An anti-Islamic article aiming to "liven up" a church magazine has sparked outrage after it branded the religion a "threat".
Muriel Clark's controversial piece on "Islamisation" in the monthly Hildenborough Keys has been slammed for urging residents to take a stand against Muslims coming into this country.
The 80-year-old divorcee claimed in her column for the St John's Church publication that young Christian schoolchildren were being brainwashed with Islamic ideology.
Both magazine editor Nick Hawkins – who admitted toning down the original submission because it was "too extreme" – and the Reverend John Chandler this week defended the piece, which was sent out to all homes in Hildenborough.
But residents and the West Kent Muslim Association (WKMA) have called it "unacceptable" and "harmful to the community".
WKMA president Nasir Jamil said: "We strongly condemn these views.
"Islamisation is a very sensitive issue. Her views are a bit extremist and it's a bit out of the blue. It really hurts us.
"How can they publish it, especially to a small community? It creates a bad impression that Muslims are extremists."
Tonbridge Green Party's Steve Dawe said he hoped the article – which sits alongside more benign offerings about coffee mornings and whist drives – was a one-off.
He said: "I hope those responsible indicate this was a mistake, and will never occur again.
"If not, then this is clearly a matter for the Equality and Human Rights Commission, who may wish to bring a case on the grounds of incitement to religious hatred."
But the writer, editor and vicar have all stood by the piece.
Mr Hawkins said: "A couple of things were too extreme, so I took them out. But we should be awake to what's going on.
"We wanted to liven things up a bit. I thought it might be a bit thought-provoking."
Mrs Clark, of Bramble Close, said she stood by her views, saying: "This used to be a Christian country."
Mr Chandler said the church magazine should raise serious issues and he did not regret the article being published.
This is Kent
Saturday, 15 January 2011
Petition accuses Tutu of anti-Semitism (South Africa)
An online petition has accused Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu of anti-Semitism.
The petition was launched by three people, including a former South African Zionist Federation official.
The petition accused Tutu of being a bigot along with defaming Israel and the Jewish people.
In 2010 the renowned apartheid cleric urged the Cape Town Opera to cancel a trip to Israel.
He also supported another petition which called on one South African university to cut ties with the Ben-Gurion University in Israel.
The South African Zionist Federation’s Bev Goldman said Tutu’s views on the Jewish state are unfortunate.
“What we are concerned about is the fact that Archbishop Tutu tends to blame Israel solely for the issues that are happening in the Middle East,” she said.
Attempts to get comment from Tutu or his office have been unsuccessful.
Eye Witness News
The petition was launched by three people, including a former South African Zionist Federation official.
The petition accused Tutu of being a bigot along with defaming Israel and the Jewish people.
In 2010 the renowned apartheid cleric urged the Cape Town Opera to cancel a trip to Israel.
He also supported another petition which called on one South African university to cut ties with the Ben-Gurion University in Israel.
The South African Zionist Federation’s Bev Goldman said Tutu’s views on the Jewish state are unfortunate.
“What we are concerned about is the fact that Archbishop Tutu tends to blame Israel solely for the issues that are happening in the Middle East,” she said.
Attempts to get comment from Tutu or his office have been unsuccessful.
Eye Witness News
Nazi sympathizer and triple murderer Frank Spisak asks Ohio Parole Board to spare his life (USA)
Spisak's plea for mercy will be the first death penalty case before Republican Gov. John Kasich, who took office Monday and will make the final decision on whether to spare Spisak.
About a dozen family members of Spisak's victims showed up at Thursday's Parole Board hearing to say Spisak deserves to die. The board will make a recommendation to Kasich within a week on Spisak's request for clemency.
"He's here asking for mercy, and it's our family's position that he's had mercy for the last 28 years," said Brendan Sheehan, a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas judge, whose father, Tim Sheehan, a CSU employee, was found shot dead in a university bathroom in August 1982.
Spisak also shot and killed the Rev. Horace Rickerson and 17-year-old CSU student Brian Warford, and tried to kill two others. He said he did it because he was a follower of Hitler and was in a war of survival "of the Aryan people," according to court records.
Aside from his Nazi devotion -- Spisak wore a Hitler-style mustache and gave a Nazi salute during his trial -- Spisak also was sexually confused. He sometimes cross-dressed and called himself Frances Anne Spisak. His lawyers referred to him as Frances on Thursday.
Rickerson and Warford were black, and prosecutors said Sheehan was a potential witness in Rickerson's murder.
His defense lawyers said Spisak murdered the three because he was mentally ill, and they asked the Parole Board to spare his life as an act of mercy.
"We're not making excuses for his behavior," Alan Rossman, Spisak's federal public defender, told the board. "If they kill him, they will be killing an extremely mentally ill individual."
Spisak, 59, is scheduled to be executed by injection on Feb. 17. The U.S. Supreme Court denied his final legal defense one year ago.
State psychiatrists and a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University working with the defense agree that Spisak suffers from a severe bipolar disorder, which is characterized by extreme mood swings.
Daily doses of lithium have leveled Spisak out in prison, yet he still shows signs of delusion and remains fixated on Germany, World War II and the Holocaust, said Dr. Chester Schmidt, of Johns Hopkins.
Despite his death sentence, Spisak hopes to earn a college degree, work at a Holocaust museum and uncover Hitler's written orders to commit genocide, Schmidt told the Parole Board.
"It's completely off the wall," Schmidt said. "It's an expression of disordered thinking."
Spisak's mental illness, prosecutors countered, is simply the latest in a long line of excuses offered to explain the shootings.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason urged the Parole Board to deny clemency "for a Nazi who has never taken full responsibility for his heinous actions."
"Now he blames his alleged bipolar disorder as the reason he committed the crimes," Mason's office wrote in a report to the board. "Spisak has not shown remorse for his murderous spree which left a campus and a city paralyzed with fear."
Although he was evaluated by numerous mental health professionals prior to his 1983 trial, Spisak, who did not the attend Thursday's hearing, wasn't diagnosed as bipolar until 1997. His lawyers said an earlier diagnosis could have prevented the crimes and played a role in his due process -- but they stopped short of claiming a proper diagnosis would have given credence to an insanity defense.
Brendan Sheehan said the jury that convicted Spisak in 1983 was well aware of his mental problems. He said those problems are now simply being labeled as a bipolar disorder.
Both Sheehan's family and relatives of Warford seemed ready for Spisak's execution, nearly three decades after he began killing.
"Those years (in prison) are enough," said Tracy Arnold, Warford's sister. "It's time for justice to truly be served."
