The controversial English Defence League have called off a planned demonstration against a proposed mosque in Walsall after learning that the biggest single group opposed to the scheme are Muslims. George Makin reports.
The anti-Islamic EDL had announced they would hold a demonstration on June 19 against a scheme to build a new place of worship in Vicarage Close which had previously been denied planning permission by the Walsall council.
Proposers of the development have announced their intention to appeal the decision.
The EDL’s proposed demonstration led to a joint statement by the leaders of all three party leaders on Walsall council, fearful of a repeat of violent clashes which have occurred at other EDL events, that the rightwing group was not wanted in the town.
During negotiations with police EDL organiser were surprised to learn the original planning application had been opposed by many Muslims in Walsall who claim there are enough mosques in the borough already.
The EDL are now planning for a demonstration in Dudley on June 19 and for another in Alum Rock in Birmingham at a later date
The Stirrer
Thursday, 27 May 2010
SPANISH TOWN TO BAN BURQA IN MUNICIPAL BUILDINGS
Spain's northeastern town of Lerida is to vote Friday to ban the wearing of the burqa in municipal buildings, the mayor's office said, in an apparent first for the country. A proposal was being drawn up and the majority socialists were behind the push to ban the face-covering Islamic veil in the municipality's buildings, a spokesman for the mayor's office said Wednesday. The town had asked its legal services to look into the possibility of banning the garment in all public spaces in the name of the fundamental rights of women, the official said. "We cannot regulate the usage of the burqa in the road, but we can do that in municipal buildings," he said. Few women wear the full veil in Lerida, a town in the Catalonia region that has about 140,000 residents, one-fifth of whom are immigrants including from North Africa. The garment has sparked intense debate in many European countries, with Belgium deputies last month backing a draft law banning the garment in all public places, including on the streets, in a first for Europe. The text must be adopted by the upper house Senate before it can come into effect. France's cabinet has also approved a draft law to ban the full-face veil from public spaces, opening the way for the text to go before parliament in July. Spain's socialist government is opposed to legislating against the burqa.
Expatica
Expatica
Zimbabwe police arrest gay rights activists
Two members of a Zimbabwean gay rights association are in custody, their lawyers say.
They say the two are facing charges of possessing pornographic material and insulting President Robert Mugabe.
Ellen Chadian - administrator of the group, Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe - and Ignatius Muhambi - an accountant - were picked up during a raid.
Homosexual acts are illegal in Zimbabwe, but the group has been allowed to operate openly.
Dzimbabwe Chimbga, a lawyer representing the pair, said they had been arrested on Friday.
"The initial charges are that they were found in possession of pornographic material," Mr Chimbga said.
"Now the police want to add a charge of insulting the president," he added.
Police told by AP news agency say that they had found a letter undermining President Mugabe during the raid.
Mr Mugabe has in the past described same-sex partners as "lower than dogs and pigs", but arrests of gays are rare in Zimbabwe, correspondents say.
Homosexual acts are illegal in most African countries.
Last week a judge in Malawi sentenced a gay couple to 14 years in prison with hard labour after they held a traditional engagement ceremony.
BBC News
They say the two are facing charges of possessing pornographic material and insulting President Robert Mugabe.
Ellen Chadian - administrator of the group, Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe - and Ignatius Muhambi - an accountant - were picked up during a raid.
Homosexual acts are illegal in Zimbabwe, but the group has been allowed to operate openly.
Dzimbabwe Chimbga, a lawyer representing the pair, said they had been arrested on Friday.
"The initial charges are that they were found in possession of pornographic material," Mr Chimbga said.
"Now the police want to add a charge of insulting the president," he added.
Police told by AP news agency say that they had found a letter undermining President Mugabe during the raid.
Mr Mugabe has in the past described same-sex partners as "lower than dogs and pigs", but arrests of gays are rare in Zimbabwe, correspondents say.
Homosexual acts are illegal in most African countries.
Last week a judge in Malawi sentenced a gay couple to 14 years in prison with hard labour after they held a traditional engagement ceremony.
BBC News
SLOVAKS RETALIATE OVER HUNGARIAN CITIZENSHIP LAW
Hungary's decision to allow ethnic Hungarians living abroad to apply for dual citizenship has sparked an angry response from neighbouring Slovakia. Slovakia has voted to amend its own citizenship law, stripping anyone of their Slovak citizenship if they apply for Hungarian nationality. Southern Slovakia is home to roughly 500,000 ethnic Hungarians, about a tenth of the country's population. Slovak leader Robert Fico has called Hungary's move a "security threat". Aside from the Hungarian case, dual citizenship is generally allowed in Slovakia. The two EU members have repeatedly sparred over the treatment of the substantial Hungarian minority in Slovakia, most recently about a new language law which Hungary says hurts minority rights.
Tit-for-tat moves
The amendment to Hungary's citizenship law passed almost unanimously in the Hungarian parliament on Wednesday. Slovakia retaliated by passing its own measure later in the day. The Hungarian measure is due to come into effect in 2011, while the Slovak one, which still needs approval from the president, would come into force in July, Reuters news agency reported. The Hungarian law will allow ethnic Hungarians living abroad to apply for Hungarian citizenship, if they speak Hungarian and have Hungarian ancestry. This was one of the campaign pledges of incoming Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his centre-right Fidesz party, which won a landslide majority in elections in April. Of Hungary's neighbours, only Slovakia has objected to the move. Mr Fico told the Slovak parliament on Tuesday that Hungary was attempting to revise history, and accused Hungary of gross ignorance of the bilateral friendship treaty, the BBC's Nick Thorpe reports from Budapest. Hungary ceded two-thirds of its territory under the 1920 Treaty of Trianon, after being on the losing side in World War I. As a result, large Hungarian minorities now live in neighbouring Slovakia, Romania and Serbia. Bratislava is particularly upset that Hungary did not seek talks before passing the amendment, our correspondent says. Slovakia will hold parliamentary elections next month, and Mr Fico is battling for the nationalist vote, he adds.
