A French court has fined Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux for making racist comments about a young party activist of Algerian origin.
The court fined Mr Hortefeux 750 euros (£622) and ordered that he pay 2,000 euros to an anti-racism group.
Mr Hortefeux was recorded saying: "We always need one. It's when there are lots of them that there are problems."
He has said he was talking about the number of photos being taken, rather than people of Arab origin.
A lawyer for Mr Hortefeux said he would appeal against he ruling.
The comments were made in September and were broadcast in a video clip that circulated on the internet.
'Our little Arab'
Mr Hortefeux was joking with a small group of activists from the ruling UMP party in south-west France.
Immediately before Mr Hortefeux's controversial remark, one activist is heard saying: "Amin is a Catholic. He eats pork and drinks alcohol."
Mr Hortefeux then says: "Ah, well that won't do at all. He doesn't match the prototype."
A woman is then heard to say: "He is one of us... he is our little Arab."
The interior minister then says: "We always need one. It's when there are lots of them that there are problems."
The court ruled that his remark was "incontestably offensive, if not contemptuous".
The court did not issue a criminal conviction, judging that Mr Hortefeux had not intended the comments to be heard in public.
It found him guilty instead of the lesser offence of racial insult, AFP news agency reported.
At the time the video emerged, the opposition Socialist Party called for his resignation, saying the comment was "shameful and unspeakable".
Mr Hortefeux is a friend and longstanding ally of President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Mr Hortefeux is known for a tough approach on immigration, and served as immigration minister from 2007-2009.
The activist himself defended the minister in an interview with the newspaper Le Monde.
BBC News
Monday, 7 June 2010
French far-right heir hits out again at ‘unpatriotic’ team
Le Pen, considered favourite to take over from her father, National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, had on Thursday accused the team of having “another nationality at heart” and repeated her claims yesterday , focusing her displeasure on Franck Ribery and Nicolas Anelka.
“I think that when you are a representative of France, and notably at the World Cup, ... that should be a place where you express your patriotism,” Marine Le Pen told Canal+ television.
“I see players who are spoilt brats who have made a number of declarations ... expressing their pride in their country of origin,” Le Pen went on in allusion to the fact that many of the French squad are of either African origin or come originally from overseas departments and territories.
“I would like them to express their pride in the country which they are competing for.”
“When Monsieur Ribery appears wrapped in the Algerian flag as he did in October 2009 ...” she went on, breaking off in mid-sentence. That comment related to a picture which appeared on an internet site run by friends of Marine Le Pen, the photo having originally appeared on other sites.
Jean-Marie Le Pen caused controversy in 2006 by complaining about the number of black players in the national team – he also made similar comments in 1998 when a multi-racial French side won the World Cup on home soil.
That triumph was widely seen as providing a boost to integration of different ethnic groups in France.
Marine Le Pen had in her initial comments accused players of not singing the national anthem as well as wrapping themselves in other nations’ flags.
Yesterday, she said of Chelsea striker Anelka that “he goes off explaining how he does not want to pay taxes in France.
That comment came after an interview the player gave to a French paper last year when he said: “I would like to live in France but it’s not possible. You know why – tax levels.”
For Marine Le Pen, “this France team no longer represents France – it represents Nike, TF1 (television), the Credit Agricole (bank), (telecoms firm) SFR. It represents money.” — AFP
The Star
Far-right anti-Islam party set to double seats in Dutch election
The far-right Party for Freedom, which has campaigned on a ticket of ending the "Islamic invasion", is expected to double its representation in the Dutch parliament, giving it enough seats to become a potential ruling coalition candidate.
The party is predicted to win 18 seats in the forthcoming elections. It currently holds nine.
Led by anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders, the party claims that 40 per cent of social security payments go to non-Western immigrants and that people of Moroccan origin are suspected of committing crime five times more often than the indigenous Dutch.
"The sluice gates are wide open", Mr Wilders said in a campaign video that showed planes landing in Holland as women in headscarves outnumber natives in shopping street scenes.
"Every day we are confronted with mass immigration: headscarves, burqas, minarets, social security dependence, crime ... it never ends," he laments as dramatic music plays in the background of the clip released ahead of June 9 parliamentary elections.
"Whole neighbourhoods are being Islamised."
Mr Wilders' bold move onto the shaky ground of multi-cultural tolerance, for long a matter of Dutch pride, "has prompted other parties to adopt a stricter approach to security and the integration of Muslims", said political analyst Martin Rosema of Twente University.
Many parties' manifestos now propose an immigration cut, mainly for the low skilled, and harsher treatment of foreign criminals.
Mr Wilders' PVV came first in Almere and second in The Hague in local elections in March - the only cities it contested in its first-ever municipal campaign.
But the PVV finds itself in opposition in both cities as other parties formed coalitions to exclude it, a situation observers expect to be repeated on the national stage.
Mr Wilders has called his political enemies "multi-cultural cuddlers".
"What the Netherlands needs is a stop to immigration for people from Muslim countries," said the politician who has also called for a "head rag tax" on headscarves.
Twenty per cent of the Netherlands' 16.5 million-strong population is of immigrant origin.
The liberal VVD party is in the lead ahead of the parliamentary elections.
Opinion polls expect almost 40 seats out of 150 in the Dutch lower house of parliament to go to the Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), which proposes severe public spending cuts in the first elections in a eurozone country since the Greek crisis struck.
The Telegraph
The party is predicted to win 18 seats in the forthcoming elections. It currently holds nine.
Led by anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders, the party claims that 40 per cent of social security payments go to non-Western immigrants and that people of Moroccan origin are suspected of committing crime five times more often than the indigenous Dutch.
"The sluice gates are wide open", Mr Wilders said in a campaign video that showed planes landing in Holland as women in headscarves outnumber natives in shopping street scenes.
"Every day we are confronted with mass immigration: headscarves, burqas, minarets, social security dependence, crime ... it never ends," he laments as dramatic music plays in the background of the clip released ahead of June 9 parliamentary elections.
"Whole neighbourhoods are being Islamised."
Mr Wilders' bold move onto the shaky ground of multi-cultural tolerance, for long a matter of Dutch pride, "has prompted other parties to adopt a stricter approach to security and the integration of Muslims", said political analyst Martin Rosema of Twente University.
Many parties' manifestos now propose an immigration cut, mainly for the low skilled, and harsher treatment of foreign criminals.
Mr Wilders' PVV came first in Almere and second in The Hague in local elections in March - the only cities it contested in its first-ever municipal campaign.
But the PVV finds itself in opposition in both cities as other parties formed coalitions to exclude it, a situation observers expect to be repeated on the national stage.
Mr Wilders has called his political enemies "multi-cultural cuddlers".
"What the Netherlands needs is a stop to immigration for people from Muslim countries," said the politician who has also called for a "head rag tax" on headscarves.
Twenty per cent of the Netherlands' 16.5 million-strong population is of immigrant origin.
The liberal VVD party is in the lead ahead of the parliamentary elections.
Opinion polls expect almost 40 seats out of 150 in the Dutch lower house of parliament to go to the Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), which proposes severe public spending cuts in the first elections in a eurozone country since the Greek crisis struck.
The Telegraph
Sunday, 6 June 2010
Wheelchair user robbed in Edinburgh's Oxgangs area (UK)
A man in a wheelchair has been robbed by a pair of teenagers in what police described as a "sickening" attack.
The 44-year-old man attempted to pass the suspects in Oxgangs Drive, Edinburgh, at 0940 BST.
They blocked his path and repeatedly punched him before escaping with some of his personal belongings in the direction of Firhill Drive.
The victim was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary as a precaution. He was not seriously injured.
Both suspects were described as being white and aged about 16 or 17.
One of them was 6ft tall, of medium build, with blonde hair. He was wearing black jeans and a blue T-shirt.
The second was 5ft 10in tall, of slim build, with short dark hair. He was wearing blue jeans and a grey, hooded top.
A police spokesman said: "This is a sickening unprovoked attack, and although not seriously injured the man has been left understandably shaken as a result.
"We are appealing for anyone who was in the area at the time, and who saw what happened, to contact us.
"We would also like to hear from anyone who might recognise the description of the suspects."
BBC News
The 44-year-old man attempted to pass the suspects in Oxgangs Drive, Edinburgh, at 0940 BST.
They blocked his path and repeatedly punched him before escaping with some of his personal belongings in the direction of Firhill Drive.
The victim was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary as a precaution. He was not seriously injured.
Both suspects were described as being white and aged about 16 or 17.
One of them was 6ft tall, of medium build, with blonde hair. He was wearing black jeans and a blue T-shirt.
The second was 5ft 10in tall, of slim build, with short dark hair. He was wearing blue jeans and a grey, hooded top.
A police spokesman said: "This is a sickening unprovoked attack, and although not seriously injured the man has been left understandably shaken as a result.
"We are appealing for anyone who was in the area at the time, and who saw what happened, to contact us.
"We would also like to hear from anyone who might recognise the description of the suspects."
BBC News
London pub 'refused gay group drinks' (UK)
A pub chain has apologised after a gay group said staff refused to serve them in a row over their sexuality.
The Labour Party's Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transsexual Society were in the Greencoat Boy pub in Westminster, central London, when a row broke out.
The duty manager is alleged to have refused them service and said that had he known they were a gay group he would not have accepted their booking.
Punch Taverns, which owns the pub, has launched an investigation.
The matter was referred to the Metropolitan Police as a possible breach of equality laws.
James Asser, a member of the group, said: "Everyone involved was shocked and outraged. This attitude is totally unacceptable in this day and age.
"What century are we living in here?"
He continued: "When you encounter prejudice you have to stand up and be counted - at the very least we expect an apology.
"We also want a demonstration that the pub chain takes this very seriously and will make sure it never happens again."
A spokesman for Punch Taverns denied the group were refused drinks because of their sexuality.
He also disputed whether the duty manager had made the statement about bookings.
'Commitment to diversity'
The spokesman said: "Punch Taverns seeks to provide welcoming venues to everyone. We are shocked and saddened that a group of our guests did not experience this and would like to apologise.