Clevland.com
EXTREME-RIGHT TEENS HELD FOR LATVIA JEWISH CEMETERY ATTACK
Latvian police said Thursday they had detained three extreme-right teenagers suspected of involvement in the vandalism of a Jewish cemetery in the Baltic state's capital Riga a month ago. "Together, they formed a skinhead group which may have planned additional racial crimes," Ints Kuzis, the head of the Riga regional state police department, told reporters. The trio, whose names were not released, are aged 19, 16 and 15. Only the 15-year-old is suspected of carrying out the December 8 attack in which 89 tombstones were desecrated with white-painted swastikas.
The swastika, the symbol of Nazi-era Germany, is a favoured motif for today's far right. The other two suspects are believed to have been aware of the crime, police said. Kuzis said the trio spoke Russian among themselves, but did not elaborate. Around 40 percent of Latvia's 2.2 million people claim Russian as their native language. “Judging from the information we've obtained, their plans were huge," police spokeswoman Sigita Pildava told AFP after the press conference, but again declined to give details. Police said the trio had come to their attention last summer not only due to their racism, but also because of an overall hatred of religion. Investigators said they do not suspect them of involvement in an incident five days after the cemetery attack in which a monument to a Latvian labourer who saved dozens of Jews during World War II was also splattered with white paint. Latvian President Valdis Zatlers and other top-ranking officials condemned both attacks.
The Jewish cemetery was also vandalized in September 2003, and five teenage perpetrators were sentenced to between six months and three years in prison. Around 85,000 Jews lived in Latvia before World War II, but 70,000 were murdered in the country by Nazi Germany and local collaborators or perished after being deported to camps elsewhere in Nazi-occupied Europe. Between 200 and 450 Jews survived the war in Latvia itself. Today, Latvia's Jewish community numbers fewer than 10,000.
EJ Press
The swastika, the symbol of Nazi-era Germany, is a favoured motif for today's far right. The other two suspects are believed to have been aware of the crime, police said. Kuzis said the trio spoke Russian among themselves, but did not elaborate. Around 40 percent of Latvia's 2.2 million people claim Russian as their native language. “Judging from the information we've obtained, their plans were huge," police spokeswoman Sigita Pildava told AFP after the press conference, but again declined to give details. Police said the trio had come to their attention last summer not only due to their racism, but also because of an overall hatred of religion. Investigators said they do not suspect them of involvement in an incident five days after the cemetery attack in which a monument to a Latvian labourer who saved dozens of Jews during World War II was also splattered with white paint. Latvian President Valdis Zatlers and other top-ranking officials condemned both attacks.
The Jewish cemetery was also vandalized in September 2003, and five teenage perpetrators were sentenced to between six months and three years in prison. Around 85,000 Jews lived in Latvia before World War II, but 70,000 were murdered in the country by Nazi Germany and local collaborators or perished after being deported to camps elsewhere in Nazi-occupied Europe. Between 200 and 450 Jews survived the war in Latvia itself. Today, Latvia's Jewish community numbers fewer than 10,000.
EJ Press
Friday, 14 January 2011
Florida. teens charged with Facebook bullying of girl (USA)
Two teenage girls have been charged under Florida's law against cyberbullying after authorities say they created a Facebook account in a classmate's name and posted a faked nude photograph of her.
The 16- and 15-year-old high school students were charged Wednesday after a lengthy investigation into two Facebook accounts created in April. They each face a felony charge of aggravated stalking under a 2008 law passed after a student suicide blamed on bullying.
Officials say the accounts included a photo of a nude female doctored to add the victim's head.
Authorities say the victim was ridiculed by classmates after the pages became active.
The teens have been ordered to serve 21 days of home confinement and will be arraigned on the charges Feb. 8.
Bellingham Herald
The 16- and 15-year-old high school students were charged Wednesday after a lengthy investigation into two Facebook accounts created in April. They each face a felony charge of aggravated stalking under a 2008 law passed after a student suicide blamed on bullying.
Officials say the accounts included a photo of a nude female doctored to add the victim's head.
Authorities say the victim was ridiculed by classmates after the pages became active.
The teens have been ordered to serve 21 days of home confinement and will be arraigned on the charges Feb. 8.
Bellingham Herald
ITALIAN LEADERS DECRY LIST OF ‘INFLUENTIAL’ ITALIAN JEWS
Italian leaders expressed anger and solidarity with the Jewish community after a neo-Nazi Internet forum published a list of "influential" Italian Jews on its website. The Italian media Wednesday called the list on the American white supremacist website Stormfront "a blacklist of hate." The list included journalists, businesspeople, politicians, artists and others.
Politicians denounced the Stormfront posting and called for action against online hatred. The list "reminds us of the most shameful page in our history when, based on similar lists, thousands of Italians were expelled from schools, universities and workplaces and were deprived of citizenship and persecuted," Nicola Zingaretti, president of the Province of Rome, said in a statement. Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno expressed "shame and anger," and called those who posted the list "ignorant and racist cowards." Italian lawmaker Enrico Gasbarra called for urgent action by the European Union to implement legislation that would "put an end, once and for all, to the possibility of using the Net as a tool of violence and persecution."
According to figures cited by the Contemporary Jewish Documentation Center, Italy's leading research center on the Holocaust and anti-Semitism, there are 1,200 Italian websites with some form of anti-Semitic content. "It is very difficult to intervene when the sites have their servers in other countries," as Stormfront does, the center's Michele Sarfatti said.
JTA News
Politicians denounced the Stormfront posting and called for action against online hatred. The list "reminds us of the most shameful page in our history when, based on similar lists, thousands of Italians were expelled from schools, universities and workplaces and were deprived of citizenship and persecuted," Nicola Zingaretti, president of the Province of Rome, said in a statement. Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno expressed "shame and anger," and called those who posted the list "ignorant and racist cowards." Italian lawmaker Enrico Gasbarra called for urgent action by the European Union to implement legislation that would "put an end, once and for all, to the possibility of using the Net as a tool of violence and persecution."
According to figures cited by the Contemporary Jewish Documentation Center, Italy's leading research center on the Holocaust and anti-Semitism, there are 1,200 Italian websites with some form of anti-Semitic content. "It is very difficult to intervene when the sites have their servers in other countries," as Stormfront does, the center's Michele Sarfatti said.
JTA News
POWER OUTAGE AT CZECH COURT HALTS TRIAL OF ATTACK ON HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST BY NEO-NAZIS (Czech Rep.)
Yesterday a court in Most had to suspend its hearing into an attack on Czech human rights activist Ondøej Cakl by several neo-Nazis. The attack was committed on 17 November 2008 during an attempted pogrom against Roma residents of the Janov housing estate in the town of Litvínov. František Brávek, a 27-year-old neo-Nazi, has been charged as one of the attackers who brutally beat Cakl and destroyed his video camera. A verdict was not handed down today due to a power failure at the courthouse. On 5 January, the court acquitted another suspected assailant, Martin Loskot, of related charges. Several minutes after the trial commenced, the lights went out in the courtroom; after 10 minutes of interruption, the power could not be restored. "We had to halt the trial for technical reasons. The lights in the courtroom were gradually turning off and then there was no power at all," Judge Benno Eichler said. The trial has been postponed until May.
