A BNP thug who ran for council has been given a year's community service for assaulting two female pacifist campaigners.
David Clarke, who got 518 votes when he stood in Heathfield for this year's local elections, was sentenced on four counts of assaulting anti-racism campaigners.
Clarke, of Dunley Drive, New Addington, pushed and shoved Lorna Nelson-Homian, James Cox, Nigel Green and Silvia Beckett in two separate attacks last May outside East Croydon train station.
Croydon Magistrates' Court handed the 41-year-old a 12-month community order last week and ordered him to pay costs of £650.
Clarke denied attacking the Hope Not Hate campaigners but was found guilty on April 30.
Giving evidence in relation to the first incident on May 27, campaigner Nigel Green said: "I saw him [Clarke] walking towards me.
"He was walking right towards me and I could see there would be problems. I decided to stop and put the leaflets behind my back.
"But he gestured for me to give him a leaflet and he basically snatched them out of my hand. They were thrown down on the street and that was quite a shock to me.
"Then he sort of pushed me and grabbed my arm and twirled me around. I was very shaken because I had done nothing to provoke him."
Prosecutor Daniel Irving told the court how after the first assault Clarke left, only to return to repeatedly shove Ms Beckett to get to Mr Green.
The court heard Clarke almost knocked the woman off her feet.
Mr Irving told the court that when Clarke spotted other Hope Not Hate campaigners two days later he screamed at them: "F****** scumbags, filth on our streets, taking all our jobs."
Then Clarke again snatched leaflets, threw them on the floor and shoved Ms Nelson-Homian and Mr Cox.
This is Croydon
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Catherine Ariemma, Georgia high school teacher, in hot water after students wear KKK robes in school
A Georgia history teacher could be fired after allowing four students to wear mock Ku Klux Klan attire for their final project.
Catherine Ariemma, who teaches an advanced placement course that combines U.S. history and film at Lumpkin County High School, was suspended after four teens wore the inflammatory white robes through the school's cafeteria, according to The Associated Press.
Several black students at the school, about 75 miles north of Atlanta, were incensed, and at least one parent complained.
Lumpkin County School Superintendent Dewey Moye said that Ariemma, who has taught at the school for six years, was placed on administrative leave.
Ariemma's students watch films pertaining to U.S. history and at the end of the year choose a theme on which they base their own final projects. Her class chose to take on racism and its roots this year, she said.
"This stuff happened in history," Moye told The AP. "Do you ignore it? No. But you certainly don't walk the hallway in the garb."
Ariemma said the teens brought white sheets and cone-shaped party hats to school and that she took them through the cafeteria to another area to shoot their film. A fellow teacher confronted Ariemma afterward.
"That's when I heard there were a couple of students who were upset," Ariemma told The AP.
Cody Rider, a student at Lumpkin County High School, told Atlanta's WSB-TV on Monday that he and his cousin saw the students walk through the cafeteria in the robes and were upset.
Ariemma said that while she felt the students were addressing an important issue in American history, she told The AP that it "was poor judgment on my part in allowing them to film at school. … That was a hard lesson learned."
NY Daily News
Catherine Ariemma, who teaches an advanced placement course that combines U.S. history and film at Lumpkin County High School, was suspended after four teens wore the inflammatory white robes through the school's cafeteria, according to The Associated Press.
Several black students at the school, about 75 miles north of Atlanta, were incensed, and at least one parent complained.
Lumpkin County School Superintendent Dewey Moye said that Ariemma, who has taught at the school for six years, was placed on administrative leave.
Ariemma's students watch films pertaining to U.S. history and at the end of the year choose a theme on which they base their own final projects. Her class chose to take on racism and its roots this year, she said.
"This stuff happened in history," Moye told The AP. "Do you ignore it? No. But you certainly don't walk the hallway in the garb."
Ariemma said the teens brought white sheets and cone-shaped party hats to school and that she took them through the cafeteria to another area to shoot their film. A fellow teacher confronted Ariemma afterward.
"That's when I heard there were a couple of students who were upset," Ariemma told The AP.
Cody Rider, a student at Lumpkin County High School, told Atlanta's WSB-TV on Monday that he and his cousin saw the students walk through the cafeteria in the robes and were upset.
Ariemma said that while she felt the students were addressing an important issue in American history, she told The AP that it "was poor judgment on my part in allowing them to film at school. … That was a hard lesson learned."
NY Daily News
Police highlight Facebook as e-crime is targeted
The Association of Scottish Police Superintendents (Asps) will demand at their annual conference later this week that internet providers and search engines such as Google start regulating themselves to curb growing levels of online crime.
