Keith Porter will appear in court for battering a Polish prisoner while he was in jail for trying to kill another immigrant.
A violent thug who battered his Polish victim with a 10kg weightlifting bar while in jail for a racially-motivated attack is to be sentenced.
Keith Porter will appear in court the High Court in Edinburgh on Wednesday for carrying out an unprovoked assault on a Polish victim in prison.
The High Court in Inverness heard that 22-year-old Porter had been remanded in custody for an earlier assault when he decided to attack Daniel Kaizer, 28. The attack happened in the gym at Craiginches Prison in Aberdeen on December 4 last year.
Months earlier, Porter had pounced on Jaroslaw Janeczek. Porter punched and stamped on the 39-year-old, and kicked a three-foot stick inside him until it was hidden in his body.
In November, Porter pleaded guilty to attempted murder and co-accused George Stewart admitted assault to severe injury. Sentence had been deferred for a month for background social inquiry reports to be prepared.
On December 4, while awaiting sentence, Porter decided to launch another vicious attack on Mr Kaizer, leaving him scarred for life.
At the same time, Stewart attacked another Polish inmate in the prison gym. He too was convicted of assault on Friday. Lord Woolman told Stewart that it was a minor assault which would not normally have come to the High Court and fined him £250 with no time to pay.
Advocate depute Andrew Bowen told Lord Woolman of Porter's history of previous convictions which included a racially motivated assault in 2005, and two other more serious offences of assault to sever injury.
However it was the attempted murder conviction in November last year which prompted Mr Bowden to seek a risk assessment order on Mr Porter because, he said, "of the pattern of offending which posed a serious risk to the public."
Lord Woolman agreed and told Porter: "It is extremely troubling that you have been convicted on a second charge of attempted murder in such a short period. It is entirely appropriate that a risk assessment should be sought before deciding what the proper disposal should be."
STV
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
Man knifed in racist attack at Southport takeaway (UK)
A takeaway owner was stabbed in an alleged racist attack in Southport.
The 30-year-old owner of Bluto’s eaterie on Shakespeare Street, known locally as Rio, was taken to Southport Hospital.
He was stabbed in the leg at around 5pm on Thursday.
The attacker had allegedly shouted racist abuse at the victim and threatened his girlfriend with a metal pole near the Promenade earlier that day.
Kirsty Nolan, 19, the victim’s girlfriend, said: “He got a metal pole out and tried to hit me with it.”
The man, who is described as being in his twenties, visited the takeaway later that day with another man.
It is alleged he started waving a knife around and the other man smashed a chair against the counter.
The owner, who is originally from Jordan, managed to chase them out of the shop but was stabbed in the leg.
Kirsty said: “He was trying to get Rio with the knife.He just kept swinging and got him in the leg.
Rio, who is still recovering from his injuries, said: “This was a one-off racist incident and this kind of incident will not be happening in my shop again. I’d like to thank everybody who has shown their concern.”
House-to-house enquiries were carried out and shop CCTV is being examined.
Neighbourhood Inspector Tony Jones, said: “We are determined to catch the person responsible for this attack.
“I would appeal for anyone who was in the area at the time and saw this assault take place or the offender to come forward and help our investigation. I would like to advise the public that incidents such as this are rare, and we have stepped up our patrols in the area to reassure the public and provide a visible presence.”
Anyone with information should call police on 0151 777 3165 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Southport visitor
The 30-year-old owner of Bluto’s eaterie on Shakespeare Street, known locally as Rio, was taken to Southport Hospital.
He was stabbed in the leg at around 5pm on Thursday.
The attacker had allegedly shouted racist abuse at the victim and threatened his girlfriend with a metal pole near the Promenade earlier that day.
Kirsty Nolan, 19, the victim’s girlfriend, said: “He got a metal pole out and tried to hit me with it.”
The man, who is described as being in his twenties, visited the takeaway later that day with another man.
It is alleged he started waving a knife around and the other man smashed a chair against the counter.
The owner, who is originally from Jordan, managed to chase them out of the shop but was stabbed in the leg.
Kirsty said: “He was trying to get Rio with the knife.He just kept swinging and got him in the leg.
Rio, who is still recovering from his injuries, said: “This was a one-off racist incident and this kind of incident will not be happening in my shop again. I’d like to thank everybody who has shown their concern.”
House-to-house enquiries were carried out and shop CCTV is being examined.
Neighbourhood Inspector Tony Jones, said: “We are determined to catch the person responsible for this attack.
“I would appeal for anyone who was in the area at the time and saw this assault take place or the offender to come forward and help our investigation. I would like to advise the public that incidents such as this are rare, and we have stepped up our patrols in the area to reassure the public and provide a visible presence.”
Anyone with information should call police on 0151 777 3165 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Southport visitor
Germany Is Becoming Islamophobic
The Pied Piper of Hamelin knew how to fight the plague. He knew catchy, seductive tunes and was successful against the scourge with his unconventional methods. But because society paid him no tribute and refused to pay him the wages he had been promised for his service, he decided to take a radical step and lure away the children of Hamelin. In doing so, he destroyed the very community he had once set out to save.
