Anti Polish Hate Crimes Are Sweeping Scotland (UK)

Back in early December, Rafal Gorski, returned to Poland planning never again to return to Scotland. This is because of all of the racist insults and harassment that he had to put up with. He said while simply walking down the street people would yell out, “F***ing Polish, go back to Poland!”

Of course, the taunts are not enough to make everyone leave. However, if the taunts did not scare people, the threats on their lives and the lives of their families do. Many of the Polish people leaving the area said that they simply could not take day-to-day life in Scotland anymore. This has now put Scotland on the map, but for all the wrong reasons.

The real name of Mr Gorskis was changed by the media in order to protect him. Apparently reports showed that he was allegedly abused. Reports suggest that his neighbor, whose name is not being released, took part in the abuse of the Polish family.

One Polish family, who was interviewed after being attacked, said that the couple that attacked them said that they were stealing jobs from the locals. They said that Polish people had no right to be in Scotland, and they should go back to Poland.

Also, two months ago, police in Scotland found graffiti on a bridge that said, “Polish C**ts, Get out of Scotland.” Police statistics show reports of hate crimes against other white people have risen fivefold in Scotland over recent years. Experts say that the hate crimes on Polish people are the main cause of this. A 2008 study found that there was an increase in racial tension in the Highlands. Eastern Europeans were among the most frequently targeted.

Emigrate.co.uk

GERMAN POLICE UNION URGES BAN OF FAR-RIGHT NPD

Seven years after the German government failed in an attempt to ban a far-right party, calls have become louder for renewed efforts to outlaw a party that is under observation of the federal intelligence agency.

Germany's police union GdP and the Central Council of Jews in Germany have appealed for renewed efforts to ban the National Democratic Party (NPD), a fringe group with no federal-level representation, but with seats in two of Germany's 16 state parliaments. "From my own and a police point of view, I urge and support a ban," police union head Bernhard Witthaut told Deutsche Welle. "I think it's terrible how they mock foreigners living in Germany, I think their concept of a state is terrible." Witthaut was not alone in his comments. The president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Dieter Graumann, said in an interview over the weekend that the NPD, which currently has an estimated 7,000 members, had clearly set itself the goal of destroying democracy in Germany. The country must resist such attempts, he said, if necessary by issuing a ban. The head of the Turkish Community in Germany, Kenan Kolat, urged a more consistent prosecution of xenophobic attacks in Germany. Banning the NPD, he told the news agency dapd, could also "have a positive effect in the fight against right-wing extremism and racism." The German government attempted to ban the NPD in a case heard by the country's highest court, the Constitutional Court, in 2001. But the case was thrown out two years later after it was disclosed that several people in the NPD's inner circle were German secret service undercover agents or informants.

Signal in the fight against far-right extremism
The police union's Witthaut said that some people in law enforcement believed it would be easier to deal with the far-right party if you knew how it operated and where it was active, whereas if the party were to go underground, it would be much more difficult to keep an eye on its activities. But he said he was convinced that outlawing a party listed as racist, anti-Semitic and revisionist by Germany's domestic intelligence agency would be "an important signal in the fight against right-wing extremism." "Many might view the risk of a renewed failure before Germany's highest court as such a grave aspect that they might dismiss steps in that direction," Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said on Monday. But he added that banning the NPD was desirable, and he would continue to lobby for a ban of the party.

The Deutsche Welle

Turkey needs hate crime laws, civil society groups say

Turkey needs to legally define a category for offenses and crimes that were perpetrated solely due to hatred of an individual or minority group, according to a number of civil society organizations and jurists.

Turkey, not unlike most countries of the world, is not free of crime against minorities and disadvantaged groups. Among these, crimes motivated by bias against the target due to their background or identity are defined as hate crimes. However, the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) does not include such a category. The Social Change Association, in a bid to lobby for creating such a legal category, recently held a rally against hate crimes.

Hate crimes were first included in international criminal law in 2003. Forty-eight Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) members now have legislation that categorizes hate crimes, while eight OSCE members, including Turkey, currently have no such legal description of bias-motivated crimes in their penal codes. “A symbolic message would be given if this is put into law,” says OSCE representative Tankut Soykan, adding, “This will show that such crimes are not tolerated and that they cannot be covered up.”

The Social Change Association and the Initiative to Stop Nationalism have jointly started a campaign under which a number of activities and events will be held in addition to preparing a bill in this direction. A group of jurists are working on the proposed legislation, while the two organizations will also collect signatures for their cause. The campaign started with a two-day symposium organized at the Taksim Hill Hotel on Dec. 17-18.
Hate crime law will send a message

Soykan, the adviser on Combating Intolerance and Discrimination against Muslims at OSCE, has stated that legal measures alone are not enough to combat hate crimes, stressing that social policy changes are also necessary. He said integrating this definition into legislation would serve more symbolically to highlight that such crimes would never be covered up.

