighborhoods north of the centre are turning into a rightist-ridden slums. Police with machine guns guard intersections, white brothel lights line narrow back streets, and young men from violent far-right groups sit casually in squares, sipping cans of beer and hoping to intimidate immigrants. Police spokesman Mr. Kokkalakis said violence by far-right groups has seen “periodical increases” but lacked numbers to point to a trend. But he said most cases of violence that appeared to have a “racial component” in Athens turned out to be the result of rivalry between criminal gangs. Analysts argue that once-marginalized extremist groups are gaining a foothold in mainstream society for the first time, filling a perceived gap in law enforcement in crime-ridden neighborhoods, and benefiting from a surge in popular anger against the political establishment.
Since winning a seat on Athens City Council, Nikolaos Michaloliakos, head of the violent far-right group Golden Dawn, has tailored his recent rhetoric to the financial crisis. “We are living in an enslaved country, financially and nationally,” Mr. Michaloliakos, a 54-year-old mathematician, told supporters last month, giving a speech under a statue of Alexander the Great. “We have a bankrupt economy and the thieving politicians responsible go unpunished,” he said. “How long do they think they can keep lying and fooling the Greek people? Whether they like it or not, the hour of Golden Dawn and nationalist revolution is coming.” Aristotle Kallis, a professor of modern history at Lancaster University in Britain, studies European fascism. He argued that Greek extremists are losing the stigma of being associated with the 1967-74 far-right dictatorship and becoming more similar other European groups – sharing ideas and methods on the Internet. “Since the 1990s, Greek nationalism has mutated quite substantially,” Mr. Kallis wrote in an email to the AP, warning of a broader European rise in bigotry. “We are ... becoming complacent about a wider, deep and dangerous prejudice against immigrants that is spreading well beyond the constituency of the conventional far-right.”
The Associated press
Greece, however, may be particularly worrisome because of the intersection of extreme economic distress and rampant illegal immigration, which can create fertile ground for the rise of rightist movements. Immigrant scapegoating has been rife here as unemployment balloons amid economic catastrophe. Even as Greece flounders under mountains of debt, illegal immigrants have been streaming into the country across the Turkish border – turning Greece into the migrant world’s gateway to Europe. Last year, Greece accounted for 90 per cent of the bloc’s detected illegal border crossings, compared to 75 per cent in 2009. The UNHCR and Muslim groups say hate crimes have risen sharply, although police do not have hard numbers. The xenophobic rage exploded in May, when youths rampaged through a heavily immigrant neighborhood in broad daylight, knifing and beating foreigners. The attacks left at least 25 people hospitalized with stab wounds or severe beatings. Athens has since suffered a spate of hate attacks by far-rightists. Last November, the leader of a neo-Nazi group won a seat on Athens’ city council, with an unprecedented 5.3 per cent of the vote. The UNHCR warns of daily attacks by fascist groups in central Athens. “There has been a dangerous escalation in phenomena of racist violence targeting indiscriminately aliens, based solely on their skin color or country of origin,” the UNHCR wrote in a June report. “In certain areas of Athens, cruel and criminal attacks are nearly a daily phenomenon staged by fascist groups that have established an odd lawless regime.”
Immigrants testify to the growing atmosphere of hostility.
“I receive threats all the time,” Naim Elgandour, the Egyptian-born head of the Muslim Association of Greece, said in an interview. “Things have gotten much worse lately. It’s an alarm bell from the rest for Europe,” he said. “There may be 5,000 hardcore extremists in Athens, they are gaining sympathy and tolerance by the day.”
Mr. Elgandour said at least 10 makeshift mosques – basements and coffee shops converted by immigrants to use as prayer sites – have been damaged in firebomb and vandalism attacks in the past year. Under the strain of fast-growing unemployment and new immigrant arrivals, once middle-class neighborhoods north of the centre are turning into a rightist-ridden slums. Police with machine guns guard intersections, white brothel lights line narrow back streets, and young men from violent far-right groups sit casually in squares, sipping cans of beer and hoping to intimidate immigrants. Police spokesman Mr. Kokkalakis said violence by far-right groups has seen “periodical increases” but lacked numbers to point to a trend. But he said most cases of violence that appeared to have a “racial component” in Athens turned out to be the result of rivalry between criminal gangs. Analysts argue that once-marginalized extremist groups are gaining a foothold in mainstream society for the first time, filling a perceived gap in law enforcement in crime-ridden neighborhoods, and benefiting from a surge in popular anger against the political establishment.
