The British National Party has rejected claims its supporters have been threatening a Bolton Euro MP.
Yesterday, The Bolton News reported how Sajjad Karim, the North West Conservative MEP, had employed 24-hour security to watch over his family after receiving abusive emails. He believes BNP sympathisers were behind the verbal attacks as the emails followed his criticism of the party and the subsequent appearance of a story about him on the BNP website.
But John Walker, the BNP’s press spokesman, said: “The BNP rejects, with contempt, all attempts by Mr Karim to stir up trouble and slur our party.”
However Mr Karim said: “We now have enough evidence to prove that these emails came as a direct result of traffic from the BNP website and from blogs by employees of the party.”
This is Lancashire
Friday, 26 November 2010
Suburbs 'greater threat to Muslims' (UK)
Muslims and their mosques face a higher level of threats and intimidation in UK suburbs and market towns than in big cities, according to a report.
Case studies reveal examples such as a Muslim woman who was punched and called a "terrorist" in front of her petrified daughter. The report said such attacks often go unreported, and in this case the woman was too scared to inform the police.
She also played down the incident to reduce her child's distress and avoided explaining why she was singled out for wearing a burka and being a Muslim woman.
The new study, Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Hate Crime: UK Case Studies, reveals this kind of unprovoked incident is a largely hidden.
The report is part of a 10-year academic research project led by the University of Exeter's European Muslim Research Centre (EMRC). It captures a snapshot of these experiences which are often unrecognised by the media, politicians and wider British society.
The research also combines an academic approach to identifying world events and policy information that inform the way reactions and actions towards Muslims can be influenced.
Findings show that since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, arson, criminal damage, violence and intimidation against mosques has increased dramatically and smaller or isolated Muslim communities in places like Colchester, Bishop Stortford and Boston have become especially vulnerable.
Dr Jonathan Githens Mazer, co-director of the EMRC, said: "Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hate crime are very real problems for British Muslims going about their everyday business."
The report also analyses the local activity by the British National Party, English Defence League and other organisations.
Google Hosted News
Case studies reveal examples such as a Muslim woman who was punched and called a "terrorist" in front of her petrified daughter. The report said such attacks often go unreported, and in this case the woman was too scared to inform the police.
She also played down the incident to reduce her child's distress and avoided explaining why she was singled out for wearing a burka and being a Muslim woman.
The new study, Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Hate Crime: UK Case Studies, reveals this kind of unprovoked incident is a largely hidden.
The report is part of a 10-year academic research project led by the University of Exeter's European Muslim Research Centre (EMRC). It captures a snapshot of these experiences which are often unrecognised by the media, politicians and wider British society.
The research also combines an academic approach to identifying world events and policy information that inform the way reactions and actions towards Muslims can be influenced.
Findings show that since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, arson, criminal damage, violence and intimidation against mosques has increased dramatically and smaller or isolated Muslim communities in places like Colchester, Bishop Stortford and Boston have become especially vulnerable.
Dr Jonathan Githens Mazer, co-director of the EMRC, said: "Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hate crime are very real problems for British Muslims going about their everyday business."
The report also analyses the local activity by the British National Party, English Defence League and other organisations.
Google Hosted News
Racist attack at Burnham shop (UK)
A Burnham trader has spoken of her shock after being subjected to racist abuse from a customer.
Monika Morris, who is Austrian, said it was the first time she had experienced such abuse in her 24 years in the country.
Mrs Morris, co-owner of GW Hurley toyshop, in High Street, was on the receiving end of abuse from 24-year-old woman Ashley Sullivan, after she was refused a refund for toys she claimed were faulty.
Sullivan, of Church Street, Highbridge, was sentenced at Sedgemoor Magistrates’ Court on Monday, having earlier pleaded guilty to racially aggravated harassment.
The court heard Sullivan swore at Mrs Morris and called her a foreigner.
She was given a one-year conditional discharge, and ordered to pay £85 costs, plus £25 compensation to Mrs Morris.
Mrs Morris said: “It’s the first time I’ve come across racial abuse. The whole incident was very unpleasant and it did surprise me.
“People usually associate it [racism] with a different skin colour, but any kind of racism is to be taken seriously.
“She caused a lot of upset and I would like to give her a life ban as I don’t want her anywhere near my staff.
“At the end of the day, we have to stand up for what’s right. Nobody is entitled to call anybody names. But I think some justice has been done as she’s been charged and sentenced.”
Mrs Morris said she would give the compensation money to charity.
Burnham and Highbridge weekly news
Monika Morris, who is Austrian, said it was the first time she had experienced such abuse in her 24 years in the country.
Mrs Morris, co-owner of GW Hurley toyshop, in High Street, was on the receiving end of abuse from 24-year-old woman Ashley Sullivan, after she was refused a refund for toys she claimed were faulty.
