A man with BNP links who shouted racist slurs while out shopping has been told all options will be open to his sentencing judge.
Peter King appeared at Teesside Crown Court to enter an 11th-hour guilty plea.
King, 38, admitted harassing Sajida Islam at Tesco Extra, in Burn Road, Hartlepool, on October 14 last year.
He had been due to stand trial for the offence after repeatedly denying the matter, but changed his plea yesterday morning.
King, of Bluebell Way, Hartlepool, had also previously admitted a separate charge of possessing an offensive weapon – an ornamental mace – on December 24 last year.
He will be sentenced for both offences on September 16 after Judge Peter Bowers adjourned his case for pre-sentence reports.
Judge Bowers told King: "You will have bail but the judge on the next occasion will decide what happens."
King was accompanied to court by his partner, Cheryl Dunn, who unsuccessfully contested the Hartlepool mayoral position last year for the BNP, as well as losing out in the race to become Easington's MP in May's elections.
Hartlepool Mail
Friday, 27 August 2010
Wave of Hate Crimes Directed at Muslims Breaks Out (USA)
A string of attacks against Muslims and their religious centers has broken out over the past few weeks, apparently inspired by the protests in New York City over the planned Muslim community center and mosque near where the 9/11 attacks took place. Leaders of those protests have repeatedly made hateful statements against Muslims and Islam, with the National Republican Trust Political Action Committee, for example, saying the center is meant “to celebrate [the] murder of 3,000 Americans.”
The apparent resurgence of anti-Muslim hate crimes followed a long decline that began after a major outbreak in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center (more below).
The most violent of these attacks took place on Tuesday in New York City, when 21-year-old film student Michael Enright allegedly attacked a cab driver. Police said that Enright cursed out the cabby after asking him if he was Muslim and then slashed his throat and stabbed him in several places when he answered in the affirmative. Enright was charged with hate crimes on Wednesday.
In California also on Tuesday, Imam Abdullah Salem arrived at the Madera Islamic Center to find two menacing signs, one of which read, “Wake up America, the enemy is here.” It was the latest in a recent string of attacks on the center, including a brick thrown at the building on Sunday and a sign posted the prior week that read, “No temple for the God of terrorism at Ground Zero.”
Yesterday evening, a drunk man entered a Queens mosque, shouting anti-Muslim slurs while urinating on prayer rugs, according to the New York Post. The man, identified by police as Omar Rivera, also allegedly shouted slurs, calling the worshippers “terrorists.”
These incidents are just the latest in a series of anti-Muslim attacks that have taken place over the course of the past year. On May 12, a Muslim community center was firebombed while filled with people. Approximately 60 worshipers were at The Islamic Center of Northeast Florida in Jacksonville when a pipe bomb went off around 9:35 p.m. It caused a small fire in the back of the building, but no one was injured. The FBI released surveillance video of what appeared to be a middle-aged white man carrying a gasoline container in the area of the bombing. Investigators believe he is connected to the attack. Another surveillance video was released that showed a different man who entered the mosque April 4 and shouted anti-Islam epithets. Neither man has been found.
FBI national hate crime statistics for years showed very little anti-Muslim hate crime violence. In 1995, the first year for complete FBI hate crime statistics, there were 29 anti-Muslim hate crimes recorded; that stayed about level through 2000, when there were 28. But in 2001, the 9/11 attacks spurred a 17-fold growth in hate crimes to 481, according to the FBI. At around the same time, however, President Bush gave an important speech, saying Islam was not the enemy, and hate crimes the following year, 2002, dropped to 155. That number essentially declined slowly until 2008, when there were 105 anti-Muslim hate crimes recorded. Those are the latest statistics available.
The FBI statistics are known to severely understate the total number of hate crimes. According to a Department of Justice study, the real level of reported and unreported hate crimes is between 20 and 30 times higher than the numbers that are published. However, the trends the numbers show are believed to be accurate.
SPLCentre
The apparent resurgence of anti-Muslim hate crimes followed a long decline that began after a major outbreak in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center (more below).