“If you do this, you answer forcefully such crimes as the political mechanism, which would in turn contribute to social awareness on the issue. Such a law would also work to make security forces more active in this regard, and victims will be more aware of how to seek legal remedies,” he said, adding that in other countries special laws made hate crimes punishable more severely in comparison to the same offenses not motivated by bias against the target.

“But you still need more than laws. For example, if you look at Kosovo, it has the world's best anti-hate crime legislation, but you don't see any of that when you look at practice. Creating awareness amongst the public is very important. Increasing people's sensitivity on this issue would be much more effective than amending the law,” he said.

Asuman İnceoğlu, an assistant professor at Bilgi University, says such crimes should be punished with the harshest penalties possible within the confines of criminal law. She stressed that there was no way a judge could hand down a harsher punishment for a crime committed due to bias if this is not defined legally.

“If the perpetrators are not punished, this gives them the message that they can get away with it, which in turn brings about a cycle of crime. This is why harsher sanctions are needed in criminal law for crimes of this type,” she said.

TodayZaman

Race row comic Frankie Boyle loses a third of his TV audience (UK)

Frankie Boyle has lost a third of his TV audience as he faces a storm over his use of racist language.

The Scots comic launched his controversial Channel 4 series Tramadol Nights to a healthy 1.3 million viewers on November 30. But now he is proving a major turn-off after causing outrage with a string of tasteless gags.

In last week’s show the Sun columnist made a joke at the expense of Katie Price’s disabled son Harvey and upset many by using the words P*** and n*****. Yester-day it emerged his average audience figures were down to 880,000 by December 14.

Bosses fear even more will switch off when the last episode of the six-part series is screened tomorrow. Channel 4 were yesterday unavailable to confirm the figures for his most recent broadcast.

During the show Boyle referred to a bomb wiping out “a whole bunch of P****” and joked about the “Ministry of War” having a “department of n***** bombing”.

Despite a flood of complaints Channel 4 bosses have consistently defended the near-the-knuckle comedian. Chief executive David Abraham insisted last week: “Comedy is very subjective and the intent of these sketches is manifestly satirical.”

But critics were furious. A spokesman for Show Racism the Red Card said: “We condemn the use of racist terminology. It is never acceptable in any context.”

Site calling for genocide of Jews, Canadians reappears (Canada)

The resurrection of a website advocating the genocide of Jews and Canadians, founded by a Toronto extremist who is wanted by police, highlights the difficulties of policing the Internet, where public postings can be generated and disseminated from almost anywhere.

The website was founded by Salman Hossain, 25, a Canadian extremist who fled Canada earlier this year during a police investigation into use of the Internet to promote terrorist violence in Canada.

Police subsequently charged him with five hate crimes -- two counts of advocating genocide and three counts of promoting hatred -- but have so far been unable to locate him.

The site was shut down after the charges were laid.

The National Post reported last month that the site had reemerged on a U.S. free-speech server but was again shut down. This month it found a new home, through Internet servers based in Switzerland.

"We are aware that he has a website up and running in various locations," said Inspector Dave Ross of the Ontario Provincial Police. "We are monitoring it and are continuing to liaise with enforcement agencies around the world. We are actively seeking him. We haven't forgotten about him. Our hope is that some day you will see him back in Canada in custody."

The fact that the alleged crimes continue despite his fugitive status shows the difficulties of such cases.

"The Internet poses very unique challenges to law enforcement agencies around the world, not only for hate crimes but a vast number of offences. It has certainly opened the global marketplace to criminals of all types," said Insp. Ross.

Mr. Hossain is wanted by the OPP for advocating genocide and is named in a worldwide Interpol fugitive list. He is believed to have returned to his native Bangladesh and appears to have had technological issues with accessing the Internet.

This month any obstacles were overcome and the website Filthy Jewish Terrorists renewed its stream of violent imagery, language and fierce anti-Jewish and anti-Western sentiments.

"He's never had any concern for the warrant hanging over his head. He is thumbing his nose at Canadian police and at Interpol. The site is up and gotten even more vile," said Bernie Farber, chief executive officer of the Canadian Jewish Congress.

"It speaks to the ineffectiveness of the law in terms of trying to deal with modern technology. A lot of the law dealing with hate crimes is based on the fact that people are living in Western countries where the law applies. But Salman Hossain left and is clearly living in a place where Western law and Western mores have no meaning and so he is basically free to post whatever he wants.

"I do believe the law will eventually catch up to him. "

One article on the site, listed as having been written by Mr. Hossain and posted Dec. 17, again encourages the killing of Jews and Westerners and expresses hope his articles harm Western society.

"I encourage Iran to get assistance from others in committing a full scale genocide against the Jew run nations of the Western World (Australia, Europe and North America to be more precise). Killing them with bio-genetic weaponry would literally be the best option," it says in part.