Since winning a seat on Athens City Council, Nikolaos Michaloliakos, head of the violent far-right group Golden Dawn, has tailored his recent rhetoric to the financial crisis. “We are living in an enslaved country, financially and nationally,” Mr. Michaloliakos, a 54-year-old mathematician, told supporters last month, giving a speech under a statue of Alexander the Great. “We have a bankrupt economy and the thieving politicians responsible go unpunished,” he said. “How long do they think they can keep lying and fooling the Greek people? Whether they like it or not, the hour of Golden Dawn and nationalist revolution is coming.” Aristotle Kallis, a professor of modern history at Lancaster University in Britain, studies European fascism. He argued that Greek extremists are losing the stigma of being associated with the 1967-74 far-right dictatorship and becoming more similar other European groups – sharing ideas and methods on the Internet. “Since the 1990s, Greek nationalism has mutated quite substantially,” Mr. Kallis wrote in an email to the AP, warning of a broader European rise in bigotry. “We are ... becoming complacent about a wider, deep and dangerous prejudice against immigrants that is spreading well beyond the constituency of the conventional far-right.”
The Associated press
SARKOZY UNDER FIRE AS ROMA CRACKDOWN FAILS (France)
A year ago Nicolas Sarkozy launched a crackdown on Roma gypsies moving to France from Eastern Europe. Now the French President finds himself under fire from all sides for moving towards the authoritarian right while achieving very little. Immigrant support groups estimate there are now 15,000 Roma in France, the same as a year ago, even though three-quarters of their illegal settlements have been bulldozed by police, pushing the Roma onto the streets or into more makeshift encampments. Many of the 9,000 who were paid €300 to go home or were expelled by authorities last year have returned. Several other draconian announcements that Mr Sarkozy made in a speech in Grenoble a year ago in which he explicitly linked immigration and crime have been quietly dropped or deemed unconstitutional. He has recently adopted a kinder, gentler persona in an attempt to recapture the centre ground before next spring's presidential elections. The Elysée has therefore made little of the anniversary of the Grenoble speech. Not so his opponents on the centre left and far right.
François Hollande, front-runner to win the Socialist party presidential nomination in October, spoke of a "striking disparity between [Sarkozy's] verbal provocation" last summer and the "lack of concrete action". National Front leader Marine Le Pen called on the President "make a formal apology to the French people" for making a tough-sounding speech but "not keeping a single promise". This is not strictly true. President Sarkozy promised in Grenoble to "end illegal Roma encampments". Police and gendarmes cleared more than 70 per cent of such camps in the next six months. He also vowed to act against Roma who broke EU rules limiting their emigration to France and other western European countries. In doing so, the President drew criticism from the Vatican and European Commission. He was accused of breaking EU laws by singling out an ethnic group for repression. However, recent official figures confirm the crackdown was more rhetorical than real.
A little more than 9,000 Roma were expelled or paid to leave France in 2010. Almost exactly the same number were forced or paid to leave in 2009 but with far less fanfare. As some politicians and social workers said at the time, there was little to stop the Roma returning. Ginel, 42, a Roma living in a camp in Aubervilliers just north of Paris, was one of those who accepted the €300 bounty to go back to Romania."I went to visit my family and then got the bus back," he told the French news agency Agence France-Presse. "We still hope to find a better life here in France." Police figures suggest the crackdown has also been counter-productive, with the Roma becoming more marginalised than ever. The number of Paris crimes – from pick-pocketing to illegal begging – attributed to "Romanian citizens" rose 72 per cent in the first half of this year. However, 12 months and much controversy later, there remain almost exactly the same number.
