KILL A JEW’ PAGE ON FACEBOOK SPARKS FUROR

A murderous anti-Semitic theme appeared on Facebook Sunday, when a user named “Alex Cookson” launched an open invitation to an “event” called “Kill a Jew Day.” The page on the popular social networking Web site urged users to violence “anywhere you see a Jew” between July 4 and July 22. A large image of a swastika was placed at the top of the page. Under the heading “description,” Cookson wrote, “You know the drill guys.” It was the fourth time that a call to murder Jews had been put on Facebook within recent days. The site attracted a torrent of anti-Semitic responses. “Can’t wait to rape the dead baby Jews,” one user wrote. Another user posted images of corpses piled on one another. A third user posted quotes by Adolf Hitler. Within hours, however, a large number of Israeli users converged on the site and posted comments on the page, with some expressing their disgust, and others mocking Cookson and his supporters. Others still expressed their anger at the page by sending profanities and threatening to track down anti-Semitic users. According to the Jewish Internet Defense Web site (JIDF), the page is one of a number “kill a Jew” Facebook pages that have been launched and subsequently removed following complaints in recent days. David Appletree, founder of JIDF, told The Jerusalem Post that incitement to anti-Semitic murder was a prevalent phenomenon on Facebook, and that not enough was being done to stop it. “I feel it’s very dangerous. This is part of a long-running campaign that we’ve fighting for well over two years,” Appletree said. “They’re taken down but they come back and they’re determined to keep them up. It’s very dangerous,” he added. Appletree said online anti- Semitism has already helped spur violent incidents, such as the 2007 assault on Holocaust author Elie Wiesel in San Francisco by a Holocaust denier, and the gun attack on the Holocaust Museum in Washington by a white supremacist armed with a rifle, which claimed the life of a security guard. “This incitement has been the precursor to violence against Jews,” he said.

On his Web site, Appletree wrote, “This is precisely why Facebook needs to take more proactive measures (ie. deactivating accounts responsible for, and taking part, in, this material). Facebook must implement IP bans on people involved in such material. Finally, law enforcement should get involved, Facebook should be subpoenaed, the IP’s of the people threatening and inciting violence should be obtained, and legal action should be immediately pursued.” Appletree told The Post that Facebook could implement technologies that are sensitive to keywords which could prevent such pages from being loaded. “Facebook is not proactive enough,” he said. Facebook said it would review the event page in question after being alerted to it by the Post.

Facebook removed the page from its site on Sunday evening for violating its terms of use. Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes added, “Unfortunately ignorant people exist and we absolutely feel a social responsibility to silence them on Facebook if their statements turn to direct hate. That’s why we have policies that prohibit hateful content and we have built a robust reporting infrastructure and an expansive team to review reports and remove content quickly.” Noyes added, “We take our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities very seriously and react quickly to remove reported content that violates our policies. Specifically, we’re sensitive to content that includes pornography, bullying, hate speech, and actionable threats of violence. “The goal of these policies is to strike a very delicate balance between giving our more than 400 million users the freedom to express themselves and maintaining a safe and trusted environment. When groups or pages make real threats or statements of hate we remove them. We encourage people to report anything they feel violates our policies using the report links located throughout the site.” In 2009, Facebook came under fire for refusing to remove groups that promoted Holocaust denial on the social networking site.

JPost

Two teens sentenced in hate attacks: Neo-Nazi gang writings found at A.V. home

Two Apple Valley teenagers accused of hollering racial slurs and assaulting a black family pleaded guilty Wednesday.

James and Regina McWilliams and their two sons were riding their bikes on Navajo Road on their way back from a park in Apple Valley on June 21. Then suddenly, Tommy Lee Rhea, 19, came rushing toward them, shouting racial slurs with a knife in his hand, officials said.

James McWilliams said he quickly got in front of his children to protect them. Rhea went back to his apartment to get Richard Butler Cambria, 17, James McWilliams said. The teenagers kept yelling slurs and threats while holding baseball bats, according to authorities.

"My kids were scared to death," Regina McWilliams said. "They were crying and screaming. ... They need to know they can't do things like this. It's 2010."

The victims suffered no injuries, but the parents say their 9- and 6-year-old boys are still suffering from the traumatic experience.

"He doesn't want to go outside by himself," Regina McWilliams said about her older son. "He's scared to go outside, go to the park. He wants to stay home."

Investigators found n e o -- Na z i a n d ga n grelated writings and taggings inside Rhea's home, Deputy District Attorney Shannon Faherty said. The defendants were initially charged with hate crime allegations.

Rhea and Cambria changed their pleas at the last minute before their preliminary hearing Wednesday at Victorville Superior Court.

Rhea pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon and admitted to participation in criminal street gang. Judge John Tomberlin immediately sentenced him to four years in prison.
Cambria, who wore a gray juvenile detention sweatshirt, pleaded guilty to assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury and admitted to making criminal threats. He's scheduled to be sentenced to three years in prison on Aug. 24.

They'll each get a strike under California's Three Strikes law.

istockanalyst

So-Called Neo-Nazi Found Guilty Of Murder

An El Paso County jury found Kandin Wilson guilty of first-degree murder Thursday evening.


The so-called neo-Nazi recruit killed 29-year-old Susana Pelayo-Perez in a bungled robbery at a La Casita restaurant in Colorado Springs last year. Pelayo-Perez was a manager at the restaurant.

Wilson claimed he was not at the restaurant when Pelayo-Perez was shot. Wilson also said he was wrongly accused by Kyle Gray, an admitted member of the American Nazi Party who testified he was driving the car while Wilson shot the woman.

KRDO

National Resistance trial starts in the Czech Republic

Neo-Nazis could serve long prison terms for what were allegedly “childish pranks”

It would seem that the words of former Czech Interior Minister Martin Pecina are finally coming true. After taking office last May, he promised to deliver a harsh blow to domestic “extremists”, and the police on his watch did actually manage to track down the alleged perpetrators of the Vítkov arson attack on trial today in Ostrava.
What can those who are the leaders of the neo-Nazi scene be prosecuted for? They have not participated in violent actions for years – or rather, the police have not managed to prove their participation in such actions. That was the basic question the Organized Crime Detection Unit (Útvar pro odhalování organizovaného zločinu - ÚOOZ) asked itself when it started this work at the end of 2008. After several raids and an “above-average” investigation conducted by Prague state prosecutor Zdeňka Gálková, at least some of the alleged heads of the neo-Nazi movement in the Czech Republic were charged in mid-June with promoting Nazism. Czech daily Lidové noviny reports that the trial will start in mid-July at the Prague 1 District Court.