It is unclear when and why Dr. Thilo Sarrazin, 65, the child of a doctor and a Prussian landowner's daughter, who supposedly did a decent job during his time as finance minister for the city-state of Berlin and who had unusual ideas, became a seducer. Did he see himself as a future chancellor, and was he bitterly waiting in the wings to be nominated by his Social Democratic Party (SPD)? Would he have preferred to become the CEO of Deutsche Bank instead of "merely" a member of the executive board of Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank? Does he relish the role of agent provocateur and popular guest on German talk shows? And is he truly worried about the absurd concern that Germany is "doing away with itself" -- as the title of his new book claims -- by tolerating too many foreign influences in its society?
Opinions may differ among those who seek to interpret Sarrazin's behavior. The important thing is that he is someone who has gone from being a tough-talking, audacious politician and anarchic prankster (see quote gallery) to a racist anti-Muslim who makes up nonsense about the genetic basis of intelligence and the "German-Jewish origins of intelligence research." Those ideas have prompted him to voice his concerns over Germany's "cultural identity" and "national character," and to blame Muslim immigrants and their supposed non-culture for all the problems of integration -- ignoring the fact that both the immigrants and the host country have a responsibility.
"We," he says, referring to German society as a whole, are unavoidably becoming less intelligent because Muslims, who Sarrazin characterizes as being unwilling to integrate, alien and cognitively challenged, are producing the most children in Germany. Sarrazin magnanimously allows that there are, of course, exceptions in the Islamic world, perhaps a few intelligent Turks here and there. But his views essentially eliminate the need to even address the issue of a controlled immigration policy, of which Sarrazin himself has been such a vehement proponent in the past. Sarrazin, in one of his typical turns of phrase, said that Muslims ought to "disappear." From that point of view, integration is unimaginable, possible only through death -- which is naturally also one way to solve the problem.
Selective Statistics
The respected Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper called Sarrazin's book an "anti-Muslim dossier based on genetics." Chancellor Angela Merkel reacted with irritation. Stephan Kramer, the general secretary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, suggested that the author consider joining the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD).
The interior minister of the city-state of Berlin, Ehrhart Körting, a member of the SPD, expects the book to trigger legal action over hate speech. "Thilo is currently drifting away," he says. "He always had a fondness for statistics. But in the integration debate he uses only those statistics that fit in with his image of the enemy."
Christian Gaebler, who is head of the SPD in the Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, where Sarrazin is registered, said: "Enough is enough. Should Mr. Sarrazin not go willingly, we are initiating proceedings to throw him out of the party. We will carefully analyze his book and discuss the issue at our next state executive board meeting on Sept. 6."
Sarrazin's rhetoric has even triggered outrage abroad. In France, the daily newspaper Le Monde called him a "racist provocateur." But the widespread rebuke among politicians and in the media (his fellow bankers have remained eloquently silent on the controversy) is only one side of the coin. Sarrazin's theories, in the form of excerpts from his book and quotes published in SPIEGEL, the tabloid newspaper Bild and the weekly newspaper Die Zeit, have also found willing listeners within a highly anxious population. In fact, they almost have majority appeal.
Socially Acceptable
The Turkish-German writer and sociologist Necla Kelek made a speech at the presentation of Sarrazin's book on Monday in which she defended his ideas. Kelek is a fan of Sarrazin and has won several awards in Germany, bestowed by people who -- like her -- see all the problems of the world as being caused by Islam.
The book was already at the top of the German Amazon's list of bestsellers when it was published. Every threat to eject Sarrazin from his party or his position at the Bundesbank only enhances his notoriety. But if nothing happens, he can feel all the more validated.
If Sarrazin were a lone wolf, an agitator in a desert with no supporters, he could be dismissed as a freakish phenomenon. But with his seductive flute-playing, the man now has a host of acolytes, including women of Muslim descent who ostentatiously refuse to wear a headscarf and other copycats. Shrill rhetoric is in vogue, and hysterical Islam-bashing is in full swing. Sarrazin and his fellow cynics became socially acceptable long ago.
Their efforts are having an effect, and are bringing about changes in Germany. The changes aren't sufficiently dramatic to jeopardize democracy right away, but are gradual, like a slow-acting poison. From a cosmopolitan country characterized by religious freedom, Germany is slowly becoming a state that is dominated by exaggerated fears and that exhibits the beginnings of an Islamophobic society.
Of course, these fears are not completely unfounded. Conditions in areas like Berlin's Kreuzberg neighborhood give rise to very real, justified concerns. There are schoolrooms where three-quarters of the students are from immigrant families, students whose German is barely good enough to get by. There are Arab and Albanian family clans that control crime syndicates and receive welfare benefits. There are phenomena like forced marriages and honor killings. In some mosques, imams are encouraging the faithful to engage in Islamist terror. All of this exists, and yet it has nothing to do with ordinary Islam and the day-to-day lives of well over 90 percent of Germany's Muslims. And yet these are precisely the kinds of things that fuel cheap attempts to create stereotypes of Muslims as the enemy.