"We would however like to stress that this is an isolated incident and is not representative of our commitment to diversity.
"We are currently conducting a full investigation of the incident and will report back to the Labour LGBT group with our findings."
The incident became the most viewed trend on social networking site Twitter.
Former Labour deputy prime minister John Prescott Tweeted in support of the group, writing: "40 years ago we campaigned against a Hull pub that banned 'women and queers'.
"This is disgraceful."
There was controversy during the election campaign after Conservative Chris Grayling allegedly supported the right of Christian bed and breakfast owners to refuse service to gay couples.
BBC News
The Labour Party's Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transsexual Society were in the Greencoat Boy pub in Westminster, central London, when a row broke out.
The duty manager is alleged to have refused them service and said that had he known they were a gay group he would not have accepted their booking.
Punch Taverns, which owns the pub, has launched an investigation.
The matter was referred to the Metropolitan Police as a possible breach of equality laws.
James Asser, a member of the group, said: "Everyone involved was shocked and outraged. This attitude is totally unacceptable in this day and age.
"What century are we living in here?"
He continued: "When you encounter prejudice you have to stand up and be counted - at the very least we expect an apology.
"We also want a demonstration that the pub chain takes this very seriously and will make sure it never happens again."
A spokesman for Punch Taverns denied the group were refused drinks because of their sexuality.
He also disputed whether the duty manager had made the statement about bookings.
'Commitment to diversity'
The spokesman said: "Punch Taverns seeks to provide welcoming venues to everyone. We are shocked and saddened that a group of our guests did not experience this and would like to apologise.
"We would however like to stress that this is an isolated incident and is not representative of our commitment to diversity.
"We are currently conducting a full investigation of the incident and will report back to the Labour LGBT group with our findings."
The incident became the most viewed trend on social networking site Twitter.
Former Labour deputy prime minister John Prescott Tweeted in support of the group, writing: "40 years ago we campaigned against a Hull pub that banned 'women and queers'.
"This is disgraceful."
There was controversy during the election campaign after Conservative Chris Grayling allegedly supported the right of Christian bed and breakfast owners to refuse service to gay couples.
BBC News
The EDL Racists Came to Wales and the people stood their ground by B.Taylor
Yesterday saw the EDL come to Wales’ capital city in the guise of the WDL – Welsh Defence League. Although a few carried Welsh flags most were clearly over from England for another day of racism in the sunshine, chanting ‘EDL’ and carrying the St George cross.
As always, the UAF and other anti-racist, anti-fascist organisations arranged a counter-demonstration to show the people of Cardiff that this blatant racism and hate-mongering would not be tolerated, and will never be allowed to go unchallenged.
Racist were promoting hate in Cardiff and we were not going to let it go unchallenged!
We marched through the Grangetown area of Cardiff and had a lot of support from local people along the route, families waved as we passed, shoppers chatted to the stewards about why we were marching – and plenty of taxi drivers honked their horns in support. A lot of people came out and joined the march as we passed through their communities.
The march also went past Cardiff Castle, and we got a lot of bemused looks from people who were in the city for the rugby game, the Stereophonics concert, the cricket match or just tourists out enjoying the sunshine. We will also all be featuring on a lot of home videos, as dozens of people filmed the march as it went past – so the message to the world will be clear: the people of Cardiff do not tolerate racism in any form!
The march finished next to the City Hall, and there was a very strong police presence waiting for us there. As the speeches and music got under way, the police handed out water to the marchers and the atmosphere remained good-natured and relaxed.
We were hemmed in between two civic buildings, with the speeches talking place towards the back of the courtyard area. Many of us drifted towards the open front, where the police had about a dozen vans, a few horses and a couple of hundred officers, to watch for the EDL/WDL arriving. More people drifted towards the protest over the next hour or so, and we ended up with about 550-650 people in total.
The police maintained a strong line in front of us, and when a large group of EDL supporters were expected, they moved the horses and vans in a line between us. The EDL were still met with roars of protest from our side, which they answered with chants and shouts of their own, but we were a few hundred yards apart so I doubt they could understand us any more then we understood them. Although the meanings from both sides were crystal clear.
In a very surreal twist, both groups were given areas on either side of the civic building for their protests, and inside the civic building weddings continued to be held. There will be a lot of wedding photos from yesterday with lines of police vans and protestors in the background, and 5 or 6 brides with an interesting wedding day story to tell their grandchildren.
The police, trying to avoid potential flare-ups of trouble, separated the anti-fascist protestors into areas; those of us outside the courtyard area were cut off from the ones inside the courtyard. We could go back in, but no one was allowed out. They did try to get us back inside the courtyard where we could not see the EDL and therefore have no confrontation, but they were met with a lot of resistance and initially let us stay where we were.
As more EDL members arrived the police line in front of us gradually started to move forward, so push us backwards, but another line of police had blocked the entrance to the courtyard so we could not re-join the main protest. This resulted in a stream of anti-racists protestors breaking away and entering the grassy park area which allowed us to see directly into the courtyard where the EDL were housed - about 70-100 of us all moved into the park.
The police maintained a strong line in front of us in case of trouble, and their line was not challenged. We kept a respectful distance from the police while letting the EDL know what we thought of the hatred and lies they try to spread. I only saw one arrest, although I understand there were 3 or 4. The woman who was arrested had been directly challenging the police offices requests throughout the march and had arrived with a group who chose to keep their faces covered; I didn’t see what prompted the arrest, but I wasn’t surprised to see it was one of their numbers.
Some of the protestors noticed a bus of EDL supporters arriving and broke to one side of the park to confront them. I was later told they tried to attack the bus with sticks, but this was uncorroborated and later
police reports don’t mention it. We were quickly surrounded by officers and herded away from the road, so we returned to the area facing the EDL-filled courtyard.
The protest continued in this way for some time, with the 130-150 EDL protestors standing behind barriers shouting unintelligibly, and the anti-racist protestors facing them chanting the usual ‘Nazi scum off our streets’ among many other slogans, led by various people taking turns on a megaphone.
When the time came for the EDL to move on, about an hour after they arrived, the police decided to clear the park directly in front of the EDL occupied courtyard of our group of protestors. The line they surrounded us with started to move forward, and our group moved backwards to accommodate their request. However it soon became clear that the intention was to clear the park entirely and let the EDL go home with no goodbyes from us. The protestors stopped complying with the requests of the police and stood their ground, arguing that we would leave until the EDL left and we would not allow the EDL to move anywhere in the city without being challenged.
The police tried to push us out of the park, but we would not be moved. As still we were only given the option to leave and not to re-join the main anti-EDL demo.
The chanting at the EDL carried on, and although there was a little pushing and shoving the protest continued to be non-violent. After a few fruitless minutes of trying to move us on, the police decided to escort the EDL out of the area with us still in place. We were able to once again vocally express our disgust at the EDL and their disgraceful attitude toward members of our communities – no unchallenged racism in Wales’ capital city!
The EDL were escorted away from the area, but initially stayed in a group thereby forcing the police to escort them until the group had broken up and dispersed into the city centre. Some anti-fascist protestors continued to follow them and express their views, but there were no direct clashes.
Despite a difference of opinion with the police at the end, the day stayed peaceful and showed everyone that Cardiff will not tolerate racist behaviour. The EDL ‘protest’ consisted of 150 thugs standing in an enclosed area of Cardiff for an hour, with no march and very little support. The Anti-EDL march consisted of 550-650 people, support from the local communities on a 90-minute march which took in one of the main roads in the centre of Cardiff, music, speeches and a clear demonstration of out commitment to keep Cardiff and the rest of Wales as multi-cultural as possible.
In the words of one of the songs sung on the march:
We are black, white, Asian and we’re Jew
And there are many, many more of us than you!
Stand up to the EDL, BNP and any other far right racist groups.
As always, the UAF and other anti-racist, anti-fascist organisations arranged a counter-demonstration to show the people of Cardiff that this blatant racism and hate-mongering would not be tolerated, and will never be allowed to go unchallenged.
The anti-racist protestors gathered outside the Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay, with placards and flags being thrust into eager anti-racist hands. And although the far right idiots will then claim everyone was a UAF unwashed lefty, it was obvious to anyone involved that this was not the case.
As around 300-400 people started on the march, and the atmosphere was friendly and happy with people of all ages, abilities, disabilities and races taking part. The UAF were the most organised with the banners and placards distribution of all the groups that participated but this was a march of people against racism, and all the organisations involved came second to that overwhelming feeling.
Racist were promoting hate in Cardiff and we were not going to let it go unchallenged!
We marched through the Grangetown area of Cardiff and had a lot of support from local people along the route, families waved as we passed, shoppers chatted to the stewards about why we were marching – and plenty of taxi drivers honked their horns in support. A lot of people came out and joined the march as we passed through their communities.The march also went past Cardiff Castle, and we got a lot of bemused looks from people who were in the city for the rugby game, the Stereophonics concert, the cricket match or just tourists out enjoying the sunshine. We will also all be featuring on a lot of home videos, as dozens of people filmed the march as it went past – so the message to the world will be clear: the people of Cardiff do not tolerate racism in any form!
The march finished next to the City Hall, and there was a very strong police presence waiting for us there. As the speeches and music got under way, the police handed out water to the marchers and the atmosphere remained good-natured and relaxed.
There were a few hard-core protestors mixed in with the crowd, self-styled anarchists who tried to keep their faces covered so the police, who were filming the protest, couldn’t identify them if they caused trouble. As it was a hot day, none of them managed to keep their faces hidden the entire time so it appeared to be for effect and bravado more than practicality. Especially as they didn’t bother to hide some very distinctive tattoos, piercing’s and hairstyles. Fortunately these were in the minority, and most of us didn’t mind being filmed as there was no intention to break any law.