The judge only managed to hear testimony from Ondøej Cakl today. "While I was filming the crowd of 800, someone suddenly grabbed me from behind and slid down with me so that I flew sideways, and then all I could see were parts of the arms and legs that were striking me. I covered my head and did my best to get away. Luckily I succeeded," Cakl told the court. "Based on my memory of the scene of the crime, I am not able to identify the defendant as one of the attackers, but I am able to identify him on the basis of the photographs and video recordings made by the journalists who were present." "When I discovered that those who perpetrated the attack on Natálka had been captured on film standing next to the defendant during the march on Janov, I became concerned that they might commit a Molotov cocktail attack on our office or on my apartment . I concluded police would not be able to protect me, so I left the country," Cakl told the court.
Brávek, who is charged with rioting and could face a two-year sentence, refused to testify, referring the court to the statements he made in the preliminary hearing. After the trial was postponed, he told journalists he had not attacked Cakl, although he did admit to participating in the neo-Nazi march. "I participated in the march, but I was in the crowd. I did not see the incident described here until footage of it was released on the internet," Brávek said in response to journalists' questions. "The court should concern itself with more serious matters. That camera may have cost CZK 30 000 at the time, but today it probably only costs CZK 5 000," he added, trivializing the entire case.
Another defendant, Martin Loskot, was acquitted of all charges in the case by the court on 5 January. Loskot refused to testify in Brávek's case. Klára Kalibová, Cakl's attorney, has commissioned experts in biomechanics and biometrics to produce a professional evaluation of the evidence for the next phase of the trial. "This is a technical tool that facilitates the identification of those who perpetrate crimes," Kalibová told Czech Television. Petr Pánek of the state prosecutor's office in Most has confirmed that such evidence has not yet been considered. "However, it may be considered on appeal," he said.
Jiøí Straus, an expert witness in the field of biomechanics, says an attack of this sort cannot be ruled on without an expert evaluation. Experts are able to use visual images of an incident to precisely identify assailants. "A person's movements are relative and can be analyzed in very brief intervals to determine who was kicking and with what intensity," Straus told Czech Television.
Romea
The judge only managed to hear testimony from Ondøej Cakl today. "While I was filming the crowd of 800, someone suddenly grabbed me from behind and slid down with me so that I flew sideways, and then all I could see were parts of the arms and legs that were striking me. I covered my head and did my best to get away. Luckily I succeeded," Cakl told the court. "Based on my memory of the scene of the crime, I am not able to identify the defendant as one of the attackers, but I am able to identify him on the basis of the photographs and video recordings made by the journalists who were present." "When I discovered that those who perpetrated the attack on Natálka had been captured on film standing next to the defendant during the march on Janov, I became concerned that they might commit a Molotov cocktail attack on our office or on my apartment . I concluded police would not be able to protect me, so I left the country," Cakl told the court.
Brávek, who is charged with rioting and could face a two-year sentence, refused to testify, referring the court to the statements he made in the preliminary hearing. After the trial was postponed, he told journalists he had not attacked Cakl, although he did admit to participating in the neo-Nazi march. "I participated in the march, but I was in the crowd. I did not see the incident described here until footage of it was released on the internet," Brávek said in response to journalists' questions. "The court should concern itself with more serious matters. That camera may have cost CZK 30 000 at the time, but today it probably only costs CZK 5 000," he added, trivializing the entire case.
Another defendant, Martin Loskot, was acquitted of all charges in the case by the court on 5 January. Loskot refused to testify in Brávek's case. Klára Kalibová, Cakl's attorney, has commissioned experts in biomechanics and biometrics to produce a professional evaluation of the evidence for the next phase of the trial. "This is a technical tool that facilitates the identification of those who perpetrate crimes," Kalibová told Czech Television. Petr Pánek of the state prosecutor's office in Most has confirmed that such evidence has not yet been considered. "However, it may be considered on appeal," he said.
Jiøí Straus, an expert witness in the field of biomechanics, says an attack of this sort cannot be ruled on without an expert evaluation. Experts are able to use visual images of an incident to precisely identify assailants. "A person's movements are relative and can be analyzed in very brief intervals to determine who was kicking and with what intensity," Straus told Czech Television.
Romea
SWEDEN LOOKS TO COMBAT ISLAMOPHOBIA
The suicide bombing in Stockholm risks resulting in suspicions being cast against hundreds of thousands of Swedish Muslims, Ullenhag writes in a debate article in the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper. He argues that it is unacceptable to blame an entire group for one person’s actions. “We who believe in the Swedish values of openness and tolerance have a responsibility to fight the Islamophobia and prejudice which can follow in the wake of terror,” writes Ullenhag. “We should never allow one individual’s act to result in an entire religion being seen as suspect or having a group saddled with collective guilt.” He points out that "more than 99.9 percent" of Sweden's estimated 400,000 Muslims are not among the list of roughly 200 violent Islamic extremists in the country identified by Swedish security service Säpo. Ullenhag said he shared concerns expressed to him by Muslim students in the days following the December 11th suicide bombing in Stockholm that the blasts would affect perceptions of them and their families.
He also cites a recent study from Sweden's Forum for Living History (Forum för levande historia) which found that tolerance among Swedish youth for Muslim, Jews, and Roma had decreased in recent years. In an effort to counteract potential discrimination against Swedish Muslims that could result from the suicide bombing, Ullenhag is meeting on Thursday with a number of prominent leaders from Sweden’s Muslim community. “The purpose of the meeting is to discuss how the government can deepen its work to combat discrimination and an increasing Islamophobia,” writes Ullenhag. “I want to listen to the experiences of Swedish Muslims and talk about what we can do to reduce polarisation and stop barriers between groups and people from taking root.” Ullenhag further emphasised that Sweden should never abandon its ideals of openness and tolerance in the fight against terrorism. “If a suicide bomber succeeds in creating large divisions and increased intolerance – then terror has won,” he writes.
The Local Sweden
He also cites a recent study from Sweden's Forum for Living History (Forum för levande historia) which found that tolerance among Swedish youth for Muslim, Jews, and Roma had decreased in recent years. In an effort to counteract potential discrimination against Swedish Muslims that could result from the suicide bombing, Ullenhag is meeting on Thursday with a number of prominent leaders from Sweden’s Muslim community. “The purpose of the meeting is to discuss how the government can deepen its work to combat discrimination and an increasing Islamophobia,” writes Ullenhag. “I want to listen to the experiences of Swedish Muslims and talk about what we can do to reduce polarisation and stop barriers between groups and people from taking root.” Ullenhag further emphasised that Sweden should never abandon its ideals of openness and tolerance in the fight against terrorism. “If a suicide bomber succeeds in creating large divisions and increased intolerance – then terror has won,” he writes.