Another article, posted on Dec. 18, is entitled: "Learning How To Identify Jews During Roundup Time!"

Despite that type of content, the website offers a "legal disclaimer" that states: "Our web site does not advocate terrorism or genocide against any people. All information on this site is for informational purposes only."

A phone call and email from the National Post to the contact information provided for the site's domain registration in Lucerne, Switzerland, went unanswered yesterday.

National Post

COULD HUNGARIAN ANTI-SEMITISM GET OUT OF CONTROL?

The rise of Hungary’s far-right Jobbik Party has ratcheted up debate about anti-Semitism in this country and focused attention on the seeming paradoxes of Jewish life here. On the one hand, a recent article in Germany's Der Spiegel described Budapest as "Europe's capital of anti-Semitism," where Jews are "being openly intimidated" and making plans to leave the country. On the other, Hungary is home to a flourishing and multifaceted Jewish life that finds vigorous public expression in religious, cultural and even culinary ways, and also enjoys high-profile government recognition.

I saw this myself at Chanukah when I munched on latkes at a Friday night oneg Shabbat, sampled doughnuts at a sit-down dinner for Holocaust survivors, joined 20-somethings at a riotous klezmer/hip-hop gig, and just missed witnessing the foreign minister, Budapest's mayor and other VIPs help light a big menorah set up in the center of town. While anti-Semitism remains a serious concern in this central European country, Budapest-based Jewish writer Adam LeBor wrote in the Economist, the Der Spiegel article was a one-sided screed that portrayed the Jewish experience in Hungary "solely through the warped prism of anti-Semitism rather than its much more complex, and healthy, reality."

A timely and important new book puts contemporary Hungarian anti-Semitism into perspective. Based on studies carried out since the early 1990s, "The Stranger at Hand: Antisemitic Prejudices in Post-Communist Hungary" is the most comprehensive analysis to date of the scope and impact of the phenomenon. It’s just too bad that its $131 price tag will put it out of reach of many potential readers. Written by Andras Kovacs, a sociologist at Budapest's Central European University who has devoted decades to tracking both the development of anti-Semitism and the development of Jewish life and identity here, the book presents a highly complex and sometimes contradictory picture. A large part of Hungarian society, both Jewish and non-Jewish, is convinced that anti-Semitism has increased in Hungary since the fall of communism, Kovacs writes. "What is said on the street, written in newspapers, and heard on the radio can and does give rise to concern," he writes. “Are the fears legitimate?"  The answer, he told JTA in an interview, is a mix of yes, no and maybe.

Jobbik, with its anti-Semitic rhetoric and virulently anti-Roma, or Gypsy, political platform, won nearly 17 percent of the vote in April elections and entered Parliament as Hungary's third-largest party. But recent evidence shows that it has been losing support amid divisive internal squabbles, and newly imposed legal measures have clamped down hard on its once-feared paramilitary wing, the Hungarian Guard. Still, Jobbik did not emerge from thin air, and Kovacs's book traces the evolution of several anti-Semitic trends against a shifting background of political and social change.

He identifies three main types of anti-Semitism in Hungary. The first is "classic" anti-Jewish prejudice, based on social and religious stereotypes that date back centuries and were kept alive, if suppressed, under communism. The second occurs when anti-Semitism becomes a sort of "language and culture" that fosters a general anti-Semitic worldview. The third is political anti-Semitism, "where political activists discover that they can mobilize certain social groups by using anti-Semitic slogans to achieve their own goals."

Kovacs' research shows the recent growth in anti-Semitism to be qualitative rather than quantitative. Surveys show that 10 to 15 percent of Hungarians are hard-core anti-Semites, while another 25 percent nurtures anti-Jewish prejudices to some degree. Contrary to popular perception, Kovacs said, these figures "have increased to some extent but not dramatically over the past 17 years." What is different and much more alarming, according to Kovacs, is how the type and expression of anti-Semitism is changing within that proportion. For one thing, the percentage of political anti-Semites has grown. These political anti-Semites, he said, are "more urban, better educated and relatively younger" than they tended to be in the past.

Jobbik's key leaders, for example, are youthful, clean cut, and media and Internet-savvy -- factors that helped enhance their appeal ahead of the April vote. Related to this is the way hate speech among the general public has been emboldened by the open use of anti-Semitic and anti-Roma rhetoric by extreme right public figures. Kovacs calls this a "dangerous dynamic." He said young people in particular frequently seem to lose their inhibitions, and their use of slurs against Jews and Roma often goes unchecked by parents, teachers and other authority figures. "We know that people are much more cautious in expressing their prejudices if they think that it is not legitimate," Kovacs said. "But when they realize that so-called important people use this language openly, they feel they can use it as well. This is what we feel now in Budapest."