The Independent
François Hollande, front-runner to win the Socialist party presidential nomination in October, spoke of a "striking disparity between [Sarkozy's] verbal provocation" last summer and the "lack of concrete action". National Front leader Marine Le Pen called on the President "make a formal apology to the French people" for making a tough-sounding speech but "not keeping a single promise". This is not strictly true. President Sarkozy promised in Grenoble to "end illegal Roma encampments". Police and gendarmes cleared more than 70 per cent of such camps in the next six months. He also vowed to act against Roma who broke EU rules limiting their emigration to France and other western European countries. In doing so, the President drew criticism from the Vatican and European Commission. He was accused of breaking EU laws by singling out an ethnic group for repression. However, recent official figures confirm the crackdown was more rhetorical than real.
A little more than 9,000 Roma were expelled or paid to leave France in 2010. Almost exactly the same number were forced or paid to leave in 2009 but with far less fanfare. As some politicians and social workers said at the time, there was little to stop the Roma returning. Ginel, 42, a Roma living in a camp in Aubervilliers just north of Paris, was one of those who accepted the €300 bounty to go back to Romania."I went to visit my family and then got the bus back," he told the French news agency Agence France-Presse. "We still hope to find a better life here in France." Police figures suggest the crackdown has also been counter-productive, with the Roma becoming more marginalised than ever. The number of Paris crimes – from pick-pocketing to illegal begging – attributed to "Romanian citizens" rose 72 per cent in the first half of this year. However, 12 months and much controversy later, there remain almost exactly the same number.
The Independent
Nazi gathering: EU keeps silence
Russia has urged NATO and the European Union to come up with an assessment of the recent Nazi gathering in Estonia. A regular meeting of Estonian Waffen SS veterans took place in Sinimae in northeast Estonia on July 30. For several months in 1944, Sinimae was the scene of fierce fighting between the 20th Estonian SS division and the advancing Soviet troops. The losses on both sides totaled 200,000.
In a special statement on the issue, the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed regret that despite public protests in Estonia and an international outcry the Estonian government had once again sanctioned the gathering of those responsible for mass killings and atrocities in Nazi occupied lands. The Estonian government’s tacit approval of such meetings requires a political and legal assessment from Estonia’s partners in the European Union and NATO and from relevant international bodies, the ministry said. What is particularly alarming is that actions glorifying Nazi collaborators, spreading neo-Nazi, xenophobic and racist ideas among youth and calling for a revision of the results of the Second World War have become systemic.
Maxim Mishchenko, a Russian MP and leader of the Young Russia movement, gives his view:
"What happened in the Estonian town of Sinimae on July 30 is a big international scandal. Because, if we look back at history, we’ll see what the 20th Estonian SS division was carrying out punitive operations. During the war, there was a concentration camp, the largest in Estonia, at Kluga not far from Sinimae, where, historians say, between 7,500 and 8,500 Jews were killed. Jews were brought there from all over Estonia and from neighboring territories. By allowing Nazi gatherings, the Estonian authorities throw down a challenge not just to Russia but to the entire international community. This is nothing more than an attempt to reanimate fascism."
Another pro-Nazi youth event is set to begin in Estonia on August 3. Called “Erna March”, this three-day military-sports game is actually aimed at glorifying the feat of Erna, a subversive group of Hitler’s Abwehr intelligence service, which operated in the rear of the Soviet army in 1941. The Erna game is further proof of the dangerous tendency, the Russian Foreign Ministry warns.
Without a proper rebuke, Nazi propaganda can generate ideological twists in people’s minds, resulting in such tragedies as the Breivik case in Norway. The 32-year-old Norwegian Anders Breivik, who shot dead dozens of teenagers in cold blood at a youth camp on the Utoeya Island not far from Oslo, frequented Europe’s largest neo-Nazi web site.
Many international organizations, among them NCSJ, a prominent Jewish human rights watchdog in United States, have strongly condemned Estonian Nazi gatherings as insulting to the memory of the victims of fascism and propagating neo-Nazism.
The Voice of Russia
In a special statement on the issue, the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed regret that despite public protests in Estonia and an international outcry the Estonian government had once again sanctioned the gathering of those responsible for mass killings and atrocities in Nazi occupied lands. The Estonian government’s tacit approval of such meetings requires a political and legal assessment from Estonia’s partners in the European Union and NATO and from relevant international bodies, the ministry said. What is particularly alarming is that actions glorifying Nazi collaborators, spreading neo-Nazi, xenophobic and racist ideas among youth and calling for a revision of the results of the Second World War have become systemic.