BBC News
Tit-for-tat moves
The amendment to Hungary's citizenship law passed almost unanimously in the Hungarian parliament on Wednesday. Slovakia retaliated by passing its own measure later in the day. The Hungarian measure is due to come into effect in 2011, while the Slovak one, which still needs approval from the president, would come into force in July, Reuters news agency reported. The Hungarian law will allow ethnic Hungarians living abroad to apply for Hungarian citizenship, if they speak Hungarian and have Hungarian ancestry. This was one of the campaign pledges of incoming Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his centre-right Fidesz party, which won a landslide majority in elections in April. Of Hungary's neighbours, only Slovakia has objected to the move. Mr Fico told the Slovak parliament on Tuesday that Hungary was attempting to revise history, and accused Hungary of gross ignorance of the bilateral friendship treaty, the BBC's Nick Thorpe reports from Budapest. Hungary ceded two-thirds of its territory under the 1920 Treaty of Trianon, after being on the losing side in World War I. As a result, large Hungarian minorities now live in neighbouring Slovakia, Romania and Serbia. Bratislava is particularly upset that Hungary did not seek talks before passing the amendment, our correspondent says. Slovakia will hold parliamentary elections next month, and Mr Fico is battling for the nationalist vote, he adds.
BBC News
Ex-BNP webmaster confirms Jim Dowson owns the BNP
Simon Bennett replaced the site, which received more visitors than any other political party website, with a brief statement accusing the party of “several attempts of theft today with regards to design work and content owned by myself”. He also claimed that Arthur Kemp and Jim Dowson, two close aides to Nick Griffin, the BNP leader, had threatened violence against him and his family.
Bennett’s action meant that supporters could no longer make online donations or membership applications. For the first time for many months, BNP e-news bulletins came without a donation button.
Bennett had been in dispute with Dowson, the convicted criminal who in effect owns the BNP, for a year, but matters came to a head when Griffin insisted, against Bennett’s advice, on adding an image of a jar of Marmite to a version of the BNP’s television election broadcast pre-released on the party website.
According to a longer statement by Bennett, this “very deliberate copyright infringement” was a stunt by Griffin and Dowson to provoke a reaction from Unilever, which owns the Marmite brand, and so “create publicity and a fund raising opportunity”. In the event, Bennett claimed, website traffic, donations and membership applications barely increased at all.
After Unilever responded by launching proceedings over copyright infringement, Griffin and Dowson realised they had underestimated the severity of the legal and financial consequences and came up with pathetic excuses, such as a claim that a “joker” had amended the film. When Unilever’s lawyers refused to believe them, Bennett says he was expected “to go to court and lie through my teeth in order to bail them out of a ridiculous hole they had dug themselves into”.
Griffin and Dowson had misjudged Bennett. Unlike they themselves and their more sycophantic supporters, Bennett “was not prepared to spend five years in prison for perjury just to protect the financial interests of fools” and told Unilever’s lawyers the truth.
Bennett had refused to do their bidding so Griffin and Dowson wanted him out. Bennett was prepared to go but wanted to be paid for his website design work. Claiming he had invested around £40,000 into the site, he said he was not prepared simply to hand it over to Griffin and Dowson so that they could use it to make more money. “It was my bloody hard work, commitment and money that developed that site into the success it became,” wrote Bennett, “and for Dowson to try and force control of it for his own advantage made me feel sick.”
Money is what it is all about – not for Bennett but for Griffin and Dowson, who, Bennett claims, is paid £120,000 a year by the party. As Searchlight already knew from other sources, Bennett’s dispute with Dowson started over the fact that the telesales staff at Dowson’s call centre earned commission from subscriptions and party memberships and so were telling party members not to renew their membership on the website because it was “unsafe and had been hacked”.
Bennett complained to Griffin who said he would look into it. Shortly afterwards he was contacted by the call centre manager, Kate Hunt, and Dowson. A heated exchange ended with Dowson threatening: “I am a Glasgow/Belfast man as you are about to find out. I was patient simon [sic] but you crossed the line sir, its time some manners were put on you.”
Bennett had crossed Dowson and could not win. As Bennett says in his statement, confirming the conclusions of Searchlight’s investigations: “Jim Dowson now controls just about every aspect of the party structure (including the recently acquired print services) and also the party’s finances with one exception. You’ve guessed it – the website!”
By the Sunday after election day the BNP had a new website up and running, set up by Chris Barnett who, Bennett says, used to run a web server for an online pornographic studio in Birmingham. But the story was not over. Bennett also had control of the party’s Facebook site, with its nearly 26,000 members, and its Twitter feed. He now linked them to a new website of his own on which he exposed Dowson’s financial dealings with the BNP and called for reform of the party.
As well as setting up his own site Bennett posted on various far-right internet forums, disclosing the nefarious ways the BNP operates. On one he revealed that Kemp, the BNP’s website editor who had moved through a variety of party posts, had also threatened Bennett and had once opposed Griffin.
“He threatened to drive to Cornwall, rip my head off off and shove it up my @rse,” wrote Bennett. “I expected better of him too, but I noticed the change in his anti-griffin attitude once he started ‘fund-raising’ for our best friend Jim. From that day on he became very pro-Jim and pro-griffin, even though he knew they planned his downfall at the EU election planning meeting in 2008. They humiliated him, stripped him of his position, income and dignity. He suffered it for over a year until he was offered a scrap of food which he grabbed with both hands and stabbed me in the back to get to it.”
Bennett also removed Griffin’s personal MEP’s website though not the similar websites he runs for Andrew Brons, the BNP’s other MEP, and Richard Barnbrook, the party’s London Assembly member, with whom he has no dispute.
The BNP has taken legal proceedings against Bennett, presumably paid for out of members’ donations, but that has not silenced him. Bennett is gradually adding to his new website, which is likely to become a centre for any moves to oust Griffin from the BNP leadership in the coming months.
Searchlight
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
BNP man sentenced after shoving two women at East Croydon station
A BNP thug who ran for council has been given a year's community service for assaulting two female pacifist campaigners.
David Clarke, who got 518 votes when he stood in Heathfield for this year's local elections, was sentenced on four counts of assaulting anti-racism campaigners.
Clarke, of Dunley Drive, New Addington, pushed and shoved Lorna Nelson-Homian, James Cox, Nigel Green and Silvia Beckett in two separate attacks last May outside East Croydon train station.