What follows is unclear. So far, Jobbik's anti-Jewish rhetoric seems aimed at creating a body of like-minded followers rather than serving as a rallying cry for concrete political action against Jews, according to Kovacs. But could the extreme right eventually elevate political anti-Semitism into a force with significant mainstream influence? Kovacs thinks it's unlikely, but ultimately, he writes in his book, it will depend on how Hungary's mainstream cultural and political leaders react to any attempts to "transform the prejudice that once affected the margins of Hungarian society into a language, culture and ideology."

JTA

Channel 4 urged to sack comedian Frankie Boyle in race jibe row (UK)

He's no stranger to controvers and last night comedian Frankie Boyle was said to be unrepentant over his latest outburst.

Friends claim he has laughed off calls for him to be banned from TV following a deluge of complaints about racist language in his Channel 4 show Tramadol Nights.

Many viewers were outraged after he used the P-word and n-word during a series of near-the-knuckle sketches.

One skit involved a woman dressed as Super Mario. She danced provocatively in front of the cameras before waving and saying: “Hello to P***’s everywhere.”

Then during his stand-up routine Boyle, 38, turned the subject to war.

He said: “Basically we are murdering a load of shepherds. What gets me is our callousness as a society when we read out our dead on the news first, because our lives are more important. Other people’s aren’t worth as much.”

Adopting a newsreader’s tone, he added: “A bomb went off in Kandahar today, killing two British servicemen, three UN relief workers and a whole bunch of P****.”

Later he said: “The Ministry of Defence? At least in the old days we were honest, it was The Ministry of War.”

In a posh phone voice he added: “Hello Ministry of War, department of n*****-bombing, how can I help?”

His remarks triggered a furious reaction. A spokesman for Show Racism the Red Card said: “We condemn Frankie Boyle’s use of racist terminology.

“Regardless of context and intention, the use of words such as these has the effect of normalising racist language.

“That is never acceptable. It is dehumanising and provides the foundations on which serious hate crimes are built.” MP John Whittingdale, chairman of the culture, media and sport select committee, said: “There’s no question that these words are deeply offensive to many people.

“I think it’s entirely right that Ofcom should carry out an immediate investigation to decide whether this is acceptable.

“It’s very hard to justify – even in terms of political satire.”

On Digital spy forums, Dolly Stanford said: “He used to be funny and offensive, now he is just offensive. Shame.”

Another viewer said: “I liked him on Mock the Week, but this is just dreadful.”

Scots-born Boyle, who writes a column for the Sun, has already faced a barrage of criticism over earlier shows in which he made sexual jibes about Katie Price and her disabled son Harvey.

He also cracked sick jokes about cancer victims and mocked people with Aids.

Channel 4 – slammed three years ago for refusing to take responsibility for the Shilpa Shetty Celebrity Big Brother race row – seemed to be trying to tough it out again last night.

It pointed out that a warning was broadcast before Tuesday night’s show that it “contained very strong language and uncompromising adult content which some viewers will find offensive”.

But critics argue that Boyle’s comments breach TV rule 2.3 regarding “generally accepted standards”. It says any broadcast must justify in context any discriminatory language regarding race. Earlier this year Boyle had an on-stage run-in with the mother of a Down’s syndrome child. He spent five minutes of a stand-up show poking fun at sufferers and their parents by criticising their hair, clothing and voices.

He then turned on the audience, picking on a couple – Sharon and Keiron Smith – in the front row and accusing them of talking. Laughter turned to awkward silence when Mrs Smith told Boyle: “My daughter has Down’s syndrome and I’m very upset.”

Boyle retorted: “This is my last tour. I don’t give a f*** what people think.” Insiders at Channel 4 privately admitted the outspoken comedian has been testing executives’ patience.

But Shane Allen, the channel’s head of comedy commissioning, insisted: “We refute any suggestion we are endorsing or condoning racist language.

“This cutting edge comedy is clearly intended to ridicule and satirise the use of these words – Frankie Boyle was not endorsing them.”

- BOYLE also made a cruel jibe about missing Madeline McCann. Describing things you could say to change the atmosphere at a dinner party, he said: “We are all here – who’s looking after Madeleine?” A spokesman for Kate and Gerry McCann said: “It was deeply offensive.”

Daily Mirror

LEADING PRIEST BLAMES JEWS FOR GREECE’S PROBLEMS

A high-level priest on the morning show of the largest television station in Greece blamed world Jewry for Greece's financial problems. The Metropolite of Piraeus Seraphim also blamed world Jewry for other ills in the country during his appearance on Mega TV. Mixing Freemasons with Jewish bankers such as Baron Rothschild and world Zionism, the Metropolite said that there is a conspiracy to enslave Greece and Christian Orthodoxy. He also accused international Zionism of trying to destroy the family unit by promoting one-parent families and same-sex marriages.

Thirteen minutes into the program the Greek host asked the Metropolite, "Why do you disagree with Hitler's policies? If they are doing all this, wasn't he right in burning them?" The Metropolite answered, "Adolf Hitler was an instrument of world Zionism and was financed from the renowned Rothschild family with the sole purpose of convincing the Jews to leave the shores of Europe and go to Israel to establish the new Empire."

