West Yorkshire Police chiefs have warned protesters that anyone involved in violence, disorder or racist behaviour in Bradford this weekend is liable to be arrested and prosecuted.
The warning was issued today as police confirmed the locations of two protests and a community celebration event to be held in the city on Saturday.
The protest by the far-right English Defence League will be held in the Bradford Urban Garden, on the site of Westfield’s mothballed shopping development.
Yesterday, the urban garden was closed to the public as work to prepare it for the EDL protest intensified. Asphalt has been laid over the garden’s previously-unmade pathways, while seats and bins have been removed from the area.
It has also been confirmed that a counter-protest by Unite Against Fascism and We Are Bradford will be held at Exchange Square by Bradford Crown Court.
Meanwhile, a community celebration event, called Be Bradford – Peaceful Together, will be held at Infirmary Fields in Manningham.
The celebration was originally planned to be held in the city centre but has been moved following concerns that its presence there might increase the possibility of violence.
Police said the two protests and one civic event, all of which start around lunchtime, will draw large numbers of people into the city from the morning onwards.
While West Yorkshire Police and Bradford Council are working to keep disruption to a minimum, it will mean a busier than usual city centre this Saturday, said a spokesman for the force.
Some traffic restrictions will be in place throughout the day and there will be a highly visible police presence, in order to reassure the public and ensure that attendees get to and from their events as quickly as possible, with minimum disruption.
Extensive fixed and mobile CCTV will also be in operation to further reassure the public and prevent and detect any criminal activity.
West Yorkshire Police said that, along with the Council, they had in a planning process with partners for many weeks and had detailed plans and sufficient resources to manage the events.
The spokesman said: “West Yorkshire Police’s role is to facilitate peaceful protest. Anyone involved in violence, disorder or racist behaviour which is unlawful will be liable to arrest and prosecution.”
THE POLICE ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS
Does the ban mean that there will be no protests in Bradford on August 28?
No, there will still be protests in Bradford on August 28. Even though the Home Secretary has given her consent it does not prevent any static demonstrations taking place, which are still lawful provided they remain peaceful, as we have no legal powers to prevent them.
What events are planned for August 28?
Two groups, the English Defence League and Unite Against Fascism have indicated they wish to protest in Bradford. A further event is now taking place at Infirmary Fields, Manningham.
What are the police doing about it?
West Yorkshire Police have considerable experience in planning for and managing such events. They are working with the Council and other partners to plan for all eventualities.
What is the Council doing about it?
The Council is working closely with the Police and other local organisations to plan and manage the protests. It is also listening to the views of local groups.
Why has the march been banned?
The Home Secretary has given her consent for the Council to impose an order banning any public processions, including marches, in Bradford District over the bank holiday weekend. The Council by itself has no powers to ban such protests without the consent of the Home Secretary. The Council sought permission after receiving a letter from the Chief Constable asking it to do so. The Chief Constable had to consider carefully all the public safety and human rights issues arising from any march, including the understandable concerns of the community, before deciding to apply to Bradford Council for an order prohibiting the holding of a public procession on August 28. The Council and the Police also listened to the views and concerns of a wide range of local groups and organisations before contacting the Home Secretary.
Will Bradford be safe on August 28?
The Police and the Council have been working together closely to plan for and manage any static demonstrations. Local people can have confidence in the Police and the Council maintaining public safety on the day and can be reassured that the city will be returned to normal very quickly.
Should I come into Bradford on August 28?
If you are coming into Bradford to shop or as part of your normal business, you should expect some disruption to the city centre. It will be busy and some roads will be affected, but as far as possible we wish to see business as usual. We do not want people to come into the city intent on confronting any protesters. Let the police handle the events.
I am worried about my own safety - what should I do?
If you are concerned now, before the event, please speak to your local police who will update you on the current situation. The Police and the Council want to reassure and support all communities and encourage them not to be provoked into reacting to the protests. There will be plenty of local police officers working on the day to reassure and assist you.
What will happen to those who commit damage or disorder?
West Yorkshire Police’s role is to facilitate peaceful protest. If anyone commits a criminal offence they will be dealt with fairly but firmly. The Police will not tolerate damage or acts of violence.
The Telegraph and Argus
Wednesday, 25 August 2010
White-supremacist group recruits in Lee County (USA)
Between 300-500 fliers from the white nationalist neo-Nazi group appeared in driveways across parts of the county this week.Ed Bell, 63, of Bonita Springs received a flier.
“I went to get my Sunday paper, and this was right next to it,” Bell said. “At least six or seven houses on my street had them.”
Bell said he was concerned about the hateful message in the fliers, and he wanted people to know about them.