Croydon Magistrates' Court handed the 41-year-old a 12-month community order last week and ordered him to pay costs of £650.
Clarke denied attacking the Hope Not Hate campaigners but was found guilty on April 30.
Giving evidence in relation to the first incident on May 27, campaigner Nigel Green said: "I saw him [Clarke] walking towards me.
"He was walking right towards me and I could see there would be problems. I decided to stop and put the leaflets behind my back.
"But he gestured for me to give him a leaflet and he basically snatched them out of my hand. They were thrown down on the street and that was quite a shock to me.
"Then he sort of pushed me and grabbed my arm and twirled me around. I was very shaken because I had done nothing to provoke him."
Prosecutor Daniel Irving told the court how after the first assault Clarke left, only to return to repeatedly shove Ms Beckett to get to Mr Green.
The court heard Clarke almost knocked the woman off her feet.
Mr Irving told the court that when Clarke spotted other Hope Not Hate campaigners two days later he screamed at them: "F****** scumbags, filth on our streets, taking all our jobs."
Then Clarke again snatched leaflets, threw them on the floor and shoved Ms Nelson-Homian and Mr Cox.
This is Croydon
David Clarke, who got 518 votes when he stood in Heathfield for this year's local elections, was sentenced on four counts of assaulting anti-racism campaigners.
Clarke, of Dunley Drive, New Addington, pushed and shoved Lorna Nelson-Homian, James Cox, Nigel Green and Silvia Beckett in two separate attacks last May outside East Croydon train station.
Croydon Magistrates' Court handed the 41-year-old a 12-month community order last week and ordered him to pay costs of £650.
Clarke denied attacking the Hope Not Hate campaigners but was found guilty on April 30.
Giving evidence in relation to the first incident on May 27, campaigner Nigel Green said: "I saw him [Clarke] walking towards me.
"He was walking right towards me and I could see there would be problems. I decided to stop and put the leaflets behind my back.
"But he gestured for me to give him a leaflet and he basically snatched them out of my hand. They were thrown down on the street and that was quite a shock to me.
"Then he sort of pushed me and grabbed my arm and twirled me around. I was very shaken because I had done nothing to provoke him."
Prosecutor Daniel Irving told the court how after the first assault Clarke left, only to return to repeatedly shove Ms Beckett to get to Mr Green.
The court heard Clarke almost knocked the woman off her feet.
Mr Irving told the court that when Clarke spotted other Hope Not Hate campaigners two days later he screamed at them: "F****** scumbags, filth on our streets, taking all our jobs."
Then Clarke again snatched leaflets, threw them on the floor and shoved Ms Nelson-Homian and Mr Cox.
This is Croydon
Catherine Ariemma, Georgia high school teacher, in hot water after students wear KKK robes in school
A Georgia history teacher could be fired after allowing four students to wear mock Ku Klux Klan attire for their final project.
Catherine Ariemma, who teaches an advanced placement course that combines U.S. history and film at Lumpkin County High School, was suspended after four teens wore the inflammatory white robes through the school's cafeteria, according to The Associated Press.
Several black students at the school, about 75 miles north of Atlanta, were incensed, and at least one parent complained.
Lumpkin County School Superintendent Dewey Moye said that Ariemma, who has taught at the school for six years, was placed on administrative leave.
Ariemma's students watch films pertaining to U.S. history and at the end of the year choose a theme on which they base their own final projects. Her class chose to take on racism and its roots this year, she said.
"This stuff happened in history," Moye told The AP. "Do you ignore it? No. But you certainly don't walk the hallway in the garb."
Ariemma said the teens brought white sheets and cone-shaped party hats to school and that she took them through the cafeteria to another area to shoot their film. A fellow teacher confronted Ariemma afterward.
"That's when I heard there were a couple of students who were upset," Ariemma told The AP.
Cody Rider, a student at Lumpkin County High School, told Atlanta's WSB-TV on Monday that he and his cousin saw the students walk through the cafeteria in the robes and were upset.
Ariemma said that while she felt the students were addressing an important issue in American history, she told The AP that it "was poor judgment on my part in allowing them to film at school. … That was a hard lesson learned."
NY Daily News
Catherine Ariemma, who teaches an advanced placement course that combines U.S. history and film at Lumpkin County High School, was suspended after four teens wore the inflammatory white robes through the school's cafeteria, according to The Associated Press.
Several black students at the school, about 75 miles north of Atlanta, were incensed, and at least one parent complained.
Lumpkin County School Superintendent Dewey Moye said that Ariemma, who has taught at the school for six years, was placed on administrative leave.
Ariemma's students watch films pertaining to U.S. history and at the end of the year choose a theme on which they base their own final projects. Her class chose to take on racism and its roots this year, she said.
"This stuff happened in history," Moye told The AP. "Do you ignore it? No. But you certainly don't walk the hallway in the garb."
Ariemma said the teens brought white sheets and cone-shaped party hats to school and that she took them through the cafeteria to another area to shoot their film. A fellow teacher confronted Ariemma afterward.
"That's when I heard there were a couple of students who were upset," Ariemma told The AP.
Cody Rider, a student at Lumpkin County High School, told Atlanta's WSB-TV on Monday that he and his cousin saw the students walk through the cafeteria in the robes and were upset.
Ariemma said that while she felt the students were addressing an important issue in American history, she told The AP that it "was poor judgment on my part in allowing them to film at school. … That was a hard lesson learned."
NY Daily News
Police highlight Facebook as e-crime is targeted
The Association of Scottish Police Superintendents (Asps) will demand at their annual conference later this week that internet providers and search engines such as Google start regulating themselves to curb growing levels of online crime.
Speaking in advance of the Dunblane conference, Chief Super-intendent David O’Connor, the incoming president of the association, said there was growing concern about increases in e-crime and the lack of regulation by companies online.
His speech will also outline concerns about the fact the police service is over capacity in the management of sex offenders.
Hundreds of millions of pounds are estimated to be lost in Scotland each year as a result of internet scams. O’Connor will say the Scottish Government, internet providers and senior officers need to come together to discuss e-crime and a better way of paying for its policing.