After a long wait we had a little excitement when four men started walking towards the anti-racist protest line. They had shaven heads and looked like your typical stereotype EDL racist supporters – some of our protestors started to boo them and shout ‘shame on you’ as they walked closer to our enclosed area. It wasn’t until they were up to the barrier that one of their number opened his jacket and showed a SHARP (Skin Heads Against Racial Prejudice) t-shirt. Just goes to show everyone can all be guilty of judging a book by the cover!
The EDL - and I call them EDL deliberately, not WDL. This was not a separate group trying to defend Wales from some imaginary influx of scary Muslims, many of them wore English flags and they all chanted ‘E, E, EDL’. Not WDL. These were the same football hooligans we have seen up and down Britain, rioting and trying to stir up racial hatred. So – the EDL started to turn up in small numbers about an hour after our march had finished. When the first lot arrived – maybe 20 of them – they were greeted with chants from the anti-racist protestors and lots of placards were waved. We later found out that they were brought into the city by bus; there was no EDL march.
The police maintained a strong line in front of us, and when a large group of EDL supporters were expected, they moved the horses and vans in a line between us. The EDL were still met with roars of protest from our side, which they answered with chants and shouts of their own, but we were a few hundred yards apart so I doubt they could understand us any more then we understood them. Although the meanings from both sides were crystal clear.In a very surreal twist, both groups were given areas on either side of the civic building for their protests, and inside the civic building weddings continued to be held. There will be a lot of wedding photos from yesterday with lines of police vans and protestors in the background, and 5 or 6 brides with an interesting wedding day story to tell their grandchildren.
The police, trying to avoid potential flare-ups of trouble, separated the anti-fascist protestors into areas; those of us outside the courtyard area were cut off from the ones inside the courtyard. We could go back in, but no one was allowed out. They did try to get us back inside the courtyard where we could not see the EDL and therefore have no confrontation, but they were met with a lot of resistance and initially let us stay where we were.
The police maintained a strong line in front of us in case of trouble, and their line was not challenged. We kept a respectful distance from the police while letting the EDL know what we thought of the hatred and lies they try to spread. I only saw one arrest, although I understand there were 3 or 4. The woman who was arrested had been directly challenging the police offices requests throughout the march and had arrived with a group who chose to keep their faces covered; I didn’t see what prompted the arrest, but I wasn’t surprised to see it was one of their numbers.
Some of the protestors noticed a bus of EDL supporters arriving and broke to one side of the park to confront them. I was later told they tried to attack the bus with sticks, but this was uncorroborated and later
police reports don’t mention it. We were quickly surrounded by officers and herded away from the road, so we returned to the area facing the EDL-filled courtyard.
The protest continued in this way for some time, with the 130-150 EDL protestors standing behind barriers shouting unintelligibly, and the anti-racist protestors facing them chanting the usual ‘Nazi scum off our streets’ among many other slogans, led by various people taking turns on a megaphone. When the time came for the EDL to move on, about an hour after they arrived, the police decided to clear the park directly in front of the EDL occupied courtyard of our group of protestors. The line they surrounded us with started to move forward, and our group moved backwards to accommodate their request. However it soon became clear that the intention was to clear the park entirely and let the EDL go home with no goodbyes from us. The protestors stopped complying with the requests of the police and stood their ground, arguing that we would leave until the EDL left and we would not allow the EDL to move anywhere in the city without being challenged.
The police tried to push us out of the park, but we would not be moved. As still we were only given the option to leave and not to re-join the main anti-EDL demo.
The EDL were escorted away from the area, but initially stayed in a group thereby forcing the police to escort them until the group had broken up and dispersed into the city centre. Some anti-fascist protestors continued to follow them and express their views, but there were no direct clashes.
Despite a difference of opinion with the police at the end, the day stayed peaceful and showed everyone that Cardiff will not tolerate racist behaviour. The EDL ‘protest’ consisted of 150 thugs standing in an enclosed area of Cardiff for an hour, with no march and very little support. The Anti-EDL march consisted of 550-650 people, support from the local communities on a 90-minute march which took in one of the main roads in the centre of Cardiff, music, speeches and a clear demonstration of out commitment to keep Cardiff and the rest of Wales as multi-cultural as possible.
In the words of one of the songs sung on the march:
We are black, white, Asian and we’re Jew
And there are many, many more of us than you!
Stand up to the EDL, BNP and any other far right racist groups.
Crime handbook provokes fear of increased left-wing violence (Germany)
Police are trying to find the authors and distributors of what has been described as a criminal handbook full of tips for saboteurs on how to commit arson, stop trains and cut down electricity pylons without getting caught, according to Der Spiegel magazine.
The 80-page brochure called ‘Prisma’ has been circulated within largely left-wing groupings in the Berlin, Hamburg and the Lower Saxony regions, according to the authorities who fear it may become instrumental in encouraging violence.
The use of sophisticated techniques such as deploying timers as well as several different kinds of inflammable material in arson attacks is discussed in the brochure, as are methods for cutting down electricity pylons and stopping trains by placing obstructions on the line.
There are also several chapters on how to avoid getting caught, outlining the investigation techniques of the police, and offering detailed advice on how saboteurs can avoid leaving clues and shake off those who might be tracking them.
The brochure, “encourages criminal acts with an until now unseen attention to detail and professionalism,” said Hans-Werner Wargel, head of Lower Saxony’s state intelligence service.
“This criminal handbook has reached a quality not previously seen,” he told Der Spiegel.
The magazine noted figures which showed that the number of left-wing radical acts of violence rose by 53 percent in 2009. A grouping of federal and state interior ministers is planning to tackle the scene with an action plan, which has yet to be agreed.
The Local Germany
The 80-page brochure called ‘Prisma’ has been circulated within largely left-wing groupings in the Berlin, Hamburg and the Lower Saxony regions, according to the authorities who fear it may become instrumental in encouraging violence.
The use of sophisticated techniques such as deploying timers as well as several different kinds of inflammable material in arson attacks is discussed in the brochure, as are methods for cutting down electricity pylons and stopping trains by placing obstructions on the line.
There are also several chapters on how to avoid getting caught, outlining the investigation techniques of the police, and offering detailed advice on how saboteurs can avoid leaving clues and shake off those who might be tracking them.
The brochure, “encourages criminal acts with an until now unseen attention to detail and professionalism,” said Hans-Werner Wargel, head of Lower Saxony’s state intelligence service.
“This criminal handbook has reached a quality not previously seen,” he told Der Spiegel.
The magazine noted figures which showed that the number of left-wing radical acts of violence rose by 53 percent in 2009. A grouping of federal and state interior ministers is planning to tackle the scene with an action plan, which has yet to be agreed.
The Local Germany
MIGRATION BOSS SLAMS MOVE TO EXPEL FOREIGNERS(Switzerland)
A rightwing-backed move to deport foreign criminals more readily has come under fire from the head of the Federal Migration Office who says it's “disproportionate”. Director Alard du Bois-Reymond said in an interview published on Saturday that committing even relatively trivial crimes would be reason enough to expel up to four times as many foreigners as today. Currently about 350-400 foreign criminals get sent home each year. Du Bois-Reymond said a counterproposal that made its way through the House of Representatives last week would deport only those foreign criminals guilty of more serious offences. Estimates say the number of expulsions under that measure would probably be double today’s rate. The counterproposal would also take more preventative steps by working to integrate foreigners better into society. “Unfortunately foreigners are often associated with crime,” de Bois-Reymond said. “But Switzerland also benefits a lot from foreigners, too.” The Swiss People’s Party (SVP), which collected more than 210,000 signatures starting in 2008 to force a vote on the issue, says the counterproposal is too watered down. “It opens up the way for numerous appeals and complaints,” the party said on a website created for the initiative. “For this reason the SVP stands fully behind the people’s initiative, because only it guarantees a consistent expulsion of criminal foreigners.”
Swiss Info
Swiss Info
RIGHTIST GROUP JOLTS SWEDEN'S TOLERANT SELF-IMAGE
Akesson, the clerkish 31-year-old leading the Sweden Democrat charge, insists voters are more disenchanted with liberal immigration laws than they admit out loud. "In Sweden, if you voice criticism against the immigration policy, you are viewed as a racist or xenophobe," Akesson said. "It's difficult to get people to stand up and say 'Here's what I think.'" "Our self-image is that of a tolerant country," said Lena Sundstrom, a Swedish writer who has studied the hardening attitudes toward immigrants in neighboring Denmark. Swedes, she says, draw national pride from such achievements as gender equality, and the brand names they have exported worldwide - Volvo cars, Ikea furniture. And even though one in every four residents or their parents were born in a foreign country, and an estimated 300,000 Muslims live in the otherwise Christian but secularized country of 9.35 million, it hasn't swept any nationalist movements to prominence. Denmark, by contrast, has a minority nationalist party whose king-maker power imposed curbs on immigration, making it a role model for the Sweden Democrats. The other Nordic neighbors, Norway and Finland, also have such parties in their legislatures, advocating strong controls on immigration. So do other western European countries including Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Swedes occasionally debate the pros and cons of banning burqas or minarets, or pressuring immigrants to learn Swedish, as has happened in some European countries, but these ideas have never gone beyond talk. "Swedes in general are a very tolerant people," Akesson acknowledges. "But I'm convinced that a large part of the Swedish electorate believes that the immigration policies have been too lax and far too generous." Over the years, that generosity has given jobs to migrants from southern Europe; haven to victims of Chilean dictatorship; escape from Iran's ayatollahs; safety for Kurds, Bosnians and Kosovars, and more recently, Iraqis and Somalis. Sweden now has more immigrants from Iraq than from neighboring Norway and Denmark combined, according to government statistics. Last year alone it admitted more than 100,000 immigrants, including 10,000 Thais, 8,700 Somalis and 8,500 Iraqis, those statistics show. A survey of 9,000 people by the SOM institute at Goteborg University last month showed the proportion of Swedes who believe the country has admitted too many immigrants fell from 52 percent in 1993 to 36 percent last year. No margin of error was given. In some cities immigrants are nearly 40 percent of the population, and in certain neighborhoods nearly 90 percent.