The Local Sweden
IN FRANCE, FAR RIGHT SEIZES ON MUSLIM STREET PRAYERS
A call to prayer goes up from a loudspeaker perched on the hood of a car, and all at once hundreds of Muslim worshippers touch their foreheads to the ground, forming a sea of backs down the road.
The scene is taking place not in downtown Cairo, but on a busy market street in northern Paris, a short walk from the Sacre Coeur basilica. To locals, it's old news: some have been praying on the street, rain or shine, for decades. But for Marine Le Pen -- tipped to take over from her father this weekend as leader of the far-right National Front party -- it is proof that Muslims are taking over France and becoming an occupying force, according to remarks she made last month. Her comments caused a furore as she seized on the street prayers to drive home the idea that Islam is threatening the values of a secular country where anxiety over the role of Muslims in society has deepened in the past few years. More than two thirds of French and German people now consider the integration of Muslims into their societies a failure, pollster IFOP said in a survey published on Jan. 5. In France, where Islam is the second-largest religion after Catholicism, 42 percent saw it as a threat to national identity. "This has become a key political issue," said Frederic Dabi, IFOP's head of research. "Street prayers and the perceived growing influence of Islam are seen as impinging on French values of secularism, communal living."
Controversy over the street prayers has translated into growing confidence within the National Front, some 15 months before a presidential election likely to see a battle for votes between the far right and Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party. National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen has said he expects the party to outdo its electoral performance in 2002, when it knocked out the mainstream Socialist candidate in the first round of voting, but then lost to Jacques Chirac. "These fears hang mostly on symbols: minarets in Switzerland, the niqab (full-face veil) in France, even the halal Quick menu," Dabi said, referring to a fast-food chain which recently opened a range of halal-only restaurants in France and Belgium. "The far right is playing on these fears." Le Pen's comments seem to be taking hold. A poll published by TNS Sofres this week, showed that support for National Front ideas has grown by 12 percentage points over the past year.
Mosque-o-phobia
Back on the market road, Friday prayers come to an end as quickly as they begin, with hundreds of worshippers packing up their mats and heading back to work. Many told Reuters that given the choice, they would avoid the cold and rain and pray indoors. The problem is that their warehouse-turned-prayer site, an unofficial mosque called al Fath, is too small to accommodate them all. "It's cold and filthy. Do you think we would be out here praying if we had the choice? The whole neighbourhood comes and prays in the street because there is not enough room inside, that's all," said Mohammed Delmi, 62. Such scenes are replicated at a dozen sites across France where worshippers kneel outside because prayer rooms are too full, according to a report by the centre-left daily Liberation.
"There are simply not enough of them," said Hakim El Karoui, head of the Islamic Culture Institute, which advises the City of Paris on faith issues. "It's no wonder there is an overflow." The problem has grown along with the country's Muslim population, which the French Council of Islamic Faith estimates at between 5-7 million, or 8 percent of the population -- a larger community than in any other European nation. Campaigners in favour of building new mosques said they faced two major difficulties, starting with financing: mosques in France must be funded privately due to restrictions against using public money for religious purposes. The second, pricklier issue is the public, which has grown increasingly intolerant of Islamic symbols. Research by pollster IFOP shows that support for building mosques fell to 20 percent in 2009 from 31 percent in 2000.
"We are walking on egg shells here," said Moussa Niambele, head of a group seeking new prayer space near the al Fath mosque. "There is the minaret issue in Switzerland and they do not want to import such problems to France." In Paris, where the Muslim population is denser than elsewhere in France, there is only one official mosque, La Grande Mosquee de Paris, located by a park on the posh Left Bank, far away from immigrant-heavy neighbourhoods. El Karoui said the problem had grown more acute since the closure of a large mosque in northern Paris two years ago forced more Muslims to pray in converted garages or vacant lots. A project to build two new prayer spaces which would be called "cultural" and "faith" centres lacks 5.9 million euros of private funding and building would not start before 2012. Worshippers were sceptical about the timetable. "You know, we have been praying on this street for years, long before Marine Le Pen made her remarks," said one man. "I am not going to throw away my raincoat quite yet."
Reuters
The scene is taking place not in downtown Cairo, but on a busy market street in northern Paris, a short walk from the Sacre Coeur basilica. To locals, it's old news: some have been praying on the street, rain or shine, for decades. But for Marine Le Pen -- tipped to take over from her father this weekend as leader of the far-right National Front party -- it is proof that Muslims are taking over France and becoming an occupying force, according to remarks she made last month. Her comments caused a furore as she seized on the street prayers to drive home the idea that Islam is threatening the values of a secular country where anxiety over the role of Muslims in society has deepened in the past few years. More than two thirds of French and German people now consider the integration of Muslims into their societies a failure, pollster IFOP said in a survey published on Jan. 5. In France, where Islam is the second-largest religion after Catholicism, 42 percent saw it as a threat to national identity. "This has become a key political issue," said Frederic Dabi, IFOP's head of research. "Street prayers and the perceived growing influence of Islam are seen as impinging on French values of secularism, communal living."
Controversy over the street prayers has translated into growing confidence within the National Front, some 15 months before a presidential election likely to see a battle for votes between the far right and Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party. National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen has said he expects the party to outdo its electoral performance in 2002, when it knocked out the mainstream Socialist candidate in the first round of voting, but then lost to Jacques Chirac. "These fears hang mostly on symbols: minarets in Switzerland, the niqab (full-face veil) in France, even the halal Quick menu," Dabi said, referring to a fast-food chain which recently opened a range of halal-only restaurants in France and Belgium. "The far right is playing on these fears." Le Pen's comments seem to be taking hold. A poll published by TNS Sofres this week, showed that support for National Front ideas has grown by 12 percentage points over the past year.
Mosque-o-phobia
Back on the market road, Friday prayers come to an end as quickly as they begin, with hundreds of worshippers packing up their mats and heading back to work. Many told Reuters that given the choice, they would avoid the cold and rain and pray indoors. The problem is that their warehouse-turned-prayer site, an unofficial mosque called al Fath, is too small to accommodate them all. "It's cold and filthy. Do you think we would be out here praying if we had the choice? The whole neighbourhood comes and prays in the street because there is not enough room inside, that's all," said Mohammed Delmi, 62. Such scenes are replicated at a dozen sites across France where worshippers kneel outside because prayer rooms are too full, according to a report by the centre-left daily Liberation.