Facebook has been at the centre of a number of court cases involving adults grooming young people. The most high-profile in the UK was that of Ashleigh Hall, 17, who was murdered by convicted rapist Peter Chapman, 33, in Sedgefield, County Durham. She had agreed to meet him after he posed as a young man on the popular site.
Eight members of the worst child abuse network in Scotland were found guilty at the High Court in Edinburgh of a catalogue of charges relating to abuse and indecent images of children as a result of Operation Algebra last year.
O’Connor said: “The industry should be regulating itself and there should be measures in place to counter fraud and exploitation.
“Prevention is far better than cure. While Operation Algebra was a great success we would rather that those crimes had not happened. E-crime is a huge issue for the police – with growing incidents of banking fraud and identity theft.
“On the internet it is very difficult to identify victims and even more difficult to identify suspects. Whilst we are trying to put measures in place to track these people down it is highly specialist, technical and resource
intensive work.”
O’Connor is expected to tell police officers and the Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill: “In terms of public protection one of the biggest threats facing our communities relates to various chat-room facilities providing online social networking sites … Identity fraud and credit card fraud over the internet are costing this country millions of pounds.”
A Facebook spokesperson said: There is no single answer or silver bullet that makes the internet or Facebook safer but we continue to invest in improving the experience for our users on the site.”
Herald Scotland
BNP Race hate boss porkies to PCC exposed (UK)
THIS is the footage that proves BNP big wig Jim Dowson has been telling porkies!
Barefaced race hate Glaswegian Dowson has asked the Press Complaints Commission to rule that the Sunday World was wrong to say he was a member of the BNP – he told them had never been a member, yet here he is delivering a rousing right-wing speech – proving he’s up to his neck in the far right party.
Last year we revealed Dowson was behind the secret fundraising centre which is tucked away in east Belfast.
But after our first story he appeared on UTV and gave an interview to say he was not connected with the political side of the BNP and was just a businessman running a call centre.
He even said he didn’t agree with the BNP’s politics!
And he has complained to the Press Complaints Commission because we said he was a life member.
Poor affronted Jim told the PCC in an indignant letter: “They also allege that I am a BNP life member when I have never been a member of the party ever in my life!”
But a video passed to us by anti-fascist magazine Searchlight shows Jim praising the racist party and urging people to join up. And he’s even captioned North West Fundraiser.
Rambles
And we’ve since discovered that Jim may not have paid his member-ship to the BNP – because according to sources he owns it!
He has been BNP leader Nick Griffin’s right-hand man – to such an extent he has caused angry rumblings within the party.
During the seven minute video, which was taken during a fundraising event in Blackburn, Lancashire two months ago, Dowson repeatedly uses the phrases ‘we’ and ‘us’ when talking about the BNP.
We’ve picked out some of his most ‘rousing’ rants so you can make up your own mind if convicted criminal Dowson is in the BNP.
“We’re living with the Chinese and the Koreans,” says BNP Jim with a BNP backdrop, as the title BNP North West fundraiser is put on the screen of the BNP internet TV channel.
“They’re now the top of the tree. They’re going to be the ones who dominate the world. But it doesn’t matter how many cheap radios they build or cheap cars they build – they’ll never have what we have and that’s British blood.”
He then rambles on about soldiers and famous wars and battles including Waterloo, Agincourt, The Falklands and Afghanistan.
He tells the crowd: “The same blood is in you as they had. You are the sum total of your ancestors. Think what they suffered; think what they gave to build this Great Britain.
“How can Trevor Phillips (black head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission) ever hope to destroy us? I’ll tell you how, by destroying the British National Party.
“The only bulwark against tyranny is the BNP – you people have joined, given, you’ve campaigned, you’ve leafleted.
“We are the frontline. We are the thin red line against total destruction, annihilation and oblivion. We are the people who are standing in guard.”
He then babbles on about the film Zulu, which he thinks is called Rourke’s Drift, and likens the BNP to the British soldiers who repelled wave after wave of Zulu warriors during the Boer War.
He then slags off the British people who he says have run away because they are too scared to join the BNP in case they lose their job or get into trouble.
He then says of the BNP: “We will turn this country round.”
“People like (Trevor) Phillips and (Jack) Straw have mistaken us for being soft. There’s nothing soft about Blackburn and if Trevor Phillips and any of his cronies came here they would soon find out.”
He says he has helped turn the party around from being an amateurish party with no offices to having five UK offices, two MEP’s and are now bigger than UKIP.
“This party is going places – think what we have achieved,” says BNP Jim.
He talks about the leaked BNP list and tells anyone in the audience that if they weren’t on it, why weren’t they on it.
“When the list came out they thought we’d all run and hide. I was manning the phones that week and all week we got people in their 70s phoning saying ‘sign me up’ – they were joining in their 100s.”
The speech was part of a fundraiser in Blackburn which took place just before the election.
Boasted
But sadly for Jim the election was an unmitigated disaster.
The party hoped to get four MP’s elected to Westminster but failed to secure a single seat.
They had boasted about taking control of Barking and Dagenham council but were wiped out 51-0 by Labour.
Furthermore BNP sources are blaming Jim Dowson.
As revealed last week he, and the Belfast office, were being held responsible for the election blunder. Anti-fascist magazine Searchlight ran a ‘Hope not Hate’ campaign against the BNP during the election and Irish correspondent Matthew Collins hailed it a total success.
“Jim Dowson and his operation of shadow companies has as good as bought the BNP,” says Matthew.
“From our point of view, he’s the best thing to ever happen to the BNP.
“We’ve already begun to drive his party out of our council chambers and I’m sure the people of Northern Ireland will follow suit and chose hope over hate.”
Hope Not Hate
FJCR CONCERNED ABOUT INCREASE IN ANTI-SEMITISM IN ULYANOVSK (Russia)
Interfax
Racist march due on day of music and rugby in Cardiff (Wales, UK)
Resources are bound to be stretched and many fans will be arriving by train to the city centre, and could be greeted by a march by the Welsh & English Defence League (WDL/EDL).