Jews such as "Rockefeller, Rothschild and Soros control the international banking system that controls globalization," the Metropolite also said. The Metropolite of Piraeus Seraphim is not the only Greek priest with such extreme ideas, as Salonika's Metropolite Anthimos also has preached similar ideas from his pulpit. "Watching and listening to the program, I felt disgust hearing the Metropolite of Piraeus expressing himself like that against world Zionism, and shamelessly saying that Hitler with the help of Jewish bankers did what he did," said Benjamin Albala, president of the Athens Jewish community.

JTA

Racist 'deserved time spent in jail' (UK)

A racist who launched a tirade of "utterly abhorrent" abuse at two reporters posing as a married Asian couple for a TV documentary has been told he deserved every day of his jail term.

Sean Ganderton, 23, "bullied and threatened" journalists Amil Khan and Tamanna Rahman as they went undercover in Southmead to film an episode of the BBC's Panorama programme.

Ganderton was jailed for two years at Bristol Crown Court in May after admitting racially aggravated harassment.

Yesterday the 23-year-old, who lived in Trowbridge Road, Southmead, before he was jailed, tried to challenge his sentence at London's Criminal Appeal Court, with lawyers arguing it was "too long" for his crime. But the appeal was dismissed by three judges, who said the sentence was "not excessive".

Mr Justice Lloyd Jones, sitting with Lord Justice Leveson and Mr Justice King, told the court the reporters who went to live in Ringwood Crescent between June and August last year secretly filmed material for the programme, entitled Panorama Undercover: Hate on the Doorstep, which was broadcast last October.

During that time, they were subjected to a barrage of racial insults, abuse and threatening behaviour from Ganderton and others.

The court heard on one occasion, Ganderton told Mr Khan he should be walking in the road, because then it would be "bye bye Paki", and punched him in the head.

Miss Rahman was also subjected to abuse, followed in the street and Ganderton threatened to cut her throat.

In a victim impact statement which was read to the court, she said she found the experience "distressing" and was stunned that Ganderton and others seemed to find it "amusing". She also said she "felt sorry" for other people who might have to face the same kind of treatment.

Sentencing him at Bristol Crown Court in June, Judge Michael Roach said Ganderton's behaviour was "utterly abhorrent", and that he had "bullied and threatened" the victims in a "cowardly way".

His lawyers argued his jail term was too long, saying the judge did not take enough account of the fact it was his first offence, his admission of guilt, or the fact he was of "low intelligence".

But, dismissing the appeal, Mr Justice Lloyd Jones said the sentence was "not even arguably excessive" for a crime of this nature.

Another man, 18-year-old Martin Durnell, of Ringwood Crescent, was sentenced to 21 months' youth custody alongside Ganderton in June. He was not before the court to appeal against his sentence yesterday.

This is Bristol

Police arrest EDL protest’s leader (UK)

Guramit Singh

One of the leaders of the English Defence League (EDL) has been arrested after police received complaints about his speech during their protest in Peterborough on 11th December.

Guramit Singh (28), from Nottingham, was arrested yesterday (22nd December) on suspicion of intentionally causing religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress.

Cambridgeshire Police received two complaints after Mr Singh, an unofficial leader and spokesman for the EDL, gave a speech during the EDL’s two-hour protest in the city on Saturday, December 11.

Mr Singh was addressing around 1,000 EDL supporters and hundreds of onlooking members of the public during his speech, which was delivered outside Peterborough Magistrates’ Court and has since been uploaded onto YouTube.

A spokeswoman for Cambridgeshire Police said: “A 28-year-old man from Nottingham was arrested on suspicion of intentionally causing religiously aggravated harassment alarm or distress, under section four of the public order act 1986.

“He was questioned in Nottingham and has now been bailed.

“Police are investigating whether any further criminal offences were committed during protests in Peterborough.

“The arrested man will return to a police station in Cambridgeshire in February.”

The EDL held its protest claiming to be against Islamic extremism and its perceived rise in England.

The protesters went from outside the Peterborough United Football Ground, in London Road, to Peterborough Magistrates’ Court in Lower Bridge Street, where they gathered for a static protest and were addressed by Mr Singh.

Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, the other unofficial leader of the EDL, confirmed that Mr Singh had been arrested.

Mr Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson, said: “Guramit was arrested in the morning.

“The EDL are fully behind him and we don’t think there was anything wrong with his speech.

“It doesn’t surprise me that he has been arrested but it does disappoint me.”

The EDL’s decision to come to Peterborough to march and protest sparked the biggest policing operation in the history of the city.

Around 1,000 officers from 18 forces across the country were drafted in to police the EDL march as well as the counter demonstration which was organised by Peterborough Trades Union Council.