The most violent of these attacks took place on Tuesday in New York City, when 21-year-old film student Michael Enright allegedly attacked a cab driver. Police said that Enright cursed out the cabby after asking him if he was Muslim and then slashed his throat and stabbed him in several places when he answered in the affirmative. Enright was charged with hate crimes on Wednesday.
In California also on Tuesday, Imam Abdullah Salem arrived at the Madera Islamic Center to find two menacing signs, one of which read, “Wake up America, the enemy is here.” It was the latest in a recent string of attacks on the center, including a brick thrown at the building on Sunday and a sign posted the prior week that read, “No temple for the God of terrorism at Ground Zero.”
Yesterday evening, a drunk man entered a Queens mosque, shouting anti-Muslim slurs while urinating on prayer rugs, according to the New York Post. The man, identified by police as Omar Rivera, also allegedly shouted slurs, calling the worshippers “terrorists.”
These incidents are just the latest in a series of anti-Muslim attacks that have taken place over the course of the past year. On May 12, a Muslim community center was firebombed while filled with people. Approximately 60 worshipers were at The Islamic Center of Northeast Florida in Jacksonville when a pipe bomb went off around 9:35 p.m. It caused a small fire in the back of the building, but no one was injured. The FBI released surveillance video of what appeared to be a middle-aged white man carrying a gasoline container in the area of the bombing. Investigators believe he is connected to the attack. Another surveillance video was released that showed a different man who entered the mosque April 4 and shouted anti-Islam epithets. Neither man has been found.
FBI national hate crime statistics for years showed very little anti-Muslim hate crime violence. In 1995, the first year for complete FBI hate crime statistics, there were 29 anti-Muslim hate crimes recorded; that stayed about level through 2000, when there were 28. But in 2001, the 9/11 attacks spurred a 17-fold growth in hate crimes to 481, according to the FBI. At around the same time, however, President Bush gave an important speech, saying Islam was not the enemy, and hate crimes the following year, 2002, dropped to 155. That number essentially declined slowly until 2008, when there were 105 anti-Muslim hate crimes recorded. Those are the latest statistics available.
The FBI statistics are known to severely understate the total number of hate crimes. According to a Department of Justice study, the real level of reported and unreported hate crimes is between 20 and 30 times higher than the numbers that are published. However, the trends the numbers show are believed to be accurate.
SPLCentre
Neo-Nazis targeting children online
German youth protection authorities Jugendschutz presented a report this week detailing the burgeoning neo-Nazi web offerings, including the use of social networks and video platforms.
The online offensive is part of the strategy right-wing extremists are using to disguise their propaganda and lure younger recruits, according to Jugendschutz authorities.
“This example showcases how right-wing extremists are abusing Web 2.0,” said Stefan Glaser from jugendschutz.net. “Their activities are increasingly found there because they can reach more young people.”
Extremists are also disseminating materials meant to look harmless, such as a CD of children’s songs and lullabies for tots between the ages of three to eight purportedly sponsored by Chancellor Angela Merkel. However, the songs actually contain anti-Semitic lyrics and encourage racist violence and Holocaust denial, daily Die Welt reported on Wednesday.
According to research done in partnership with the Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung), Glaser said that since 2007, the amount of neo-Nazi activity found on platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter has exploded.
Recently state intelligence experts have warned that the neo-Nazi NPD party had increased their focus on online German social networks such as SchülerVZ, StudiVZ and beyond.
Experts say the danger is that many young people are unable to recognise propaganda and attempts at indoctrination from these groups at first glance. Instead of blatant symbols such as swastikas, many are using graffiti and other less-recognisable imagery from youth culture.
The abuse is rampant, and Jugendschutz.net counts an additional 10,000 active users of neo-Nazi blogs and download portals per day, Glaser said. The number of these radical internet sites has reached an all-time high, from 1,635 in 2007 to 1,870 now.
“The internet is the propaganda medium of choice for right-wing extremists to spread hateful content in order to net young people to talk with,” he told the paper.
Because more children are beginning to use the internet than ever before, Glaser encouraged internet service providers to invest more in security and social responsibility.