The group is due to be marching at lunchtime in the city centre and massing outside Cardiff Central Station. A rival march has been setup by campaign group Unite Against Fascism and will be marching through the city centre at the same time in opposition to the protest.
Unite Against Fascism are arranging a rival march and are calling on Cardiff City fans to support them. A leaflet from the group states: "Cardiff City fans have been linked with the WDL/EDL. Bluesbirds vs the Nazis has been set up to show that the majority of CCFC fans are opposed to racism and facism."
Mark Serwotka, General Secretary of PCS union, said: "The WDL/EDL hold their demos to intimidate and divide us. As a Cardiff City fan, I call on everyone to unite and protest against the WDL/EDL's attempts to whip up racism."
The Unite Against Facism protesters are due to meet at 11 AM at Roald Dahl Plas on Saturday 5th June 2010 and march through Butetown and the city centre, finishing at City Hall with a rally at 1 PM.
Islamophobia Watch
NY teen faces sentencing in hate crime stabbing (USA)
A Long Island teenager convicted of manslaughter as a hate crime in the killing of an Ecuadorean immigrant could be ordered to spend more than two decades behind bars when he is sentenced on Wednesday.
Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Megan O'Donnell said she will ask for the maximum 25 years when Jeffrey Conroy is sentenced for his role in the November 2008 stabbing death of Marcelo Lucero. The minimum sentence is eight years.
The killing shone a spotlight on race relations on Long Island and led to a U.S. Justice Department probe of bias attacks against Hispanics and the police response to such crimes.
Conroy was one of seven teenagers implicated in the stabbing death but the only one to go to trial. Prosecutors contend Conroy was the one who inflicted the blow that killed Lucero during a midnight confrontation near the Patchogue train station. Lucero and a friend were walking to an acquaintance's home when they were attacked.
"I am just hoping for the best," Joselo Lucero, the victim's brother, said Tuesday after a court hearing where one of the other suspects pleaded guilty for his role in the killing. Christopher Overton, whom Conroy claimed on the witness stand was the actual killer, pleaded guilty to gang assault, conspiracy and attempted assault as a hate crime. He was the fifth defendant to enter a guilty plea.
Jose Lucero and his sister Isabel were expected to make victim's impact statements at the sentencing hearing before state Supreme Court Justice Robert Doyle. The victim's mother, Rosario Lucero, also was expected to attend the sentencing.
Jose Lucero said he did not intend to ask for the maximum sentence for Conroy. "Whatever the judge decides," he said. "I just want him to send the right message."
Conroy was acquitted of two counts of murder, including one count as a hate crime, but he was convicted of three counts of attempted assault in an attack on Lucero's friend, as well as two other Hispanic men before the stabbing.
The killing focused national attentionon Long Island's Suffolk County, which has seen an influx of immigrants from Central and South America in the past decade. In a September 2009 report, the Southern Poverty Law Center documented repeated attacks on Hispanics since 2000.
Conroy had made statements to police following his arrest that he was the one responsible for stabbing Lucero, but he testified in his own defense at trial that Overton had been the actual stabber. Conroy explained that Overton, whom he had just met that night, confided that he already had pleaded guilty to burglary in a case where a man was killed and could not afford further trouble with the police.
Jurors said after the trial that they did not believe Conroy's claims.
Lucero, 37, was walking with a friend when the teenagers confronted them. Prosecutors say the teens were walking around town looking for targets, began yelling ethnic slurs and approached the two men. One of the teens punched Lucero in the face. Lucero and his friend swung their belts in self-defense and began to chase the teens.
Prosecutors said Lucero hit Conroy in the head with the belt and that the teen lost his temper, opened the folding knife and lunged at Lucero's chest
Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Megan O'Donnell said she will ask for the maximum 25 years when Jeffrey Conroy is sentenced for his role in the November 2008 stabbing death of Marcelo Lucero. The minimum sentence is eight years.
The killing shone a spotlight on race relations on Long Island and led to a U.S. Justice Department probe of bias attacks against Hispanics and the police response to such crimes.
Conroy was one of seven teenagers implicated in the stabbing death but the only one to go to trial. Prosecutors contend Conroy was the one who inflicted the blow that killed Lucero during a midnight confrontation near the Patchogue train station. Lucero and a friend were walking to an acquaintance's home when they were attacked.
"I am just hoping for the best," Joselo Lucero, the victim's brother, said Tuesday after a court hearing where one of the other suspects pleaded guilty for his role in the killing. Christopher Overton, whom Conroy claimed on the witness stand was the actual killer, pleaded guilty to gang assault, conspiracy and attempted assault as a hate crime. He was the fifth defendant to enter a guilty plea.
Jose Lucero and his sister Isabel were expected to make victim's impact statements at the sentencing hearing before state Supreme Court Justice Robert Doyle. The victim's mother, Rosario Lucero, also was expected to attend the sentencing.
Jose Lucero said he did not intend to ask for the maximum sentence for Conroy. "Whatever the judge decides," he said. "I just want him to send the right message."
Conroy was acquitted of two counts of murder, including one count as a hate crime, but he was convicted of three counts of attempted assault in an attack on Lucero's friend, as well as two other Hispanic men before the stabbing.
The killing focused national attentionon Long Island's Suffolk County, which has seen an influx of immigrants from Central and South America in the past decade. In a September 2009 report, the Southern Poverty Law Center documented repeated attacks on Hispanics since 2000.
Conroy had made statements to police following his arrest that he was the one responsible for stabbing Lucero, but he testified in his own defense at trial that Overton had been the actual stabber. Conroy explained that Overton, whom he had just met that night, confided that he already had pleaded guilty to burglary in a case where a man was killed and could not afford further trouble with the police.
Jurors said after the trial that they did not believe Conroy's claims.
Lucero, 37, was walking with a friend when the teenagers confronted them. Prosecutors say the teens were walking around town looking for targets, began yelling ethnic slurs and approached the two men. One of the teens punched Lucero in the face. Lucero and his friend swung their belts in self-defense and began to chase the teens.
Prosecutors said Lucero hit Conroy in the head with the belt and that the teen lost his temper, opened the folding knife and lunged at Lucero's chest
Campaign to end hate crime on transport in Bristol (UK)
A campaign to encourage public transport workers and passengers to report hate crimes and aggressive incidents has been launched in Bristol.