The operation cost Cambridgeshire Police an estimated £750,000 to pay overtime and draft extra officers in for the day. It resulted in 10 arrests on the day.

Police investigations are ongoing following the marches and officers have asked anyone with information to contact them on 0345 456 4564 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

Petersborough Today

Police raid neo-Nazi youth group (Germany)

Police in Germany staged nationwide raids Tuesday on members of a far-right group suspected of trying to organise a camp to train young extremists, seizing neo-Nazi material.

Authorities carried out dawn raids in five cities on members of the "Young Nationalist Democrats" (JN), whose activities and slogans bear "clear parallels" to the banned neo-Nazi organisation HDJ, police said. They searched apartments in Oranienburg, Ludwigshafen, Bad Dürkheim, Heidelberg and Osnabrück.

"Various blatantly right-wing extremist documents belonging to IG Fahrt & Lager were found during the searches," the police said in a statement. "The searches were intended to stop the upcoming national year-end camp."

The HDJ, whose names translates as "German Youth Loyal to the Homeland," ran Hitler Youth-style camps teaching children as young as six that foreigners and Jews were a threat to the nation. Authorities banned the group in March 2009.

The state Office for Criminal Investigation in Hannover warned there was a danger that the JN would break laws at their planned get-together, including incitement to racial hatred and wearing banned uniforms.

The Local Germany

ECUADORIAN MAN HOSPITALIZED AFTER BRUTAL NEO-NAZI ATTACK IN GERMANY

An Ecuadorian man was hospitalized following a vicious neo-Nazi attack in the eastern German city of Magdeburg, the weekly news magazine Der Spiegel reported Sunday. The unidentified 24-year victim was severely injured as he was waiting at a tramway stop early Saturday morning. The three assailants first insulted the Ecuadorian national and then beat him up, breaking his nose and inflicting multiple bruises on his body. Two female companions of the victim from Mexico and Germany were also attacked by the neo-Nazi thugs as they tried to protect their friend. The Mexican woman was slightly injured in the assault, according to the report. Police managed to arrest all three assailants, ages 18, 21 and 23.

The neo-Nazi movement is especially strong in formerly communist East Germany where foreigners are scapegoated for the worsening economic situation and high unemployment rate. Germany continues to be plagued by racially motivated attacks in recent years. Neo-Nazis and far-right extremists have committed more than 11,0000 acts of crimes during the first nine months of this year. The overall number of recorded far-right crimes is expected to surge further since many victims have yet to report to police. At least of 465 people were injured in far-right attacks and police arrested 246 in connection with these assaults. Only seven people were detained pending trial.

At least 137 people have reportedly been killed since Germany's reunification in 1990 as a result of neo-Nazi and other far-right violent acts. The number of fatalities due to far-right violence is three times as high as previously reported by police and the German government which has tried to downplay the threat of neo-Nazi violence, according to press reports. The German government has been under fire for not really cracking down on far-right violence which is targeting mostly foreigners and leftist activists.

Young neo-Nazis feel more and more emboldened to commit hate crimes, knowing that police won't charge them with an offense. Most of the suspects implicated in far-right crimes are juveniles. Hate crime experts and sociologists have repeatedly stressed Germany's political leadership lacked a clear, effective strategy and a real political will to combat neo-Nazi crimes.

Two Circles. net

Schoolboy is sought after racist attack (Southhampton UK)

 Police are hunting a schoolboy who attacked staff at a Chinese takeaway.

Officers in Hedge End are appealing for information after the incident at the Hong Kong Chef, Townhill Way, West End.

The youth was abusive towards staff and was told to leave.

While being thrown out, he attacked one member of staff leaving him with cuts and bruises on his arm, and hurled racist abuse at another.

The youth was white, about 14 years old, slim, 5ft 6in with blonde, medium-length hair.

He was wearing a long-sleeved grey jumper with jeans and trainers.

Anyone with information should contact Hedge End police station on 101. 

Daily Echo

Alleged racist sniper suspected in immigrant murders (Sweden)

A 38-year-old Swedish man suspected of a year-long shooting spree against immigrants is now suspected of two more murders and five more murder attempts, a prosecutor said Monday.

The suspect, who media have identified as Peter Mangs, was remanded in custody in early November, facing one charge of murder and five charges of attempted murder. Two other murder attempts were since attributed to him.

On Monday, prosecutor Solveig Wollstad in Malmoe told news agency TT that two men of foreign origin killed in 2003 -- a 23-year-old shot on his way to work and a 66-year-old found dead at home -- were possibly murdered by the suspect.

He is now also suspected of five new murder attempts from 2006 to this year, she said.
The suspicions "are sufficient for me to remand him in custody for credible motives," Wollstad told TT.
The man was arrested early November following weeks of a police manhunt for a sniper as shootings targeting immigrants intensified.

He had a licence for two weapons and was described as a loner.