Maxim Mishchenko, a Russian MP and leader of the Young Russia movement, gives his view:
"What happened in the Estonian town of Sinimae on July 30 is a big international scandal. Because, if we look back at history, we’ll see what the 20th Estonian SS division was carrying out punitive operations. During the war, there was a concentration camp, the largest in Estonia, at Kluga not far from Sinimae, where, historians say, between 7,500 and 8,500 Jews were killed. Jews were brought there from all over Estonia and from neighboring territories. By allowing Nazi gatherings, the Estonian authorities throw down a challenge not just to Russia but to the entire international community. This is nothing more than an attempt to reanimate fascism."
Another pro-Nazi youth event is set to begin in Estonia on August 3. Called “Erna March”, this three-day military-sports game is actually aimed at glorifying the feat of Erna, a subversive group of Hitler’s Abwehr intelligence service, which operated in the rear of the Soviet army in 1941. The Erna game is further proof of the dangerous tendency, the Russian Foreign Ministry warns.
Without a proper rebuke, Nazi propaganda can generate ideological twists in people’s minds, resulting in such tragedies as the Breivik case in Norway. The 32-year-old Norwegian Anders Breivik, who shot dead dozens of teenagers in cold blood at a youth camp on the Utoeya Island not far from Oslo, frequented Europe’s largest neo-Nazi web site.
Many international organizations, among them NCSJ, a prominent Jewish human rights watchdog in United States, have strongly condemned Estonian Nazi gatherings as insulting to the memory of the victims of fascism and propagating neo-Nazism.
The Voice of Russia
BNP chief’s Hitler salute to Breivik heroine (UK)
Twisted BNP chief Chris Hurst gives a Nazi salute at a fascist gig by the singer who inspired massacre monster Anders Breivik.
Hurst, the BNP's London Regional Secretary, cried "Sieg heil" as pop girl Saga sang the Norwegian fiend's favourite songs at a rally in Hungary.
He also spouted racist bile to an undercover Sun team who infiltrated the hate-filled festival, attended by thousands of neo-Nazis from across Europe.
Hurst said: "It's good to fight back - but not by killing young white people."
The warped 22-year-old reckoned the victims were needed to "breed" to increase the white population.
And blaming immigration for Breivik's shocking slaughter, he added: "Isolated incidents like that are going to happen more and more as the problem gets worse."
Hurst was talking to an undercover Sun team before a concert by far-right Swedish singer Saga, whose horrific racist lyrics inspired Breivik.
During the two-hour gig - billed as a highlight of a fascist rally in Hungary - he repeatedly gave the Nazi stiff-arm salute and shouted, "Sieg heil."
And he sang along with Saga, who urges followers to rise up in the name of Aryan supremacy, as she signed off with a cover of an anthem, Tomorrow Belongs To Me, by neo-Nazi English band Skrewdriver.
It ends: "Oh Fatherland, Fatherland, show us the sign your children have waited to see. The morning will come when the world is mine. Tomorrow belongs to me."
Saga performed brazenly even though Breivik's 77 victims in a bomb and shooting atrocity are still being buried.
This item continues here.
The Sun
Hurst, the BNP's London Regional Secretary, cried "Sieg heil" as pop girl Saga sang the Norwegian fiend's favourite songs at a rally in Hungary.
He also spouted racist bile to an undercover Sun team who infiltrated the hate-filled festival, attended by thousands of neo-Nazis from across Europe.
Hurst said: "It's good to fight back - but not by killing young white people."
The warped 22-year-old reckoned the victims were needed to "breed" to increase the white population.
And blaming immigration for Breivik's shocking slaughter, he added: "Isolated incidents like that are going to happen more and more as the problem gets worse."
Hurst was talking to an undercover Sun team before a concert by far-right Swedish singer Saga, whose horrific racist lyrics inspired Breivik.
During the two-hour gig - billed as a highlight of a fascist rally in Hungary - he repeatedly gave the Nazi stiff-arm salute and shouted, "Sieg heil."
And he sang along with Saga, who urges followers to rise up in the name of Aryan supremacy, as she signed off with a cover of an anthem, Tomorrow Belongs To Me, by neo-Nazi English band Skrewdriver.