"There are simply not enough of them," said Hakim El Karoui, head of the Islamic Culture Institute, which advises the City of Paris on faith issues. "It's no wonder there is an overflow." The problem has grown along with the country's Muslim population, which the French Council of Islamic Faith estimates at between 5-7 million, or 8 percent of the population -- a larger community than in any other European nation. Campaigners in favour of building new mosques said they faced two major difficulties, starting with financing: mosques in France must be funded privately due to restrictions against using public money for religious purposes. The second, pricklier issue is the public, which has grown increasingly intolerant of Islamic symbols. Research by pollster IFOP shows that support for building mosques fell to 20 percent in 2009 from 31 percent in 2000.
"We are walking on egg shells here," said Moussa Niambele, head of a group seeking new prayer space near the al Fath mosque. "There is the minaret issue in Switzerland and they do not want to import such problems to France." In Paris, where the Muslim population is denser than elsewhere in France, there is only one official mosque, La Grande Mosquee de Paris, located by a park on the posh Left Bank, far away from immigrant-heavy neighbourhoods. El Karoui said the problem had grown more acute since the closure of a large mosque in northern Paris two years ago forced more Muslims to pray in converted garages or vacant lots. A project to build two new prayer spaces which would be called "cultural" and "faith" centres lacks 5.9 million euros of private funding and building would not start before 2012. Worshippers were sceptical about the timetable. "You know, we have been praying on this street for years, long before Marine Le Pen made her remarks," said one man. "I am not going to throw away my raincoat quite yet."
Reuters
Thursday, 13 January 2011
EDL leader's assault charge dropped
CPS withdraws charge against Stephen Lennon after new evidence emerges
The founder of the English Defence League was told that a charge of assaulting a police officer, during clashes with Islamist protesters, had been dropped.
Stephen Lennon, 27, of Luton, was due to go on trial this afternoon at West London magistrates court, but the Crown Prosecution Service said it had withdrawn the charge after new evidence emerged. However, Lennon may face a charge under the Public Order Act.
Lennon was arrested in west London on Armistice Day last year. He was among EDL demonstrators who clashed with Islamist protesters burning poppies during the two-minute silence.
The Guardian
The founder of the English Defence League was told that a charge of assaulting a police officer, during clashes with Islamist protesters, had been dropped.
Stephen Lennon, 27, of Luton, was due to go on trial this afternoon at West London magistrates court, but the Crown Prosecution Service said it had withdrawn the charge after new evidence emerged. However, Lennon may face a charge under the Public Order Act.
Lennon was arrested in west London on Armistice Day last year. He was among EDL demonstrators who clashed with Islamist protesters burning poppies during the two-minute silence.
The Guardian
Moscow police arrest dozens to avert racist riots
Russian police on Tuesday arrested dozens of people suspected of planning a racist rally near the Kremlin walls, as authorities looked to avert a repeat of last month's riots by ultra-nationalists who objected to the presence of non-Slavs in the country.
The arrests came after jittery police cordoned off part of a public square outside the Kremlin and evacuated a nearby shopping mall.
At least 30 police trucks lined up on Manezh Square in response to internet threats by ultra-nationalists to repeat the Dec. 11 riots, in which 5,000 people chanted "Russia for Russians" and beat dark-skinned passers-by. The riots were a reaction to the killing of a white Russian soccer fan during a fight with people from the south of the country. The violence left more than 30 people wounded and raised doubts about the government's ability to stem a rising tide of xenophobia. Days later, police detained 800 people in the capital and other cities to prevent further violence.
An Associated Press television crew saw at least 20 people taken to police vans Tuesday after a police document check, including one person wearing clothes bearing the initials of a well-known nationalist organization, the Movement Against Illegal Immigration. Russian news agencies said up to 100 people were detained.
Kremlin critics accuse the authorities of fomenting social disorder to justify a crackdown on the opposition before presidential elections in 2012. Since the unrest, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has proposed restricting the movement of nonresidents into big cities and President Dmitry Medvedev has called for mandatory prison sentences for people participating in unauthorized rallies. Moscow's police chief Vladimir Kolokoltsev has said liberal values come a distant second to public order.
Critics, including former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, have said the measures proposed by Putin and Medvedev could cripple attempts to hold peaceful anti-government demonstrations.
Putin and Medvedev have said one of them will run for president in 2012, but they won't compete. It continues to appear that Putin, thought to retain real control over Russia since his eight-year stint as president ended in 2008, will run again.
While ethnic Russians make up four-fifths of Russia's population of 142 million, the country is also home to about 180 ethnic groups. The Caucasus region, with its mountainous terrain and isolated valleys, hosts at least 100 ethnicities including Chechens, who have waged two separatist wars since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
AP reporter David Nowak contributed to this report.
Fox News
The arrests came after jittery police cordoned off part of a public square outside the Kremlin and evacuated a nearby shopping mall.
At least 30 police trucks lined up on Manezh Square in response to internet threats by ultra-nationalists to repeat the Dec. 11 riots, in which 5,000 people chanted "Russia for Russians" and beat dark-skinned passers-by. The riots were a reaction to the killing of a white Russian soccer fan during a fight with people from the south of the country. The violence left more than 30 people wounded and raised doubts about the government's ability to stem a rising tide of xenophobia. Days later, police detained 800 people in the capital and other cities to prevent further violence.
An Associated Press television crew saw at least 20 people taken to police vans Tuesday after a police document check, including one person wearing clothes bearing the initials of a well-known nationalist organization, the Movement Against Illegal Immigration. Russian news agencies said up to 100 people were detained.
Kremlin critics accuse the authorities of fomenting social disorder to justify a crackdown on the opposition before presidential elections in 2012. Since the unrest, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has proposed restricting the movement of nonresidents into big cities and President Dmitry Medvedev has called for mandatory prison sentences for people participating in unauthorized rallies. Moscow's police chief Vladimir Kolokoltsev has said liberal values come a distant second to public order.
Critics, including former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, have said the measures proposed by Putin and Medvedev could cripple attempts to hold peaceful anti-government demonstrations.
Putin and Medvedev have said one of them will run for president in 2012, but they won't compete. It continues to appear that Putin, thought to retain real control over Russia since his eight-year stint as president ended in 2008, will run again.
While ethnic Russians make up four-fifths of Russia's population of 142 million, the country is also home to about 180 ethnic groups. The Caucasus region, with its mountainous terrain and isolated valleys, hosts at least 100 ethnicities including Chechens, who have waged two separatist wars since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
AP reporter David Nowak contributed to this report.
Fox News
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
EDL founder faces police assault trial (UK)
English Defence League founder Stephen Lennon is due to stand trial accused of assaulting a police officer during clashes with Islamic protesters in west London.
Lennon, of Layham Drive, Luton, was arrested by police in Kensington as the nation stopped to mark the anniversary of Armistice Day last year.
Five others associated with his group were also arrested, as members of Muslims Against Crusades, a group which purports to "expose the enemies of Islam", burned remembrance poppies.