“I know it’s free speech ... but it’s still very divisive,” he said.
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office, has received no complaints about the fliers, said spokesman Tony Schall.
The fliers were delivered in clear plastic with a small rock inside to keep them from blowing away.
The small flier contained an image of Benjamin Franklin and contains the following quote allegedly uttered by the Founding Father: “There is a great danger for the United States of America. This great danger is the Jew.”
Franklin, however, never said those words.
The quote, first published in 1934 in “The Franklin Prophecy,” has been used by anti-Semitic groups ever since, according to Andy Rosenkranz, the Florida regional director of the Anti-Defamation League.
“It’s a complete forgery,” he said. “They’re not concerned with the truth. ... I haven’t seen this in a long time.”
Rosenkranz said residents should report the fliers to his organization and law enforcement.
Paul Mullet, the national director of Aryan Nations, said the fliers went out as a recruitment tool.
“It’s to let people know the Jews are creating big problems in this country and the white race is slowly dying,” said Mullet, adding that there has been a good response to the fliers distributed in Bonita Springs and surrounding areas.
“I got several calls from people in that area,” he said.
Mullet complained about Jews, the proposed mosque near ground zero, a black president, the NAACP and the New Black Panther Party. Mullet also insisted Aryan Nations isn’t a hate group.
News-Press
LITHUANIA'S JEWS CONDEMN PIG'S HEAD ATTACK AT SYNAGOGUE
Lithuania's Jewish organisations on Monday condemned an apparent neo-Nazi attack in which a pig's head was left at the entrance of a synagogue by unknown perpetrators. "The Lithuanian Jewish community and the Religious community of Lithuanian Jews judge this as Nazi provocation aimed at insulting the ethnic and religious feelings of Lithuanian Jews," their leaders, Simonas Alperavicius and Chief Rabbi Chaim Burstein, said in a statement. The statement said that the pig's head was found on Saturday -- the Jewish holy day -- outside a synagogue in Lithuania's second city Kaunas. The use of a pig is particularly offensive because Judaism, like Islam, considers pigs unclean and bars the consumption of pork. Simonas Gurevicius, executive director of the Lithuanian Jewish community, told AFP the incident should be treated as an attack on all believers, not only Jews. "We hope that Lithuanian society will not be impassive, as this act of a few anti-Semitic vandals does not reflect the attitude of Lithuanian society," he added.
Kaunas police have launched a formal investigation but there are no suspects so far, officer Gintautas Dirmeikis told the Baltic News Service. Lithuania was once home to a 220,000-strong Jewish community, and Vilnius was a cultural hub and world centre for the study of the Torah, known as the "Jerusalem of the North". At the end of the 19th century, the number of synagogues in Vilnius exceeded one hundred. But 95 percent of Lithuania's Jews perished during the country's 1941-1944 German occupation at the hands of the Nazis and Lithuanian collaborators. Today there are no more than 5,000 Jews in Lithuania, of whom around 500 live in Kaunas, Gurevicius said.
EJP
Kaunas police have launched a formal investigation but there are no suspects so far, officer Gintautas Dirmeikis told the Baltic News Service. Lithuania was once home to a 220,000-strong Jewish community, and Vilnius was a cultural hub and world centre for the study of the Torah, known as the "Jerusalem of the North". At the end of the 19th century, the number of synagogues in Vilnius exceeded one hundred. But 95 percent of Lithuania's Jews perished during the country's 1941-1944 German occupation at the hands of the Nazis and Lithuanian collaborators. Today there are no more than 5,000 Jews in Lithuania, of whom around 500 live in Kaunas, Gurevicius said.
EJP
Bavarian cornfield swastika stokes fears of neo-Nazi resurgence
A photographer spotted the Nazi symbol, about half the size of a handball court, on Sunday during a sightseeing flight, and passed the photos on to police, daily Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on Tuesday.
“We've never had something of this dimension,” Bavarian police investigator Gerhard Karl told the paper. “At the most someone has peed a swastika into the snow.”
The owner of the land in question, Erna Lechner, called the incident a “pigsty” and a “murderous injury” to farmers in the Upper Bavaria region.
The farmer who rents the land from Lechner did not wish to comment.
“The poor man will now be expected to do something, and in the worst case will have to destroy the crop,” she said.
Aßling Mayor Werner Lampl called the perpetrators “die hards” who were trying to make their mark.
Authorities believe the swastika was stamped into the field sometime on Saturday night, and Lampl did not rule out the possibility that it could have been done by guests at a nearby airfield festival, which drew hundreds from out of town.
But whoever the culprits may be, the accuracy of the formation indicates they weren’t joking around, criminal investigator Karl said, speaking of a very clear “right-wing extremist” motivation.