It ends: "Oh Fatherland, Fatherland, show us the sign your children have waited to see. The morning will come when the world is mine. Tomorrow belongs to me."
Saga performed brazenly even though Breivik's 77 victims in a bomb and shooting atrocity are still being buried.
This item continues here.
The Sun
Tuesday, 2 August 2011
Wilders accuses left of demonising him over Norway shootings (Netherlands)
Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-Islam party PVV, has accused left-wing politicians of a witch hunt by trying to implicate him and his ideas in the Norwegian mass shootings of 10 days ago.
In an interview with the Telegraaf, Wilders says the left is out to demonise him by trying to connect him to shootings.
Various politicians and commentators have said that Wilders' anti-Islam speeches and his constant referrals to the 'left-wing elite' have helped create the climate in which Anders Breivik acted.
Islam-huggers
'The truth has to be told because Islam-huggers like [Job] Cohen of the Party of the Arabs [Labour party] caused the problems and have repeatedly ignored them,' Wilders said. 'I would say to Cohen and the rest of the left in the Netherlands: it is not my words, but your silence about the dangers of Islam which has the negative influences.'
In a statement last week, Wilders condemned the actions of Breivik as those of a psychopath and a lunatic.
Breivik made at least 30 mentions of Wilders and his anti-Islam PVV party in the 1,500-page manifesto he circulated after the bloodbath and said Wilders was a person he really wanted to meet.
VVD
Later on Monday, Mark Verheijen, deputy chairman of the right-wing Liberal VVD, launched his own stinging attack on Wilders using the microblogging service Twitter.
'Oh poor Geert. Who cares about 77 deaths. We almost forgot that HE, of course, is Breivik's main victim', Verheijen wrote.
The Telegraaf points out that Verheijen is the first VVD official to attack Wilders so publicly. The VVD and Christian Democrat minority government is propped up by the PVV and criticism of the anti-Islam party is rare.
Dutch News
In an interview with the Telegraaf, Wilders says the left is out to demonise him by trying to connect him to shootings.
Various politicians and commentators have said that Wilders' anti-Islam speeches and his constant referrals to the 'left-wing elite' have helped create the climate in which Anders Breivik acted.
Islam-huggers
'The truth has to be told because Islam-huggers like [Job] Cohen of the Party of the Arabs [Labour party] caused the problems and have repeatedly ignored them,' Wilders said. 'I would say to Cohen and the rest of the left in the Netherlands: it is not my words, but your silence about the dangers of Islam which has the negative influences.'
In a statement last week, Wilders condemned the actions of Breivik as those of a psychopath and a lunatic.
Breivik made at least 30 mentions of Wilders and his anti-Islam PVV party in the 1,500-page manifesto he circulated after the bloodbath and said Wilders was a person he really wanted to meet.
VVD
Later on Monday, Mark Verheijen, deputy chairman of the right-wing Liberal VVD, launched his own stinging attack on Wilders using the microblogging service Twitter.
'Oh poor Geert. Who cares about 77 deaths. We almost forgot that HE, of course, is Breivik's main victim', Verheijen wrote.
The Telegraaf points out that Verheijen is the first VVD official to attack Wilders so publicly. The VVD and Christian Democrat minority government is propped up by the PVV and criticism of the anti-Islam party is rare.
Dutch News
Racist went on 'wicked' campaign after claiming newsagent stole his £10m lottery ticket (UK)
James Young produced leaflets claiming shopkeeper Imran Hussain was a 'Muslim lottery ticket thief'.
A racist man went on a “wicked and upsetting” campaign of harassment against a newsagent after claiming the shop owner stole his £10m winning lottery ticket.
James Young produced leaflets claiming shopkeeper Imran Hussain was a "Muslim lottery ticket thief" then posted them to shops and homes near the newsagent in Broughty Ferry, Dundee.
Young at one stage told Mr Hussain: "You're a Muslim - maybe the Koran tells you to cheat people." He also made covert videos in Thornton's Newsagents, run by Mr Hussain, then posted one of them on YouTube.
The YouTube video - titled Lottery ticket thief - was accompanied by text branding Mr Hussain a "Muslim thief" and claiming he had "conned old people".