The incidents in Malmoe, Sweden's third largest city, bore chilling similarity to the case of a gunman who targeted immigrants in Stockholm in the early 1990s, dubbed "Laserman".

The "Laserman", John Ausonius, shot 11 people of immigrant origin, killing one, around Stockholm from August 1991 to January 1992.

Ausonius, who got his nickname by initially using a rifle equipped with a laser sight, was jailed for life in 1994.

 CNEWS

Racist violence continues in Russia - even if the police carry out preventive measures

To prevent new racist violence in Russia, the police have arrested more than 1,500 people. About 500 participants in a right-wing demonstration have been taken in custody in Moscow on Saturday, and a further 800 persons as a preventive measure, police said. In the last days have nationalists repeatedly attacked Russian citizens or immigrants from the Caucasus and other countries.

The police had prevented "unauthorized meetings" in Moscow and Moscow region, told Yevgenij Gildejov, spokesman for the regional police, to the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS. One of the preventive measures was the arrest of 808 people, he said. Gildejow did not tell how many nationalists and how people with Caucasian origin have been taken in the actions.

About 500 nationalists gathered on Saturday near the TV station Ostankino. They shouted slogans like "Russia for Russians". Hundreds of policemen were deployed there. Almost all participants in the demonstration were arrested, said Moscow police spokesman Viktor Birjukow. Most protesters were underage youth.

Also in southwestern Russia, nationalists were arrested. Russian media reported from Volgograd 150 arrests and 100 from the industrial city of Samara. Already on Wednesday, approximately one thousand people were arrested for fear of clashes between ultra-nationalists and immigrants.

In recent days, young Russian ultra-nationalists repeatedly took part in violent clashes with young pepole of Caucasian origin. The clashes were triggered by the death of a Russian football fan which was killed in a fight with a group of people from the Caucasus.

Last Sunday a man from a former Soviet Republic was murdered - investigators suspect three young Russian extremists, among them a 14-year-old boy. He has already confessed to having stabbed the victim, the news agency Interfax reports, citing sources within the security apparatus. According to media reports, in Moscow and Moscow region another man from a former Soviet Republic was stabbed on Saturday and a Vietnames citizen was brutally beaten.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called the violence on Saturday on Russian television a "worrying sign" but stressed that the young ultra-nationalists were not a "lost generation." Putin said Thursday during a question program on television that authorities want to proceed "hard against any form of extremism". (Source: russland.RU - Internet Zeitung)

Russia Media RU

Church calls up ‘black St George’ to fight racism (UK)

Church leaders want to reclaim St George’s Day from the far right – with a street parade led by a black puppet of England’s patron saint.

Clergy at Manchester Cathedral believe the BNP and English Defence League have ‘hijacked’ the religious festival.

And they plan to fight back with a festival of puppets and poets on Sunday, May 8.

A Catalan-style procession will snake through the city, with jazz music and giant versions of George and the dragon, led by a puppet inspired by a painting in the cathedral by contemporary artist Mark Cazalet.

The altarpiece, created in 2001, depicts the saint as a young black man cutting free the restraints of a pitiful dragon.

The puppets are being built by homeless people who use the Booth Centre charity, linked to the cathedral.

The day will include a reading by Andrew Motion, the former Poet Laureate, of a specially-commissioned work.

The carnival is also inspired by epic Elizabethan poem The Faerie Queene, which re-tells St George’s legend.

Church leaders said the idea was to show English nationalism should be about ‘tolerance and opening up to people’ – and not stirring up racial division.

Canon Andrew Shanks, from the cathedral, said he and other churchmen wanted to help ‘rebrand’ St George’s Day.

He said: “I remember the BNP had a big rally in one of the squares in Manchester a couple of years ago.

“It felt very ugly. There were all these St George’s flags – and the same flag was on our tower.

“There is a war going on about the flag and the meaning of it and we are doing our damnedest to interpret it our way.”

Canon Shanks said the church’s ‘challenging’ painting of St George in a housing estate is about ‘unlocking passion for urban renewal’. He said: “We have taken that as inspiration.”

Anglican vicars face an unusual problem next year as St George’s Day – traditionally April 23 – will clash with Easter Saturday.

Many parishes are opting to mark St George’s Day in May instead.

An English hero with true global appeal

Despite being England’s patron saint, St George was actually born in Turkey and lived in Palestine.

Little is known for sure about his life, but according to myth he became a Roman soldier and was beheaded for his Christian beliefs in 303 AD.

Revered throughout the Christian church, he is also patron saint of Georgia, Malta and Portugal, as well as soldiers, farm workers, lepers and the modern Scout movement.

Although far-right English groups have attempted to adopt him as a symbol, it is thought he was black and of Middle Eastern descent.

The most famous myth about him - that he killed a dragon while riding a white horse - probably developed in the 14th Century.