The case file is more than 2 500 pages long and includes the Supreme Administrative Court and Constitutional Court verdicts banning the Workers’ Party. Commentator Tomáš Pecina posted the 30-page indictment on his website at the start of July, calling it a “Husák-style indictment” [Translator’s Note: Husák was the long-term Communist leader of Czechoslovakia]. He criticizes the state prosecutor for bringing the indictment over the mere posting of stickers or organization of public gatherings. He criticizes phrases such as “social defectiveness”, found in political scientist Ivo Svoboda’s expert testimony, which he publishes along with the photographic documentation of the propaganda materials confiscated from the accused. The commentator does not indicate how he managed to get a hold of these documents, which are redacted to refer to those indicted and the witnesses by their initials alone, with the exception of two Austrian citizens. Those familiar with the neo-Nazi scene, however, will easily guess who is specifically being referred to.

The aims of groups such as National Resistance (Národní odpor) were commented on some time ago by the spokesperson for the Security Information Service (BIS), Jan Šubert: “Their political program is unambiguous, there is no doubt: Political dictatorship, the creation of a racially pure state, and merciless combat with whomever disagrees.”

Political scientist and expert on extremism Miroslav Mareš says of the current indictment of the National Resistance members: “The crimes for which they are now indicted are not really what most of those charged should be tried for.”
Eight people are charged with the crime of supporting and promoting Nazism as part of an organized group, for which they face up to eight years in prison. Among these “worthy 30-year-olds” is the accountant F.V., who has been previously convicted of many other crimes. He is the alleged founder of National Resistance, which although never officially registered was nevertheless banned by the Supreme Court in 2006. He is also a former leading functionary in the Workers’ Party which was recently disbanded by the court. The long-time leader of that party’s candidate list in Prague, the student P.V., currently spending his ninth month in custody, and the administrative staffer M.H., who until recently was the leader of the party’s candidate list in Vysočina, are the other Workers’ Party leaders indicted. Another “celebrity” is the dispatcher P.F. of Prague, who is famous from the “Blue Star” case. That was the name of a restaurant in České Budějovice where, at the end of 1999, the hard core of the recently-formed National Resistance and roughly 30 young neo-Nazis brutally attacked the unsuspecting guests at a Roma party. The angry gang then proceeded through the town and attacked the guests at a club where left-wing youth usually gather. After many long years of court delays, more than 20 youths were eventually sentenced for their roles in these attacks, but only a few of them served actual prison sentences.

The youngest defendant in the National Resistance case is sales manager M.D., who represents its women’s branch, Resistance Women Unity. Only one of the defendants has done time before; for committing a crime while on probation, the court changed his previous sentence to a total of six weeks in prison.

The state’s covert response to the “battle for Janov”

The prosecution of this alleged neo-Nazi elite covers a total of four crimes committed between November 2008 and June 2009. A significant portion of the investigation took place under former Czech Interior Minister Ivan Langer, specifically after the infamous (second) “battle for Janov”.

On the 2008 anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, the Workers’ Party organized a political demonstration in the North Bohemian town of Litvínov. From the demonstration point, hundreds of these “proponents of law and order” set off, accompanied by police, for the Janov quarter of Litvínov. Their fierce clashes with 1 000 police resulted in many injured police officers, demonstrators, and local onlookers. Almost none of those who committed this violence were ever criminally prosecuted, inspiring those who participated in the battle to commit further violent acts. According to police, those indicted for the April 2009 arson attack in Vítkov also participated in the Janov battle. Klárá Kalibová, an expert on extremism from the In Iustitia association, told CNN that the primary aim of the battle in Litvínov was not to attack police officers, but to attack the Roma living there, whom the police managed to protect after several hours of unprecedented tenacity.

After this “battle”, Langer praised the police for their “selfless engagement” and later gave some of them medals. At the same time however, he faced harsh criticism from human rights organizations who claimed the police must have known in advance that the neo-Nazis had been publicly calling for armed conflict. Since the police had sufficient advance evidence of this, they therefore had a reason to disperse the entire action and arrest its participants from its very first moments instead of allowing it to proceed.

Even after Janov, it seemed for quite some time that the Interior Ministry would be taking no other steps against the neo-Nazis. At the start of April 2009, similar street clashes took place in the Moravian town of Přerov, which police units again used force to disperse. Here too, only a fraction of the total number of those committing violence were ever criminally prosecuted; those who were prosecuted were only charged with disturbing the peace.
After this, the most serious racist crime in the country’s modern history took place, a nighttime Molotov cocktail attack on a Romani family in Vítkov. Two months later, the so-called “middle management” of the neo-Nazi movement was arrested, namely the producers and sellers of neo-Nazi music. Proceeds from the sale of this music have been financing the movement for years, including its organization of violent demonstrations and its pricey lawyers’ bills.

Childish pranks or the revival of the Third Reich?
Thanks to commentator Pecina, the public is learning today that the police did start taking action after the second “battle for Janov”. At the end of November 2008, immediately after Janov, police put wiretaps on the Czech section of the country’s neo-Nazi leaders and followed their preparations for a “strong action”, the posting of propaganda material the night before an “Anti-fascist Action” gathering against racism in mid-December in Prague. When the anti-fascists marched through Prague’s Old Town, they were greeted along the route by brand-new posters advertising the National Resistance web address which the defendants had allegedly posted.

Defendant P. V.’s attorney, Robert Cholenský, has been quoted in the media as saying the posting of the materials was “not a crime”. Cholenský, who used to work for the League of Human Rights, has successfully represented Roma attacked by police officers and participants in the CzechTek music festival. Since last year he has also been defending one of those arrested during the “Power I” police action. These defendants have either refused to testify or have claimed they were “randomly” on the scene and posted nothing.

“According to the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, which is part of the Constitution of the Czech Republic (…) censorship is impermissible. However, it seems the Constitution has become merely a worthless shred of paper which our overlords are simply not interested in.” Such is the opinion of Petr Kotáb on the indictment. Kotáb is the former vice-chair of the Workers’ Party and the lead candidate of the Workers’ Social Justice Party in the Ústí district for this year’s parliamentary elections. He was recently sentenced to probation for supporting and promoting neo-Nazism. The verdict has not yet taken effect.