The 56-year-old also claimed that Mr Hussain had "refused to go on Jeremy Kyle for a lie detector test" in relation to the lottery ticket incident.
He was later arrested after going into the shop in the city's Gray Street and threatening Mr Hussain's wife, Shubnum, stating he would kill them both.
Fiscal depute Ross Cargill told Dundee Sheriff Court on Monday: "The accused first entered Mr Hussain's shop on April 3 this year and claimed he handed over a winning Euromillions lottery ticket to a member of staff.
"He stated that the member of staff must have kept the ticket for himself. On April 13 the accused came back in and said he had contacted Camelot about the ticket and was going to the police and Mr Hussain agreed that was the correct course of action.
"Unknown to Mr Hussain the accused filmed the conversation with a camera located in the pocket of his top. At 5.12pm the next day the accused returned and said he wanted to take Mr Hussain on the Jeremy Kyle show which the complainer thought was bizarre."
Young, of Aboyne Avenue, Dundee, pled guilty to a racially aggravated breach of the peace and to uttering threats against Mr and Mrs Hussain.
Mr Cargill added: "The accused cannot remember the numbers on the ticket or prove it was a winner."
Defence lawyer Theo Finlay said lottery operators Camelot were investigating Young's ticket claim.
He added: "It's a protest taken to the extreme.”
Sheriff Alistair Duff described Young's behaviour as "nasty harassment" and warned him he could face jail. He told the accused: "I take the view that this is extremely serious bad behaviour.
"The reality is that whether it is imagined or real injustice your behaviour towards the gentleman was wicked and upsetting."
Young will be sentenced later this month.
STV
A racist man went on a “wicked and upsetting” campaign of harassment against a newsagent after claiming the shop owner stole his £10m winning lottery ticket.
James Young produced leaflets claiming shopkeeper Imran Hussain was a "Muslim lottery ticket thief" then posted them to shops and homes near the newsagent in Broughty Ferry, Dundee.
Young at one stage told Mr Hussain: "You're a Muslim - maybe the Koran tells you to cheat people." He also made covert videos in Thornton's Newsagents, run by Mr Hussain, then posted one of them on YouTube.
The YouTube video - titled Lottery ticket thief - was accompanied by text branding Mr Hussain a "Muslim thief" and claiming he had "conned old people".
The 56-year-old also claimed that Mr Hussain had "refused to go on Jeremy Kyle for a lie detector test" in relation to the lottery ticket incident.
He was later arrested after going into the shop in the city's Gray Street and threatening Mr Hussain's wife, Shubnum, stating he would kill them both.
Fiscal depute Ross Cargill told Dundee Sheriff Court on Monday: "The accused first entered Mr Hussain's shop on April 3 this year and claimed he handed over a winning Euromillions lottery ticket to a member of staff.
"He stated that the member of staff must have kept the ticket for himself. On April 13 the accused came back in and said he had contacted Camelot about the ticket and was going to the police and Mr Hussain agreed that was the correct course of action.
"Unknown to Mr Hussain the accused filmed the conversation with a camera located in the pocket of his top. At 5.12pm the next day the accused returned and said he wanted to take Mr Hussain on the Jeremy Kyle show which the complainer thought was bizarre."
Young, of Aboyne Avenue, Dundee, pled guilty to a racially aggravated breach of the peace and to uttering threats against Mr and Mrs Hussain.
Mr Cargill added: "The accused cannot remember the numbers on the ticket or prove it was a winner."
Defence lawyer Theo Finlay said lottery operators Camelot were investigating Young's ticket claim.
He added: "It's a protest taken to the extreme.”
Sheriff Alistair Duff described Young's behaviour as "nasty harassment" and warned him he could face jail. He told the accused: "I take the view that this is extremely serious bad behaviour.
"The reality is that whether it is imagined or real injustice your behaviour towards the gentleman was wicked and upsetting."
Young will be sentenced later this month.
STV
EDL takes its toll on council coffers (UK)
Calderdale councillors are writing to the Home Office to tell top politicians exactly how much the English Defence League’s protest on July 9 cost taxpayers across the district .
