The 38-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder in connection with the racist shootings in Malmö is set for a remand hearing on Tuesday as reports emerge linking one of his guns with a crime scene.
The prosecutor has filed a remand request and the hearing is booked to be held in the security chamber at Malmö District Court from 12-1pm on Tuesday.
The man, named as Peter Mang by the Expressen daily on Tuesday, is suspected of murder and five cases of attempted murder.
According to the newspaper, police have concluded after tests that at least one of the weapons licensed to Mang matches bullet fragments found at one or more of the shootings of which he is suspected.
Skåne police spokesperson, Ewa-Gun Westford, declined to confirm the report.
Peter Mang was arrested on Saturday after a tip off from a member of the public. Police have confirmed only his age, that he "has a Swedish background" and that he does not have any previous criminal convictions.
A possible motive for the attacks has not been released by the police but Mang's father was quoted by the Aftonbladet daily on Monday as saying that his son "lived in fear of immigrants taking over Swedish society".
Police are working on up to 20 unsolved shootings that they believe may have been deliberately targeting people with immigrant backgrounds in the city.
Malmö police have issued calls to the public to assist with information pertaining to the case.
The announcement spread panic in the city and a connection was quickly established with the case of an immigrant-shooting sniper in Stockholm in the early 1990s nicknamed "Laser Man."
"Laser Man" was the nickname given to John Ausonius, who shot 11 people of immigrant origin, killing one, around Stockholm from August 1991 to January 1992.
Ausonius, who got his nickname by initially using a rifle equipped with a laser sight, was sentenced to life behind bars in 1994 and remains in prison.
The Local Sweden
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
Portland neo-Nazi gets federal prison term for mailing noose to an Ohio NAACP leader (USA)
U.S. District Judge David A. Katz, in Toledo, ordered that Daniel Lee Jones, a onetime regional director of the American National Socialist Workers Party, be remanded into the custody of U.S. marshals and sent to prison.
Upthegrove by sending him a noose at his home. Upthegrove, who is African-American, was president of the Lima, Ohio, chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Authorities said Upthegrove was targeted for the racist mailer after he spoke out against police for a drug raid in Lima that left 26-year-old Tarika Wilson dead and her 14-month-old son, Sincere, wounded.
The government accused Jones of mailing hate fliers about the shooting to residents of Lima, which Upthegrove publicly condemned.
On Valentine's Day 2008, Upthegrove received a package containing the noose.
Judge Katz ordered Jones to be supervised by the court for three years after his release from prison.
No one answered Jones' cell phone before or after his sentencing today. His court-appointed defense lawyer, Andy P. Hart, did not return a voice mail or email seeking comment.
Oregon live
Racists' hate campaign is making our lives a misery (Scotland, UK)
Tara Kanji, 65, who left Idi Amin's Uganda in 1972 following the African leader's expulsion of his country's Asian community, said she and her daughter Salimah, 40, were now scared to leave their home.
They said a hate campaign had been launched against them which has seen their car smashed and dead wasps put through their letter box.
Salimah, a social policy student at Edinburgh University, said she had also been assaulted and even stalked by a man with a video camera.
She said: "There have been so many times when we've had abuse shouted at us, horrible things like 'you black b******, I'm going to hang you from the trees'.
"We're just a quiet family, trying to live peacefully in our flat and they are trying to intimidate us.
"We've told the police so many times, but they say they need other witnesses.
"Now things are escalating. Our car got vandalised and we feel scared to speak to the police."
She added: "There are probably other families like us suffering in silence."
Lothian and Borders Police said it was aware of recent incidents and was continuing to investigate.
A police spokeswoman said: "We can confirm we are looking into allegations following a number of complaints."
Local councillor Norman Work said: "It's very disappointing to hear something like this has been taking place.
"Fair-minded citizens should rally round and look out for anything like this happening."
Last month, racists were blamed after an Asian family had their cars smashed with golf clubs and vandalised with battery acid. The two sisters and their brother, whose parents came from Bangladesh, had been subjected to a hate campaign over the last six months. Each of the attacks took place in Whitson Place East in Saughton, where one of the sisters and her brother live in separate flats.
During one incident, a gang of five men wielding golf clubs broke the windows and dented the bodywork of the sisters' vehicles as they sat watching X Factor on television. The siblings, who were too scared to give their names, said they were worried the vandalism against their cars would escalate into violent assaults.
The News has also told recently how a 36-year-old woman from Stenhouse was left fearing for her safety after receiving more than 30 cards and letters racially abusing her two mixed-race children and saying she will end up "6ft under".
The Scotsman
Anti-racist activist targeted in home invasion (Calgary, Canada)
Two men savagely beaten during a home invasion say it was the work of vengeful neo-Nazis.