Some of the defendants are being prosecuted for organizing a “commemoration” in Jihlava at the start of June 2009. Five of the defendants together with leading neo-Nazis from Austria allegedly wanted to pay homage to the German soldiers who died in Jihlava during WWII. Those invited included 50-year-old Gottfried Küssel, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1993 in Vienna for the crime of attempting to revive the Nazi state; he served six years of his sentence. Jihlava was also visited by 85-year-old commentator Herbert Schweiger, a former member of Adolf Hitler’s SS Leibstandarte military unit which committed war crimes during WWII. This past April, Schweiger was sentenced to seven months in prison for the crime of attempting to revive the Nazi state by the Municipal High Court in Graz.

In the end, the Jihlava town hall dispersed the commemoration because it diverted from its officially announced purpose. The participants then set off on a protest march through the town. They laid their wreaths on the soldiers’ graves the following day. Attorney Cholenský says it is not possible to sue someone for organizing a public gathering. Here again, the defendants have refused to testify; some have simply said the action was announced as legally required. They allegedly did not participate in organizing it, and they allegedly did not intend to violate any laws by participating in it.

The main defendant – 20-year-old M. D. of Prague – has supposedly participated in all four of the crimes being prosecuted. She is the only one being prosecuted for creating and operating the neo-Nazi website of Resistance Women Unity (RWU), the women’s branch of National Resistance. Here the key witness is the famous co-founder of the League against Anti-Semitism, V. T. of Plzeň, who managed to convince the US-based server hosting the RWU website to take it down. The website was allegedly listed under another name without the server’s consent. The RWU website creators subsequently transferred its contents to another website and carried on until M. D. was taken into custody. According to the indictment, she operated the website alone. She refused to testify to police. She is also the only defendant charged with organizing, arranging and holding the “White Power Music” concert in the town of Srby u Kladna, where on 2 February 2009 neo-Nazi bands promoted hatred against “Jews, Roma and non-white immigrants”.

According to the file, M. D.’s underbelly is tattooed with the SS motto “My honor is loyalty” - in German. She was born in the year of the Velvet Revolution.

Romea

BNP fails to regain Goresbrook seat (UK)

The British National Party has failed to win a Barking and Dagenham council by-election in Goresbrook  ward.

Richard Barnbrook, who was ousted from his council seat in the same ward in May, had hoped to make a comeback in a by-election called because one of the Labour councillors elected was working for the council as a “lollipop lady” and so was not eligible to stand.

In a low turnout poll on 8 July, Louise Cowling, now no longer working for the council, won the seat again with 881 votes (46.6%), leaving Barnbrook in second place with 642 votes – 34.0%.

Hope not hate activists distributed a leaflet reminding voters that the BNP is a party of hate and lies, which has no solutions for the people of Barking and Dagenham and has now even turned its hate on itself, a reference to the bitter infighting currently besetting the party. A HOPE not hate team also worked on polling day itself to encourage people to use their vote.

Hope Not Hate

Pub targeted with graffiti after it was venue for BNP meetings

A pub which has been the venue for recent British National Party meetings has been targeted with graffiti.

A clean-up operation is under way around the Twisted Oak pub at St John's Hill, St Thomas, after it was targeted by graffiti vandals. It is expected to cost several hundred pounds to remove and may lead to the closure of roads affected.

Slogans calling for a boycott of the popular pub were daubed in yellow and black paint on roads leading to the pub and on bridge supports. Similar messages were painted on the surface of Balls Farm Road and Little John's Cross Hill which lead to the pub.

Dawn Oliver, who runs the pub with her partner Phil Lake, said she had received a warning phone call before the incident from a woman claiming to belong to an anti-fascist group.

Ms Oliver said: "She said that if we didn't do something to stop the BNP using the pub they would do something.

"She called again asking to bring in a leaflet but I said that I was not going to stop the BNP coming.

"After that we had the graffiti and now I have received an email that is not particularly pleasant about supporting their campaign.

"I have passed that on to the police. The worry is you don't know what else might happen."

Ms Oliver said the BNP met at the pub once every couple of months, and on the last occasion their meeting coincided with a get-together for the UK Independence Party.

She said: "The BNP people are very polite and very courteous. They do not approach other customers, they meet behind curtains and are very pleasant.

"I have no interest in politics but they are nice people.

"It is a matter of democracy. They are entitled to meet and they come here and spend their money and don't bother anyone. They are not doing anything wrong.

"The sad thing is that now the ordinary taxpayer has to pay to clear up the graffiti, which isn't fair at all."

She added: "We are well known as a friendly place and we have all sorts of clubs meeting here. We are certainly not going to be a intimidated by this.

"It is very much business as usual here."

A spokesman for the city council said it would take a couple of days to clean off the graffiti.
He said: "We will begin cleaning this today but it covers quite an area — the road surface in Balls Farm Road and Little John's Cross Hill as well as the footbridge leading across to Ide.

"It will cost several hundred pounds to remove and the road may have to be closed, or at least stop and go boards used while the work is being done."

This is Exeter

Obama sues state of Arizona over 'racist' new immigration law

President Obama has filed a lawsuit against the state of Arizona over a new immigration law which it claims  will combat drug trafficking, murders and violent kidnapping.

Concerns over racial profiling and civil rights violations have been raised over the Arizona law, which is due to come into force on July 29.

It requires officers to question a person's immigration status if they have a reasonable suspicion they are in the U.S. illegally.
Suspicions include whether the person speaks poor English, is travelling an overcrowded vehicle or is stopped in an area where immigrants often congregate.

The law also makes it a state crime for legal immigrants not to carry their immigration documents.

Supporters say the crackdown is a necessary tool to keep illegal immigrants out of Arizona and to tackle criminal activities associated with them.

The White House has asked a judge to grant an injunction to block the law taking effect later this month.

It argues that immigration laws passed by Congress and enforced by a range of federal agenies must take precedence to any passed by a state legislature.

The lawsuit said: 'The nation's immigration laws reflect a careful and considered balance of national law enforcement, foreign relations and humanitarian interests.'

It adds: 'A state may not establish its own immigration policy or enforce state laws in a manner that interferes with the federal immigration laws.

'The Constitution and the federal immigration laws do not permit the development of a patchwork of state and local immigration policies throughout the country.'

Kris Kobach, the University of Missouri/Kansas City professor who helped draft the Arizona law, has said it is only prohibiting conduct already illegal under federal law.

Harvard Law School professor Gerald Neuman has said Arizona could make a compelling legal argument that it has overlapping authority to protect its residents.

But court in the past have ruled that under the Constitution, any state law that conflicts with a federal law is pre-empted.