A spokesman from an anti-racism group said it was not unusual for some taxi and bus drivers and train staff to suffer racist abuse.
The initiative is being carried out by the police, Safer Bristol and Support Against Racist Incidents (Sari).
The organisations will be working with major public transport providers.
A spokesman from Bristol's Taxi Club Association told BBC Radio Bristol earlier that the city's taxi, bus and train drivers must be better protected from race attacks and other hate crimes.
'Totally unacceptable'
Gary Hopkins, Bristol City Council's cabinet member for strategic targeted improvement, said: "Public transport providers can sometimes find themselves in challenging situations when having to deal with difficult and confrontational passengers.
"This is totally unacceptable and Safer Bristol, the police, First Bus, British Transport Police and Sari have combined to tackle it and to urge public transport staff not to accept it but to report any incident."
Alex Raikes, from Sari, advised people to call 999 if faced with violent incidents, and to contact the police or the organisation if they are not in danger.
Posters, leaflets and letters are being sent to taxi firms and will also be made available by bus and train companies.
BBC News
A spokesman from an anti-racism group said it was not unusual for some taxi and bus drivers and train staff to suffer racist abuse.
The initiative is being carried out by the police, Safer Bristol and Support Against Racist Incidents (Sari).
The organisations will be working with major public transport providers.
A spokesman from Bristol's Taxi Club Association told BBC Radio Bristol earlier that the city's taxi, bus and train drivers must be better protected from race attacks and other hate crimes.
'Totally unacceptable'
Gary Hopkins, Bristol City Council's cabinet member for strategic targeted improvement, said: "Public transport providers can sometimes find themselves in challenging situations when having to deal with difficult and confrontational passengers.
"This is totally unacceptable and Safer Bristol, the police, First Bus, British Transport Police and Sari have combined to tackle it and to urge public transport staff not to accept it but to report any incident."
Alex Raikes, from Sari, advised people to call 999 if faced with violent incidents, and to contact the police or the organisation if they are not in danger.
Posters, leaflets and letters are being sent to taxi firms and will also be made available by bus and train companies.
BBC News
Race hate group linked to Perth mosque shooting (Australia)
Police believe the men were responsible for the incident at the Canning Mosque on February 4, where shots were fired into the dome roof of the building.
The men are allegedly involved with the national extremist group Combat 18.
Cannington Detectives charged a 24-year-old High Wycombe man and a 25-year-old Greenmount man with criminal damage, discharging a firearm and possession of an unlicensed firearm.
A 19-year-old man from Kalamunda was also charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm.
Insp Rob Anderson from South East Metropolitan District Office said police believed the charges would spell the end of the Combat 18 group’s presence in the state.
“As a result of today’s operation, we are confident that we have more or less eliminated that faction within WA,” he said.
“It is a neo-Nazi organisation – its very title is based on the initials of Adolf Hitler.
“WA Police are committed to eradicating such hate crime within WA – there is no place for such crime here.”
News AU
'Auschwitz thief' hurt
The neo-Nazi accused of stealing the Auschwitz death camp sign has been attacked in jail by an inmate with a syringe.
Anders Hogstrom claims a prisoner tried to kill him with a jab that left his body covered in blisters.
He said: "My personality has changed due to what was injected into me. I got blisters, sweating, nausea, vomiting."
Swede Hogstrom is on remand in Poland while being quizzed over the theft of the Arbeit Macht Frei sign last December.
The Mirror
Anders Hogstrom claims a prisoner tried to kill him with a jab that left his body covered in blisters.
He said: "My personality has changed due to what was injected into me. I got blisters, sweating, nausea, vomiting."
Swede Hogstrom is on remand in Poland while being quizzed over the theft of the Arbeit Macht Frei sign last December.
The Mirror
19 alleged Neo Nazis in court in Madrid, Spain
The case against 19 neo-Nazis has got underway in Madrid today, Tuesday. They are members of the group which goes under the English name, ‘Blood and Honour España’ which is based in the Madrid dormitory town of Getafe, and which has branches across the country in Sevilla, Burgos, Jaén and Zaragoza.
The leaders of the group, Roberto L. and Francisco L., face possible five year prison sentences. They set up the group in Getafe in 1999 asserting it was to protect European culture, but in fact it has been clearly identified with Neo-Nazi’s.
It was back in 2005 when the Guardia Civil impounded firearms in the Taj Mahal disco in Talamanca del Jarama in Madrid, where racist groups, including Oi!, were playing live, and inciting xenophobia with their lyrics.
Tuesday’s proceedings came to an end early when key evidence obtained by phone taps could not be heard in court because of a technical problem. The case continues on Wednesday.
The case is expected to continue in Madrid until June 10.
Typically Spanish
The leaders of the group, Roberto L. and Francisco L., face possible five year prison sentences. They set up the group in Getafe in 1999 asserting it was to protect European culture, but in fact it has been clearly identified with Neo-Nazi’s.
It was back in 2005 when the Guardia Civil impounded firearms in the Taj Mahal disco in Talamanca del Jarama in Madrid, where racist groups, including Oi!, were playing live, and inciting xenophobia with their lyrics.
Tuesday’s proceedings came to an end early when key evidence obtained by phone taps could not be heard in court because of a technical problem. The case continues on Wednesday.
The case is expected to continue in Madrid until June 10.
Typically Spanish
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
BNP activist cleared of intolerance on online comments
A BNP activist who posted comments online describing immigrants as "savage animals" and "filth" while working as a teacher has been cleared of racism.
The General Teaching Council (GTC) had heard Adam Walker used a school laptop during lessons in County Durham to post the descriptions.
Mr Walker, from Spennymoor, said he had been singled out because of his views.
The GTC said it was "troubled" by some postings, but was not satisfied the views were "suggestive of intolerance".
'Dumping ground'
It found him guilty of a single charge of misconduct after he admitted using a laptop during lessons and imposed a conditional registration order upon him.
It means Mr Walker will remain on the teaching register and could apply for teaching posts, but the order requires Mr Walker to notify any prospective employer of its terms.