Jason Devine, a member of the vocal Anti-Racist Action Calgary group which has clashed with white supremacist factions at rallies in the past, suffered serious bruising and cuts around the head during the attack at his home early Monday morning.
His wife Bonnie, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in the city's recent election, and their four children were asleep upstairs when five masked men burst into their home and laid a vicious beating on Devine and his friend at about 1:15 a.m.
Both men were taken to hospital where Jason's friend remains, awaiting surgery for a broken arm.
"This is obviously a message," said Devine.
"They weren't able to bash my head in and do some serious damage, but it was still meant as a message: '(expletive) off, quit, leave it.'"
While the investigation is still in its early stages, police are considering a number of motives including that it may have been the work of retaliatory white supremacists.
"This was definitely a targeted attack, this was not a random attack," said Sgt. Brad Moore.
Devine recently launched a leaflet campaign alerting neighbours that known neo-Nazis were living in their midst.
Police have ruled out robbery as a motive.
No arrests have been made, although cops have a number of suspects in mind, including at least one high-profile white supremacist linked to the Aryan Guard, a white supremacist group once active but reportedly disbanded following high-profile bombings in Calgary last year.
The Anti-Racist Action Network maintains an Internet presence to report on local neo-Nazi activity.
"Based on who we know the victims are, based on their identities in the community, that's definitely an angle we're looking at," Moore said.
"At this point in time we can't confirm whether or not it was anybody related to any of those groups."
The assault is the latest in a string of attacks against the Devines, who recently moved.
Their former home had been on the receiving end of a Molotov cocktail, a Swastika was spray painted on their window and someone threw a cinder block through another window.
"After everything else that's happened over the last couple years, I don't know who the hell else would do it," Devine said.
Toronto Sun
Jason Devine, a member of the vocal Anti-Racist Action Calgary group which has clashed with white supremacist factions at rallies in the past, suffered serious bruising and cuts around the head during the attack at his home early Monday morning.
His wife Bonnie, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in the city's recent election, and their four children were asleep upstairs when five masked men burst into their home and laid a vicious beating on Devine and his friend at about 1:15 a.m.
Both men were taken to hospital where Jason's friend remains, awaiting surgery for a broken arm.
"This is obviously a message," said Devine.
"They weren't able to bash my head in and do some serious damage, but it was still meant as a message: '(expletive) off, quit, leave it.'"
While the investigation is still in its early stages, police are considering a number of motives including that it may have been the work of retaliatory white supremacists.
"This was definitely a targeted attack, this was not a random attack," said Sgt. Brad Moore.
Devine recently launched a leaflet campaign alerting neighbours that known neo-Nazis were living in their midst.
Police have ruled out robbery as a motive.
No arrests have been made, although cops have a number of suspects in mind, including at least one high-profile white supremacist linked to the Aryan Guard, a white supremacist group once active but reportedly disbanded following high-profile bombings in Calgary last year.
The Anti-Racist Action Network maintains an Internet presence to report on local neo-Nazi activity.
"Based on who we know the victims are, based on their identities in the community, that's definitely an angle we're looking at," Moore said.
"At this point in time we can't confirm whether or not it was anybody related to any of those groups."
The assault is the latest in a string of attacks against the Devines, who recently moved.
Their former home had been on the receiving end of a Molotov cocktail, a Swastika was spray painted on their window and someone threw a cinder block through another window.
"After everything else that's happened over the last couple years, I don't know who the hell else would do it," Devine said.
Toronto Sun
MERKEL COPIED ME, SAYS DUTCH FAR-RIGHT LEADER WILDERS (Germany/Netherlands)
Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders said German Chancellor Angela Merkel had copied his politics to improve her popularity ratings, in a media interview released Sunday. 'Merkel is scared,' Wilders told Spiegel news magazine. 'Because there are surveys which suggest that, if a charismatic personality arose in Germany the way I did in the Netherlands, they could count on 20 per cent of the vote.' Wilders, who heads the far-right People's Party for Freedom (PVV), said this development threatened Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and the opposition Social Democrats (SPD), who have traditionally shared the political mainstream. 'This is why they are trying to copy us: Merkel declared that multicultural society has failed,' Wilders said, reiterating part of a statement by the chancellor last month.
At the time, Merkel had made a more nuanced assessment that the notion of multiculturalism, in which people live alongside each other in a patchwork of cultures, had 'absolutely failed.' However, she added that integration had to succeed as Germany was reliant on immigrants. Horst Seehofer, the leader of the CDU's Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), had earlier said Germany should not accept more immigration from 'alien cultures' such as Turkey and Arab countries. 'What we experienced in Holland is now happening here (in Germany) too - the political elite is in turmoil,' Wilders said. The Dutch politician said most Germans did not accept the assessment by their president, Christian Wulff, that 'Islam also belongs in Germany.'