Speaking in advance of the Dunblane conference, Chief Super-intendent David O’Connor, the incoming president of the association, said there was growing concern about increases in e-crime and the lack of regulation by companies online.
His speech will also outline concerns about the fact the police service is over capacity in the management of sex offenders.
Hundreds of millions of pounds are estimated to be lost in Scotland each year as a result of internet scams. O’Connor will say the Scottish Government, internet providers and senior officers need to come together to discuss e-crime and a better way of paying for its policing.
Facebook has been at the centre of a number of court cases involving adults grooming young people. The most high-profile in the UK was that of Ashleigh Hall, 17, who was murdered by convicted rapist Peter Chapman, 33, in Sedgefield, County Durham. She had agreed to meet him after he posed as a young man on the popular site.
Eight members of the worst child abuse network in Scotland were found guilty at the High Court in Edinburgh of a catalogue of charges relating to abuse and indecent images of children as a result of Operation Algebra last year.
O’Connor said: “The industry should be regulating itself and there should be measures in place to counter fraud and exploitation.
“Prevention is far better than cure. While Operation Algebra was a great success we would rather that those crimes had not happened. E-crime is a huge issue for the police – with growing incidents of banking fraud and identity theft.
“On the internet it is very difficult to identify victims and even more difficult to identify suspects. Whilst we are trying to put measures in place to track these people down it is highly specialist, technical and resource
intensive work.”
O’Connor is expected to tell police officers and the Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill: “In terms of public protection one of the biggest threats facing our communities relates to various chat-room facilities providing online social networking sites … Identity fraud and credit card fraud over the internet are costing this country millions of pounds.”
A Facebook spokesperson said: There is no single answer or silver bullet that makes the internet or Facebook safer but we continue to invest in improving the experience for our users on the site.”
Herald Scotland
BNP Race hate boss porkies to PCC exposed (UK)
THIS is the footage that proves BNP big wig Jim Dowson has been telling porkies!
Barefaced race hate Glaswegian Dowson has asked the Press Complaints Commission to rule that the Sunday World was wrong to say he was a member of the BNP – he told them had never been a member, yet here he is delivering a rousing right-wing speech – proving he’s up to his neck in the far right party.
Last year we revealed Dowson was behind the secret fundraising centre which is tucked away in east Belfast.
But after our first story he appeared on UTV and gave an interview to say he was not connected with the political side of the BNP and was just a businessman running a call centre.
He even said he didn’t agree with the BNP’s politics!
And he has complained to the Press Complaints Commission because we said he was a life member.
Poor affronted Jim told the PCC in an indignant letter: “They also allege that I am a BNP life member when I have never been a member of the party ever in my life!”
But a video passed to us by anti-fascist magazine Searchlight shows Jim praising the racist party and urging people to join up. And he’s even captioned North West Fundraiser.
Rambles
And we’ve since discovered that Jim may not have paid his member-ship to the BNP – because according to sources he owns it!
He has been BNP leader Nick Griffin’s right-hand man – to such an extent he has caused angry rumblings within the party.
During the seven minute video, which was taken during a fundraising event in Blackburn, Lancashire two months ago, Dowson repeatedly uses the phrases ‘we’ and ‘us’ when talking about the BNP.
We’ve picked out some of his most ‘rousing’ rants so you can make up your own mind if convicted criminal Dowson is in the BNP.
“We’re living with the Chinese and the Koreans,” says BNP Jim with a BNP backdrop, as the title BNP North West fundraiser is put on the screen of the BNP internet TV channel.
“They’re now the top of the tree. They’re going to be the ones who dominate the world. But it doesn’t matter how many cheap radios they build or cheap cars they build – they’ll never have what we have and that’s British blood.”
He then rambles on about soldiers and famous wars and battles including Waterloo, Agincourt, The Falklands and Afghanistan.
He tells the crowd: “The same blood is in you as they had. You are the sum total of your ancestors. Think what they suffered; think what they gave to build this Great Britain.
“How can Trevor Phillips (black head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission) ever hope to destroy us? I’ll tell you how, by destroying the British National Party.
“The only bulwark against tyranny is the BNP – you people have joined, given, you’ve campaigned, you’ve leafleted.
“We are the frontline. We are the thin red line against total destruction, annihilation and oblivion. We are the people who are standing in guard.”
He then babbles on about the film Zulu, which he thinks is called Rourke’s Drift, and likens the BNP to the British soldiers who repelled wave after wave of Zulu warriors during the Boer War.
He then slags off the British people who he says have run away because they are too scared to join the BNP in case they lose their job or get into trouble.