What worries many Swedes is the clustering of immigrants in neighborhoods with nicknames such as "Little Baghdad." Few native Swedes ever set foot in these districts, viewing them as dangerous slums infested with criminal gangs and Islamic fundamentalists. Critics say the extent of those problems are often exaggerated by the Sweden Democrats, but there is no doubt that Sweden is becoming increasingly segregated. In the Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby, aka "Little Mogadishu," a 20-year-old Somali woman in a black head scarf says: "Not even a non-Muslim dares to walk around with a short skirt in Rinkeby." She doesn't give her name for fear of neighbors' reaction. The Sweden Democrats say immigration has become an economic burden, draining the welfare system and channeling jobs to newcomers who work for lower wages. Akesson says he fears Sweden is adapting to the Muslim minority instead of the other way around and has written of Islam's impact on Swedish society as "our biggest foreign threat since World War II." He mentions cases of public schools that have stopped serving pork and no longer celebrate the end of the school year in church.
Akesson also points to attacks against artist Lars Vilks, who drew the prophet Muhammad with a dog's body. Last month furious protesters chanting "God is Great" in Arabic disrupted Vilks' guest lecture at Uppsala University and vandals tossed firebombs at his home. The party's views have provoked fierce reactions. Some high schools have prohibited party members from handing out flyers on school grounds. In 2007 the party struggled to find a venue for its annual meeting when several conference centers turned it down, citing security concerns. Police say the party is exposed to "systematic threats" from activists, and the it keeps the address of the Stockholm office secret. The Sweden Democrats emerged from an explicitly racist movement called "Keep Sweden Swedish" in the late 1980s. They have since expelled extremist members, and made their first political mark in 2006 elections when they won seats on municipal councils and fell just short of getting seats in Parliament. "Swedishness is not in your skin color or in any part of the body. It's in your values and how you behave," Akesson said. The party has changed its logo from a burning flame to a liverwort flower. In Akesson's office, the most overt nod to national sentiment is the tropical fish in the aquarium. They are yellow and blue - the colors of the Swedish flag.
Associated Press
Far-right thugs menace Rome's tourist spots in wave of violence
Rise in race attacks is fuelled by drink and election of former neo-fascist as mayor
On the surface, the good times returned to the Coming Out bar in Rome last week. Music boomed as crowds of drinkers spilled out into what has been dubbed Gay Street to perch on the railings, inches from a brightly lit Colosseum.
But for many gay and lesbian revellers the atmosphere was soured by the memory of how, just days earlier, one drinker was badly beaten on his way home by a gang yelling: "Filthy faggot."
"We have been joking about the attack to cut the tension, but friends are warning us to take care," said Giovanni, a 33-year-old marketing man from Padua.
The attack was the latest in a string of assaults on gays, immigrants and even tourists that have been linked to extreme rightwing thuggery in the traditionally tolerant eternal city, fuelled by a spiralling consumption of alcohol and following the election of former neo-fascist, Gianni Alemanno, as mayor.
"These thugs don't get any support from the town hall, but they feel justified and encouraged by the political climate," said Flavia Servadei, who opened Coming Out in 2001.
The assault near "Gay Street" was the eighth incident of homophobic violence in Rome in just nine months, including a serious wounding of a gay man by a veteran neo-fascist, two attempts to burn down a gay disco, and the lobbing of a firecracker into the crowd outside Coming Out.
In March four men boarded a night bus in the trendy Trastevere district and methodically beat up a black man and a homosexual student.
"Young people in Rome who are joining extremist groups, and who are no longer being warned off violence against minorities, are increasingly deciding that such violence is legitimate," said Paolo Patanè, the president of Italian gay rights group Arcigay, which is pushing to make homophobia a crime.
With almost a third of young Italians out of work and immigrants now accounting for 7% of the population, racist attacks in Rome have also become a regular occurrence.
In March, 15 masked men armed with sticks destroyed a Bangladeshi-owned internet café, injuring four. In the tough neighbourhood of Tor Bella Monaca, immigrants from Moldavia, Senegal, Bangladesh, Albania, China and Tunisia have all been beaten up or stabbed in recent months. Last month four men were arrested in possession of machetes on suspicion of planning to assault the head of Rome's Jewish community.
Wearing jeans, polo shirts and sunglasses, the youths swigging lager and looking for trouble in piazzas today resemble their rightwing forebears like Alemanno, who battled young Communists during Italy's politically charged 1970s and 1980s. "The difference is that today they are less ideological and more interested in identity, in opposing anything and anyone who is different," said Michele Sorice, a sociologist at Rome's Luiss university.
The other generational shift is an emphasis on alcohol, as the old Italian fixation with maintaining a bella figura gives way to pride in losing control. City officials said they were considering a repeat of last summer's ban on drinking in Rome's piazzas to cut violence.
"Alemanno is not responsible for the political climate in the city; he is a product of it," said Claudio Cerasa, author of The Taking of Rome, a book about the rise of the right. "Just look at the way student elections were going before he was elected in 2008." In student council elections in 2007, after decades of leftwing rule, a quarter of Rome's schoolchildren voted for Blocco Studentesco, an affiliate to the far-right Casa Pound.
Casa Pound leader Gianluca Iannone is described by Cerasa as a "fascist for the third millennium" who mixes eulogies to Mussolini with praise for Che Guevara and now counts on 2,000 recruits up and down Italy as well as sympathisers on Rome's city council.
But judging by the proliferating swastikas, the problem is that a number of Romans appear quite happy to stick to the old ideas.
"There is a simply a different atmosphere here to towns up north like Venice and Padua," said Piero, nursing his drink nervously at the Coming Out bar. "People on the far right here feel they have political
Guardian
But for many gay and lesbian revellers the atmosphere was soured by the memory of how, just days earlier, one drinker was badly beaten on his way home by a gang yelling: "Filthy faggot."
"We have been joking about the attack to cut the tension, but friends are warning us to take care," said Giovanni, a 33-year-old marketing man from Padua.
The attack was the latest in a string of assaults on gays, immigrants and even tourists that have been linked to extreme rightwing thuggery in the traditionally tolerant eternal city, fuelled by a spiralling consumption of alcohol and following the election of former neo-fascist, Gianni Alemanno, as mayor.
"These thugs don't get any support from the town hall, but they feel justified and encouraged by the political climate," said Flavia Servadei, who opened Coming Out in 2001.
The assault near "Gay Street" was the eighth incident of homophobic violence in Rome in just nine months, including a serious wounding of a gay man by a veteran neo-fascist, two attempts to burn down a gay disco, and the lobbing of a firecracker into the crowd outside Coming Out.
In March four men boarded a night bus in the trendy Trastevere district and methodically beat up a black man and a homosexual student.
"Young people in Rome who are joining extremist groups, and who are no longer being warned off violence against minorities, are increasingly deciding that such violence is legitimate," said Paolo Patanè, the president of Italian gay rights group Arcigay, which is pushing to make homophobia a crime.
With almost a third of young Italians out of work and immigrants now accounting for 7% of the population, racist attacks in Rome have also become a regular occurrence.
In March, 15 masked men armed with sticks destroyed a Bangladeshi-owned internet café, injuring four. In the tough neighbourhood of Tor Bella Monaca, immigrants from Moldavia, Senegal, Bangladesh, Albania, China and Tunisia have all been beaten up or stabbed in recent months. Last month four men were arrested in possession of machetes on suspicion of planning to assault the head of Rome's Jewish community.
Wearing jeans, polo shirts and sunglasses, the youths swigging lager and looking for trouble in piazzas today resemble their rightwing forebears like Alemanno, who battled young Communists during Italy's politically charged 1970s and 1980s. "The difference is that today they are less ideological and more interested in identity, in opposing anything and anyone who is different," said Michele Sorice, a sociologist at Rome's Luiss university.
The other generational shift is an emphasis on alcohol, as the old Italian fixation with maintaining a bella figura gives way to pride in losing control. City officials said they were considering a repeat of last summer's ban on drinking in Rome's piazzas to cut violence.
"Alemanno is not responsible for the political climate in the city; he is a product of it," said Claudio Cerasa, author of The Taking of Rome, a book about the rise of the right. "Just look at the way student elections were going before he was elected in 2008." In student council elections in 2007, after decades of leftwing rule, a quarter of Rome's schoolchildren voted for Blocco Studentesco, an affiliate to the far-right Casa Pound.
Casa Pound leader Gianluca Iannone is described by Cerasa as a "fascist for the third millennium" who mixes eulogies to Mussolini with praise for Che Guevara and now counts on 2,000 recruits up and down Italy as well as sympathisers on Rome's city council.
But judging by the proliferating swastikas, the problem is that a number of Romans appear quite happy to stick to the old ideas.
"There is a simply a different atmosphere here to towns up north like Venice and Padua," said Piero, nursing his drink nervously at the Coming Out bar. "People on the far right here feel they have political
Guardian
German neo-Nazi parties 'consider merger'
Germany's two main neo-Nazi parties are considering plans to merge in an attempt to gain popularity, according to reports.
The National Democratic Party (NPD) and the German People's Union (DVU), who have face flagging membership and money problems, are reportedly asking members their thoughts, according to sources at the NPD's party conference in Bamberg.
According to the newspaper Tagespiegel, the DVU in particular needs to merge in order to avoid being wiped out. The DVU has around 4,500 members, according to the German intelligence service, while the NPD has closer to 7,000.
While the NPD has had minor success in state parliaments, holding seats in Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, neither party has done well in the national parliament, with both failing claim the five per cent needed to hold seats.
The Telegraph
The National Democratic Party (NPD) and the German People's Union (DVU), who have face flagging membership and money problems, are reportedly asking members their thoughts, according to sources at the NPD's party conference in Bamberg.
According to the newspaper Tagespiegel, the DVU in particular needs to merge in order to avoid being wiped out. The DVU has around 4,500 members, according to the German intelligence service, while the NPD has closer to 7,000.
While the NPD has had minor success in state parliaments, holding seats in Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, neither party has done well in the national parliament, with both failing claim the five per cent needed to hold seats.