Two Muslim protesters were arrested for public order offences.
One officer was taken to hospital with a head injury during the clashes, as about 50 men linked to the EDL were kept separate as they shouted abuse.
Lennon pleaded not guilty during a hearing in November at West London Magistrates' Court to assaulting a police officer.
The trial is due to begin at the same court on Wednesday.
Google Hosted News
Lennon, of Layham Drive, Luton, was arrested by police in Kensington as the nation stopped to mark the anniversary of Armistice Day last year.
Five others associated with his group were also arrested, as members of Muslims Against Crusades, a group which purports to "expose the enemies of Islam", burned remembrance poppies.
Two Muslim protesters were arrested for public order offences.
One officer was taken to hospital with a head injury during the clashes, as about 50 men linked to the EDL were kept separate as they shouted abuse.
Lennon pleaded not guilty during a hearing in November at West London Magistrates' Court to assaulting a police officer.
The trial is due to begin at the same court on Wednesday.
Google Hosted News
NEVER AGAIN' ASSOCIATION WINS EUROPEAN FOOTBALL SUPPORTERS AWARD (Poland)
The annual European Football Supporters Award (EFSA) has been awarded to groups promoting positive attitudes in sports since 2005. The jury is composed of representatives of UEFA, the European Commission, the Council of Europe, the City of Brussels, the European Association of Sports Magazines and the 'Sport & Citizenship' association. It is led by Philippe Housiaux, the EFSA's initiator and spokesman. This year the selection was made from among 14 nominations coming from Belgium, France, Scotland, Germany, Poland, Wales, Turkey, Austria, Israel, Holland, Spain and Switzerland. According to the official EFSA statement, the 'NEVER AGAIN' Association has been selected for the award because of its “amazing battle against racism and xenophobia for the past 15 years”. “We are delighted to see so many years' hard work has been appreciated” - said Marcin Kornak, the Chairman of the 'NEVER AGAIN' Association who initiated its 'Let's Kick Racism Out of the Stadiums' campaign. - “Currently we focus on EURO 2012 preparations. We conduct educational activities, we also document racist incidents in Poland, Ukraine and other countries in the region”. The 'NEVER AGAIN' Association is an anti-racist educational and monitoring organization established in Poland in 1996.
It runs the 'Let's Kick Racism out of the Stadiums' campaign and actively participates in the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network. Since 2009, 'NEVER AGAIN' has coordinated the FARE East European Development Project supported by UEFA in the lead up to EURO 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. 'NEVER AGAIN' has set up the East Europe Monitoring Centre documenting racism and xenophobia across the region.
FAREnet
It runs the 'Let's Kick Racism out of the Stadiums' campaign and actively participates in the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network. Since 2009, 'NEVER AGAIN' has coordinated the FARE East European Development Project supported by UEFA in the lead up to EURO 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. 'NEVER AGAIN' has set up the East Europe Monitoring Centre documenting racism and xenophobia across the region.
FAREnet
Jewish-British anti-Muslim event in Toronto draws protests, arrests (UK)
Canadian Kahanists host British-based English Defense League, drawing anti-racist demonstrations.
Dozens of anti-racist activists demonstrated in front of a Zionist community center in Toronto, Canada on Tuesday to protest a public event organized by Jewish and British anti-Muslims. Four protestors were arrested in the fracas, and at least one police officer suffered a broken rib, according to The Globe and Mail.
The local chapter of the Jewish Defense League, an extreme-right organization founded by the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, broadcasted a live speech by English Defense League founder Stephen Lennon, otherwise known as Tommy Robinson, drawing the ire of demonstrators.
The two groups on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean have found common cause in nationalist pride and Islamophobic rhetoric. Both groups claim that they do not promote prejudice against others, only pride in their own respective ethnicities, but critics accuse them of spreading hate against Arabs and other Muslims.
One group of demonstrators maintained a vigil across the intersection from the Zionist building, while a separate group of demonstrators marched towards the community center to confront the JDL. Police on foot and on horseback intervened and corralled the protestors, The Globe and Mail reported.
Toronto police said that one of their officers was had been taken to hospital with a broken rib after he was hit with a flagpole. At the end of the demonstration, police noticed that one of their squad cars had been vandalized, its windows smashed.
Anti-Racist Action, which organized the second group of protestors, claim that police responded violently, kicking one demonstrator in the face. Officers confiscated the cameras of activists videotaping the arrests and wiped their memory cards clean, say the ARA.
The EDL website says that the group's aims are to oppose what it calls the application of Sharia law in the U.K. “The root cause of the problem is the Koran, it’s Islam,” Lennon told the BBC in November. “And no one has got the balls to admit it and say it and talk about it. We will."
“The EDL has organized violent street marches that target Arab and Muslim people,” read an open letter signed by the organizers of Tuesday's protest. “They are part of an alarming rise in fascist, racist and neo-Nazi organizing in Europe over the last few years, including attacks on Muslims, immigrants and Roma people.”
“JDL supports the EDL,” says an announcement on the JDL Canadian website. “Now is the time to step forward and stop Political Islam. The British Establishment is following the appeasement policies of Neville Chamberlain," it reads, a reference to the British prime minister who tried to placate Adolf Hitler, implying that Muslims represent a threat of Nazi proportions.
In Israel, the Kach political party established by JDL founder Rabbi Meir Kahane was banned from running for the Knesset in 1992, due to its racist platform, but in recent years Kahane's followers have entered the Knesset under different names, and some of Kahane's proposed policies are now unabashedly espoused by ministers in the current government.
Bernie Farber of the establishment Jewish organization Canadian Jewish Congress, said of the JDL on the CJN website, "As long as they maintain the peace, as long as they do not engage in racist language or hate or violate Canadian law, they have the right to exist."
Farber said he was disappointed that the JDL would support the EDL because of its record of violence. But, he told the National Post, "Islamic fundamentalism is a real threat."
Haartez
Dozens of anti-racist activists demonstrated in front of a Zionist community center in Toronto, Canada on Tuesday to protest a public event organized by Jewish and British anti-Muslims. Four protestors were arrested in the fracas, and at least one police officer suffered a broken rib, according to The Globe and Mail.
The local chapter of the Jewish Defense League, an extreme-right organization founded by the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, broadcasted a live speech by English Defense League founder Stephen Lennon, otherwise known as Tommy Robinson, drawing the ire of demonstrators.
The two groups on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean have found common cause in nationalist pride and Islamophobic rhetoric. Both groups claim that they do not promote prejudice against others, only pride in their own respective ethnicities, but critics accuse them of spreading hate against Arabs and other Muslims.
One group of demonstrators maintained a vigil across the intersection from the Zionist building, while a separate group of demonstrators marched towards the community center to confront the JDL. Police on foot and on horseback intervened and corralled the protestors, The Globe and Mail reported.