The exact figure is still being calculated but the Courier estimates it could run into tens of thousands of pounds. That is on top of the cost to West Yorkshire Police, who had to draft in officers from North Yorkshire, Humberside and South Yorkshire.
And the takings traders had to sacrifice as the town’s pubs and other businesses shut to avoid trouble.
Children’s museum Eureka - one of Halifax’s biggest tourist attractions - also gave up a day’s trading so its car park could be used as the designated protest site.
Council leader Janet Battye (Lib Dem, Calder) said: “We recognise that people have a right to peaceful protest but the demonstration was a disruption to local people and local businesses.
“We’ve had some positive comments from businesses and members of the public about how well it was managed and especially how well we cleared up afterwards but that was at a cost to the council.”
Conservative leader Stephen Baines asked if it was fair that charities should have to pay for police attend some of their events, but the EDL would not be billed for the massive police presence required when they decided to come to an area.
Coun Baines and Coun Battye were among 17 community leaders and groups who released a statement on the day of the demonstration condemning the EDL’s decision to come to Halifax.
It said: “We are a place where people live side by side, with common values based upon mutual respect, tolerance and unity.
“The actions of the EDL in choosing to demonstrate in Halifax today show that they care nothing for the well-being of anyone who lives, works in or cares about Halifax.
“They are not welcome in our town. It is time that they got this message from us.”
Halifax Courier
The exact figure is still being calculated but the Courier estimates it could run into tens of thousands of pounds. That is on top of the cost to West Yorkshire Police, who had to draft in officers from North Yorkshire, Humberside and South Yorkshire.
And the takings traders had to sacrifice as the town’s pubs and other businesses shut to avoid trouble.
Children’s museum Eureka - one of Halifax’s biggest tourist attractions - also gave up a day’s trading so its car park could be used as the designated protest site.
Council leader Janet Battye (Lib Dem, Calder) said: “We recognise that people have a right to peaceful protest but the demonstration was a disruption to local people and local businesses.
“We’ve had some positive comments from businesses and members of the public about how well it was managed and especially how well we cleared up afterwards but that was at a cost to the council.”
Conservative leader Stephen Baines asked if it was fair that charities should have to pay for police attend some of their events, but the EDL would not be billed for the massive police presence required when they decided to come to an area.
Coun Baines and Coun Battye were among 17 community leaders and groups who released a statement on the day of the demonstration condemning the EDL’s decision to come to Halifax.
It said: “We are a place where people live side by side, with common values based upon mutual respect, tolerance and unity.
“The actions of the EDL in choosing to demonstrate in Halifax today show that they care nothing for the well-being of anyone who lives, works in or cares about Halifax.
“They are not welcome in our town. It is time that they got this message from us.”
Halifax Courier
Monday, 1 August 2011
Utøya and Oslo mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik insisted that the Norwegian Royal Family abdicate and that he be made Minister of Defence.(Norway)
In a 10-hour long police interview on Friday, the 22-year-old also insisted that Jens Stoltenberg and his cabinet resign immediately, claiming he would only co-operate with the investigators if these were met. Apparently, these only lasted for a short while, with Breivik subsequently talking to police.
Amongst his targets were also Royal Castle and the Labour party headquarters. Only logistical difficulties prevented Breivik from attacking these two buildings, NRK reports.
“He has stated that he was interested the second goal, but did not point out any specific locations. Nevertheless there are places that are natural for a terrorist to want to attack”, said police attorney Paal Fredrik Hjort Kraby to NRK.
Mr Kraby also said that Breivik had confessed in earlier police interviews to targeting other important buildings. His manifesto refers to the difficulty of constructing a bomb large enough to damage or destroy his objectives. Although he bought 3,000 kilos of ammonium fertiliser, Breivik only used 1,800 was used to prepare his Oslo bomb and the undetonated explosives on Utøya island.
Brevik is still serving his four-week solitary confinement at Ila prison, near Bærum, with a further four weeks of custody remaining afterwards.
The Foreigner
Amongst his targets were also Royal Castle and the Labour party headquarters. Only logistical difficulties prevented Breivik from attacking these two buildings, NRK reports.
“He has stated that he was interested the second goal, but did not point out any specific locations. Nevertheless there are places that are natural for a terrorist to want to attack”, said police attorney Paal Fredrik Hjort Kraby to NRK.