The Local Germany
City to close racist discos (Denmark)
Council to stop minorities being randomly turned away at city nightclubs
Reports of minorities being refused admittance to the city’s discotheques are being taken seriously by Copenhagen’s city council, which is ready to pass a special ordinance aimed at shutting down the discriminatory clubs, reports Politiken newspaper.
Although many turned away do not file official complaints against the clubs, social authorities have cited the problem as being widespread.
Politiken recently sent out their own group of non-ethnic Danes to six city nightclubs. The group was refused entry into five of them. Also, a Catinét survey taken in 2008 showed that 52 percent of minorities claimed to have been refused entry to a discotheque, while only 17 percent of white Danes had experienced the same treatment.
But now the Social Democrats have put forward a proposal to crack down on the guilty clubs, and the move reportedly has a majority of the city council backing it.
‘Politiken’s test confirms that we need to focus more closely on the issue and on the means to deal with it,’ said Pia Allerslev, head of the city’s culture and leisure department.
‘The situation is the same as if I weren’t allowed entry by a minority bodybuilder working the club door,’ she said. ‘We can’t tolerate that and obviously have to address the matter politically.’
cphpost
Reports of minorities being refused admittance to the city’s discotheques are being taken seriously by Copenhagen’s city council, which is ready to pass a special ordinance aimed at shutting down the discriminatory clubs, reports Politiken newspaper.
Although many turned away do not file official complaints against the clubs, social authorities have cited the problem as being widespread.
Politiken recently sent out their own group of non-ethnic Danes to six city nightclubs. The group was refused entry into five of them. Also, a Catinét survey taken in 2008 showed that 52 percent of minorities claimed to have been refused entry to a discotheque, while only 17 percent of white Danes had experienced the same treatment.
But now the Social Democrats have put forward a proposal to crack down on the guilty clubs, and the move reportedly has a majority of the city council backing it.
‘Politiken’s test confirms that we need to focus more closely on the issue and on the means to deal with it,’ said Pia Allerslev, head of the city’s culture and leisure department.
‘The situation is the same as if I weren’t allowed entry by a minority bodybuilder working the club door,’ she said. ‘We can’t tolerate that and obviously have to address the matter politically.’
cphpost
Najib : Zero-tolerance for racism (KUALA LUMPUR)
The Government will not hesitate to take action against anyone who makes racist remarks or fuels racism in the country.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak said the Government has always maintained a zero-tolerance towards racism.
"Our stand is that we do not tolerate racist remarks by anyone and action will be taken against them,” Najib said in a dialogue at the Barisan Nasional Youth Lab programme in City Hall Auditorium today.
“We must adopt zero tolerance for those who play up such (racist) issues after checking the facts.
"Unity is a very important part of our nation building," he said.
Najib said civil servants also play an important role in preventing racism and they must be educated well not to make insensitive remarks that could stroke racial sentiments.
He said that the recent racial remarks made by two school principals could have been avoided and the incident was an example on how important it is for civil servants to observe a policy that does not tolerate racism.
"We must educate civil servants to understand and appreciate the 1Malaysia concept.
Najib also said the media, which has more latitude today, must be extremely careful in not reporting things which are twisted and gives rise to racial sentiments.
The premier also agreed to an idea mooted by participants in the Lab to set up a special 1Malaysia Fund to support youth programmes that foster inter-racial relationships.
He said he will personally look into conceptualising the idea soon through a proper mechanism.
On another note, Najib, who is also Barisan Nasional chairman, said BN will decide by year end on whether to allow direct membership into the party.
“We are still thinking of this idea and we will decide in our BN Convention year end on the idea of direct membership, “ he said, in response to a question on whether BN will allow direct membership instead of having to go through different race-based parties when registering as members.
He said the idea of direct membership, if it is in sync with the 1Malaysia concept, will be something very positive.
The Sun Daily
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak said the Government has always maintained a zero-tolerance towards racism.
"Our stand is that we do not tolerate racist remarks by anyone and action will be taken against them,” Najib said in a dialogue at the Barisan Nasional Youth Lab programme in City Hall Auditorium today.
“We must adopt zero tolerance for those who play up such (racist) issues after checking the facts.