The pre-emption tactic has been used on several occasions, including by the Bush administration to limit product liability lawsuits.

It was also used to overturn bans on military recruiters passed by some California towns.

Peter Spiro, a constitutional law professor at Temple University, said: 'Immigration has traditionally and constitutionally been the historic preserve of the federal government, and there are cases going back to the late 19th century that say as much.

'So the Obama Administration has a lot to work with in filing this claim, and the fact that the claim is filed by the administration adds credibility... and increases the chances that law will be struck down on pre-emption grounds.

'That said, it not by any means a slam dunk.'

Regardless of how the case is determined at the district court level, it will likely be appealed.

The U.S. Supreme Court is already set to hear an Arizona immigration case in the fall when it takes up a challenge to a 2007 state law punishing employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.

Mr Spiro added: 'It's clearly an important case. The Arizona law is unprecedented in its aggressive posture towards illegal immigrants.

'It's an important issue federally, really, that's the way the administration is framing it. They say the states do not have this kind of role as far an immigration legislation.'

Daily Mail

Hitler images posted on Facebook were offensive and caused distress (UK)

A 26-year-old man posted pictures of Adolf Hitler on Facebook in revenge for being dumped by his girlfriend for an Asian man.

Zack Timms posted messages on the social networking site amounting to threats of violence.

He wrote: “Can’t wait to have it out with Paki man – see you soon, safe.

Then: “Can’t wait to see my Bradford man defo going to be a knockout for Ronkswood lad.”

He also changed his profile picture to Hitler giving the Nazi salute.

Timms said he had posted the messages after he was threatened in the street by the partner of his ex-girlfriend. Timms of Canterbury Road, Ronkswood, Worcester, was arrested after the posts made on Tuesday, June 15, came to the attention of the woman’s sister. He deleted the messages soon after posting them.
But a visit to his Facebook page on the day of his court appearence showed that his profile picture displayed a stylised knight with a Nazi swastika and his political views were listed as “anti-Muslims”.

There were also pictures of the neo-Nazi group Combat 18’s logo and an image showing a man with his fist in the air and the words “white power”.

Matt Dodson, prosecuting, said: “His ex-girlfriend’s sister told her Timms had updated his Facebook page.

“She had been in a relationship with Timms for two weeks but that ended when she got back with her former partner.”
Timms was detained initially for harassment but was charged with making offensive communications.

He admitted the charge at Worcester Magistrates Court. During a police interview Timms told officers he had been threatened in the street by three Asian men and accused his ex-girlfriend’s partner of being one of the group.

He told officers he was “angered” by the incident and posted the messages in order “to wind him up”.

Barry Newton said his client had taken the break-up “badly” and had made a “stupid” mistake posting the messages.

Roger Warrington, the chairman of the magistrates, described Timms’ actions as “offensive” and said they “caused distress”.

He was ordered to pay £75 compensation and £85 costs.

Worcester News

Dutch Establishment Rejects Election Results

Dutch Queen Beatrix does not like Member of Parliament Geert Wilders, the winner of the recent elections in the Netherlands; she is attempting to prevent the formation of a right-wing coalition that includes him.

The maneuvers to exclude Mr. Wilders have angered ordinary Dutchmen. Asked to comment on television, many voters could be heard complaining, "What is the use of going to vote when we are not listened to anyway?"
June's general elections in the Netherlands resulted in a clear victory for the right. The Dutch Constitution, however, grants the Queen the power to appoint a person (or persons) of her choice to initiate and direct negotiations for the formation of a government coalition. By appointing the Labor politician Herman Tjeenk Willink to the position of formation facilitator, the Queen has made it clear that she wants a coalition that includes the Labor Party and excludes the Freedom Party of Geert Wilders.

An opinion poll taken last week shows that the Christian-Democrats would fall to the historic low level of 17 seats, while Mr. Wilders' PVV would become the largest party in the country with 30 seats, ahead of the Liberals (28 seats) and Labor (27 seats).

Following the elections, Mr. Wilders said: "We want to be part of the new government. More security, less crime, less immigration, less Islam – that is what the Netherlands has chosen … I don't think other parties can ignore us." He seems, however, to have overlooked the power of the monarch.

For months, rumors have been circulating that the 72-year old Queen has postponed resigning in favor of her son, 43-year old Prince Willem-Alexander of Orange, until after the 2010 elections because she wants to thwart Mr. Wilders' governmental ambitions. Although unelected, the Dutch monarch plays the decisive role in the government formation, and can easily bypass the electorate. This week, Afshin Ellian, a 44-year old Dutch professor of law at Leiden University, criticized the Queen for her role in obstructing a right-wing government.

Prof. Ellian came to the Netherlands in 1989 as a political refugee from Iran. He is a human rights activist and one of the Netherlands' most outspoken critics of Islam. "Sometimes one learns more about political and constitutional realities in two weeks than other times in decades," Ellian wrote on his blog. "Queen Beatrix," he said," has lost her impartiality in the eyes of many right-wing Dutchmen, The major winners of the past elections, namely the VVD and the PVV, have not been able to play a decisive role in the formation of a new cabinet."

On June 9, 2010, the Liberal VVD became the largest party in the Netherlands. It won 31 of the 150 seats in the Dutch House of Representatives, compared to 22 in the 2006 general election. The largest winner of the election, however, was the PVV, the Freedom Party of Geert Wilders, which won 24 seats, compared to only 9 in 2006. The parties of the resigning center-left coalition of Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende suffered considerable losses. Mr. Balkenende's own Christian-Democrat CDA fell to 21 seats from 41; the Labor Party fell to 30 seats from 33; and the Christian Union (CU) fell to 5 seats from 6.

Theoretically, the electorate's major swing to the right allows VVD-leader Mark Rutte to form a government with Mr. Wilders' PVV and the Christian-Democrats. This coalition would have 76 of the 150 seats and could count on the support of the small right-wing Protestant party SGP (2 seats) and perhaps even the CU (5 seats). Such a VVD-PVV-CDA coalition is that preferred by Mr. Rutte and also by the Dutch electorate. As this coalition would, however, be critical of immigration, multiculturalism, Islam, and the centralization projects of the European Union, while also being one the most pro-Israeli governments in the world, the Dutch political establishment is dreading a Rutte-Wilders cabinet.