The Telegraph
BNP not ‘open and honest’ says East Midlands councillor
Graham Partner, who holds one of the party’s two seats on North West Leicestershire District Council, says the BNP is not “being managed in an open and honest way”.
Writing on his blog he comments: “I see people are being expelled for asking questions about the accounts and have to wonder what is there to hide. Therefore I conclude there is something to hide and I don’t like it.”
Drawing on his council experience, he notes: “Some good activists have been lost over recent years simply for speaking out. This is not acceptable to me either. I believe in people’s rights to challenge everything in the same way as Scrutiny operates on the council.
“The answers are not always what we hope for but we still ask and don’t get sacked for having the nerve.”
In a reference to the widespread accusations that the party is being run for the benefit of Griffin and his “consultant”, the anti-abortion extremist Jim Dowson, Partner declares: “How can I be expected to encourage people to join, knowing that it is run as a personal empire where the members are merely a source of income.”
Partner would welcome a challenge this year to Griffin’s leadership but believes the new constitution makes it impossible. “I am totally supportive of anyone who wants to challenge for the leadership on the grounds of democracy and if Nick wins again then so be it.
“The constitution is a farce and designed to make it near impossible to instigate regime change. Those who voted for the current version must be deluded if they think that is democratic.
“What is more, I haven’t got a clue who the Founders are and would think collecting the required number of nominees as impossible.”
Party members were required to vote for the new constitution at an EGM in February under extreme pressure to settle the action brought by the Equality and Human Rights Commission over the party’s discriminatory membership conditions. If the BNP had not agreed to admit non-white members, the resulting legal proceedings might have prevented the party contesting last month’s elections.
However Griffin used the party’s desperate position to insert clauses imposing onerous requirements on anyone wanting to challenge for the leadership. Members could only vote for or against the constitution as a whole, without amendment and without even seeing these clauses, which were not presented to the meeting.
Under the new BNP constitution candidates for the chairmanship, who must be “voting members” (members of two years’ standing who fulfil activist and ideological training requirements) with at least five years’ continuous party membership, must secure the signatures of 20% of all party members with at least two years’ membership and 20% of all voting members. They must also by supported by 10% of the members attending a general meeting of the “Founders’ Association”, a body that is separate from the BNP but in which all party assets are vested. The constitution does not define the Founders’ Association but it is understood to be people who were paid-up members before the constitutional changes and are still members.
Griffin has promised to resign from the chairmanship by the beginning of 2014 to concentrate on securing his re-election to the European Parliament in June that year. Partner says: “If Nick Griffin is to step down in three years time, there will be a leadership contest anyway so let him accept a challenge now and save the Party three more years of squabbling and membership losses”.
Partner himself will not be a candidate. Apart from the fact that he does not rate himself as a speaker, is not interested in being chairman and would not want “the workload or the travelling about that Nick does”, Partner would not qualify as his party membership has lapsed. “Belfast [the BNP’s purportedly efficient call centre run by Dowson] were supposed to ring me on May 28th but failed to do so, therefore my five years continuous has been broken, ruling me out as a candidate and voter.”
Hope Not Hate
A gun in every household? (UK)
Nick Griffin, the British National Party leader, very properly expressed his condolences to all those affected by the shootings in West Cumbria, part of the North West region for which he is an MEP.
It seems that Derrick Bird was an ordinary man who suddenly snapped under pressure, whether from an impending tax investigation, arguments at the taxi rank where he worked, a family dispute or some other reason that has not yet come to light. We may never know the precise cause.
Unfortunately Bird was able to inflict such carnage because he had guns. Someone else in a similar situation might have killed a person or committed suicide and innocent people might have suffered in the process, but it is very unlikely there would have been so many deaths and so many people injured.
Britain’s gun laws are among the toughest in the world and further restrictions may not be the answer. There are legitimate reasons why some people should be allowed to own certain types of firearms. And whatever the criteria for granting an individual a gun licence, the police will never be able to detect every single applicant who might many years later “go postal”.
What is certain, however, is that were Griffin to have his way and every household required to keep “a standard-issue military assault rifle and ammunition” – BNP policy – there would be far more incidents such as the Cumbria tragedy, because far more people who suffer a momentary loss of control would have the opportunity to take it out on those whom they perceive as the causes of their problems.
That makes Griffin’s sympathies for Bird’s victims somewhat hypocritical.
Hope Not Hate
It seems that Derrick Bird was an ordinary man who suddenly snapped under pressure, whether from an impending tax investigation, arguments at the taxi rank where he worked, a family dispute or some other reason that has not yet come to light. We may never know the precise cause.
Unfortunately Bird was able to inflict such carnage because he had guns. Someone else in a similar situation might have killed a person or committed suicide and innocent people might have suffered in the process, but it is very unlikely there would have been so many deaths and so many people injured.
Britain’s gun laws are among the toughest in the world and further restrictions may not be the answer. There are legitimate reasons why some people should be allowed to own certain types of firearms. And whatever the criteria for granting an individual a gun licence, the police will never be able to detect every single applicant who might many years later “go postal”.
What is certain, however, is that were Griffin to have his way and every household required to keep “a standard-issue military assault rifle and ammunition” – BNP policy – there would be far more incidents such as the Cumbria tragedy, because far more people who suffer a momentary loss of control would have the opportunity to take it out on those whom they perceive as the causes of their problems.
That makes Griffin’s sympathies for Bird’s victims somewhat hypocritical.
Hope Not Hate
Saturday, 5 June 2010
Blog shutdown due to EDL demo
Apologies to everyone today as we are in Cardiff at the anti-EDL demo.
Full service will resume tomorrow.
Full service will resume tomorrow.
Friday, 4 June 2010
Muslim graves toppled in Scunthorpe cemetery attack (UK)
MUSLIM leaders have expressed their outrage and sadness after 11 graves in a North Lincolnshire cemetery were vandalised.
The attack was the second in 21 months on Muslim graves in the Brumby Cemetery in Scunthorpe's Cemetery Road.
The Deputy Mayor of North Lincolnshire, Councillor Mashook Ali, said: "We prayed this would never happen again – but it has."
Mr Ali said he felt the graves had been deliberately targeted as there are three sections of the cemetery designated for Muslims.
"We want those responsible brought to justice," he said. "The latest attacks have shocked the local Muslim community to the core. We shall be pressing for extra security measures on the site."
Mr Ali said the community rented areas of the Brumby Cemetery as burial ground under a 99-year-old lease agreement with North Lincolnshire Council and more than 100 Muslims were buried there.
In August 2008, police were called in after 24 headstones, some of them on children's graves, were attacked in two separate areas of the cemetery. No arrests were ever made.
Roj Rahman, 39, of Cliff Gardens, Scunthorpe, said: "We feel let down by the local authority.
"After the 2008 attack we were promised better lighting and pruning of trees to provide higher visibility in that section of the graveyard."
Fellow Scunthorpe Muslim, Saleem Ali, 30, said he called police after discovering the 11 gravestones had been uprooted and toppled over.
Mr Ali said: "It was a disgusting act of vandalism and heart-breaking for the families concerned."
Haq Kataria, 48, of Doncaster Road, Scunthorpe, said: "We feel sure this latest attack was racially motivated. But the dead of any religious denomination need to be respected."
Police have started door-to-door enquiries in the Cemetery Road area following the attack.
North Lincolnshire police's community cohesion officer, Amanda Atkin, said: "I would urge anyone with information to come forward.
"This is pure mindless vandalism and not only do the families have to pay for any damage caused but there is the added upset of their loved ones' graves being disturbed.
"Neighbourhood policing teams are currently working with members of the local Muslim community and will do everything in their power to identify the offenders."
North Lincolnshire Council, which is responsible for the cemetery, has promised to further review security arrangements on the site with the help of the newly formed Friends of Brumby Cemetery community group.
A spokesman said: "Irrespective of race or religion, the council condemns any attack on burial places. It is extremely upsetting for relatives who have lost loved ones and the council wants to stop it happening again.
"A meeting was held shortly after the attack in August 2008 between members of the Muslim Community, the council, the police and the Multi Faith Partnership.
"At that meeting it was brought to our attention that a tree was obscuring some of the lighting in the cemetery.
"This tree was cut back a short time later and we will now look at it again.
"We also improved security by locking the cemetery gates other than those by the caretaker's cottage."
Anyone with information about the incident, between 9am and 2.24pm on Saturday, should contact Humberside Police on 0845 60 60 222 quoting BG/1759387/2010.
This is Scunthorpe
The attack was the second in 21 months on Muslim graves in the Brumby Cemetery in Scunthorpe's Cemetery Road.
The Deputy Mayor of North Lincolnshire, Councillor Mashook Ali, said: "We prayed this would never happen again – but it has."
Mr Ali said he felt the graves had been deliberately targeted as there are three sections of the cemetery designated for Muslims.
"We want those responsible brought to justice," he said. "The latest attacks have shocked the local Muslim community to the core. We shall be pressing for extra security measures on the site."
Mr Ali said the community rented areas of the Brumby Cemetery as burial ground under a 99-year-old lease agreement with North Lincolnshire Council and more than 100 Muslims were buried there.
In August 2008, police were called in after 24 headstones, some of them on children's graves, were attacked in two separate areas of the cemetery. No arrests were ever made.
Roj Rahman, 39, of Cliff Gardens, Scunthorpe, said: "We feel let down by the local authority.
"After the 2008 attack we were promised better lighting and pruning of trees to provide higher visibility in that section of the graveyard."
Fellow Scunthorpe Muslim, Saleem Ali, 30, said he called police after discovering the 11 gravestones had been uprooted and toppled over.
Mr Ali said: "It was a disgusting act of vandalism and heart-breaking for the families concerned."
Haq Kataria, 48, of Doncaster Road, Scunthorpe, said: "We feel sure this latest attack was racially motivated. But the dead of any religious denomination need to be respected."
Police have started door-to-door enquiries in the Cemetery Road area following the attack.