The use of Nazi symbols is illegal in Germany and carries a sentence of up to three years in jail, he added.
His department plans to take a helicopter out for further investigation in the next several days.
Aßling has already had problems with neo-Nazis in the past, the paper said. Some six years ago police raided a barn shed used as a meeting place, finding a Nazi imperial war flag, or Reichskriegsflagge, and other paraphernalia. Seventeen young people were questioned as possible suspects in the case.
While Mayor Lampl told the paper that efforts to rehabilitate the youths mean there is no longer such a problem in the region, landowner Lechner disagreed.
“Unfortunately the brown scene is managing to spread out,” she told the paper, referring to the colour associated with Nazi brownshirts.
Further evidence of the problem can be seen in frequent threats to a local immigrant aid organisation (Ausländerhilfe) and the district presence of the BJR Bavarian youth organisation’s coordination headquarters for work against right-wing extremism, the paper said.
The Local Germany
Neo-Nazis at an all time high on the Internet (Germany)
The number of websites with right-wing extremist content has reached a record high.Right-wing extremism on the Internet is on the rise. The number of neo-Nazi networks has tripled within a year to 90, according to the German youth protection organization, jugendschutz.net.
The number of websites from the NPD (the right-wing German National Democratic Party) rose 30 percent to 242. The extremists are even spreading their message via social networking communities like Facebook, and video sharing platforms such as YouTube.
The content is invariably xenophobic, anti-Semitic and racist. The form it takes varies: some sites rewrite children's songs into neo-Nazi anthems, others call openly for violence. Often it can be hard at first glance to tell the ideology behind the content.
How to tackle the problem?
Up to 10,000 internet users access neo-Nazi blogs and platforms every day according to jugendschutz.net. The organization is now working to combat the problem by raising awareness among young internet surfers.
Jugendschutz.net also targets the sites themselves, and has succeeded in banning four out of five cases of offensive content. Stefan Glaser is head researcher for right-wing activities at the organization. He is pleased with the success of this strategy, which relies on international partners to ban content.
"If we in Germany have a case that is based in Hungary or Romania, or has a provider that we cannot access, where there may also be language barriers, then we will contact our local partners," Glaser explained. "They contact the operator or try to get the content removed from the network via other means."
Another resource in the struggle against online neo-Nazism is an online advice forum led by graduate teacher Martin Ziegenhagen. He encourages people to seek advice over problems with neo-Nazis at school, in the workplace or at home. There is a closed chat room for parents worried about their children.
Ziegenhagen says online consultation can be an important factor in a successful turn-around:
"After over two years, a son left the NPD. The fact that the boy's mother survived the two years and has repeatedly dealt with the topic while remaining in contact with her son, that's largely thanks to the online consultation."
The President of the Federal Center for Political Education, Thomas Krueger hopes that the fight against neo-Nazis on the internet will be more focused in the future.
"I would like to see a bit more strength and creativity from the Internet community. The sort of demonstrations against the NPD which take place in the real world must also take place in the virtual world."
Author: Marcel Fuerstenau (Joanna Impey)
DW-World
Shop owner 'forced out' by racist attacks in Medway (UK)
 |
| Yusuf Boztepe |
Yusuf Boztepe, who is selling his store in Weedswood, Walderslade, said his shop and home had been attacked and he no longer felt safe in the area.
The incidents culminated in Mark Marchant being jailed for setting light to a homemade explosive on Thursday.
Kent Police praised Mr Boztepe for reporting the attacks and said they had dealt with the offenders.
'We always worry'
Mr Boztepe said: "Since we've been here they have turned our lives to hell.
"We not enjoy nothing, we always worry to walk in the street. We can't act like normal people."
His shop appeared to become a focal point for a group whose anti-social behaviour affected a number of local residents.
He said he was targeted with racial abuse and attacks on his property after he refused to accept their actions and reported them to the police.
Det Insp Ann Lisseman said: "Mr Boztepe has been a person that's stood up quite rightly and said I'm not going to accept that behaviour and he shouldn't do.
"He's reported it to us and we won't tolerate any kind of behaviour at all - anti-social, racial whatever the motive - and that's why we've taken a strong line and dealt with it."
Mark Marchant, of Pimpernel Way, Chatham, was jailed for five years at Maidstone Crown Court on Thursday.
He had denied causing an explosion likely to endanger life but was convicted following a trial.
The court was told he filled an airbed with an accelerant and then placed it on a fence and set it alight in Yarrow Road in July 2009 following a long running confrontation with Mr Boztepe.
Following the sentencing Kent Police said it was a "desperate attempt to cause harm and intimidate local residents".
BBC News
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