Manchester Evening News

Graves vandal gets maximum prison term (USA)

A Nazi memorabilia collector was sentenced to seven years in prison for spray-painting anti-Semitic graffiti on headstones at a Jewish cemetery.


Polish national Mariusz Wdziekonski, 25, was given the maximum sentence in a Chicago court for desecrating 67 graves with swastikas and other anti-Semitic graffiti at a Jewish cemetery in Chicago in January 2008. He was convicted earlier this month.

"You wanted to inflict your hatred. You wanted to inflict your pain. You brought shame to your family," Cook County Circuit Judge Larry Axelrood said Dec. 17 before handing down the sentence.

Wdziekonski, who entered the United States in 2004 and has admitted to being a collector of Nazi memorabilia, has been imprisoned for three years and could be eligible for early release in a few months. He also could be deported, according to reports.

JTA News

English Defence League donor details 'stolen' after database hacked (UK)

Supporters of the English Defence League (EDL) are facing potential embarrassment after a database containing their personal details was hacked into.

Police are believed to be investigating the security breach, which also included the far-Right groups’s payment system being illegally accessed.

Amid fears of violence toward members, the EDL said it will support vulnerable people. They also urged members to change their online shopping details after concerns were raised that they would be published on the internet.

Officials were forced to email supporters after the incident, which is understood to have occurred in recent days, apologising for the “attack”.

It remains unclear who was behind the hacking incident and whether it was a politically motivated attack or a party member with a grudge against the group. The EDL did not disclose to supporters which police force was investigating the breach.

In their email to supporters, officials confirmed that hackers had accessed their donor lists and the far right group’s payments systems, exposing customers who buy merchandise.

“As you may have become aware the English Defence League clothing site was recently attacked,” read the email, seen by The Daily Telegraph.

“This attack took two forms, firstly member’s names and addresses were stolen from the donation database (and) secondly the details of members purchasing items from the clothing site.

“The EDL would like to apologise for this security leak. The leadership is doing everything they can to understand how this occurred so it can never happen again.”

The email confirmed that officials had contacted police.

“If, as an affected member you are concerned for your safety, contact the police,” they said.

“With regards to the criminal action against the EDL, the leadership is working with the police and it is being taken extremely seriously.

“There is currently an on going investigation and evidence is being collected.”

The breach comes days after the party was embroiled in controversy after asking American preacher Pastor Terry Jones to attend a demonstration in Britain.

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, had faced calls to bar Mr Jones from entering the country after he was reportedly invited to address the EDL at a rally in Luton in February.

The preacher sparked outrage when he announced plans by his Florida-based church to burn copies of the Koran to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on America.

The preacher said he would fight moves to ban him from coming to Britain, insisting he would be bringing a ''positive message''.

But the EDL later claimed it had not invited Mr Jones to speak at the event but he had approached them and they agreed in principle.

The weekend’s incident is similar to a security breach involving the far-right BNP in 2008, where the names, addresses and contact details of some 10,000 of its members were published online.

The list, which included details of some members' jobs, was reported to include serving and former police officers as well as members of the armed forces.

A spokesman for the EDL did not respond to inquiries for comment.

The Telegraph

Two men fined after admitting offences at EDL protest (UK)

Two men have been fined £150 each after pleading guilty to offences committed at protests in Peterborough last Saturday.

Both men admitted the public order offences at Peterborough Magistrates' Court over violence at an English Defence League rally in the city.

Scot Whitehead, 32, from Peterborough, was also ordered to pay £95 costs.

James Black, 22, from Farnham, in Surrey, had to also pay £85 costs and a £15 surcharge.

BBC News

Travel ban for English Defence League Birmingham men (UK)

Two English Defence League supporters have been banned from joining protests outside their home city for 10 years.

Richard Price, 41, and Collum Keyes, 23, were given Anti-social Behaviour Orders (Asbo) restricting their protests to Birmingham until 2020.

Police said it was the first time the ban had been applied to anyone linked to the group, which says it is against Islamic extremism and terrorism.

The pair previously pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct at a march in May.

They had also pleaded guilty to using threatening behaviour during the protest in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, and were sentenced at Aylesbury Crown Court on Friday.
'Clear signal'

Judge Lord Parmoor sentenced Price to 12 weeks in prison and and fined Keyes £150.

He said both men travelled with the group to foment disorder and gave them a 10-year Asbo to stop them taking part in or controlling any protest more than 10 miles away from Birmingham city centre.

They have also been banned from distributing any material for the group or encouraging others to attend protests outside the city.

Det Con Andy Haworth, of the National Domestic Extremism Unit, said: "While the defence leagues are entitled to protest, violence has been a persistent feature of their demonstrations, and we hope the success of today's application will prevent that violence."

Pc Mike Ellis, of Thames Valley Police, said: "This is a clear signal to those who would use violence and disorder to further their extreme and racist views, to intimidate and create fear within minority communities."

BBC News