"Unity is a very important part of our nation building," he said.
Najib said civil servants also play an important role in preventing racism and they must be educated well not to make insensitive remarks that could stroke racial sentiments.
He said that the recent racial remarks made by two school principals could have been avoided and the incident was an example on how important it is for civil servants to observe a policy that does not tolerate racism.
"We must educate civil servants to understand and appreciate the 1Malaysia concept.
Najib also said the media, which has more latitude today, must be extremely careful in not reporting things which are twisted and gives rise to racial sentiments.
The premier also agreed to an idea mooted by participants in the Lab to set up a special 1Malaysia Fund to support youth programmes that foster inter-racial relationships.
He said he will personally look into conceptualising the idea soon through a proper mechanism.
On another note, Najib, who is also Barisan Nasional chairman, said BN will decide by year end on whether to allow direct membership into the party.
“We are still thinking of this idea and we will decide in our BN Convention year end on the idea of direct membership, “ he said, in response to a question on whether BN will allow direct membership instead of having to go through different race-based parties when registering as members.
He said the idea of direct membership, if it is in sync with the 1Malaysia concept, will be something very positive.
The Sun Daily
Home of Former White Supremacist Leader Raided (USA)
The one-time leader of the racist Aryan Nations organization is in custody after authorities raided his Grain Valley home on Thursday.
Charles Juba was taken into custody by police and his home searched by Grain Valley Police and Jackson County Sheriff's deputies. Police say that Juba was taken into custody on a traffic violation, but would not give any further details of the raid or the search warrant, which has been sealed by a judge.
Neighbor Christina Smith says that she was in her front yard when authorities arrived to raid Juba's home.
"I walked outside, police had drawn guns, and he's like, get inside," said Smith. "So we run in the house, and we hear a bang, and that's when the door was broken down."
Juba was not a home at the time of the raid, but among the items gathered into evidence were a white robe. Juba was later taken into custody after being pulled over by police along 40 Highway.
Earlier this year, Juba made headlines after he tried to open an under-21 club in Odessa called The Black Flag Club. The club was eventually rejected by city officials after residents raised concern that the club would be a front for white supremacist activity.
Fox 4
Charles Juba was taken into custody by police and his home searched by Grain Valley Police and Jackson County Sheriff's deputies. Police say that Juba was taken into custody on a traffic violation, but would not give any further details of the raid or the search warrant, which has been sealed by a judge.
Neighbor Christina Smith says that she was in her front yard when authorities arrived to raid Juba's home.
"I walked outside, police had drawn guns, and he's like, get inside," said Smith. "So we run in the house, and we hear a bang, and that's when the door was broken down."
Juba was not a home at the time of the raid, but among the items gathered into evidence were a white robe. Juba was later taken into custody after being pulled over by police along 40 Highway.
Earlier this year, Juba made headlines after he tried to open an under-21 club in Odessa called The Black Flag Club. The club was eventually rejected by city officials after residents raised concern that the club would be a front for white supremacist activity.
Fox 4
BNP Appeals For £150k To Keep 'Wolves At Bay' (UK)
The far-right party, which has two MEPs and more than 70 councillors, says the cost of fighting lawsuits has left it "cash struck" and it needs £150,000 to survive.
The BNP is facing legal action from the Equality and Human Rights Commission which won a ruling earlier this year forcing the party to scrap its "whites only" membership rules.
Both sides are due back in court next month after the commission claimed some terms of the court order have not been met.
In an email to supporters, BNP leader Nick Griffin said they should be aware of "a grave situation we find ourselves in".
"The party is now suffering acute legal and financial pressure," he wrote.
"Some of the money we had allocated to pay other pressing bills had to be diverted to this most urgent fight."
"We need to raise £150,000 to keep the wolves at bay and to ensure our survival."
The party's financial problems come after a split which has led to the resignation or suspension of a number of key figures.
The BNP's former legal adviser, Lee Barnes, has claimed in an open resignation letter that the party is in such a poor financial state it could be declared bankrupt.
"As far as I am aware donations to the party have flowed to a trickle as well as party renewals and new inquiries," Mr Barnes wrote.