Consequently, the CDA, which, as one of the Netherlands' traditional government parties closely linked to the Dutch establishment, was reluctant to start negotiations with VVD and PVV. Some in the CDA, moreover, argue that the CDA, as the greatest loser of the elections, should go into opposition. By appointing Herman Tjeenk Willink as her informer and representative in the coalition talks, the Queen has made it clear that she wants Labor to be part of the coalition. Before the elections, Labor explicitly stated that it would not form a government with the PVV. With the Labor politician Tjeenk Willink in the key role, it is obvious that the Queen is directing the Netherlands towards her own preference: a centrist coalition of Liberals, Laborites and Christian-Democrats. Such a coalition would have 82 seats. If the CDA preferred to join the opposition, a leftist coalition -- of Liberals, Laborites, and the left-liberals of D66 and the Green Left Party -- would be another possibility (81 seats). Another alternative, in case Mr. Rutte refuses to go along with the Queen's schemes, would be a leftist coalition of Laborites, Christian-Democrats, D66, the Greens and the CU (76 seats).

"The elite of the Left and the regents absolutely want to avoid the risk of a cabinet with Wilders," writes Prof. Ellian. "Wilders has been preliminarily excluded without the elite even considering negotiations with him." Ellian further points out that this is not just an injustice to Mr. Wilders, but also to his 1.5 million voters "who have been excluded from an important political process without as much as one relevant argument."

Mr. Tjeenk Willink, says Prof. Ellian, is now the Dutch "Viceroy," who has to neutralize both Messrs. Wilders and Rutte. The former because his outspokenness on issues such as Islam has made him unacceptable to the Dutch ruling establishment and the international elite; the latter because he has stated that his political priorities include an economic austerity program and a reduction of immigration levels.

Consequently, Queen Beatrix and her advisor Tjeenk Willink must maneuver very carefully. If they fail to put together a government without the PVV, there might be new elections, resulting in such a strong position for Mr. Wilders that one will not be able to exclude him

Hudson NY

Man in degrading assault by teenage girls in Arbroath, Scotland

Two teenage girls carried out a prolonged "degrading" assault on a vulnerable young man, Arbroath Sheriff Court has heard.

Paige Sharp, 16, and Danielle Sinclair, 17, admitted assaulting the 21-year-old man, who suffered from learning difficulties.

The victim suffered 16 separate injuries during the incident in Arbroath in March.
Both girls were remanded in custody and sentencing was deferred until Thursday.

One of the lawyers in the case said it was a "sordid and squalid" tale.

The public benches were cleared as a video recording taken on a mobile phone during the assault by an unnamed witness was shown to the court.

It showed the 21-year-old man being beaten and sworn at.

He was then sexually assaulted with a vacuum cleaner and was heard to shout and scream.

The court heard Sharp, who was only 15 at the time, and Sinclair launched their attack because they believed their victim had sexually assaulted Sinclair.

It also heard drink and drugs had been taken, including mephedrone, but apparently not by Sinclair.

The victim himself told police he was "wasted" on "Bubbles" - the street name for mephedrone - and on cannabis at the time of the assault.

Lawyers for both girls told Arbroath Sheriff Court they were deeply ashamed of what they had done and had pleaded guilty to the assault.

Sheriff Kevin Veal told the girls they had subjected their victim to "degrading" and "demeaning" actions.

BBC News

Boasting far right BNP chief says centre is in profit (UK)

BNP chief Nick Griffin is boasting that its call centre in Belfast has made a profit of nearly a quarter of a  million pounds.

Griffin revealed details of the party’s funds in an email sent to the media this week charting his party’s success.

And he says it’s all down to the success of the east Belfast-based call centre which is run by his sidekick Jim Dowson and where Griffin’s daughter Jennifer also works.

“The Belfast call centre is very popular with many ordinary people (especially the elderly or those living a long way from an active branch) who find it helps them keep in touch with the party,” says Griffin.

“The friendly personal touch was particularly noted during last winter’s bitter cold, when our call centre staff telephoned every single pensioner member to ask if they were alright or if they needed any help from a local party official.

“What is less well known is just how much ‘Belfast’ contributes financially to the well being of the British National Party.

“With BNP’s 2009 accounts now effectively complete we can reveal exclusively that the call centre has brought into the party an amazing £359,000 in first 15 months of operation.

“With big peaks during the European and General Elections, the average monthly income has been £26,330 at an average monthly running cost (including all set up costs, wages, line rentals, etc) of £8,000.

“The Belfast call centre has already made the BNP a direct profit of £223,000.”

And he praises his Belfast boss Jim Dowson who told porkies to the Press Complaints Commission that he was not a member of the BNP even though we had footage of him delivering a right wing speech to a BNP gathering two months ago.

“So well done to Jim Dowson for guiding us through the immensely complicated task of sourcing the right technology and setting up the whole operation, and to all the staff who have worked so hard to make the call centre such a success,” he says.

Griffin’s praise for the call centre is in stark contrast to May when the Belfast staff were blamed for a “cock up” at the General Election where the party fielded 339 candidates

They were accused of printing millions of leaflets which had an old text number printed on it.

The Sunday World was first to reveal that the BNP had secretly set up a call centre in Dundonald, east Belfast.

Jim Dowson denied any involvement even though we had clear evidence and sent a letter to the PCC press watchdog.

“They allege that I am a BNP life member when I have never been a member of the party ever in my life!” he wrote.

However, the Sunday World was sent a video by Searchlight magazine showing Jim praising the racist party and urging people to join up. And he’s even captioned ‘North West Fundraiser’.

Hope Not Hate

90-year-old Nazi suspect Adolf Storms dies (Germany)

A 90-year-old former SS sergeant who was No. 4 on the Simon Wiesenthal Center's list of most-wanted  Nazi war crimes suspects has died before he could be brought to trial, German authorities said Tuesday.

Adolf Storms died at his home in the western city of Duisburg on June 28, Dortmund prosecutor Andreas Brendel said. He said he did not know the exact cause of death.

Brendel's office charged Storms in November with 58 counts of murder for his alleged involvement in a massacre of Jewish forced laborers in a forest near the Austrian village of Deutsch Schuetzen.

Storms and other unidentified accomplices were accused of forcing at least 57 of the Jewish laborers to hand over their valuables and kneel by a grave before fatally shooting them from behind.

A day after the March 29, 1945 massacre, Storms was alleged to have shot another Jew who could no longer walk during a forced march in Austria from Deutsch Schuetzen to the village of Hartberg.

Several former members of the Hitler Youth who were helping the SS guard the prisoners on the march provided witness statements, and Brendel said he thought he had strong evidence against Storms.

"I would have liked to have tried the case," he said.