North Lincolnshire police's community cohesion officer, Amanda Atkin, said: "I would urge anyone with information to come forward.
"This is pure mindless vandalism and not only do the families have to pay for any damage caused but there is the added upset of their loved ones' graves being disturbed.
"Neighbourhood policing teams are currently working with members of the local Muslim community and will do everything in their power to identify the offenders."
North Lincolnshire Council, which is responsible for the cemetery, has promised to further review security arrangements on the site with the help of the newly formed Friends of Brumby Cemetery community group.
A spokesman said: "Irrespective of race or religion, the council condemns any attack on burial places. It is extremely upsetting for relatives who have lost loved ones and the council wants to stop it happening again.
"A meeting was held shortly after the attack in August 2008 between members of the Muslim Community, the council, the police and the Multi Faith Partnership.
"At that meeting it was brought to our attention that a tree was obscuring some of the lighting in the cemetery.
"This tree was cut back a short time later and we will now look at it again.
"We also improved security by locking the cemetery gates other than those by the caretaker's cottage."
Anyone with information about the incident, between 9am and 2.24pm on Saturday, should contact Humberside Police on 0845 60 60 222 quoting BG/1759387/2010.
This is Scunthorpe
Persecuted by the Nazis, former Berliners visit their hometown (Germany)
A programme offering people persecuted by the Nazis a chance to visit their former hometown Berlin is slowly winding down. Julia Lipkins speaks with some of the last survivors.
The last time Margot Labi was in Berlin, the Nazis were rounding up Jews, defacing their shops and burning synagogues.
Labi was three years old on November 9th, 1938, a date now remembered as the Kristallnacht pogrom, when her family fled to the Dominican Republic. After narrowly avoiding the Holocaust, she was left with little interest to return to the city of her birth.
“I never wanted to come to Germany, never,” the 75-year-old Labi recently told The Local.
But after much deliberation and encouragement from her three sons in Florida, Labi and her husband Vittorio – a concentration camp survivor with his own reservations about visiting Germany – decided to take part in a programme offering former Berliners persecuted by the Nazis a chance to become reacquainted with the German capital.
The publicly funded initiative gives participants a one-week, expenses-paid tour of their old hometown. The majority of the ex-Berliners are Jewish, but the offer extends to anyone terrorised during the Third Reich.
After 41 years and more than 30,000 visitors (some 15,000 former Berliners and another 15,000 family members), the programme is drawing to a close as the final generation of Holocaust survivors slowly passes away.
During its penultimate tour in May, Labi explored her old hometown for the first time in over seven decades. She strolled along Jablonskistrasse, where her childhood apartment once stood and visited the Rykestrasse synagogue, where her family had worshipped.
“For me, I thought I'd come to Germany and it would be like going to Italy or Spain, you know, it wouldn’t have any impact,” said Labi, who speaks English with a distinct Spanish accent. “But it wasn’t like this. It had a lot of impact, I guess in my heart.”
Her husband, who was born in Libya and deported to Germany at the age of 10, enthusiastically added: “It was a surprise for me because I hated Germany, I hated Berlin….But this week here, changed my mind, I’m not kidding you. Really changed my mind. Beautiful country.”
Not making amends
Tucked away in the depths of Berlin’s city hall, stands an ageing stack of binders, each spine baring the handwritten label “Emigrierte Mitbürger,” or emigrated citizens.
Rüdiger Nemitz, a wiry Berliner in his early sixties, has been guardian of the binders since city parliament created “The Invitation Programme for Former Persecuted Citizens of Berlin” in 1969.
“It’s not trying to make amends, you can’t make it good again,” Nemitz told The Local. “It’s just to take their hand, and to show the Berlin, Germany of today is totally different from that what they have in their mind, when they emigrated.”
Although Berlin has evolved drastically since Reunification, the programme’s itinerary has remained consistent over the last 21 years: the seven-day journey includes a sightseeing tour via bus, a welcome reception by the mayor, a visit to the Jewish cemetery in the Weissensee district, a tour of the Reichstag, a cultural event such as “Carmen” this year and free time for the participants explore the city on their own.
Initially, the city government advertised the programme in Aufbau, a German-language newspaper, which was printed in New York for the Jewish diaspora.
“In the past we had thousands and thousands of applications and were not able to manage it,” said Nemitz, who began working with the programme as a student volunteer in 1969 and was promoted to its director in 1990.
Eventually knowledge of the sponsored visits spread by word of mouth and applications poured in from the United States, Israel, South Africa and Australia.
“We had waiting lists from the very first day,” said Nemitz.
At the height of the programme, the city allocated DM3.5 million annually (€1.7 million) to accommodate upwards of 240 participants and support an eleven-member staff.
This year, Nemitz has a budget of €560,000 for less than 120 visitors and his staff has dwindled to one part-time employee.
After the last group arrives in June 2010, “the waiting list will be history,” Nemitz remarked.
An emotional hurdle
On the final day of the tour in May, Rolf Schütte, a former career diplomat in the German Foreign Service and current Chief of Protocol for the state of Berlin, joined the group of 57 participants for a farewell soirée.
Schütte, who wrote the report, “German-Jewish Relations, Today and Tomorrow,” published by the American-Jewish Committee in 2005, said in a speech, “We know it’s not an easy step because this is of course the country of your ancestors, but it’s also the country that tried to kill your ancestors, and this emotional hurdle, this burden, is very large and that’s why we very much appreciate you accepting this invitation.”
Amidst the emotional trials of returning to Germany, many participants were also forced to re-examine their cultural and national identities.
"I feel now, I can recognise that in some ways I am German,” Karin Arlin told The Local.
Arlin’s father, who worked as chief engineer for Lufthansa, moved the family to the Netherlands in 1934 and ultimately to America in 1941.
“I certainly come from German Jews, and it enrages me when they put us into a separate category that we’re not really part of the Volk,” said Arlin, who continued to speak German with her parents after the family settled in the United States.
As with Arlin and Labi, most of the participants these days were children during the Nazi era and as a result, have little recollection of their lives in Berlin.
Ruth Cyzner was eight years old, when she left Berlin in 1939 on the Kindertransport refugee effort that brought Jewish children to Britain. Although Cyzner can recognise several words in German and street names in Berlin, she has but a few memories of her father, who died in Auschwitz, along with her mother.
Cyzner spent the week in pursuit of records, facts, anecdotes – any information – about her father.
After tangling with German bureaucracy, Cyzner was able to obtain original, handwritten documents concerning her father’s finances and service in the Austrian Army.
“That was very moving to see his writing on that piece of paper,” said Cyzner. “Then I was furious. The fact that they keep all these records and they kill the people, but they’ve still got the records and the records will always be there. So there was a whole mix of feelings about that.”
The next generation
Cyzner’s daughter Eve Wolfsohn accompanied her on the trip to the German capital and Nemitz said he has received thousands of requests from the children of former Berliners wanting to participate in the programme.
“It’s incredibly emotional because I feel like it’s the closest I’ll ever be to my grandparents,” said Wolfsohn, who would like to see the programme extended to children of survivors.
But Nemitz said due to Berlin’s serious budgetary woes, an extension of the program to future generations is unlikely.
“It’s really a monetary problem,” he said. “It’s not a problem of willingness
The Local Germany
The last time Margot Labi was in Berlin, the Nazis were rounding up Jews, defacing their shops and burning synagogues.
Labi was three years old on November 9th, 1938, a date now remembered as the Kristallnacht pogrom, when her family fled to the Dominican Republic. After narrowly avoiding the Holocaust, she was left with little interest to return to the city of her birth.
“I never wanted to come to Germany, never,” the 75-year-old Labi recently told The Local.
But after much deliberation and encouragement from her three sons in Florida, Labi and her husband Vittorio – a concentration camp survivor with his own reservations about visiting Germany – decided to take part in a programme offering former Berliners persecuted by the Nazis a chance to become reacquainted with the German capital.
The publicly funded initiative gives participants a one-week, expenses-paid tour of their old hometown. The majority of the ex-Berliners are Jewish, but the offer extends to anyone terrorised during the Third Reich.
After 41 years and more than 30,000 visitors (some 15,000 former Berliners and another 15,000 family members), the programme is drawing to a close as the final generation of Holocaust survivors slowly passes away.
During its penultimate tour in May, Labi explored her old hometown for the first time in over seven decades. She strolled along Jablonskistrasse, where her childhood apartment once stood and visited the Rykestrasse synagogue, where her family had worshipped.
“For me, I thought I'd come to Germany and it would be like going to Italy or Spain, you know, it wouldn’t have any impact,” said Labi, who speaks English with a distinct Spanish accent. “But it wasn’t like this. It had a lot of impact, I guess in my heart.”
Her husband, who was born in Libya and deported to Germany at the age of 10, enthusiastically added: “It was a surprise for me because I hated Germany, I hated Berlin….But this week here, changed my mind, I’m not kidding you. Really changed my mind. Beautiful country.”
Not making amends
Tucked away in the depths of Berlin’s city hall, stands an ageing stack of binders, each spine baring the handwritten label “Emigrierte Mitbürger,” or emigrated citizens.
Rüdiger Nemitz, a wiry Berliner in his early sixties, has been guardian of the binders since city parliament created “The Invitation Programme for Former Persecuted Citizens of Berlin” in 1969.
“It’s not trying to make amends, you can’t make it good again,” Nemitz told The Local. “It’s just to take their hand, and to show the Berlin, Germany of today is totally different from that what they have in their mind, when they emigrated.”
Although Berlin has evolved drastically since Reunification, the programme’s itinerary has remained consistent over the last 21 years: the seven-day journey includes a sightseeing tour via bus, a welcome reception by the mayor, a visit to the Jewish cemetery in the Weissensee district, a tour of the Reichstag, a cultural event such as “Carmen” this year and free time for the participants explore the city on their own.
Initially, the city government advertised the programme in Aufbau, a German-language newspaper, which was printed in New York for the Jewish diaspora.