Two weeks ago, a German government spokesman rebuffed Wilders' claim that the CDU and CSU had taken 'the lead in the domain of Islam criticism' in Europe. The PVV became the third-strongest Dutch political force in June's parliamentary elections, meaning all decision-making now goes through Wilders, whose party backs a minority government formed by the Christian Democrats and the Liberal Party.
dpa
At the time, Merkel had made a more nuanced assessment that the notion of multiculturalism, in which people live alongside each other in a patchwork of cultures, had 'absolutely failed.' However, she added that integration had to succeed as Germany was reliant on immigrants. Horst Seehofer, the leader of the CDU's Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), had earlier said Germany should not accept more immigration from 'alien cultures' such as Turkey and Arab countries. 'What we experienced in Holland is now happening here (in Germany) too - the political elite is in turmoil,' Wilders said. The Dutch politician said most Germans did not accept the assessment by their president, Christian Wulff, that 'Islam also belongs in Germany.'
Two weeks ago, a German government spokesman rebuffed Wilders' claim that the CDU and CSU had taken 'the lead in the domain of Islam criticism' in Europe. The PVV became the third-strongest Dutch political force in June's parliamentary elections, meaning all decision-making now goes through Wilders, whose party backs a minority government formed by the Christian Democrats and the Liberal Party.
dpa
Councillor shocked his Nazi jibe thought racist (Wales, UK)
A councillor has said he was “horrified” when he was accused of racism over comments about Cardiff Council’s leaders.
Ralph Cook yesterday said he meant no personal insult when he compared the city’s Lib Dem-Plaid administration with “Nazi stormtroopers”.
He had likened the council’s executive to Hitler’s elite troops for censoring the opposition by cutting a debate on the budget during a stormy meeting in February.
Mr Cook, 51, yesterday told a judicatory panel the fact council leader Rodney Berman, who is Jewish, may interpret his comments differently, “went right over my head”.
If the panel finds the Labour councillor breached the code of conduct it could reprimand him; suspend him from duty on the council for 12 months or bar him from public duty for up to five years.
Speaking at the hearing at the Mercure Holland House Hotel, in Cardiff yesterday, Mr Cook said he had lost members of his family in World War II and that he was horrified when his remarks were wrongly taken as racist.
He said: “Those who know me would say I’m a little pedantic.
“So when Rodney wrote to challenge me about stormtroopers and blitzkrieg being synonymous with Nazis my reaction was: ‘No they’re not’.
“I saw it as a philosophical or factual disagreement.”
Mr Cook, who was referred to the Local Government Ombudsman, said he had used the “commonplace military terminology” referring to blitzkrieg and stormtroopers in relation to hardened activists who pursued an electoral advantage.
He told the hearing he simply wanted to remind members that democratic processes had been used to crush debate in pre-war Germany, as he said had happened at the budget meeting.
He said: “I had not even considered or thought about Rodney being Jewish, but thinking about it now I understand this thin line.
“But I was clearly aiming my comments at the Liberal Democrats of the party, not at an individual.”
Mr Berman earlier told the hearing the remarks followed correspondence with Mr Cook about his production of leaflets using the terms “blitzkrieg” and “stormtroopers” to describe the Liberal Democrats.
During that correspondence, Mr Berman said he had reminded Mr Cook of his Jewish background and of the pain caused by the insensitive remarks.
The council leader told the hearing: “I was brought up in the Jewish faith, knew people who had survived concentration camps and had conversations with relatives who believed they had lost someone close in those camps.
“As a child I suffered abuse about my religion, so anything that suggests you are like a group who persecuted, murdered and tortured millions is extremely distressing and inappropriate.”
Mr Berman said it was totally improper to compare the coalition with the Nazis as it had trivialised what Adolf Hitler’s regime had done, particularly as Cardiff is home to the largest Jewish community in Wales.
The hearing was told Mr Berman demanded an unreserved apology but Mr Cook insisted he had done nothing wrong and argued his comparisons predated the German Nazi era.
The hearing is expected to last three days.
Wales Online
Ralph Cook yesterday said he meant no personal insult when he compared the city’s Lib Dem-Plaid administration with “Nazi stormtroopers”.
He had likened the council’s executive to Hitler’s elite troops for censoring the opposition by cutting a debate on the budget during a stormy meeting in February.
Mr Cook, 51, yesterday told a judicatory panel the fact council leader Rodney Berman, who is Jewish, may interpret his comments differently, “went right over my head”.
If the panel finds the Labour councillor breached the code of conduct it could reprimand him; suspend him from duty on the council for 12 months or bar him from public duty for up to five years.
Speaking at the hearing at the Mercure Holland House Hotel, in Cardiff yesterday, Mr Cook said he had lost members of his family in World War II and that he was horrified when his remarks were wrongly taken as racist.