Efraim Zuroff, the top Nazi hunter at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said Storms' death before a trial could begin was a "classic example" of the challenges his office and prosecutors face today in continuing to pursue suspects more than six decades after the end of World War II.

"At least he was under investigation and faced indictment," Zuroff said in a telephone interview from Jerusalem.

Storms worked unnoticed for decades as a train station manager until a University of Vienna student doing undergraduate research uncovered his alleged involvement in the wartime massacre.

The student and his professor, Walter Manoschek, tracked him down and Manoschek then visited Storms several times. The professor conducted about 12 hours of interviews in which Storms repeatedly said that he does not remember the killings.

Yahoo News

Running Short, Running Scared?

The BNP has spent the past few days bussing in their big guns from all over the country in an attempt to get Richard Barnbrook elected back on to Barking and Dagenham Council in this Thursday's Goresbrook Ward By-election.

Recently elevated "Returns Officer" Clive Jefferson, has travelled all the way down from Cumbria to stay with Barnbrook and oversee the campaign, this is despite the fact that the renegade Eddy Butler is supposed to be Barnbrook's election agent.

Former Deputy Leader Simon Darby has also arrived, blogging separate desperate interviews with both the candidate and Jefferson making appeals for more members to come to B&D and help get the BNP vote out. They're trying to be upbeat and talking up their chances, but it's quite clear that the BNP in Barking and Dagenham has been decimated by not only the internal split but also their total wipe out in May's elections, Barnbrook would appear to be the only former Councillor shameless enough to show his face in the borough again.

Despite leadership candidate Butler cancelling a meeting on the weekend supposedly to campaign instead for Barnbrook, he was nowhere to be seen on Saturday when the BNP leader Nick Griffin, his arch enemy, made a brief appearance in the borough. The BNP may have been able to deliver more leaflets for the hapless Barnbrook if no less than seven security staff dressed in black suits and sun glasses were not watching Griffin's back and actually delivered some leaflets instead.

The Party continues to obsess about Searchlight's campaigning and while Griffin and his private army of minders played cat and mouse over whether they would actually have to come face to face with Butler and his followers, twenty Hope Not Hate activists leafleted the ward with a reminder of Barnbrook's previous record on the council.

We also managed to dig up the picture above taken of Barnbrook's house the last time he had the stress of an election campaign. They may be stressed about Thursday's election, but history dictates that at least they'll be well refreshed.

Hope Not Hate

French parliament to debate Islamic veil ban

The French parliament is due to begin a debate on plans to ban the wearing of full Islamic veils in public.

The legislation in front of the lower house will make it illegal to wear the niqab or burka anywhere in public.

It envisages fines of about 150 euros (£119) for women who break the law, with tougher penalties for men found to be pressuring their wife or sister.

A vote on the proposed legislation will be taken next week before a full senate vote in September.

The veil ban, which has the backing of President Nicolas Sarkozy, is also winning support in other parts of Europe.
Belgium's lower house has approved a similar measure and Spain's senate recently narrowly voted to impose a ban too.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon set the tenor of this debate last week at the opening of a new mosque in the suburbs of Paris, the BBC's Christian Fraser reports from the French capital.

Muslims who wore the full veil were "hijacking Islam" he said, providing a "dark sectarian image" of the religion.

There are only about 2,000 women who wear the full veil in France, and most of these wear the niqab rather than the burka.

Critics of the new legislation point to studies by the interior ministry that show many women do not fit the stereotype of marginalised, oppressed women, since a large number have taken the veil of their own volition.


The police unions have already expressed concerns over how such a law will be enforced and the idea of pressuring women to remove the veil.

There are also human rights considerations, and legal experts warn the broad scope of the law banning the veil in all public places as opposed to state institutions could be overturned by the constitutional court.

BBC News

Spanish Court Sentences 14 Members of Neo-Nazi Group Blood & Honour

A Spanish court on Monday ordered the dissolution of the neo-Nazi group Blood & Honor in a verdict that sentenced to prison terms 14 of the 18 members of the group who were on trial for illicit association and weapons possession

According to the sentences handed down on Monday, the main accused – Roberto L. U. and Francisco Jose L. P., each sentenced to between three and four years, were the founders of Blood & Honor Spain, and held leadership posts within the group.

In the homes of both, examples of the statutes of the association and other documents were found, along with magazines linked to the neo-Nazi ideology, anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial, as well as items praising Adolf Hitler and Rudolf Hess.

Among the rest of the accused, one received a prison term of two years and 11 were sentenced to a year in prison each, all of them for illicit association. The court absolved four of the accused for lack of evidence.

In addition, the court ordered that Blood & Honor be dissolved in accord with the Penal Code, which deems to be illegal groups that promote discrimination, hate or violence against people or associations on the basis of their ideology, religion, race, nationality, sex or sexual orientation.

LAHT

Nazi Executioner Strolls in Park

A NAZI executioner wanted for mass murder and concentration camp atrocities strolls through the park in a picture which shames Germany.

Evil Klaas Faber, 88, looked like an ordinary OAP when The Sun went to confront him about his war crimes.

But his white hair and glasses hide a shocking past as a bloodthirsty killer who volunteered for Adolf Hitler's notorious SS and a roving Gestapo death squad.

Faber was sentenced to death after being convicted of war crimes in 1947. But his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and in 1952 he escaped from prison in Breda, Holland, and fled to sanctuary in Germany.

Demands by Britain and other nations to hand over Faber - listed as the fifth most-wanted Nazi fugitive - have since been rejected by Germany.

Incredibly, officials still protect the Dutch-born killer and insist he is immune from extradition after Hitler granted him German citizenship as an SS volunteer.

Local privacy laws mean that Germans cannot be told Faber is a war criminal, or see photos of him enjoying his freedom.

But The Sun found Faber in the medieval town of Ingolstadt, where he lives with frail wife Jacoba. The name K. Faber marks the doorbell on his modern flat.
After years as an anonymous office worker at Audi, Faber now enjoys a cosy retirement relaxing in local parks and going on shopping trips in his VW Golf.

Neighbours say the dad of three is quiet, but friendly and polite.

The Sun confronted him and asked if he felt any remorse for his crimes or compassion for his victims and their relatives.

Faber's smile immediately vanished, replaced by an icy stare and grim silence.

His trial heard he was an enthusiastic Nazi who volunteered to join the SS in 1940, then travelled around northern Holland ruthlessly slaughtering Jews and Dutch resistance fighters.