He then says of the BNP: “We will turn this country round.”
“People like (Trevor) Phillips and (Jack) Straw have mistaken us for being soft. There’s nothing soft about Blackburn and if Trevor Phillips and any of his cronies came here they would soon find out.”
He says he has helped turn the party around from being an amateurish party with no offices to having five UK offices, two MEP’s and are now bigger than UKIP.
“This party is going places – think what we have achieved,” says BNP Jim.
He talks about the leaked BNP list and tells anyone in the audience that if they weren’t on it, why weren’t they on it.
“When the list came out they thought we’d all run and hide. I was manning the phones that week and all week we got people in their 70s phoning saying ‘sign me up’ – they were joining in their 100s.”
The speech was part of a fundraiser in Blackburn which took place just before the election.
Boasted
But sadly for Jim the election was an unmitigated disaster.
The party hoped to get four MP’s elected to Westminster but failed to secure a single seat.
They had boasted about taking control of Barking and Dagenham council but were wiped out 51-0 by Labour.
Furthermore BNP sources are blaming Jim Dowson.
As revealed last week he, and the Belfast office, were being held responsible for the election blunder. Anti-fascist magazine Searchlight ran a ‘Hope not Hate’ campaign against the BNP during the election and Irish correspondent Matthew Collins hailed it a total success.
“Jim Dowson and his operation of shadow companies has as good as bought the BNP,” says Matthew.
“From our point of view, he’s the best thing to ever happen to the BNP.
“We’ve already begun to drive his party out of our council chambers and I’m sure the people of Northern Ireland will follow suit and chose hope over hate.”
Hope Not Hate
FJCR CONCERNED ABOUT INCREASE IN ANTI-SEMITISM IN ULYANOVSK (Russia)
Interfax
Racist march due on day of music and rugby in Cardiff (Wales, UK)
Resources are bound to be stretched and many fans will be arriving by train to the city centre, and could be greeted by a march by the Welsh & English Defence League (WDL/EDL).
The group is due to be marching at lunchtime in the city centre and massing outside Cardiff Central Station. A rival march has been setup by campaign group Unite Against Fascism and will be marching through the city centre at the same time in opposition to the protest.
Unite Against Fascism are arranging a rival march and are calling on Cardiff City fans to support them. A leaflet from the group states: "Cardiff City fans have been linked with the WDL/EDL. Bluesbirds vs the Nazis has been set up to show that the majority of CCFC fans are opposed to racism and facism."
Mark Serwotka, General Secretary of PCS union, said: "The WDL/EDL hold their demos to intimidate and divide us. As a Cardiff City fan, I call on everyone to unite and protest against the WDL/EDL's attempts to whip up racism."
The Unite Against Facism protesters are due to meet at 11 AM at Roald Dahl Plas on Saturday 5th June 2010 and march through Butetown and the city centre, finishing at City Hall with a rally at 1 PM.
Islamophobia Watch
NY teen faces sentencing in hate crime stabbing (USA)
A Long Island teenager convicted of manslaughter as a hate crime in the killing of an Ecuadorean immigrant could be ordered to spend more than two decades behind bars when he is sentenced on Wednesday.
Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Megan O'Donnell said she will ask for the maximum 25 years when Jeffrey Conroy is sentenced for his role in the November 2008 stabbing death of Marcelo Lucero. The minimum sentence is eight years.
The killing shone a spotlight on race relations on Long Island and led to a U.S. Justice Department probe of bias attacks against Hispanics and the police response to such crimes.
Conroy was one of seven teenagers implicated in the stabbing death but the only one to go to trial. Prosecutors contend Conroy was the one who inflicted the blow that killed Lucero during a midnight confrontation near the Patchogue train station. Lucero and a friend were walking to an acquaintance's home when they were attacked.
"I am just hoping for the best," Joselo Lucero, the victim's brother, said Tuesday after a court hearing where one of the other suspects pleaded guilty for his role in the killing. Christopher Overton, whom Conroy claimed on the witness stand was the actual killer, pleaded guilty to gang assault, conspiracy and attempted assault as a hate crime. He was the fifth defendant to enter a guilty plea.
Jose Lucero and his sister Isabel were expected to make victim's impact statements at the sentencing hearing before state Supreme Court Justice Robert Doyle. The victim's mother, Rosario Lucero, also was expected to attend the sentencing.
Jose Lucero said he did not intend to ask for the maximum sentence for Conroy. "Whatever the judge decides," he said. "I just want him to send the right message."