Part 2: Parallels with 19th-Century Anti-Semitism
"In no other religion is the transition to violence and terrorism so fluid," Sarrazin writes. Former FAZ correspondent and bestselling author Udo Ulfkotte, another prophet of doom, expresses similar concerns when he warns: "A tsunami of Islamization is sweeping across our continent." Dutch writer and columnist Leon de Winter, who is much celebrated in Germany and a frequent contributor to SPIEGEL, claims to have recognized "the face of the enemy" in the outlandish religion and is generally disparaging of Muslims, writing: "Since the 1960s, we have been deceiving ourselves that all cultures are equal." The journalist and writer Ralph Giordano, a moral authority in Germany, is sharply critical of new mosque construction and sweepingly characterizes Islam as a totalitarian religion.
And aren't those who tolerate totalitarianism nothing but appeasers? And haven't we seen this once before?
Potential for Violence
There is no question that there are Muslims in Germany who sympathize with Islamist ideas (which doesn't necessarily mean that they are prepared to use violence). A report by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic intelligence agency, includes 36,270 Muslims in this group, a number that has increased slightly in recent years -- by about 9 percent since 2007. It is also undeniable that suicide bombers worldwide frequently invoke Islam -- a deplorable but not an isolated phenomenon. Every monotheistic religion, through its claim to exclusivity, contains the potential for violence.
But no one condemns Christianity as a whole when Northern Irish breakaway factions commit murder in the name of God. We don't blame all Catholics when some of them kill abortion doctors while invoking their faith. And we don't take all of Judaism to task when a Jewish terrorist named Baruch Goldstein slaughters dozens of Muslims during prayers in Hebron while invoking Yahweh.
But we do condemn Islam, whose holy book contains about as many passages glorifying violence as the Old Testament (which, unlike the Koran, does mention stoning as a punishment).
Of course, the widespread mistrust of Muslims, which has only grown in recent years, has a lot to do with the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. It is everything but a purely German phenomenon.
'Growing Hostility' in US
In the United States, traditionally a country of immigrants, where Muslims are much better integrated into society than in Germany, the planned construction of an Islamic cultural center and mosque room near Ground Zero in New York has triggered a heated controversy. Comments by hate-mongers from Fox News and leading Republicans prompted Time magazine to conclude, in a cover story in its latest issue titled "Is America Islamophobic?" that there are signs of "growing hostility" toward Muslims. The new government in the Netherlands will be forced to tolerate the right-wing populist politician Geert Wilders, who has even proposed banning the Koran.
In Italy, Denmark and Austria, populist right-wing parties are scoring political points with their crude anti-Islamic slogans. In Switzerland, a country with a very small Muslim population, they even managed to win a referendum to ban minarets. And in France the banlieues, low-income areas on the outskirts of major cities, are in flames because the French government can offer no solution to the lack of prospects for most Muslim youth.
In Germany, which has had at least some success in integrating foreigners, the mood against Muslims is now just as hysterical. A man like Sarrazin is applauded for behaving like a toned-down version of Wilders. But why?
Popular Scapegoat
The widespread support for Sarrazin also shows that there is potential in Germany for a party to the right of the pro-business Free Democratic Party and the conservative Christian Democrats. If Sarrazin were to establish such a party after possibly leaving the SPD, he could be expected to capture at least 10 percent of the vote. Passive, unimaginative politicians, major parties with no real integration policies and, most of all, the quarreling Islamic associations, have contributed to the possibility that the seed of Islamophobia in Germany could germinate and begin to grow when fertilized by people like Sarrazin.
The concept of Muslims as the enemy is becoming more targeted, with Islam being held accountable for many social problems, like unemployment, the supposed inundation of foreigners and deficits in education. A religion has become a scapegoat -- and a focal point for intolerance and hate.
Popular Internet sites like the German blog Politically Incorrect don't even begin to take the trouble to draw the necessary distinctions. Some of the postings on the site are indicative of this tendency to paint with a very broad brush, postings like: "Islam is a voluntary mental illness," "It is pointless to grapple with this inferior culture," and "There is only one word to describe Islam: barbaric." The anonymity of the Internet enables a boundless, blind hatred to cross the last thresholds of inhibition. Worshippers of the Prophet Mohammed are variously described as "goat fuckers" or "veiled sluts." "Dirty Muslim!" and "God-damned camel driver" are among the most popular derogatory expressions among young people today.
The Prophet Mohammed has more than an image problem. According to an Emnid poll, a majority now finds him almost as distasteful as Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect who authorized Jesus's crucifixion. Some 52 percent of Germans would be opposed to one of their children marrying a Muslim or would only accept it with very strong reservations, while 46 percent would be against one of their children marrying a Buddhist and 30 percent a Jew.