Toronto police said that one of their officers was had been taken to hospital with a broken rib after he was hit with a flagpole. At the end of the demonstration, police noticed that one of their squad cars had been vandalized, its windows smashed.
Anti-Racist Action, which organized the second group of protestors, claim that police responded violently, kicking one demonstrator in the face. Officers confiscated the cameras of activists videotaping the arrests and wiped their memory cards clean, say the ARA.
The EDL website says that the group's aims are to oppose what it calls the application of Sharia law in the U.K. “The root cause of the problem is the Koran, it’s Islam,” Lennon told the BBC in November. “And no one has got the balls to admit it and say it and talk about it. We will."
“The EDL has organized violent street marches that target Arab and Muslim people,” read an open letter signed by the organizers of Tuesday's protest. “They are part of an alarming rise in fascist, racist and neo-Nazi organizing in Europe over the last few years, including attacks on Muslims, immigrants and Roma people.”
“JDL supports the EDL,” says an announcement on the JDL Canadian website. “Now is the time to step forward and stop Political Islam. The British Establishment is following the appeasement policies of Neville Chamberlain," it reads, a reference to the British prime minister who tried to placate Adolf Hitler, implying that Muslims represent a threat of Nazi proportions.
In Israel, the Kach political party established by JDL founder Rabbi Meir Kahane was banned from running for the Knesset in 1992, due to its racist platform, but in recent years Kahane's followers have entered the Knesset under different names, and some of Kahane's proposed policies are now unabashedly espoused by ministers in the current government.
Bernie Farber of the establishment Jewish organization Canadian Jewish Congress, said of the JDL on the CJN website, "As long as they maintain the peace, as long as they do not engage in racist language or hate or violate Canadian law, they have the right to exist."
Farber said he was disappointed that the JDL would support the EDL because of its record of violence. But, he told the National Post, "Islamic fundamentalism is a real threat."
Haartez
Six months in prison for racist thug (UK)
A racist thug has been jailed after attacking a female security guard.
Richard Cochrane, 31, was being held in a cell when he pushed the woman and hurled racist abuse at her.
Cochrane, of Wheatley Court, Mixenden, was being held in the cells at Calderdale Magistrates Court with his brother, William, after a court appearance on February 11, 2010.
GS4 security guard, Carolina Silviera, was bringing William back to the cell when there was an altercation at the cell door.
At that point Cochrane ran out of the cell towards Miss Silviera and pushed her backwards.
He called her racist names' before saying she was 'going to get her head kicked in'.
Bradford Crown Court heard how the attack had left Miss Silviera apprehensive and lacking confidence in the workplace and socially.
Cochrane initially denied the incident in police interview but later pleaded guilty to racially aggravated assault by beating.
He was sentenced to six months in prison.
Judge Peter Benson said: "If it had just been the assault you would have served three months but it seems to me the racially aggravation of this offence merits another three months."
Halifax Courier
Richard Cochrane, 31, was being held in a cell when he pushed the woman and hurled racist abuse at her.
Cochrane, of Wheatley Court, Mixenden, was being held in the cells at Calderdale Magistrates Court with his brother, William, after a court appearance on February 11, 2010.
GS4 security guard, Carolina Silviera, was bringing William back to the cell when there was an altercation at the cell door.
At that point Cochrane ran out of the cell towards Miss Silviera and pushed her backwards.
He called her racist names' before saying she was 'going to get her head kicked in'.
Bradford Crown Court heard how the attack had left Miss Silviera apprehensive and lacking confidence in the workplace and socially.
Cochrane initially denied the incident in police interview but later pleaded guilty to racially aggravated assault by beating.
He was sentenced to six months in prison.
Judge Peter Benson said: "If it had just been the assault you would have served three months but it seems to me the racially aggravation of this offence merits another three months."
Halifax Courier
Pupils' reward for anti-racism efforts (UK)
Children from three city schools are being rewarded for their work in tackling racism.
A total of £25,000 was awarded to Lincoln City FC's sport and education trust last year to run a two-year programme funded by Nike's Stand Up Speak Up campaign.
The campaign was launched in 2005 by French football star Thierry Henry following reports of racist incidents in football.
The money was raised by the sale of two interlocked wristbands, one black and one white.
Children from Monks Abbey, St Peter at Gowts and Bishop King primary schools in Lincoln are this week receiving awards for taking part in the project teaching them how discrimination has a negative affect on people's lives.
This is Lincolnshire
A total of £25,000 was awarded to Lincoln City FC's sport and education trust last year to run a two-year programme funded by Nike's Stand Up Speak Up campaign.
The campaign was launched in 2005 by French football star Thierry Henry following reports of racist incidents in football.
The money was raised by the sale of two interlocked wristbands, one black and one white.
Children from Monks Abbey, St Peter at Gowts and Bishop King primary schools in Lincoln are this week receiving awards for taking part in the project teaching them how discrimination has a negative affect on people's lives.
This is Lincolnshire
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Second N.S. brother to be sentenced for hate crime in cross-burning (Canada)
The second of two Nova Scotia brothers convicted of a hate crime for burning a cross on an interracial couple's lawn last winter will be sentenced today.
Justin Rehberg, 20, of Avondale was convicted last fall of inciting racial hatred and criminal harassment.
His 21-year-old brother, Nathan, was sentenced Monday to six months in jail, minus four months credit for time already served.
Prosecutor Darrell Carmichael said Monday he recommends a lesser sentence for the younger Rehberg.
Nathan Rehberg wept in court and apologized for setting a 2.5-metre wooden cross on fire last year outside the Poplar Grove home of Shayne Howe and Michelle Lyon.
Howe, who is black, and Lyon, who is white, testified they awoke in the middle of the night last Feb. 21 to the sight of a blazing cross on their lawn.
Howe said after Monday's sentencing that he accepted Rehberg's apology.
Winnipeg Free Press
Justin Rehberg, 20, of Avondale was convicted last fall of inciting racial hatred and criminal harassment.
His 21-year-old brother, Nathan, was sentenced Monday to six months in jail, minus four months credit for time already served.
Prosecutor Darrell Carmichael said Monday he recommends a lesser sentence for the younger Rehberg.
Nathan Rehberg wept in court and apologized for setting a 2.5-metre wooden cross on fire last year outside the Poplar Grove home of Shayne Howe and Michelle Lyon.
Howe, who is black, and Lyon, who is white, testified they awoke in the middle of the night last Feb. 21 to the sight of a blazing cross on their lawn.
Howe said after Monday's sentencing that he accepted Rehberg's apology.
Winnipeg Free Press
Borough Council wants EDL march in Luton banned (UK)
Luton Borough Council has written to the home secretary asking her to ban a proposed march by the English Defence League (EDL) in the town next month.