He said: “Those who know me would say I’m a little pedantic.
“So when Rodney wrote to challenge me about stormtroopers and blitzkrieg being synonymous with Nazis my reaction was: ‘No they’re not’.
“I saw it as a philosophical or factual disagreement.”
Mr Cook, who was referred to the Local Government Ombudsman, said he had used the “commonplace military terminology” referring to blitzkrieg and stormtroopers in relation to hardened activists who pursued an electoral advantage.
He told the hearing he simply wanted to remind members that democratic processes had been used to crush debate in pre-war Germany, as he said had happened at the budget meeting.
He said: “I had not even considered or thought about Rodney being Jewish, but thinking about it now I understand this thin line.
“But I was clearly aiming my comments at the Liberal Democrats of the party, not at an individual.”
Mr Berman earlier told the hearing the remarks followed correspondence with Mr Cook about his production of leaflets using the terms “blitzkrieg” and “stormtroopers” to describe the Liberal Democrats.
During that correspondence, Mr Berman said he had reminded Mr Cook of his Jewish background and of the pain caused by the insensitive remarks.
The council leader told the hearing: “I was brought up in the Jewish faith, knew people who had survived concentration camps and had conversations with relatives who believed they had lost someone close in those camps.
“As a child I suffered abuse about my religion, so anything that suggests you are like a group who persecuted, murdered and tortured millions is extremely distressing and inappropriate.”
Mr Berman said it was totally improper to compare the coalition with the Nazis as it had trivialised what Adolf Hitler’s regime had done, particularly as Cardiff is home to the largest Jewish community in Wales.
The hearing was told Mr Berman demanded an unreserved apology but Mr Cook insisted he had done nothing wrong and argued his comparisons predated the German Nazi era.
The hearing is expected to last three days.
Wales Online
A CHARGED WEEK IN RUSSIA: SKINHEADS MARCHING, JOURNALISTS BEATEN
Russia's ultranationalist, skinhead, neo-Nazi, and right-wing groups and their sympathizers staged a series of demonstrations last week, celebrating the "National Unity Day" on November 4. Since the holiday was reintroduced in modern Russia in 2005, right-wing groups have used the occasion to demonstrate their own unity and to explain what 'being Russian' means according to their understanding. The march in Moscow brought together some 5.5 thousand people, which is a record for Russia's capital. During the demonstration, the participants shouted racist, nationalist, and antisemitic slurs while greeting each other with the "Nazi salute." In Saint Petersburg, the turnout was considerably less, about 1000 people. In some 30 other major cities, the march attracted anywhere from several dozen to several hundred participants. The notable exceptions were Samara (in the Volga region) with close to 1000 marchers, and Novosibirsk (in Siberia), with another 500 participants. Our colleagues from the Moscow-based SOVA Center, a think tank monitoring hate crime in Russia, attended several marches and reported the figures on attendance. Here is a slide show with some pictures taken in the Lyublino District of Moscow.
Russia's neo-Nazi gangs are the main perpetrators of hate crime attacks in the country, which have grown by some 15-20 percent annually from 2006--2009. The improved police investigations of these cases and increased number of prosecutions helped to reverse this negative trend, although skinhead groups remain active in Russia and dozens of murders have already taken place in 2010. While the police have begun to bring perpetrators of hate crimes to justice, attacks and murders against civil society activists and journalists remain largely unsolved. For example, Anna Politkovskaya's murderers and Lev Ponomarev's attackers are still at large. Such attacks continue to occur, as the latest incidents targeted reporters Oleg Kashin and Anatoly Adamchuk, the former representing the national powerhouse Kommersant and the latter employed by a small regional weekly newspaper Zhukovskie Vesti. President Dmitry Medvedev reacted to Oleg Kashin's beating on the day it was reported, urging the Interior Minister and the Prosecutor General to oversee the investigation of this case.
Human Rights First Blog
Russia's neo-Nazi gangs are the main perpetrators of hate crime attacks in the country, which have grown by some 15-20 percent annually from 2006--2009. The improved police investigations of these cases and increased number of prosecutions helped to reverse this negative trend, although skinhead groups remain active in Russia and dozens of murders have already taken place in 2010. While the police have begun to bring perpetrators of hate crimes to justice, attacks and murders against civil society activists and journalists remain largely unsolved. For example, Anna Politkovskaya's murderers and Lev Ponomarev's attackers are still at large. Such attacks continue to occur, as the latest incidents targeted reporters Oleg Kashin and Anatoly Adamchuk, the former representing the national powerhouse Kommersant and the latter employed by a small regional weekly newspaper Zhukovskie Vesti. President Dmitry Medvedev reacted to Oleg Kashin's beating on the day it was reported, urging the Interior Minister and the Prosecutor General to oversee the investigation of this case.
Human Rights First Blog
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