'Unbelievable Hatred'
Professor Wolfgang Benz, the long-standing director of the Center for Research on Anti-Semitism at the Technical University of Berlin and the co-founder of the Dachau Review with which he established research into concentration camps, now sees parallels between anti-Semitic agitators and extreme "Islam critics." "Populists in the West are responding to the image of the West as the enemy, propagated by demagogues within the Islamic world, with their own image of Islam as the enemy." They use similar tools, exploiting distorted images and hysteria. "The act of equating German citizens who are Muslims with fanatical terrorists is deliberate and is framed as an appeal to popular sentiment."
Benz sees the phobia against other cultures or minorities as a defense mechanism. An image of the enemy is constructed by means of generalization and the reduction of factual information to hearsay. A classic example is the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion," an anti-Semitic pamphlet written in the late 19th century, which supposedly furnished evidence of a Jewish global conspiracy. Although every detail of the text was debunked as incorrect, Russian czars and, most of all, the Nazis used it to incite the people against Jews. The text is still available today in Islamic countries that agitate against Israel. "Anyone who is -- rightfully -- indignant over the narrow-mindedness of anti-Semites must also take a critical view of the portrayal of Islam as the enemy," Benz wrote in January.
Benz has now come under sharp attack for this reasoning. He is the target of verbal abuse and even threats. "I am confronted with an unbelievable hatred," says Benz, even though he has absolutely no intention of trivializing anti-Semitism. But in today's Germany, it appears that few people are interested in taking a differentiated view.
Never Seen Again
Germany is changing. And although it is not yet a consistently Islamophobic society, a Sarrazin republic, it is certainly on its way to becoming one.
The Pied Piper of Hamelin was never seen again after his disappearance. It would, with all due respect, be an appealing thought to not hear anything from Thilo Sarrazin for a long time. However, the Pied Piper did not return the children he had abducted. Only two escaped, one blind and the other deaf. Neither of them was able to help the other children -- and so all were lost.
speigel
ENGLISH NATIONAL ALLIANCE ANGRY SCENES IN BRIGHTON (UK)
A right-wing march in Britain’s “gay capital” ended in running battles yesterday.Police struggled to contain angry scenes at the English National Alliance’s rally in Brighton.
Streets packed with Bank Holiday trippers were transformed into scenes of chaos.
Hundreds of campaigners chanting anti-racist slogans met the march head-on.
As violence erupted, members of the public were caught up in the carnage.
One eyewitness said: “I’ve never seen anything like it, certainly not in Brighton. It was like a war zone.
“There were hundreds of people on both sides. We thought there might be trouble but nothing like this. It seemed to start when one group broke off from the main body of marchers. They slipped off down an alley and it just went from there.”
Police closed pubs and sealed off streets trying to contain the fights that were breaking out all over the city.
A spokesman for Sussex Police refused to confirm the exact number of arrests or comment on the police response.
Both sides had vowed to make it a peaceful day, but each said the other side contained violent members.
Daily Star
FBI raids linked to suspect with supremacist ties (USA)
Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation are searching several locations in Spokane County today in two cases.
Frank Harrill, agent in charge for the FBI’s Spokane office, declined to offer details but said one case involves Wayde Lynn Kurt, a 52-year-old convicted felon arrested Monday for illegally possessing a firearm.
Kurt drew federal attention last year after authorities learned he’d been in contact with a white supremacist leader despite being ordered by a judge to refrain from meeting with other felons. Now he’s accused of unlawfully possessing a 9mm handgun, an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle and an AK-47 semiautomatic rifle on Aug. 21, according to an indictment in U.S. District Court. He was booked into the Spokane County Jail Monday at 9:26 p.m.
Harrill declined to discuss the case and said he doesn’t expect further details to be released today.
"We’re fairly static in what we’re going to be able to release today,” he said.
Kurt was sentenced in October 2004 to 18 months in prison and three years probation for theft of government property. In April 2009, he was found in violation of probation for contacting a convicted felon without his probation officer’s permission.
That felon, Keegan Van Tuyl, is a white supremacist whose parole was revoked in January after federal prosecutors said he’d violated his release conditions by contacting white supremacists and leaving the state to attend a skinhead meeting in North Idaho.
Van Tuyl cofounded two Odinist-skinhead groups, Vangard Kindred and Valhalla-Bound Skinheads, while in federal prison, where he recruited members.
Van Tuyl and other members of the groups were involved in several racist activities in 2008 and 2009 in the Spokane area and North Idaho, federal prosecutors said at his January court hearing.
Kurt’s connection to Van Tuyl isn’t clear. Court documents filed April 16, 2009, say the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office recorded a phone call Van Tuyl, a jail inmate, had with Kurt on April 3, 2009. Kurt acknowledged speaking to Van Tuyl and said he knew he didn’t have permission to speak with him.
“As an intermediate sanction, the undersigned officer verbally reprimanded Mr. Kurt and again directed him to not associate with Mr. Van Tuyl,” according to a report by U.S. Probation Officer Samuel Najera. “Mr. Kurt acknowledged this directive and stated he would not be associating with Mr. Van Tuyl anymore.”