“In the past we had thousands and thousands of applications and were not able to manage it,” said Nemitz, who began working with the programme as a student volunteer in 1969 and was promoted to its director in 1990.
Eventually knowledge of the sponsored visits spread by word of mouth and applications poured in from the United States, Israel, South Africa and Australia.
“We had waiting lists from the very first day,” said Nemitz.
At the height of the programme, the city allocated DM3.5 million annually (€1.7 million) to accommodate upwards of 240 participants and support an eleven-member staff.
This year, Nemitz has a budget of €560,000 for less than 120 visitors and his staff has dwindled to one part-time employee.
After the last group arrives in June 2010, “the waiting list will be history,” Nemitz remarked.
An emotional hurdle
On the final day of the tour in May, Rolf Schütte, a former career diplomat in the German Foreign Service and current Chief of Protocol for the state of Berlin, joined the group of 57 participants for a farewell soirée.
Schütte, who wrote the report, “German-Jewish Relations, Today and Tomorrow,” published by the American-Jewish Committee in 2005, said in a speech, “We know it’s not an easy step because this is of course the country of your ancestors, but it’s also the country that tried to kill your ancestors, and this emotional hurdle, this burden, is very large and that’s why we very much appreciate you accepting this invitation.”
Amidst the emotional trials of returning to Germany, many participants were also forced to re-examine their cultural and national identities.
"I feel now, I can recognise that in some ways I am German,” Karin Arlin told The Local.
Arlin’s father, who worked as chief engineer for Lufthansa, moved the family to the Netherlands in 1934 and ultimately to America in 1941.
“I certainly come from German Jews, and it enrages me when they put us into a separate category that we’re not really part of the Volk,” said Arlin, who continued to speak German with her parents after the family settled in the United States.
As with Arlin and Labi, most of the participants these days were children during the Nazi era and as a result, have little recollection of their lives in Berlin.
Ruth Cyzner was eight years old, when she left Berlin in 1939 on the Kindertransport refugee effort that brought Jewish children to Britain. Although Cyzner can recognise several words in German and street names in Berlin, she has but a few memories of her father, who died in Auschwitz, along with her mother.
Cyzner spent the week in pursuit of records, facts, anecdotes – any information – about her father.
After tangling with German bureaucracy, Cyzner was able to obtain original, handwritten documents concerning her father’s finances and service in the Austrian Army.
“That was very moving to see his writing on that piece of paper,” said Cyzner. “Then I was furious. The fact that they keep all these records and they kill the people, but they’ve still got the records and the records will always be there. So there was a whole mix of feelings about that.”
The next generation
Cyzner’s daughter Eve Wolfsohn accompanied her on the trip to the German capital and Nemitz said he has received thousands of requests from the children of former Berliners wanting to participate in the programme.
“It’s incredibly emotional because I feel like it’s the closest I’ll ever be to my grandparents,” said Wolfsohn, who would like to see the programme extended to children of survivors.
But Nemitz said due to Berlin’s serious budgetary woes, an extension of the program to future generations is unlikely.
“It’s really a monetary problem,” he said. “It’s not a problem of willingness
The Local Germany
Religious leaders denounce Arizona immigration law (USA)
Religious leaders in the US and Latin America have denounced Arizona's controversial new immigration law.
The law requires police to question people about their immigration status, if officers suspect the person is in the US illegally, and if they have stopped them for a legitimate reason.
Archbishop Rafael Romo Munoz, of Tijuana, Mexico, said it was "inhuman".
The criticism came as President Barack Obama, who says the law is misguided, met Arizona Governor Jan Brewer.
Mr Obama has made immigration reform a priority, amid pressure from US border states for action to help curb illegal immigration and drug violence.
Last month, he said he would seek more funding and deploy up to 1,200 extra troops to help secure the US-Mexico border.
'Anti-humanitarian'
Civil rights groups have said Arizona's new law paves the way for widespread discrimination against Hispanics.
The legislation, which is set to take effect on 29 July, will also make it a crime to be in Arizona without immigration papers.
Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City, head of the US bishops' committee on migration, warned it could lead to racial profiling and create divisions between the police and immigrant communities.
Archbishop Munoz said the measure would "make it possible to detain someone based on their external appearance".
He added: "This law in Arizona is truly anti-humanitarian. It's inhuman."
During a half-hour meeting at the White House, Ms Brewer called for the completion of a fence between Arizona and Mexico and told Mr Obama that Americans "want our border secured".
Mr Obama emphasised his view that the law was discriminatory and that Arizona's move - and similar efforts by more than 20 other states - would interfere with the federal government's task of enforcing immigration policy.
He urged Ms Brewer to "be his partner" in overhauling the country's troubled immigration system.
In a press conference following the meeting, Ms Brewer said that although the two had had a "very cordial conversation", there were clearly issues on which they did not agree.
"We agreed to try to work together in order to find some solution" to issues like immigration and security, the govenor said.
She added: "We know we are not going to agree on certain issues until other issues are worked out."
Ms Brewer said the president had told her most of the 1,200 extra National Guard troops being sent to the US-Mexico border would be going to her state.
About 200 protesters waved signs and chanted "Jan Brewer, shame on you!" in front of the White House as the pair met.
Ms Brewer said in April that the new law would strengthen border controls in Arizona, which borders Mexico.
The governor also claimed that she was forced to act because the federal government had failed to tackle illegal immigration.
Mr Obama has called the new measure by Ms Brewer a "misdirected expression of frustration" at the federal government's inability to act.
BBC News
The law requires police to question people about their immigration status, if officers suspect the person is in the US illegally, and if they have stopped them for a legitimate reason.
Archbishop Rafael Romo Munoz, of Tijuana, Mexico, said it was "inhuman".
The criticism came as President Barack Obama, who says the law is misguided, met Arizona Governor Jan Brewer.
Mr Obama has made immigration reform a priority, amid pressure from US border states for action to help curb illegal immigration and drug violence.
Last month, he said he would seek more funding and deploy up to 1,200 extra troops to help secure the US-Mexico border.
'Anti-humanitarian'
Civil rights groups have said Arizona's new law paves the way for widespread discrimination against Hispanics.
The legislation, which is set to take effect on 29 July, will also make it a crime to be in Arizona without immigration papers.
Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City, head of the US bishops' committee on migration, warned it could lead to racial profiling and create divisions between the police and immigrant communities.
Archbishop Munoz said the measure would "make it possible to detain someone based on their external appearance".
He added: "This law in Arizona is truly anti-humanitarian. It's inhuman."
During a half-hour meeting at the White House, Ms Brewer called for the completion of a fence between Arizona and Mexico and told Mr Obama that Americans "want our border secured".
Mr Obama emphasised his view that the law was discriminatory and that Arizona's move - and similar efforts by more than 20 other states - would interfere with the federal government's task of enforcing immigration policy.
He urged Ms Brewer to "be his partner" in overhauling the country's troubled immigration system.
In a press conference following the meeting, Ms Brewer said that although the two had had a "very cordial conversation", there were clearly issues on which they did not agree.
"We agreed to try to work together in order to find some solution" to issues like immigration and security, the govenor said.
She added: "We know we are not going to agree on certain issues until other issues are worked out."
Ms Brewer said the president had told her most of the 1,200 extra National Guard troops being sent to the US-Mexico border would be going to her state.
About 200 protesters waved signs and chanted "Jan Brewer, shame on you!" in front of the White House as the pair met.
Ms Brewer said in April that the new law would strengthen border controls in Arizona, which borders Mexico.
The governor also claimed that she was forced to act because the federal government had failed to tackle illegal immigration.
Mr Obama has called the new measure by Ms Brewer a "misdirected expression of frustration" at the federal government's inability to act.
BBC News
Defence League’s protests are “crude, dangerous and unhelpful” says Wales religious leaders
Two senior faith leaders in Wales are urging people not to support a planned demonstration by the English/ Welsh Defence League in Cardiff this weekend (June 5).
The Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, and the Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Wales, Saleem Kidwai, say the League’s protests are “crude, dangerous and unhelpful” as they undermine efforts to promote tolerance and diversity in Wales.
They are calling on people to attend the Peace Vigil organised by the Interfaith Council for Wales at the Senedd, Cardiff Bay, on Friday evening (June 4), instead, which aims to celebrate the city’s cultural diversity and to reject any attempts to harm community relations.
The League has already held protests in Newport, Swansea and Wrexham.
In a joint statement, Dr Morgan and Mr Kidwai said:
“As leaders in the Christian and Muslim Communities in Wales, we find the Defence League’s approach to the challenge of living in a diverse society to be crude dangerous and unhelpful. Crude because it does not meet real human contact and exchanges; dangerous because it ignores the real issues in favour of simplistic stereotypes and rumours which exploit people’s ignorance and fears; unhelpful because it seeks to reverse all that is good about the best of Welsh society where all are welcome and people are respected for who they are and what they contribute and bring to each other from different beliefs and cultures.
“We recognise that there is a continuing problem in some parts of Britain where extremist Muslims are still active and recruit vulnerable devout young Muslims to their anti Western, anti Christian, anti modernisation cause. But the Muslim Council of Wales rejects these behaviours and describes them as anti Islamic. The Defence League’s profound and dangerous mistake is to equate the behaviours of the minority with the majority of Muslims in Britain.
“We believe that patient work is needed to overcome suspicions and stereotypes. We have committed ourselves to that kind of work together. On June 16th we will be celebrating with the First Minister of Wales our series of consultations, called Finding A Common Voice, which aims at building trust and positive relationships between the Christian and Muslim communities and others in Wales.
“We invite all those who are tempted by the negative and distrustful approach taken by the Defence League to join in celebrating a more positive and rich experience of diversity.”
The Peace Vigil will be held at the steps of the Senedd on Friday, June 4, at 7.30pm.
For more information about the Finding A Common Voice event with the First Minister of Wales, please visit:
http://www.churchinwales.org.uk/dynamic/press_releases/display_press_release.php?prid=4955
and in welsh
http://www.churchinwales.org.uk/dynamic/press_releases/display_press_release.php?prid=4955&lang=cy_GB
Church in Wales
The Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, and the Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Wales, Saleem Kidwai, say the League’s protests are “crude, dangerous and unhelpful” as they undermine efforts to promote tolerance and diversity in Wales.