Mr Kraby also said that Breivik had confessed in earlier police interviews to targeting other important buildings. His manifesto refers to the difficulty of constructing a bomb large enough to damage or destroy his objectives. Although he bought 3,000 kilos of ammonium fertiliser, Breivik only used 1,800 was used to prepare his Oslo bomb and the undetonated explosives on Utøya island.
Brevik is still serving his four-week solitary confinement at Ila prison, near Bærum, with a further four weeks of custody remaining afterwards.
The Foreigner
Warsaw remembers 1944 uprising against Nazi occupiers (Poland)
President Komorowski attended ceremonies marking the 67th anniversary of the Warsaw Rising of Polish Home Army partisans against occupying Nazi German forces, taking place in the Polish capital at the weekend.
On Monday, the anniversary itself, in line with a long-standing tradition, sirens will wail across the city, buses and private cars will draw to a halt and pedestrians will stand still for a minute’s silence on the stroke of 5 pm, the exact time chosen by the Home Army to launch the uprising.
The main ceremony, attended by top-ranking politicians, will be held hour at the Powązki Military Cemetery.
Events began on Friday in the Żolibórz district of Warsaw, where the Rising began in the early afternoon hours of 1 August 1944.
On Sunday, President Bronisław Komorowski hosted a meeting with former insurgents who arrived in Warsaw for the occasion from various parts of the world.
Around 1700 veterans were at the Museum of the Warsaw Rising alongside Warsaw city mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz.
"They come from the United States, the Republic of South Africa, even Australia," Gronkiewicz-Waltz said.
"I think this is an opportunity for them to meet other survivors. It an opportunity for them to exchange memories and share information," she added.
Sunday's celebrations wrapped up with a commemorative mass celebrated in front of the monument of Warsaw Rising, which was followed by a multimedia performance called “63 Days of Anger” directed by Jarosław Minkowicz.
The News.PL
On Monday, the anniversary itself, in line with a long-standing tradition, sirens will wail across the city, buses and private cars will draw to a halt and pedestrians will stand still for a minute’s silence on the stroke of 5 pm, the exact time chosen by the Home Army to launch the uprising.
The main ceremony, attended by top-ranking politicians, will be held hour at the Powązki Military Cemetery.
Events began on Friday in the Żolibórz district of Warsaw, where the Rising began in the early afternoon hours of 1 August 1944.
On Sunday, President Bronisław Komorowski hosted a meeting with former insurgents who arrived in Warsaw for the occasion from various parts of the world.
Around 1700 veterans were at the Museum of the Warsaw Rising alongside Warsaw city mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz.
"They come from the United States, the Republic of South Africa, even Australia," Gronkiewicz-Waltz said.
"I think this is an opportunity for them to meet other survivors. It an opportunity for them to exchange memories and share information," she added.
Sunday's celebrations wrapped up with a commemorative mass celebrated in front of the monument of Warsaw Rising, which was followed by a multimedia performance called “63 Days of Anger” directed by Jarosław Minkowicz.
The News.PL
Sunday, 31 July 2011
Were terror suspects taking photographs? (UK)
Anti-terror police have refused to say whether two German men arrested at Dover Port are suspected of possessing hostile reconnaissance photography.
Christian David Erkart Heinz Emde, 28, and Robert Baum, 23, both from Germany, were arrested on 15 July.
They have been charged with 'collection or possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, contrary to Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000'.
A spokeswoman for the South East Counter Terrorism Unit told Amateur Photographer that police were 'not able to comment on whether the materials seized include hostile reconnaissance photographs'.
The men appeared at City of Westminster Magistrates Court yesterday and have been remanded in custody to appear at the same court on 24 August.
Amateur Photographer
Christian David Erkart Heinz Emde, 28, and Robert Baum, 23, both from Germany, were arrested on 15 July.
They have been charged with 'collection or possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, contrary to Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000'.
A spokeswoman for the South East Counter Terrorism Unit told Amateur Photographer that police were 'not able to comment on whether the materials seized include hostile reconnaissance photographs'.
The men appeared at City of Westminster Magistrates Court yesterday and have been remanded in custody to appear at the same court on 24 August.
Amateur Photographer
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)