Spokesman
Frank Harrill, agent in charge for the FBI’s Spokane office, declined to offer details but said one case involves Wayde Lynn Kurt, a 52-year-old convicted felon arrested Monday for illegally possessing a firearm.
Kurt drew federal attention last year after authorities learned he’d been in contact with a white supremacist leader despite being ordered by a judge to refrain from meeting with other felons. Now he’s accused of unlawfully possessing a 9mm handgun, an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle and an AK-47 semiautomatic rifle on Aug. 21, according to an indictment in U.S. District Court. He was booked into the Spokane County Jail Monday at 9:26 p.m.
Harrill declined to discuss the case and said he doesn’t expect further details to be released today.
"We’re fairly static in what we’re going to be able to release today,” he said.
Kurt was sentenced in October 2004 to 18 months in prison and three years probation for theft of government property. In April 2009, he was found in violation of probation for contacting a convicted felon without his probation officer’s permission.
That felon, Keegan Van Tuyl, is a white supremacist whose parole was revoked in January after federal prosecutors said he’d violated his release conditions by contacting white supremacists and leaving the state to attend a skinhead meeting in North Idaho.
Van Tuyl cofounded two Odinist-skinhead groups, Vangard Kindred and Valhalla-Bound Skinheads, while in federal prison, where he recruited members.
Van Tuyl and other members of the groups were involved in several racist activities in 2008 and 2009 in the Spokane area and North Idaho, federal prosecutors said at his January court hearing.
Kurt’s connection to Van Tuyl isn’t clear. Court documents filed April 16, 2009, say the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office recorded a phone call Van Tuyl, a jail inmate, had with Kurt on April 3, 2009. Kurt acknowledged speaking to Van Tuyl and said he knew he didn’t have permission to speak with him.
“As an intermediate sanction, the undersigned officer verbally reprimanded Mr. Kurt and again directed him to not associate with Mr. Van Tuyl,” according to a report by U.S. Probation Officer Samuel Najera. “Mr. Kurt acknowledged this directive and stated he would not be associating with Mr. Van Tuyl anymore.”
Spokesman
N.Y. ANTI-MOSQUE LEADER DEFENDS GROUP THAT CLASHED WITH BRITISH POLICE (usa)
A leader in the movement protesting plans to build an Islamic cultural center two blocks from Ground Zero in lower Manhattan is defending the actions of a right-wing, anti-Muslim group that was involved in violent clashes with British riot police over the weekend. Pamela Geller is a conservative blogger, activist, and a principal organizer of Stop Islamization of America (SIOA), which seeks to block construction of the proposed center. The group is sponsoring a protest rally at the site on the 2010 anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, a week from Saturday. In a posting on her Atlas Shrugs blog, Geller expresses sympathy for the goals and actions of the English Defense League (EDL), a far-right group implicated in violent clashes with police during an anti-Islamic demonstration last Saturday in the northern English city of Bradford. "The stated goal of the EDL is to oppose militant Islam and the sharia," Geller writes. "What's wrong with that? Everything to the PC, leftist slaves in the media and the government." In an e-mail to Declassified, Geller affirmed her support for the EDL and defended the group's actions in Bradford, which, with its nearby sister city of Leeds, has a substantial Muslim population, many of Pakistani extraction.
Geller wrote: "The media has been defamatory and libelous towards any and all counter jihad activists, including the EDL, which far from being neo-Nazi and racist, is pro-Israel and has Sikh and other non-white members and spokesmen. The EDL's own explanation of what happened in Bradford is here. As you can see from that statement, a group of Islamic supremacists and Communists actually began the violence by throwing rocks at EDL members. White supremacists at the demonstration did not represent the EDL, and EDL members actually removed them from the demonstration." British media reports—including accounts from outlets known for their conservative political slants—and official police statements on the Bradford clashes do not offer much support for, and in some cases contradict, the account offered by the EDL. In an official chronology of last Saturday's events posted on the Web site of the West Yorkshire Police, the first reference to violence is a 2:30 p.m. entry that says: "Missiles have been thrown in the area around the Bradford Urban Gardens, however, this has been contained and the police are utilising their resources to manage the current situation."
Bradford Urban Gardens is the location at which U.K. authorities had allowed the EDL to stage its rally; a left-wing counterdemonstration was booked a half mile away. (The EDL had wanted to conduct a march through the city, but authorities denied permission.) A report from The Daily Telegraph, a newspaper known for its conservative sympathies, says violence broke out "as chanting EDL supporters began throwing missiles towards Asian youngsters and anti-fascist activists who had been taunting them with shouts of 'Nazi scum off our streets.' " The Telegraph said that as EDL protesters got off buses that had taken them to the site, they shouted slogans at locals, including "Allah-Pedophile," "We want our country back," and "We love the floods"—a reference, the paper said, to flooding that's now devastating much of Pakistan. The Daily Maill, a newspaper perhaps even more conservative thanThe Telegraph, also reported on the violence. The paper's Web site carries photos of what it says are EDL protesters, with one caption reading, "Crossing the line: EDL supporters in hats, hoods and balaclavas hurl missiles at police in Bradford today."