Conroy was acquitted of two counts of murder, including one count as a hate crime, but he was convicted of three counts of attempted assault in an attack on Lucero's friend, as well as two other Hispanic men before the stabbing.
The killing focused national attentionon Long Island's Suffolk County, which has seen an influx of immigrants from Central and South America in the past decade. In a September 2009 report, the Southern Poverty Law Center documented repeated attacks on Hispanics since 2000.
Conroy had made statements to police following his arrest that he was the one responsible for stabbing Lucero, but he testified in his own defense at trial that Overton had been the actual stabber. Conroy explained that Overton, whom he had just met that night, confided that he already had pleaded guilty to burglary in a case where a man was killed and could not afford further trouble with the police.
Jurors said after the trial that they did not believe Conroy's claims.
Lucero, 37, was walking with a friend when the teenagers confronted them. Prosecutors say the teens were walking around town looking for targets, began yelling ethnic slurs and approached the two men. One of the teens punched Lucero in the face. Lucero and his friend swung their belts in self-defense and began to chase the teens.
Prosecutors said Lucero hit Conroy in the head with the belt and that the teen lost his temper, opened the folding knife and lunged at Lucero's chest
Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Megan O'Donnell said she will ask for the maximum 25 years when Jeffrey Conroy is sentenced for his role in the November 2008 stabbing death of Marcelo Lucero. The minimum sentence is eight years.
The killing shone a spotlight on race relations on Long Island and led to a U.S. Justice Department probe of bias attacks against Hispanics and the police response to such crimes.
Conroy was one of seven teenagers implicated in the stabbing death but the only one to go to trial. Prosecutors contend Conroy was the one who inflicted the blow that killed Lucero during a midnight confrontation near the Patchogue train station. Lucero and a friend were walking to an acquaintance's home when they were attacked.
"I am just hoping for the best," Joselo Lucero, the victim's brother, said Tuesday after a court hearing where one of the other suspects pleaded guilty for his role in the killing. Christopher Overton, whom Conroy claimed on the witness stand was the actual killer, pleaded guilty to gang assault, conspiracy and attempted assault as a hate crime. He was the fifth defendant to enter a guilty plea.
Jose Lucero and his sister Isabel were expected to make victim's impact statements at the sentencing hearing before state Supreme Court Justice Robert Doyle. The victim's mother, Rosario Lucero, also was expected to attend the sentencing.
Jose Lucero said he did not intend to ask for the maximum sentence for Conroy. "Whatever the judge decides," he said. "I just want him to send the right message."
Conroy was acquitted of two counts of murder, including one count as a hate crime, but he was convicted of three counts of attempted assault in an attack on Lucero's friend, as well as two other Hispanic men before the stabbing.
The killing focused national attentionon Long Island's Suffolk County, which has seen an influx of immigrants from Central and South America in the past decade. In a September 2009 report, the Southern Poverty Law Center documented repeated attacks on Hispanics since 2000.
Conroy had made statements to police following his arrest that he was the one responsible for stabbing Lucero, but he testified in his own defense at trial that Overton had been the actual stabber. Conroy explained that Overton, whom he had just met that night, confided that he already had pleaded guilty to burglary in a case where a man was killed and could not afford further trouble with the police.
Jurors said after the trial that they did not believe Conroy's claims.
Lucero, 37, was walking with a friend when the teenagers confronted them. Prosecutors say the teens were walking around town looking for targets, began yelling ethnic slurs and approached the two men. One of the teens punched Lucero in the face. Lucero and his friend swung their belts in self-defense and began to chase the teens.
Prosecutors said Lucero hit Conroy in the head with the belt and that the teen lost his temper, opened the folding knife and lunged at Lucero's chest
Campaign to end hate crime on transport in Bristol (UK)
A campaign to encourage public transport workers and passengers to report hate crimes and aggressive incidents has been launched in Bristol.
A spokesman from an anti-racism group said it was not unusual for some taxi and bus drivers and train staff to suffer racist abuse.
The initiative is being carried out by the police, Safer Bristol and Support Against Racist Incidents (Sari).
The organisations will be working with major public transport providers.
A spokesman from Bristol's Taxi Club Association told BBC Radio Bristol earlier that the city's taxi, bus and train drivers must be better protected from race attacks and other hate crimes.
'Totally unacceptable'
Gary Hopkins, Bristol City Council's cabinet member for strategic targeted improvement, said: "Public transport providers can sometimes find themselves in challenging situations when having to deal with difficult and confrontational passengers.
"This is totally unacceptable and Safer Bristol, the police, First Bus, British Transport Police and Sari have combined to tackle it and to urge public transport staff not to accept it but to report any incident."