Mr Walker was the first teacher to appear before the GTC accused of racial intolerance.
It was alleged the views expressed in the postings constituted unacceptable professional conduct.
He resigned from Houghton Kepier Sports College, in Houghton-le-Spring, in 2007 after his head teacher asked IT staff to investigate his use of the internet.
The GTC panel, sitting in Birmingham, said it was "troubled" by some of the postings made by Mr Walker, who also claimed Britain was becoming a "dumping ground for the filth of the Third World".
But the three-member committee said it was not satisfied that the "intemperate" views expressed by Mr Walker during his time at the school were suggestive of intolerance.
Delivering the committee's verdict, its chairwoman, Angela Stones, said some of Mr Walker's postings contained offensive terms and demonstrated views or an attitude that might be considered racist.
However, Mrs Stones added: "The committee does not accept that references to 'immigrants' are of themselves suggestive of any particular views on race."
The hearing was told that in one posting, it was alleged Mr Walker claimed the BNP had risen in popularity because "they are the only party who are making a stand and are prepared to protect the rights of citizens against the savage animals New Labour and Bliar (sic) are filling our communities with".
'Hostile climate'
The teacher's trade union representative, Patrick Harrington, told the disciplinary hearing that Mr Walker did not accept his postings were racist, claiming that assumptions had been made about the teacher's views because of his membership of the BNP.
In a statement read to the hearing, Mr Walker stressed that he had not communicated his political thoughts and beliefs to staff or pupils at Houghton Kepier.
He said: "I have certainly never discriminated against an individual on grounds of race, faith or sexuality."
Commenting on the content of his postings, Mr Walker said he had been influenced by media coverage of a female Pc shot dead by two illegal immigrants and the murder of British hostage Ken Bigley in Iraq.
He said: "Looking back now, I feel that I was unduly influenced by the hostile climate the media created.
"This led me to express intemperate views which lacked complexity and balance.
"I have never condemned all immigrants or asylum seekers. My comments relate to those I perceive as coming to our country and committing criminal offences or otherwise behaving badly."
'Outrageously persecuted'
Anti-fascist and pro-BNP demonstrators had gathered outside the GTC's offices in Birmingham city centre.
BNP leader Nick Griffin was among those present. He claimed Mr Walker had been "outrageously persecuted" for his political beliefs.
He said: "The charges about supposed racism, racial intolerance, and so on, have been thrown out.
"The committee have upheld the right of Adam Walker and every other teacher in the country to criticise Government policy in no uncertain terms."
Asked about calls from some quarters for BNP members to be banned from teaching, Mr Griffin replied: "Teachers obviously have to keep politics out of the classroom.
"As long as they do that they should be entitled to hold whatever political views they want."
BBC news
The General Teaching Council (GTC) had heard Adam Walker used a school laptop during lessons in County Durham to post the descriptions.
Mr Walker, from Spennymoor, said he had been singled out because of his views.
The GTC said it was "troubled" by some postings, but was not satisfied the views were "suggestive of intolerance".
'Dumping ground'
It found him guilty of a single charge of misconduct after he admitted using a laptop during lessons and imposed a conditional registration order upon him.
It means Mr Walker will remain on the teaching register and could apply for teaching posts, but the order requires Mr Walker to notify any prospective employer of its terms.
Mr Walker was the first teacher to appear before the GTC accused of racial intolerance.
It was alleged the views expressed in the postings constituted unacceptable professional conduct.
He resigned from Houghton Kepier Sports College, in Houghton-le-Spring, in 2007 after his head teacher asked IT staff to investigate his use of the internet.
The GTC panel, sitting in Birmingham, said it was "troubled" by some of the postings made by Mr Walker, who also claimed Britain was becoming a "dumping ground for the filth of the Third World".
But the three-member committee said it was not satisfied that the "intemperate" views expressed by Mr Walker during his time at the school were suggestive of intolerance.
Delivering the committee's verdict, its chairwoman, Angela Stones, said some of Mr Walker's postings contained offensive terms and demonstrated views or an attitude that might be considered racist.
However, Mrs Stones added: "The committee does not accept that references to 'immigrants' are of themselves suggestive of any particular views on race."
The hearing was told that in one posting, it was alleged Mr Walker claimed the BNP had risen in popularity because "they are the only party who are making a stand and are prepared to protect the rights of citizens against the savage animals New Labour and Bliar (sic) are filling our communities with".
'Hostile climate'
The teacher's trade union representative, Patrick Harrington, told the disciplinary hearing that Mr Walker did not accept his postings were racist, claiming that assumptions had been made about the teacher's views because of his membership of the BNP.
In a statement read to the hearing, Mr Walker stressed that he had not communicated his political thoughts and beliefs to staff or pupils at Houghton Kepier.
He said: "I have certainly never discriminated against an individual on grounds of race, faith or sexuality."
Commenting on the content of his postings, Mr Walker said he had been influenced by media coverage of a female Pc shot dead by two illegal immigrants and the murder of British hostage Ken Bigley in Iraq.
He said: "Looking back now, I feel that I was unduly influenced by the hostile climate the media created.
"This led me to express intemperate views which lacked complexity and balance.
"I have never condemned all immigrants or asylum seekers. My comments relate to those I perceive as coming to our country and committing criminal offences or otherwise behaving badly."
'Outrageously persecuted'
Anti-fascist and pro-BNP demonstrators had gathered outside the GTC's offices in Birmingham city centre.
BNP leader Nick Griffin was among those present. He claimed Mr Walker had been "outrageously persecuted" for his political beliefs.
He said: "The charges about supposed racism, racial intolerance, and so on, have been thrown out.
"The committee have upheld the right of Adam Walker and every other teacher in the country to criticise Government policy in no uncertain terms."
Asked about calls from some quarters for BNP members to be banned from teaching, Mr Griffin replied: "Teachers obviously have to keep politics out of the classroom.
"As long as they do that they should be entitled to hold whatever political views they want."
BBC news
Auschwitz theft suspect claims persecution (Sweden)
In a letter to the parliamentary ombudsman (Justitieombudsmännen - JO), Högström has claimed that he and his family have been subjected to threats and violence, arguing that he is unable to return to Sweden until "this issue is resolved."