By her own account, Geller's support of the EDL and other anti-Muslim groups in the U.K. has put her at odds with what are considered mainstream groups representing Britain's Jewish community. In an interview with the conservative FrontPage Magazine Web site, Geller claims that rabbis and prominent Jewish groups in Britain had urged Jews to boycott a demonstration that a group called Stop the Islamization of Europe (SIOE) organized last December to protest plans to build a mosque in the North London neighborhood of Harrow. According to Geller, the Community Security Trust, which keeps watch on extremist and anti-Semitic activities in the U.K., much like the Anti-Defamation League does in the U.S., urged Jews not to support the SIOE protest, as did unnamed rabbis who said the protest's "only purpose" was "to spread hatred and fear." Geller accused U.K. Jewish groups like the CST of "aiding and abetting Islamic jihad and Islamic anti-Semitism." A person familiar with the views of British Jewish leaders, who asked for anonymity when discussing sensitive information, said mainstream Jewish groups regarded the English Defense League as "politicized football hooligans."
In an e-mail to Declassified, Geller acknowledged that some epithets that The Telegraph attributed to EDL protesters in Bradford were "in bad taste, although in saying that I am not accepting the accuracy of The Telegraph account, and also understand that words said in anger are not always words the speakers would endorse in moments of reflection." In a move apparently designed to avoid such embarrassments at her group's upcoming 9/11 event, she said, "We have already published several notices warning that inflammatory signs will be removed." Geller said the EDL itself acknowledged that there may have been neo-Nazi thugs among its ranks: "The left and real neo-Nazis frequently attempt to infiltrate EDL rallies in order to discredit the EDL. This is amply documented. Both have an interest in seeing the EDL fail: the left so that there will be no serious resistance to its agenda, and the neo-Nazis so that there exists no respectable alternative to them in opposing the British elite, and also because the neo-Nazis have generally aligned with the Islamic jihad that the EDL resists." She added that while she would not assert that the EDL "can do no wrong, I just refuse to accept accounts of EDL misdeeds from sources that have been proven in the past to have lied about EDL activities."
Newsweek
Geller wrote: "The media has been defamatory and libelous towards any and all counter jihad activists, including the EDL, which far from being neo-Nazi and racist, is pro-Israel and has Sikh and other non-white members and spokesmen. The EDL's own explanation of what happened in Bradford is here. As you can see from that statement, a group of Islamic supremacists and Communists actually began the violence by throwing rocks at EDL members. White supremacists at the demonstration did not represent the EDL, and EDL members actually removed them from the demonstration." British media reports—including accounts from outlets known for their conservative political slants—and official police statements on the Bradford clashes do not offer much support for, and in some cases contradict, the account offered by the EDL. In an official chronology of last Saturday's events posted on the Web site of the West Yorkshire Police, the first reference to violence is a 2:30 p.m. entry that says: "Missiles have been thrown in the area around the Bradford Urban Gardens, however, this has been contained and the police are utilising their resources to manage the current situation."
Bradford Urban Gardens is the location at which U.K. authorities had allowed the EDL to stage its rally; a left-wing counterdemonstration was booked a half mile away. (The EDL had wanted to conduct a march through the city, but authorities denied permission.) A report from The Daily Telegraph, a newspaper known for its conservative sympathies, says violence broke out "as chanting EDL supporters began throwing missiles towards Asian youngsters and anti-fascist activists who had been taunting them with shouts of 'Nazi scum off our streets.' " The Telegraph said that as EDL protesters got off buses that had taken them to the site, they shouted slogans at locals, including "Allah-Pedophile," "We want our country back," and "We love the floods"—a reference, the paper said, to flooding that's now devastating much of Pakistan. The Daily Maill, a newspaper perhaps even more conservative thanThe Telegraph, also reported on the violence. The paper's Web site carries photos of what it says are EDL protesters, with one caption reading, "Crossing the line: EDL supporters in hats, hoods and balaclavas hurl missiles at police in Bradford today."
By her own account, Geller's support of the EDL and other anti-Muslim groups in the U.K. has put her at odds with what are considered mainstream groups representing Britain's Jewish community. In an interview with the conservative FrontPage Magazine Web site, Geller claims that rabbis and prominent Jewish groups in Britain had urged Jews to boycott a demonstration that a group called Stop the Islamization of Europe (SIOE) organized last December to protest plans to build a mosque in the North London neighborhood of Harrow. According to Geller, the Community Security Trust, which keeps watch on extremist and anti-Semitic activities in the U.K., much like the Anti-Defamation League does in the U.S., urged Jews not to support the SIOE protest, as did unnamed rabbis who said the protest's "only purpose" was "to spread hatred and fear." Geller accused U.K. Jewish groups like the CST of "aiding and abetting Islamic jihad and Islamic anti-Semitism." A person familiar with the views of British Jewish leaders, who asked for anonymity when discussing sensitive information, said mainstream Jewish groups regarded the English Defense League as "politicized football hooligans."