He rose to become an officer with the notorious SD secret police and worked for the Gestapo as an executioner at Westerbork concentration camp, where teenage diarist Anne Frank was held.
He was convicted of murdering at least 22 victims, but the court heard he personally carried out mass shootings and experts believe the real toll was much higher.

Faber was then one of seven Nazi officers who escaped from Breda prison on Boxing Day 1952.

They fled to Germany, where they were welcomed at the border and given coffee and cakes by sympathetic customs officials.

The gang were given token fines for illegally crossing the border, then set free. German authorities still honour the special privileges granted by Hitler himself to his most hardcore followers.

Faber became a German in 1943 under the "Fuhrer's Law" - a personal decree granting German citizenship to foreign Nazi volunteers.

It is the only one of Hitler's laws never to have been revoked, and Germany still uses it to deny repeated attempts to return Faber to prison in the Netherlands.

Outraged Holocaust campaigners last night urged Germany to stop protecting Faber and hand him over to serve his sentence.

Simon Wiesenthal Centre director Dr Efraim Zuroff said: "He is one of the most evil men alive. For Germany to continue shielding him is a shocking stain on the nation's reputation.

"We are talking about someone who volunteered for the SS so he could help Hitler's regime turn his vile beliefs into reality. He didn't just support the Holocaust, he actively helped those behind it.

"The families of those he killed deserve justice, and it's time for Germany to stop hiding behind a law that Hitler brought in."
Sickened Arnold Karstens, of the charity War Crimes Investigations, said: "It is beyond belief that this man is free. Germany should hang its head in shame.

"Faber's crimes are so extreme he should die in prison. What makes it even worse is he has never shown remorse. It is sickening to see him enjoying freedom."

German authorities last night confirmed that Faber was immune from prosecution and extradition, despite repeated requests by the Netherlands to hand him over. State prosecutors decided in 2006 to classify Faber's crimes as manslaughter. So a time limit on trying him in Germany - which does not apply to murder - has now expired. A spokesman added: "Klaas Faber is a German citizen and cannot be extradited for this."

Th Sun

Ministers to meet in Dudley to discuss English Defence League demos

Ministers are to meet Dudley residents to discuss the “violence and disorder” caused by the English Defence League.

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, agreed to organise a meeting after the protest group held two controversial demonstrations in Dudley.

In April, there were 12 arrests as the English Defence League held a protest in Dudley and fought anti-fascist campaigners.
And in an unannounced protest in May, masked English Defence League campaigners held a rooftop protest at a site earmarked for a new mosque in Dudley.

The group also planned a protest in Dudley last month, but this was cancelled after plans to build a mosque with 65ft minaret in the town centre were scrapped.

But the English Defence League warned that future protests in Dudley could still go ahead, and added that the group planned to return to Birmingham, where it has held two demonstrations, with a protest in Alum Rock in the summer.

Dudley MP Ian Austin (Lab Dudley North) asked the Home Secretary, Theresa May, to ensure the English Defence League were not able to cause further disruption.

Speaking in the House of Commons, he asked: “Recent events have seen violence and disorder on the streets, police diverted to deal with that and property and constituents attacked.”

She told him: “Certainly I or another Minister will be very happy to meet a delegation in order to address those issues.”

Birmingham Mail

Vigilantes patrol area known for drug traffic, human smuggling USA

The signs are ominous: “Danger,” “Travel Not Recommended,” and “Smuggling.” But these are not enough  to dissuade J.T. Ready and his fellow vigilantes.

Ready and other members of his group are armed with shotguns, rifles and other semi-automatic weapons. They have spent the past three weekends canvassing the area known as Vekol Valley in response to a surge of violence.

“I have lived here for 18 years, and the majority of them have been very peaceful,” said Harry Hughes, who lives in the area and has begun patrolling with Ready. However, he said over the past 12 to 18 months the violence in the area has escalated, with multiple home invasions, burglaries, shootings and other violence in his neighborhood.

It is a problem he attributes to the coyotes smuggling humans, drugs and other illegal items through the area. Coyotes are human smugglers paid to bring illegal immigrants into the United States.

“The federal and local government continues to ignore the problem in this area, hoping they will go away, but that is not going to work,” Hughes said. “We have decided to do something about it.”

That something is patrolling the area on the weekends from now until the end of the summer, looking for illegal immigrants participating in criminal activities. Since they started their patrols, Hughes said his group has turned several illegals into the United States Border Patrol and found a body, which is yet to be identified.

“Typically, when we find someone, they are happy to see us; we offer them some water and then turn them over to the authorities,” he said.
involved in the group, but multiple reports have stated more than 10 people were at the first two gatherings.

Ready, who could not be reached for comment, was at one time the leader of the Mesa Chapter of the National Socialist Movement, believed to be the largest neo-Nazi group in the United States. Yet, Hughes said the group has nothing to do with race, and any person is welcome to join them in their patrols.

“We are not part of the National Socialist Movement; we are just a group of concerned citizens,” he said. He added that the National Socialist Movement was not a Neo-Nazi group, but an organization that focused on civil rights for Caucasians. “They get a rep worse than communists.”

The group informed the Pinal County Sheriff’s Department of their plans to patrol the area during the summer, but Tim Gaffney, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office, said the law enforcement agency does not condone the militia effort.

"We currently have operations that are ongoing and advise all citizens not to take law enforcement matters into their own hands," Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said in an issued statement. "Hate groups and other militia-type groups have also made arrangements to patrol, not at our request. This is not helpful, and, personally and professionally, I do not endorse, nor do I tolerate hate speech, discrimination or bigotry of any kind. These groups should stay out of Pinal County."

By Michael K. Rich at inmaricopa

Over 70 detained at "new Gárda" event (Hungary)

Hungarian National Gárda Police detained over 70 people as a group calling itself Hungarian National Gárda commemorated on Sunday the outlawed militia the Magyar Gárda, which was dissolved a year ago. Some 1,000 people were present at the event in downtown Erzsébet tér yesterday afternoon.
Police secured the area with a huge presence and no disturbances were reported. Before the ceremony, police targeted those wearing khaki trousers and black T-shirts who threw bottles, and insults, at police officers.
Several Jobbik MPs spoke at the function and called the legality of the police action into doubt. Jobbik MP Sándor Pörzse, Tamás Gaudi Nagy and Calvinist pastor Lóránt Hegedűs Jr. criticised the legislative practice of the Fidesz-Christian Democrat government, claiming that the spirit of governing of the past eight years is continuing.
Jobbik chairman Gábor Vona said the cabinet has not honoured its promises to hold accountable the former ruling politicians.