The EDL, which says it opposes Islamic extremism, wants to march through Luton on 5 February.
The council also wants Theresa May to extend the banning order to any proposed counter protests by groups such as Unite Against Fascism.
In a statement the council said there was a real risk of disorder.
'Spark tensions'
"We recognise that a banning order on the EDL and counter demonstrators would not prohibit them from holding a static demonstration," the statement said.
"However a march is, in our opinion, provocative and not conducive to the public good at this time and would risk serious disorder."
The council said that any march proposed by the EDL would need to travel through residential areas from the railway station and other access points into the town.
"The presence of high numbers of demonstrators supporting rival and diametrically opposing views is not conducive to the wellbeing of our community and has the potential to spark tensions and community impacts which as a council we have worked so hard to avoid in recent years," the statement went on to say.
The EDL, Unite Against Fascism and the TUC demonstrated in Peterborough on 11 December.
A 28-year-old was arrested and bailed in relation to those protest marches.
BBC News
The EDL, which says it opposes Islamic extremism, wants to march through Luton on 5 February.
The council also wants Theresa May to extend the banning order to any proposed counter protests by groups such as Unite Against Fascism.
In a statement the council said there was a real risk of disorder.
'Spark tensions'
"We recognise that a banning order on the EDL and counter demonstrators would not prohibit them from holding a static demonstration," the statement said.
"However a march is, in our opinion, provocative and not conducive to the public good at this time and would risk serious disorder."
The council said that any march proposed by the EDL would need to travel through residential areas from the railway station and other access points into the town.
"The presence of high numbers of demonstrators supporting rival and diametrically opposing views is not conducive to the wellbeing of our community and has the potential to spark tensions and community impacts which as a council we have worked so hard to avoid in recent years," the statement went on to say.
The EDL, Unite Against Fascism and the TUC demonstrated in Peterborough on 11 December.
A 28-year-old was arrested and bailed in relation to those protest marches.
BBC News
Police hunt racist thugs over attack in Manchester (UK)
Police are hunting a gang of racist thugs who attacked and robbed a door-to-door salesman in Greater Manchester.
The victim, a 20-year-old Asian man, was working on the Limeside Estate, in Oldham, selling digital television products, on the afternoon of Wednesday 5th January when he was assaulted.
He was working around Walkers Road, Oak Road and Firth Avenue but throughout the afternoon, a group of five white men were walking around the estate shouting racial abuse at the victim.
At about 6pm, on Hollins Road, the group approached the victim, grabbed him, racially abused him and demanded his mobile phone and cash.
They pushed him against a wall and patted his body for items. As they tried to grab his mobile the victim resisted and he was punched twice to the head by one of the offenders, who then intimated he had a knife.
The group ran off with the phone.
The main offender in the group was about 5ft 6in tall of medium build with dark hair. He was wearing a lime green hooded top.
Police Constable Andrew Swettenham said: "This was a horrendous experience for this man, who was simply trying to do his job. The abuse that he suffered culminated in an attack where he was robbed.
"Someone on this estate will know who these people are and may even have witnessed this incident."
Anyone with information is asked to call police on 0161 856 9577 or the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Click Manchester
The victim, a 20-year-old Asian man, was working on the Limeside Estate, in Oldham, selling digital television products, on the afternoon of Wednesday 5th January when he was assaulted.
He was working around Walkers Road, Oak Road and Firth Avenue but throughout the afternoon, a group of five white men were walking around the estate shouting racial abuse at the victim.
At about 6pm, on Hollins Road, the group approached the victim, grabbed him, racially abused him and demanded his mobile phone and cash.
They pushed him against a wall and patted his body for items. As they tried to grab his mobile the victim resisted and he was punched twice to the head by one of the offenders, who then intimated he had a knife.
The group ran off with the phone.
The main offender in the group was about 5ft 6in tall of medium build with dark hair. He was wearing a lime green hooded top.
Police Constable Andrew Swettenham said: "This was a horrendous experience for this man, who was simply trying to do his job. The abuse that he suffered culminated in an attack where he was robbed.
"Someone on this estate will know who these people are and may even have witnessed this incident."
Anyone with information is asked to call police on 0161 856 9577 or the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Click Manchester
Monday, 10 January 2011
Deputy state prosecutor target of far-right hate video (Israel)
Clip reportedly calls for Shai Nitzan's murder after he asked police to investigate anti-Arab Facebook groups; PM: Incitement hurts democracy.
The deputy state prosecutor Shai Nitzan has become the target of a video circulating the Internet which reportedly called for his murder, after he asked the Israel Police last week to launch an investigation into two Facebook groups that contained anti-Arab racist content on Wednesday.
Nitzan said the Facebook groups, which were were opened under the names "Death to all Arabs" and "Demonstration in Umm el-Fahm against the Islamic Movement," had violated anti-racism and anti-incitement laws.
RELATED:
Opinion: That we need a reminder to integrate Arabs is shameful
Police question Eliahu on anti-Arab posters from 2008
Israel Radio reported on Monday that the video, which ended with the slogan "Kahane was right," accused Nitzan of failing to investigate Arab incitement and focusing only on Jews.
The video has been distributed via email, and was sent by an individual posing as the Justice Minister, Yaackov Neeman.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called on police to investigate the video and track down those who made it, saying, "criticism is legitimate but incitement and calls to murder... harm the values of democracy of the State of Israel and must be severed."
The "Death to all Arabs" Facebook group had 170 followers, and included clear calls for acts of violence against Arabs and support for such acts, Nitzan stated last week.
A police source told The Jerusalem Post that video "was being examined" by investigators.
Jerusalem Post
The deputy state prosecutor Shai Nitzan has become the target of a video circulating the Internet which reportedly called for his murder, after he asked the Israel Police last week to launch an investigation into two Facebook groups that contained anti-Arab racist content on Wednesday.
Nitzan said the Facebook groups, which were were opened under the names "Death to all Arabs" and "Demonstration in Umm el-Fahm against the Islamic Movement," had violated anti-racism and anti-incitement laws.
RELATED:
Opinion: That we need a reminder to integrate Arabs is shameful
Police question Eliahu on anti-Arab posters from 2008
Israel Radio reported on Monday that the video, which ended with the slogan "Kahane was right," accused Nitzan of failing to investigate Arab incitement and focusing only on Jews.
The video has been distributed via email, and was sent by an individual posing as the Justice Minister, Yaackov Neeman.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called on police to investigate the video and track down those who made it, saying, "criticism is legitimate but incitement and calls to murder... harm the values of democracy of the State of Israel and must be severed."
The "Death to all Arabs" Facebook group had 170 followers, and included clear calls for acts of violence against Arabs and support for such acts, Nitzan stated last week.
A police source told The Jerusalem Post that video "was being examined" by investigators.
Jerusalem Post
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