In an e-mail to Declassified, Geller acknowledged that some epithets that The Telegraph attributed to EDL protesters in Bradford were "in bad taste, although in saying that I am not accepting the accuracy of The Telegraph account, and also understand that words said in anger are not always words the speakers would endorse in moments of reflection." In a move apparently designed to avoid such embarrassments at her group's upcoming 9/11 event, she said, "We have already published several notices warning that inflammatory signs will be removed." Geller said the EDL itself acknowledged that there may have been neo-Nazi thugs among its ranks: "The left and real neo-Nazis frequently attempt to infiltrate EDL rallies in order to discredit the EDL. This is amply documented. Both have an interest in seeing the EDL fail: the left so that there will be no serious resistance to its agenda, and the neo-Nazis so that there exists no respectable alternative to them in opposing the British elite, and also because the neo-Nazis have generally aligned with the Islamic jihad that the EDL resists." She added that while she would not assert that the EDL "can do no wrong, I just refuse to accept accounts of EDL misdeeds from sources that have been proven in the past to have lied about EDL activities."
Newsweek
Germany: Neo-Nazi attacks grandson of Munich massacre victim
Alexander Paloch convicted of beating 17-year-old Israeli living in Germany, whose grandfather was murdered in 1972 Olympics massacre. Attacker sentenced to eight months probation, avoids jail term.
The grandson of a victim of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre was attacked by a neo-Nazi in Germany. The 20-year-old assailant, Alexander Paloch, was convicted by the Naumburg District Court of assaulting a 17-year-old Israeli who lives with his family in a small town in Germany.
But despite the court's accepting the prosecution's arguments, the man was only sentence to eight months probation, because of the country's laws.
Paloch, who works as a cook, has a long history of neo-Nazi activity, and was suspected in the past of two incidents of assault. On Tuesday, he was convicted of beating the young Israeli on April 16 in the small town of Lauscha. The victim's grandfather was Amitzur Shapira, who was murdered in the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre.
During the attack, which went on even after the teen tried to flee, Paloch shouted, "Jewish pig". He punched him and kicked him until a passerby rescued the teen with his car.
The judge accepted the prosecution's claims and sentenced Paloch to eight months probation. The defense requested only five months probation. Paloch was also ordered to pay a fine of 360 euros ($458) which will go toward the memorial site at the former concentration camp at Buchenwald.
Victim's mother 'pleased with ruling'
"We are very pleased with the ruling, since we actually got what we demanded," the victim's mother, Tzipi Lev, told Ynet. "This is the maximum penalty for such an offence."
Lev said that since the incident, she and her partner have brought together a coalition of organizations to fight neo-Nazism in Lauscha.
Like many towns in the former East Germany, Lauscha is considered a center of activity for extreme right and neo-Nazi activity.
Paloch himself is considered one of the "protégés" of a veteran neo-Nazi activist in the town.
Y Net news
The grandson of a victim of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre was attacked by a neo-Nazi in Germany. The 20-year-old assailant, Alexander Paloch, was convicted by the Naumburg District Court of assaulting a 17-year-old Israeli who lives with his family in a small town in Germany.
But despite the court's accepting the prosecution's arguments, the man was only sentence to eight months probation, because of the country's laws.
Paloch, who works as a cook, has a long history of neo-Nazi activity, and was suspected in the past of two incidents of assault. On Tuesday, he was convicted of beating the young Israeli on April 16 in the small town of Lauscha. The victim's grandfather was Amitzur Shapira, who was murdered in the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre.
During the attack, which went on even after the teen tried to flee, Paloch shouted, "Jewish pig". He punched him and kicked him until a passerby rescued the teen with his car.
The judge accepted the prosecution's claims and sentenced Paloch to eight months probation. The defense requested only five months probation. Paloch was also ordered to pay a fine of 360 euros ($458) which will go toward the memorial site at the former concentration camp at Buchenwald.
Victim's mother 'pleased with ruling'
"We are very pleased with the ruling, since we actually got what we demanded," the victim's mother, Tzipi Lev, told Ynet. "This is the maximum penalty for such an offence."
Lev said that since the incident, she and her partner have brought together a coalition of organizations to fight neo-Nazism in Lauscha.
Like many towns in the former East Germany, Lauscha is considered a center of activity for extreme right and neo-Nazi activity.
Paloch himself is considered one of the "protégés" of a veteran neo-Nazi activist in the town.
Y Net news
Two men charged over English Defence League march in Bradford
Two men were charged with offences on Monday after a controversial city centre demonstration by far-right group the English Defence League.
A total of 14 men were detained on suspicion of a range of offences during and after Saturday's protest in Bradford, which was attended by fewer than 1,000 EDL supporters.
West Yorkshire Police said two men have been charged and eight others have been released on bail pending further inquiries.
During the demonstration, bottles, cans, stones and three smoke bombs were thrown at opponents gathered nearby.
Nearly 100 supporters of the far-right group climbed over a temporary 8ft barricade - aimed at keeping them inside the city's Urban Gardens - to get on to neighbouring waste ground from where they threw missiles at police.