"[I] request that the Ombudsman investigate the circumstances surrounding why I was denied a classified national registration status," wrote Högström. "I am suspected for the sign theft in Poland and my home and my relatives have been damaged and threatened."
34-year-old Högström argued that he had previously submitted six medical certificates along with police documentation of 62 death threats and threatened assaults as well as other public documents supporting his application.
The former neo-Nazi furthermore alleges that the tax agency's choice of administrator may have had some bearing on his case.
"An anti-apartheid activist who immigrated from Gambia, a man of great reputation? Eight children with different women..many born the same year every few months....," Högström wrote asking why the original administrator was taken off his case.
He alleged that his new administrator rejected the request for a classification status on the grounds that "a public figure only has himself to blame."
Högström also forwards claims that he had been attacked with a needle and has suffered personality changes as result, a development that he claims would never happened had he been anonymous in the register.
"Many say that my personality has changed due to what was injected into me... I received blisters, sweating, nausea, vomiting, everything is documented in the case record that was shown to the tax agency."
Anders Högström is currently been held in custody in Poland after he was extradited from Sweden in April, two months after his arrest on a Polish warrant. A court in the southern Polish city of Krakow, where he is being questioned, ordered him to stay behind bars for at least two more months in April, Poland's PAP news agency reported.
Högström has denied plotting the December 18th theft of the gateway sign from the site of the camp in the southern Polish city of Oswiecim, which became a notorious symbol of genocide by the occupying Nazi Germans.
Polish police recovered the five-metre metal "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign ("Work Will Set You Free" in German) on December 20th.
MOVEMENT TO DEMONSTRATE OVER RACIALLY-MOTIVATED ATTACK (Czech Rep)
Prague Monitor
Griffin tries to buy time with resignation ploy
His declaration, made to a meeting of the party’s Advisory Council and key organisers on 22 May, is unlikely to satisfy those who have been contributing to Bennett’s website trying to win support for a leadership challenge this year. Many will consider that three and a half years is too long for the party to stagnate under Griffin, and will be all too well aware of Griffin’s past form at wriggling out of awkward situations and commitments.
According to a statement on the BNP website, Griffin intends to concentrate on getting re-elected to the European Parliament in 2014. He then intends “to help the other European nationalist parties to achieve the level of sophistication which the BNP has been able to build up, because a victory for any one of these parties is a victory to all of us”.
These “European nationalist parties” are likely to include some of Europe’s most hardline racist and fascist organisations. Griffin and his fellow BNP MEP Andrew Brons are members of the Alliance of European National Movements, a far-right group in the European Parliament formed in Budapest last October. Its other members are the three MEPs from Hungary’s fascist Jobbik party and the three French National Front MEPs.
The group is also supported by Italy’s Fiamma Tricolore, the Belgian National Front and the Swedish National Democrats, none of which have MEPs.
Griffin’s announcement shows that he remains more an internationalist fascist than a British nationalist, true to the politics he learned from his mentor, the convicted Italian terrorist Roberto Fiore. No doubt he has also become accustomed to the European Parliament’s generous salary and expenses regime.
Between now and 2013, Griffin intends to concentrate on “putting into place of the last ‘building blocks’ of the BNP’s administrative and political machine”. This is a more buoyant description than in his e-newsletters since the election in which he said that the party’s “underdeveloped elections department” had to be overhauled and restructured.
Griffin would then make way for “a younger person who does not have any baggage which can be used against the party,” a recognition that his presence is a liability for the party. Finding a person without “baggage”, who “will be able to drive support up to where it [the BNP] can be a serious contender for power” may be hard. Until now, any person fitting that description has left the party either in one of Griffin’s “purges” or because they have discovered that the party is not what they expected it to be.
The extended Advisory Council meeting also heard “consultant” Jim Dowson claim that “contrary to internet rumour-mongers”, the BNP owns the “Truth Truck” advertising vehicle for which Dowson raised a reported £80,000 or more in 2008. This was apparently confirmed in person by Jennie Noble, “the BNP treasurer who paid for the vehicle”.
If that is true then why did the BNP’s solicitors tell bailiffs trying to seize the vehicle to meet a debt that it was owned by an unconnected third party?
Dowson also stated that he did not take a commission on transactions through the BNP’s Belfast call centre. However he was silent on whether his call centre staff, who include friends and relations of Dowson and Griffin, were paid commission on party memberships and other sales, as evidenced by Bennett.
He did however reveal that he, under the guise of his “Midas Consultancy” business, was paid £165,000 for raising £2.6 million in donations for the party since January 2008.
Whether Dowson really has raised £2.6 million cannot be verified at present. The 2008 accounts showed an increase in donations of £662,000 over 2007, but the 2009 accounts will not be available until the end of July, provided the party manages to submit them on time. The BNP claimed to have raised over £500,000 for its European election campaign and there have been some fundraising appeals since then, such as to fight the legal action by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) over the BNP’s “whites only” membership criterion, but central party fundraising for this year’s elections seemed to have stalled. Much of the money to pay for general election deposits and leaflets was raised locally by party branches, with no input from Dowson.
Even if Dowson has raised a seven-figure sum, BNP members might raise eyebrows at the amount paid to a consultant who is always keen to point out that he is not a party member.
The meeting was told that BNP membership now stands at “just under 14,000 … increasing by several hundred every month” and that the rate at which BNP members fail to renew has decreased from over 70% to less 20%, now doubt testament to the harassment several members have reported from Dowson’s call centre – people rejoin just to stop the constant phone calls. The BNP has past form in exaggerating its membership and we can only wait to see how these claims compare with the audited figures in the party’s 2009 and 2010 accounts.
Missing from the announcements was any response to the numerous members who are calling for greater transparency in the BNP’s finances.
Griffin concluded by claiming that the party had “emerged from the meeting re-energised and ready for the ongoing struggle to save our nation from destruction at the hands of the old parties”, which is a rather creative way of describing the widespread disillusionment following the twin blows of the party’s capitulation over admitting “non-white” members and its rout in the general and local elections.
Hope Not Hate
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