"Outstanding court costs, wages bills, election expenses and also forthcoming legal cases against the party mean the BNP is now technically bankrupt."
Mr Barnes says the cost of legal action brought by Unilever in April over the use of a picture of a Marmite jar in campaign material is an example of the party "squandering" cash.
"Regardless of how much income the party has had over the last few years, hundreds of thousands of pounds have been squandered on avoidable court cases."
Unilever says it has now settled the case on confidential terms.
The split in the BNP came to a head in April when its then head of publicity, Mark Collett, was arrested on suspicion of making death threats against Mr Griffin.
No charges were brought and Humberside Police have confirmed that Mr Collett faces no further action.
The BNP has not responded to a request for a comment.
Sky News
Police on alert for trouble at demo (UK)
Police forces across the country are sharing intelligence on protesters who could cause trouble at a far-Right group's planned demonstration in Yorkshire.
Every available police officer in Bradford will be on duty tomorrow, when members of the English Defence League (EDL) are due to gather in the city's Urban Gardens.
West Yorkshire Police revealed that specially trained officers from "a significant of other forces" will also be mobilised to prevent a repeat of the riots which devastated the city in 2001 following an attempted march by the National Front.
Home Secretary Theresa May has authorised a blanket ban on marches in the city, but the EDL and their opponents, Unite Against Fascism, are still expected to hold static demonstrations.
They are expected to attract more protesters than attended an EDL demonstration in Leeds last year, which cost the taxpayer £345,000 in policing costs.
Drinking alcohol will be banned on all trains to and from Bradford and all Transpennine Express services from Manchester to Leeds.
Bradford South divisional commander Chief Superintendent Alison Rose said that, in the event of trouble, she "would not rest" until the people responsible were brought to justice.
"After the events of 2001, nearly 600 years imprisonment was given out in total by the judge in that case and some of those people were immediately deported from this country on their release," she added.
"We have the full support of our criminal justice partners in Bradford and anybody intent on causing harm, irrespective of their political or ethnic background, should bear that in mind on Saturday."
Ch Supt Rose said police, Bradford Council and other agencies had spent most of the year preparing for a protest as the city had "been on the EDL's radar for quite a while".
"We know only too well the repercussions of serious public disorder and we have worked tirelessly to make sure that doesn't happen, nor is there any likelihood of people being put in any kind of jeopardy in this city on Saturday."
Bradford Council leader Ian Greenwood said all the authority's neighbourhood staff, wardens and youth workers would be on duty to "try to ensure that nobody has reason to be bored on Saturday".
A community event celebrating multiculturalism, called "Be Bradford – Peaceful Together", is to be held at Infirmary Fields, the scene of some of the worst violence during the 2001 riots.
Coun Greenwood said: "We will stop people from fomenting extreme political views in the community, whichever side of the fence they come from."
Yorkshire post
Every available police officer in Bradford will be on duty tomorrow, when members of the English Defence League (EDL) are due to gather in the city's Urban Gardens.
West Yorkshire Police revealed that specially trained officers from "a significant of other forces" will also be mobilised to prevent a repeat of the riots which devastated the city in 2001 following an attempted march by the National Front.
Home Secretary Theresa May has authorised a blanket ban on marches in the city, but the EDL and their opponents, Unite Against Fascism, are still expected to hold static demonstrations.
They are expected to attract more protesters than attended an EDL demonstration in Leeds last year, which cost the taxpayer £345,000 in policing costs.
Drinking alcohol will be banned on all trains to and from Bradford and all Transpennine Express services from Manchester to Leeds.
Bradford South divisional commander Chief Superintendent Alison Rose said that, in the event of trouble, she "would not rest" until the people responsible were brought to justice.
"After the events of 2001, nearly 600 years imprisonment was given out in total by the judge in that case and some of those people were immediately deported from this country on their release," she added.
"We have the full support of our criminal justice partners in Bradford and anybody intent on causing harm, irrespective of their political or ethnic background, should bear that in mind on Saturday."
Ch Supt Rose said police, Bradford Council and other agencies had spent most of the year preparing for a protest as the city had "been on the EDL's radar for quite a while".