As the skirmishes were breaking out, nearly 300 people gathered for an alternative event hosted by Unite Against Fascism/We Are Bradford about half a mile away at Crown Court Plaza.
In the days before the rally, Bradford community leaders called for calm, fearing demonstrations could provoke a violent reaction to rival the 2001 Bradford riots.
Initially the EDL intended to march in Bradford with a planned protest by Unite Against Fascism on the same day.
A high-profile campaign was started to stop the EDL march and Home Secretary Theresa May eventually authorised a ban on any public processions over the August Bank Holiday weekend.
West Yorkshire Police said the 14 people arrested were dealt with in the following ways:
A 37-year-old Bradford man was arrested for possessing an offensive weapon. He has been charged with the offence and bailed to appear at Bradford Magistrates Court on September 8;
A 32-year-old Bradford man was arrested for assaulting a police officer. He has been interviewed and released without being charged;
A 23-year-old Walsall man was arrested and charged with an offence under Section 4a of the Public Order Act. He has been bailed to appear at Leeds Magistrates' Court on December 6;
A 24-year-old Bradford man was arrested under Section 5 of the Public Order Act. He has been bailed pending further inquiries;
A 42-year-old Wolverhampton man was arrested under Section 5 of the Public Order Act. He was released after the event and issued with a fixed penalty notice for disorder;
Two men aged 22 and 20 along with two youths aged 16 and 15, all from Bradford, were arrested on suspicion of wounding after an incident in which a stone hit a man on the head causing a slight injury. All four have been released on bail pending further inquiries;
A 24-year-old Wakefield man was arrested under Section 4a of the Public Order Act and has been given police bail pending further inquiries;
A 23-year-old man from Birmingham was arrested under Section 5 of the Public Order Act. He was released after the event and was issued with a fixed penalty notice for disorder;
A 24-year-old man from Halifax was arrested under Section 5 of the Public Order Act. He was released after the event and was issued with a penalty notice for disorder;
An 18-year-old man from Bradford was arrested on suspicion of violent disorder following alleged missile throwing. He has been released on bail pending further inquiries;
A 24-year-old Bradford man was arrested in relation to two alleged assaults and also criminal damage after a missile was thrown at a coach on the M62. He has been bailed pending further inquiries.
The Telegraph
A total of 14 men were detained on suspicion of a range of offences during and after Saturday's protest in Bradford, which was attended by fewer than 1,000 EDL supporters.
West Yorkshire Police said two men have been charged and eight others have been released on bail pending further inquiries.
During the demonstration, bottles, cans, stones and three smoke bombs were thrown at opponents gathered nearby.
Nearly 100 supporters of the far-right group climbed over a temporary 8ft barricade - aimed at keeping them inside the city's Urban Gardens - to get on to neighbouring waste ground from where they threw missiles at police.
As the skirmishes were breaking out, nearly 300 people gathered for an alternative event hosted by Unite Against Fascism/We Are Bradford about half a mile away at Crown Court Plaza.
In the days before the rally, Bradford community leaders called for calm, fearing demonstrations could provoke a violent reaction to rival the 2001 Bradford riots.
Initially the EDL intended to march in Bradford with a planned protest by Unite Against Fascism on the same day.
A high-profile campaign was started to stop the EDL march and Home Secretary Theresa May eventually authorised a ban on any public processions over the August Bank Holiday weekend.
West Yorkshire Police said the 14 people arrested were dealt with in the following ways:
A 37-year-old Bradford man was arrested for possessing an offensive weapon. He has been charged with the offence and bailed to appear at Bradford Magistrates Court on September 8;
A 32-year-old Bradford man was arrested for assaulting a police officer. He has been interviewed and released without being charged;
A 23-year-old Walsall man was arrested and charged with an offence under Section 4a of the Public Order Act. He has been bailed to appear at Leeds Magistrates' Court on December 6;
A 24-year-old Bradford man was arrested under Section 5 of the Public Order Act. He has been bailed pending further inquiries;
A 42-year-old Wolverhampton man was arrested under Section 5 of the Public Order Act. He was released after the event and issued with a fixed penalty notice for disorder;
Two men aged 22 and 20 along with two youths aged 16 and 15, all from Bradford, were arrested on suspicion of wounding after an incident in which a stone hit a man on the head causing a slight injury. All four have been released on bail pending further inquiries;
A 24-year-old Wakefield man was arrested under Section 4a of the Public Order Act and has been given police bail pending further inquiries;
A 23-year-old man from Birmingham was arrested under Section 5 of the Public Order Act. He was released after the event and was issued with a fixed penalty notice for disorder;
A 24-year-old man from Halifax was arrested under Section 5 of the Public Order Act. He was released after the event and was issued with a penalty notice for disorder;
An 18-year-old man from Bradford was arrested on suspicion of violent disorder following alleged missile throwing. He has been released on bail pending further inquiries;
A 24-year-old Bradford man was arrested in relation to two alleged assaults and also criminal damage after a missile was thrown at a coach on the M62. He has been bailed pending further inquiries.
The Telegraph
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