Alex Raikes, from Sari, advised people to call 999 if faced with violent incidents, and to contact the police or the organisation if they are not in danger.
Posters, leaflets and letters are being sent to taxi firms and will also be made available by bus and train companies.
BBC News
A spokesman from an anti-racism group said it was not unusual for some taxi and bus drivers and train staff to suffer racist abuse.
The initiative is being carried out by the police, Safer Bristol and Support Against Racist Incidents (Sari).
The organisations will be working with major public transport providers.
A spokesman from Bristol's Taxi Club Association told BBC Radio Bristol earlier that the city's taxi, bus and train drivers must be better protected from race attacks and other hate crimes.
'Totally unacceptable'
Gary Hopkins, Bristol City Council's cabinet member for strategic targeted improvement, said: "Public transport providers can sometimes find themselves in challenging situations when having to deal with difficult and confrontational passengers.
"This is totally unacceptable and Safer Bristol, the police, First Bus, British Transport Police and Sari have combined to tackle it and to urge public transport staff not to accept it but to report any incident."
Alex Raikes, from Sari, advised people to call 999 if faced with violent incidents, and to contact the police or the organisation if they are not in danger.
Posters, leaflets and letters are being sent to taxi firms and will also be made available by bus and train companies.
BBC News
Race hate group linked to Perth mosque shooting (Australia)
Police believe the men were responsible for the incident at the Canning Mosque on February 4, where shots were fired into the dome roof of the building.
The men are allegedly involved with the national extremist group Combat 18.
Cannington Detectives charged a 24-year-old High Wycombe man and a 25-year-old Greenmount man with criminal damage, discharging a firearm and possession of an unlicensed firearm.
A 19-year-old man from Kalamunda was also charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm.
Insp Rob Anderson from South East Metropolitan District Office said police believed the charges would spell the end of the Combat 18 group’s presence in the state.
“As a result of today’s operation, we are confident that we have more or less eliminated that faction within WA,” he said.
“It is a neo-Nazi organisation – its very title is based on the initials of Adolf Hitler.
“WA Police are committed to eradicating such hate crime within WA – there is no place for such crime here.”
News AU
'Auschwitz thief' hurt
The neo-Nazi accused of stealing the Auschwitz death camp sign has been attacked in jail by an inmate with a syringe.
Anders Hogstrom claims a prisoner tried to kill him with a jab that left his body covered in blisters.
He said: "My personality has changed due to what was injected into me. I got blisters, sweating, nausea, vomiting."
Swede Hogstrom is on remand in Poland while being quizzed over the theft of the Arbeit Macht Frei sign last December.
The Mirror
Anders Hogstrom claims a prisoner tried to kill him with a jab that left his body covered in blisters.
He said: "My personality has changed due to what was injected into me. I got blisters, sweating, nausea, vomiting."
Swede Hogstrom is on remand in Poland while being quizzed over the theft of the Arbeit Macht Frei sign last December.
The Mirror
19 alleged Neo Nazis in court in Madrid, Spain
The case against 19 neo-Nazis has got underway in Madrid today, Tuesday. They are members of the group which goes under the English name, ‘Blood and Honour España’ which is based in the Madrid dormitory town of Getafe, and which has branches across the country in Sevilla, Burgos, Jaén and Zaragoza.
The leaders of the group, Roberto L. and Francisco L., face possible five year prison sentences. They set up the group in Getafe in 1999 asserting it was to protect European culture, but in fact it has been clearly identified with Neo-Nazi’s.
It was back in 2005 when the Guardia Civil impounded firearms in the Taj Mahal disco in Talamanca del Jarama in Madrid, where racist groups, including Oi!, were playing live, and inciting xenophobia with their lyrics.
Tuesday’s proceedings came to an end early when key evidence obtained by phone taps could not be heard in court because of a technical problem. The case continues on Wednesday.
The case is expected to continue in Madrid until June 10.
Typically Spanish
The leaders of the group, Roberto L. and Francisco L., face possible five year prison sentences. They set up the group in Getafe in 1999 asserting it was to protect European culture, but in fact it has been clearly identified with Neo-Nazi’s.
It was back in 2005 when the Guardia Civil impounded firearms in the Taj Mahal disco in Talamanca del Jarama in Madrid, where racist groups, including Oi!, were playing live, and inciting xenophobia with their lyrics.
Tuesday’s proceedings came to an end early when key evidence obtained by phone taps could not be heard in court because of a technical problem. The case continues on Wednesday.
The case is expected to continue in Madrid until June 10.
Typically Spanish
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