"We know only too well the repercussions of serious public disorder and we have worked tirelessly to make sure that doesn't happen, nor is there any likelihood of people being put in any kind of jeopardy in this city on Saturday."
Bradford Council leader Ian Greenwood said all the authority's neighbourhood staff, wardens and youth workers would be on duty to "try to ensure that nobody has reason to be bored on Saturday".
A community event celebrating multiculturalism, called "Be Bradford – Peaceful Together", is to be held at Infirmary Fields, the scene of some of the worst violence during the 2001 riots.
Coun Greenwood said: "We will stop people from fomenting extreme political views in the community, whichever side of the fence they come from."
Yorkshire post
BOOK MAY REIGNITE MOHAMMED CRISIS (Denmark)
A new book from the man who approved the Mohammed cartoons for Jyllands-Posten newspaper could revive tensions between the Muslim world and Denmark and trigger another Mohammed crisis, say several experts. The book by Jyllands-Posten culture editor Flemming Rose, ‘Tavshedens tyranni’ (‘Tyranny of Silence’), is scheduled to be released on 30 September. It will include the 12 drawings of Mohammed originally printed in the newspaper in 2005 – an act that subsequently resulted in boycotts of Danish products and the burning of the Danish flag in Muslim countries around the world. In 2008, three people were arrested for plotting to kill one of the cartoonists, Kurt Westergaard, who was also accosted in his home by a man with an axe in January of this year. In Chicago, terrorist David Headley, who was one of the men behind the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, admitted there were plans to bomb Jyllands-Posten’s head office in Copenhagen. No Danish newspaper has reprinted the cartoons since Politiken and several other media outlets in February 2008. They have, however, been reprinted countless times worldwide since then.
Evan Kohlman, an American terrorism expert, warned that reprinting the drawings could be a mistake. ‘If I were him, I would very seriously consider the consequences of reprinting the cartoons,’ Kohlman told Politiken newspaper. Ole Wøhlers Olsen, Denmark's ambassador to Algeria, said he understood that the interests of free speech needed to be reinforced. ‘But every time the drawings are reprinted, there are riots and demonstrations – and also bloodshed,’ said Olsen, who added the more radical Islamic groups would welcome the move because they would use it as propaganda. ‘And government leaders in the Arab and Muslim world will probably shake their heads and say that Danes have failed to understand that the issue is something that bothers them and creates internal problems for them,’ he said. Rose himself said the book was not an attempt to provoke Muslims. ‘I’m just telling the story of the drawings and putting them in a context about pictures that can be offensive,’ said Rose. He added that if he didn’t include the pictures, then there would be an uproar over why they weren’t in the book. Rose’s book is not the only one on the subject due out this autumn. Westergaard, the man who drew the infamous drawing of Mohammed with a bomb in his turban, has written his memoirs, ‘Manden bag Stregan’ (‘The man behind the drawing’), which are due out in November.
The Copenhagen Post
Evan Kohlman, an American terrorism expert, warned that reprinting the drawings could be a mistake. ‘If I were him, I would very seriously consider the consequences of reprinting the cartoons,’ Kohlman told Politiken newspaper. Ole Wøhlers Olsen, Denmark's ambassador to Algeria, said he understood that the interests of free speech needed to be reinforced. ‘But every time the drawings are reprinted, there are riots and demonstrations – and also bloodshed,’ said Olsen, who added the more radical Islamic groups would welcome the move because they would use it as propaganda. ‘And government leaders in the Arab and Muslim world will probably shake their heads and say that Danes have failed to understand that the issue is something that bothers them and creates internal problems for them,’ he said. Rose himself said the book was not an attempt to provoke Muslims. ‘I’m just telling the story of the drawings and putting them in a context about pictures that can be offensive,’ said Rose. He added that if he didn’t include the pictures, then there would be an uproar over why they weren’t in the book. Rose’s book is not the only one on the subject due out this autumn. Westergaard, the man who drew the infamous drawing of Mohammed with a bomb in his turban, has written his memoirs, ‘Manden bag Stregan’ (‘The man behind the drawing’), which are due out in November.
The Copenhagen Post
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