They are calling on people to attend the Peace Vigil organised by the Interfaith Council for Wales at the Senedd, Cardiff Bay, on Friday evening (June 4), instead, which aims to celebrate the city’s cultural diversity and to reject any attempts to harm community relations.
The League has already held protests in Newport, Swansea and Wrexham.
In a joint statement, Dr Morgan and Mr Kidwai said:
“As leaders in the Christian and Muslim Communities in Wales, we find the Defence League’s approach to the challenge of living in a diverse society to be crude dangerous and unhelpful. Crude because it does not meet real human contact and exchanges; dangerous because it ignores the real issues in favour of simplistic stereotypes and rumours which exploit people’s ignorance and fears; unhelpful because it seeks to reverse all that is good about the best of Welsh society where all are welcome and people are respected for who they are and what they contribute and bring to each other from different beliefs and cultures.
“We recognise that there is a continuing problem in some parts of Britain where extremist Muslims are still active and recruit vulnerable devout young Muslims to their anti Western, anti Christian, anti modernisation cause. But the Muslim Council of Wales rejects these behaviours and describes them as anti Islamic. The Defence League’s profound and dangerous mistake is to equate the behaviours of the minority with the majority of Muslims in Britain.
“We believe that patient work is needed to overcome suspicions and stereotypes. We have committed ourselves to that kind of work together. On June 16th we will be celebrating with the First Minister of Wales our series of consultations, called Finding A Common Voice, which aims at building trust and positive relationships between the Christian and Muslim communities and others in Wales.
“We invite all those who are tempted by the negative and distrustful approach taken by the Defence League to join in celebrating a more positive and rich experience of diversity.”
The Peace Vigil will be held at the steps of the Senedd on Friday, June 4, at 7.30pm.
For more information about the Finding A Common Voice event with the First Minister of Wales, please visit:
http://www.churchinwales.org.uk/dynamic/press_releases/display_press_release.php?prid=4955
and in welsh
http://www.churchinwales.org.uk/dynamic/press_releases/display_press_release.php?prid=4955&lang=cy_GB
Church in Wales
UAF launce new website without so much as a fanfare. (UK)
As the BNP website problems continue to be a source of embarrassment to the party. Another nail in the coffin has been hammered home with a much needed modernisation of the United Against Fascism “UAF” website, which has largely gone unnoticed.
Gone is the badly designed site as the new one is much more user friendly and far more pleasing to the eye.
Support or not support the UAF is a personal choice but we welcome the new website as another formative tool in the fight against the far right in Britain.
to visit the site please click Here
MARSEILLE’S MUSLIMS WIN RIGHT TO BUILD MOSQUE (France)
A solitary stone, amid the dereliction and graffiti of an abandoned livestock market and abattoir, seems a flimsy foundation for the fulfilment of the greatest dream of Nourrédine Cheikh’s life. But as France, in common with much of Europe, stands at hazardous crossroads in its relations with the world of Islam, what the stone represents is enough to make Mr Cheikh a contented man. Before the end of next year, he hopes, it will be part of the grand mosque for which Muslims in the bustling Mediterranean port of Marseille have campaigned for decades but which he feared, at times, he would not live to see. The symbolic sign that work has at last begun also brings hope of a swift breakthrough in the task of raising the large sums of money still needed to produce a place of worship for up to 7,000 people. Algeria is the only country so far to commit itself to making a donation towards the €22 million (Dh98.5m) project and has promised an announcement within the coming months. After extensive lobbying of diplomats in France from all other Muslim countries, Mr Cheikh, president of the Grand Mosque association, is convinced their moral support will be converted into financial aid once Algiers declares its hand.
For French Muslims, but also for non-Muslims convinced of a need for the provision of modern facilities for those practising the country’s most popular faith after Catholicism, it cannot come a moment too soon. At a ceremony attended by 200 guests, the conservative UMP mayor of Marseille, Jean-Claude Gaudin, said earlier this month it was as logical that the city’s Muslims, no less than its Christians and Jews, should have a significant monument to mark their faith. Referring to persistent attempts by the far Right in Marseille to block the project, he said: “People have tried to stop us but we were able, using the laws and rules of the republic, to overcome difficulties. Marseille is a mosaic of communities and each must be at ease.” The development, described by Mr Cheikh as “historic and extremely moving”, comes at a difficult time for those promoting the interests of integration in a number of European countries. Last month, Belgium’s lower house voted in favour of prohibiting the full veil while in France, there is tension over the government’s proposed ban on the head-to-toe burqa. A Muslim woman was given an on-the-spot fine for driving her car while fully veiled in the western city of Nantes, and anti-Muslim feeling has also been aroused by news that the first gang suspect to be arrested, after a shoot-out near Paris that left a young policewoman dead, is Moroccan.
In Italy, another Muslim woman has been fined for wearing a burqa in public; she was on her way to a mosque near her home. And in the Netherlands, the anti-immigrant Freedom Party of Geert Wilders enjoyed success in local elections, and is expected to win extra seats – and possibly even a chance to join a coalition government – at next Wednesday’s general election. Mr Cheikh said negative media coverage and a tendency to blame immigrants for economic and social problems, makes integration harder to achieve. Community relations are also harmed, he argues, by the significant discrimination suffered by people of north African origin in jobs and housing. “My experience is that genuinely religious people, Catholics, Protestants and Jews, are much more tolerant than those with no real faith,” he said. He feels the image of Muslims generally is tarnished by the activities of extremists and said he is horrified when “acts of terrorism are claimed to have been carried out in the name of Islam when in fact they are contrary to the principles of the religion”. Yet he remains optimistic about the future, both in terms of the mosque project and in tackling causes of misunderstanding. “I certainly believe that non-Muslims will be among those offering donations to ensure this mosque is built,” he said.
Now 71, Mr Cheikh, an economist married with three grown-up children, arrived in France from Algeria 45 years ago. Marseille, for centuries a magnet for migrants, was already home to 100,000 Muslims, most from the Maghreb countries on the other side of the Mediterranean. It took a further 11 years for the city to have its first mosque, in a converted garage. Even now, among more than 60 places of worship, only four can truly be considered mosques, Mr Cheikh said, and far too many of the rest are in wholly inadequate premises. In a city of up to 250,000 Muslims, more than a quarter of the total population and 45,000 of them practising their faith regularly, there will still be a shortfall of 15,000 places when the Grand Mosque is complete, with a prayer hall measuring 2,500 square metres. “But it is a very emotional time for me, knowing that by the grace of God, I will see the project come to fruition,” he said. “There have been times when I doubted that I would see that day, and times when I have felt weary of the battle, the disputes. Other Muslim leaders looked me in the eye and told me I had been chosen for this mission and had to see it through.”
The National
For French Muslims, but also for non-Muslims convinced of a need for the provision of modern facilities for those practising the country’s most popular faith after Catholicism, it cannot come a moment too soon. At a ceremony attended by 200 guests, the conservative UMP mayor of Marseille, Jean-Claude Gaudin, said earlier this month it was as logical that the city’s Muslims, no less than its Christians and Jews, should have a significant monument to mark their faith. Referring to persistent attempts by the far Right in Marseille to block the project, he said: “People have tried to stop us but we were able, using the laws and rules of the republic, to overcome difficulties. Marseille is a mosaic of communities and each must be at ease.” The development, described by Mr Cheikh as “historic and extremely moving”, comes at a difficult time for those promoting the interests of integration in a number of European countries. Last month, Belgium’s lower house voted in favour of prohibiting the full veil while in France, there is tension over the government’s proposed ban on the head-to-toe burqa. A Muslim woman was given an on-the-spot fine for driving her car while fully veiled in the western city of Nantes, and anti-Muslim feeling has also been aroused by news that the first gang suspect to be arrested, after a shoot-out near Paris that left a young policewoman dead, is Moroccan.
In Italy, another Muslim woman has been fined for wearing a burqa in public; she was on her way to a mosque near her home. And in the Netherlands, the anti-immigrant Freedom Party of Geert Wilders enjoyed success in local elections, and is expected to win extra seats – and possibly even a chance to join a coalition government – at next Wednesday’s general election. Mr Cheikh said negative media coverage and a tendency to blame immigrants for economic and social problems, makes integration harder to achieve. Community relations are also harmed, he argues, by the significant discrimination suffered by people of north African origin in jobs and housing. “My experience is that genuinely religious people, Catholics, Protestants and Jews, are much more tolerant than those with no real faith,” he said. He feels the image of Muslims generally is tarnished by the activities of extremists and said he is horrified when “acts of terrorism are claimed to have been carried out in the name of Islam when in fact they are contrary to the principles of the religion”. Yet he remains optimistic about the future, both in terms of the mosque project and in tackling causes of misunderstanding. “I certainly believe that non-Muslims will be among those offering donations to ensure this mosque is built,” he said.
Now 71, Mr Cheikh, an economist married with three grown-up children, arrived in France from Algeria 45 years ago. Marseille, for centuries a magnet for migrants, was already home to 100,000 Muslims, most from the Maghreb countries on the other side of the Mediterranean. It took a further 11 years for the city to have its first mosque, in a converted garage. Even now, among more than 60 places of worship, only four can truly be considered mosques, Mr Cheikh said, and far too many of the rest are in wholly inadequate premises. In a city of up to 250,000 Muslims, more than a quarter of the total population and 45,000 of them practising their faith regularly, there will still be a shortfall of 15,000 places when the Grand Mosque is complete, with a prayer hall measuring 2,500 square metres. “But it is a very emotional time for me, knowing that by the grace of God, I will see the project come to fruition,” he said. “There have been times when I doubted that I would see that day, and times when I have felt weary of the battle, the disputes. Other Muslim leaders looked me in the eye and told me I had been chosen for this mission and had to see it through.”
The National
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