Those detained were in possession of air guns and imitation weapons, Budapest Police announced on Sunday afternoon.

Politics.hu

BURQA BANS SPREAD ACROSS CATALONIA (Spain)

There are no burqas on the streets of Tarrés. In fact, there are no Muslims at all in this village of 108 inhabitants in north-east Spain. But that will not stop the parish council debating whether to ban burqas and face-covering niqabs from parts of the village next week. "It is true that there are no Muslims living in the village now, but this would be a preventive measure in case they come," said parish councillor Daniel Rivera, from the tiny and openly xenophobic Partit per Catalunya. Rivera's motion to ban burqas has outraged many. Other councillors plan to vote against it, but whatever the result, the motion is symptomatic of wider moves in the Catalonia region to ban Islamic veils from public buildings. Today the nearby provincial capital, Lleida, formally passed a ban that was first announced in May. Women found wearing burqas in public buildings will first be given a warning, but any repeat will lead to a fine of between €300 and €600 (£250-£500).

From Barcelona to Tarragona, bans are being slapped into place across the region. "At this rate we will end up with more bans than burqas," said the immigration minister, Celestino Corbacho, himself a former town mayor in Catalonia. The Lleida ban was not passed by the anti-immigrant parties but, as in Barcelona, by a socialist-led council. "This is about equality between men and women," Mayor Ángel Ros said. "The burqa and the niqab are symbols of the political use of a religious dogmatism that had begun to appear in Lleida. "This is not Islamophobia. When the right does this it is guided by xenophobia, but we are guided by equality. The debate was already out there on the street. It is our job to listen." Ros would have liked an outright ban on burqas in public, but was advised that the town hall's powers did not stretch that far. "This is an example of integration, in which they respect the values of our society. Some cultural behaviour is a direct attack on our values."

Conservative opposition parties – including the Convergence and Union coalition, which looks set to win regional elections in the autumn – had been pushing for an even stricter ban. After Lleida's announcement, Spain's senate called on the government to prevent women from wearing burqas and niqabs anywhere in public. The motion was phrased to avoid the ban applying to the tens of thousands of Christian nazarenos who don hooded robes and parade through Spanish cities every Easter. The socialist government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, has responded by indicating that it will legislate against the burqa in a religious freedom law. Ros said the ban was a warning to some local imams who he says are driving people towards fundamentalism. On Nord street in Lleida, where halal butchers service the needs of the 29,000 immigrants who make up 21% of the city's population, there was dismay. "Catalan elections are coming up," said Abderrahim Boussira, at the Western Union store. "Election time is when they go after the foreigners and the Muslims. I've been here 20 years and I have never seen a woman in a burqa."

At middaytoday, more than 1,000 men packed into a makeshift mosque for Friday prayers. Imam Abdelwahad Houzi is the man Ros blames for radicalising local Muslims. "All we do is follow the Qur'an and the Sunna. We are not a sect or a political party and we have been here for years," he said. "We feel offended. This is an attack on the freedom of women." Houzi blames the local Segre newspaper for whipping up anger. The newspaper said it started covering the story only after conservative politicians complained about them, though its editorials also called for a ban. "Islam, which barely distinguishes politics from religion, still marginalises the female sex," its deputy editor, Anna Goméz, wrote. It is thought that barely half a dozen women in Lleida wear niqabs. "Some are Spaniards," said Khadija Rabhi, at her general store, which sells everything from haberdashery to hair oil to Muslim women. "I don't think they are forced to wear them by their husbands, though. How could they be? I don't wear one, but I cannot see why they should stop someone who does."

Like most women in the mainly Moroccan and Algerian immigrant community, Rabhi – who has lived in Lleida since she was seven – wears a hijab headscarf and a loose-fitting robe. "The Qur'an says we should dress modestly. But people have different interpretations. I wear a headscarf, and if I was not allowed to wear it, I would prefer to move to Morocco – even though Lleida has always been my home." Ros claims some Muslim groups support the ban, but a town hall list turned up no backers. Mourad el-Boudouhi, of the local Averroes Association, said his group had lodged a complaint claiming the measure contradicted Spain's constitution. There has been a second complaint against the senate motion, with the aim of taking it through to Spain's constitutional court. "No one has the right to decide for a woman what she must wear," he said. "They are adults and can decide for themselves. We will defend them if they decide to wear it and if they decide not to. This creates hatred. People come here to work, to get by, or to live in democracy – not in dictatorship."

Abdelraffie Ettalydy, head of the Maghrebia immigrants' association and a critic of Imam Houzi, said that the few women in Lleida who wear niqabs – which are slowly disappearing from his native Morocco – were rarely seen. "It is not as if everyone in Lleida was worried about this," he said. "In five years, I have only bumped into one of these women once." He blames the imam for failing to talk with a town hall that has offered land for a new and bigger mosque. "I can't call them fundamentalists, but they are not open-minded," he said. "They are simple people who say: 'We are Muslims, so we are better than them'. That is why the mosque has become a problem for the city, and now for Catalonia and Spain as well." Racist parties are crowing. "Measures we proposed three or four years ago that were greeted with cries of 'racism' are now being passed by town halls," said Joan Terré, a town councillor for Partit per Catalunya in Cervera.

Back in Tarrés, waiter Arnau Galí said the bans made little sense. "Not so long ago all the old women in Tarrés wore headscarves too, but they have disappeared without anyone banning them," he said. "The problem here has always been emigration, not immigration." In the meantime, niqab wearers in Lleida and elsewhere must change or they will be unable to get crucial paperwork done at the town hall – a building they are banned from entering. "If she cannot go out like this then she will change," the husband of the only niqab-wearer in the Catalan town of Cunit, 26-year-old Moroccan Fatima Bumlaqi, told El País newspaper. "Will they fine her if she wears a hat and sunglasses?"

The burqa in Europe

In Belgium a new bill outlawing the wearing of face veils in public is awaiting senate approval. If passed, offenders will be fined or face a week in jail.

France is trying to ban the wearing of full-face Islamic veils in public. President Nicolas Sarkozy has said they oppress women and are "not welcome". An estimated 2,000 women in France wear full veils.

The UK does not ban any form of Islamic dress. Schools are permitted to devise their own uniform policy.

The Netherlands debated banning burqas four years ago and may yet outlaw them.

In Italy, several regions have introduced rules to deter public use of the Islamic veil. Some mayors from the anti-immigrant Northern League have also banned the use of Islamic swimsuits.

The Guardian