Sullivan, of Church Street, Highbridge, was sentenced at Sedgemoor Magistrates’ Court on Monday, having earlier pleaded guilty to racially aggravated harassment.
The court heard Sullivan swore at Mrs Morris and called her a foreigner.
She was given a one-year conditional discharge, and ordered to pay £85 costs, plus £25 compensation to Mrs Morris.
Mrs Morris said: “It’s the first time I’ve come across racial abuse. The whole incident was very unpleasant and it did surprise me.
“People usually associate it [racism] with a different skin colour, but any kind of racism is to be taken seriously.
“She caused a lot of upset and I would like to give her a life ban as I don’t want her anywhere near my staff.
“At the end of the day, we have to stand up for what’s right. Nobody is entitled to call anybody names. But I think some justice has been done as she’s been charged and sentenced.”
Mrs Morris said she would give the compensation money to charity.
Burnham and Highbridge weekly news
White sheep kicking out black sheep: racist swiss ad?
Posters showing a black sheep being kicked off the Swiss flag by a white sheep have cropped up in stations and squares in Switzerland, as part of a campaign for the Swiss People’s Party’s demand to automatically deport foreigners convicted of serious crimes. The demand is to go before a Sunday referendum.
In 2007, the same posters were widely condemned, with Doudou Diene, the UN’s racism expert at the time, saying the images draw on stereotypes to paint foreigners as felons and benefit cheats. This year, a study by a polling group shows that 54 per cent of voters approved the measure.
Critics of the deportation proposal include legal experts, who say the law could clash with international treaties. “For the same crime some people will suffer one punishment, others will suffer two,” said Marcelo Kohen, a professor of international law at the Graduate Institute in Geneva.
Indian Express
In 2007, the same posters were widely condemned, with Doudou Diene, the UN’s racism expert at the time, saying the images draw on stereotypes to paint foreigners as felons and benefit cheats. This year, a study by a polling group shows that 54 per cent of voters approved the measure.
Critics of the deportation proposal include legal experts, who say the law could clash with international treaties. “For the same crime some people will suffer one punishment, others will suffer two,” said Marcelo Kohen, a professor of international law at the Graduate Institute in Geneva.
Indian Express
BULGARIAN CLERIC SENTENCED FOR CURSING THE DISABLED
Bishop Theodosius, Abbot of the Troyan Monastery, has become the first Bulgarian cleric to be sentenced for discrimination, after inexplicably insulting disabled laymen. Back in 2008, Bishop Theodosius chased away a group of disabled believers from the Troyan Monastery, calling them "sinners" and "cursed". The Bishop's obnoxious behavior has cost him the humble BGN 250, as decided by the Bulgarian Protection Against Discrimination Commission on Wednesday. Petar Kichashki, who made the discrimination complaint, appealed to the Bulgarian church to officially excommunicate Bishop Theodosius. "I am glad there is finally a verdict. The BGN 250 fine is not much, but it is a sign that Bishop Theodosius' behavior is unacceptable," Kichashki stated. Bishop Theodosius commented that he will not appeal against the fine and that he does not feel remorse, since the disabled were "very noisy with their wheelchairs and behaved badly."
Novinite
Novinite
Nazi sympathiser plastered racist stickers across Hastings (UK)
Stefan Luff was wearing a ring bearing the symbol of the Nazi paramilitary group the SS when he was arrested in September last year, after racially abusing members of the public.
After police searched his home they discovered a large amount of racist literature and Nazi iconography as well as contact information relating to extreme right wing political groups and organisations such as the National Socialist Movement and the Ku Klux Klan.
Today at Lewes Crown Court Luff was jailed for nine months suspended for 18 months. He was also ordered to pay £1,000 in compensation to his victims and £340 costs.
The 49-year-old, of Portland Terrace, Hastings, had previously denied two counts of racially aggravated behaviour and one count of publishing and distributing racial material but was convicted following a trial.
In total Sussex Police received 26 reports of racist stickers being plastered across buildings in Hastings. On average a couple of stickers a month were reported to police between February and September 2009.
The stickers appeared mostly on the Seafront around White Rock, The Old Town and the West Hill. Marks and Spencer in Queens Road was also targeted.
Luff was initially investigated after abusing two groups on one day in September 2009. He first racially abused a woman and her two young nieces as they walked down Strand Hill in Winchelsea.
He then racially abused a couple on a beach in Rye. The husband managed to photograph Luff on his mobile phone before he walked off.
Chief Inspector Mark Ling, Hastings District Commander, said: "Hastings Police will continue to work hard with our partners to prevent and reduce all types of racial crime and support those who are subjected to it.”
Detective Inspector Emma Heater said: “Luff caused a lot of distress to his victims in Rye who were visiting 1066 Country and the distribution of racist material around Hastings town centre was very upsetting for the local community.”
The Argus
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