Two men accused of making racist telephone calls to the owner of a takeaway have appeared in court.
Mohammed Ali Noor, 20, and Joynal Ali, 25, are each accused of racially aggravated harassment between January 1 and June 14 last year.
It is alleged they made threatening and abusive calls to Ofiekur Khan, owner of the Burton Spice Indian Takeaway.
The Crown says the calls included threats to Mr Khan's life and that his business would be set on fire with him in it.
Noor, of Hunt Lea Avenue, off Boultham Park Road, Lincoln, and Ali, of Dixon Street, Lincoln, appeared at Lincoln Magistrates' Court.
They were granted unconditional bail until their trial on February 25. No pleas were entered.
This is Lincolnshire
Thursday, 20 January 2011
FAR RIGHT TARGETS ROMA GHETTO IN BULGARIA
The future of a Roma settlement in Sofia is in question, as hard-line nationalists demand its removal.
Nationalists from Bulgaria's VMRO party say they have gathered around 3,000 signatures in support of a referendum demanding the removal of a run-down Roma neighbourhood in the city’s Orlandovtsi district. The party maintains that the settlement, which is home to several hundred people, is illegal and should be demolished. “We support people’s demands for removal of the ghetto. They [Roma] are in conflict with their neighbours and often torture them,” Krasimir Karakachanov, leader of VMRO, told Balkan Insight. Todor Krastev, mayor of the city quarter where the Roma neighbourhood is located, said a commission was already checking on whether the Roma homes were illegal. The inspection started a few months ago and is about to finish, he said. Krastev told Balkan Insight that urban planning authorities are likely order removal of the homes, if they’re found to be illegal. “Although our inspection started months ago, VMRO is trying to politicize the issue,” Krastev said.
Human rights activists are closely monitoring the case. Krasimir Kanev, head of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, a non-governmental organisation, said the city authorities must carefully consider their actions. “Any evictions, even if the houses are illegal, would violate these people’s right to a home unless the city authorities either help them legalize their properties or provide alternative housing,” he said. This is not the first time that Roma housing problems have stirred controversy in Bulgaria. In 2008, the threatened destruction of another Roma settlement in Sofia was halted after the case was brought before the European Court of Human Rights. The Strasbourg court is expected to deliver a ruling on the case later this year. Many Roma communities around the country face similar housing problems. The ethnic minority were effectively segregated from the mainstream population during the Communist era.
Balkan Insight
Nationalists from Bulgaria's VMRO party say they have gathered around 3,000 signatures in support of a referendum demanding the removal of a run-down Roma neighbourhood in the city’s Orlandovtsi district. The party maintains that the settlement, which is home to several hundred people, is illegal and should be demolished. “We support people’s demands for removal of the ghetto. They [Roma] are in conflict with their neighbours and often torture them,” Krasimir Karakachanov, leader of VMRO, told Balkan Insight. Todor Krastev, mayor of the city quarter where the Roma neighbourhood is located, said a commission was already checking on whether the Roma homes were illegal. The inspection started a few months ago and is about to finish, he said. Krastev told Balkan Insight that urban planning authorities are likely order removal of the homes, if they’re found to be illegal. “Although our inspection started months ago, VMRO is trying to politicize the issue,” Krastev said.
Human rights activists are closely monitoring the case. Krasimir Kanev, head of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, a non-governmental organisation, said the city authorities must carefully consider their actions. “Any evictions, even if the houses are illegal, would violate these people’s right to a home unless the city authorities either help them legalize their properties or provide alternative housing,” he said. This is not the first time that Roma housing problems have stirred controversy in Bulgaria. In 2008, the threatened destruction of another Roma settlement in Sofia was halted after the case was brought before the European Court of Human Rights. The Strasbourg court is expected to deliver a ruling on the case later this year. Many Roma communities around the country face similar housing problems. The ethnic minority were effectively segregated from the mainstream population during the Communist era.
Balkan Insight
White nationalists to meet in Charlotte (USA)
A magazine described as a platform for white nationalists plans to hold its annual conference in Charlotte next month, smack on the heels of an NAACP leader's description of the city as a "racist bastion."
American Renaissance, a magazine of the nonprofit New Century Foundation, plans a conference Feb. 4-6 at a site yet to be announced.
According to its website, the group advocates "race realism," a belief that race is "the most prominent and divisive" fault line in society.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks such groups, says at Renaissance conferences "racist 'intellectuals' rub shoulders with Klansmen, neo-Nazis and other white supremacists."
Magazine editor Jared Taylor on Wednesday dismissed the criticism.
"They clearly have an axe to grind; we have perfectly ordinary people," said Taylor. "But that's their typical fearmongering. Their purpose is to paint us in the blackest language so people will contribute to them."
Taylor says the conference will be "at a first-class venue." But for security reasons, he won't announce it until 48 hours before.
"The last time the venue came under tremendous pressure," he said, "hundreds of telephone calls saying 'How dare you do business with these awful people?' We don't want to expose a hotel to that kind of pressure."
Monday, NAACP President Kojo Nantambu alluded to the conference at a rally to protest Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' decision to use the Martin Luther King holiday as a make-up day for students.
"To show you how wicked Charlotte is," he said, "there's going to be a white supremacists' meeting in Charlotte next month."
Many African-Americans disagreed with Nantambu's characterization of the city.
Taylor said he's unsure whether the event will be open to the media.
Charlotte Observer
American Renaissance, a magazine of the nonprofit New Century Foundation, plans a conference Feb. 4-6 at a site yet to be announced.
According to its website, the group advocates "race realism," a belief that race is "the most prominent and divisive" fault line in society.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks such groups, says at Renaissance conferences "racist 'intellectuals' rub shoulders with Klansmen, neo-Nazis and other white supremacists."
Magazine editor Jared Taylor on Wednesday dismissed the criticism.
"They clearly have an axe to grind; we have perfectly ordinary people," said Taylor. "But that's their typical fearmongering. Their purpose is to paint us in the blackest language so people will contribute to them."
Taylor says the conference will be "at a first-class venue." But for security reasons, he won't announce it until 48 hours before.
"The last time the venue came under tremendous pressure," he said, "hundreds of telephone calls saying 'How dare you do business with these awful people?' We don't want to expose a hotel to that kind of pressure."
Monday, NAACP President Kojo Nantambu alluded to the conference at a rally to protest Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' decision to use the Martin Luther King holiday as a make-up day for students.
"To show you how wicked Charlotte is," he said, "there's going to be a white supremacists' meeting in Charlotte next month."
Many African-Americans disagreed with Nantambu's characterization of the city.
Taylor said he's unsure whether the event will be open to the media.
Charlotte Observer
US pastor Terry Jones banned from entering UK
The pastor, who last year planned a Koran-burning protest in the US, had been invited to address right-wing group England Is Ours in Milton Keynes.
The Home Office said Mr Jones could not enter the UK as the government "opposes extremism in all its forms".
Mr Jones told BBC Radio 5 live he would challenge the "unfair" decision and his visit could have been "beneficial".
Mr Jones - who is pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, which has fewer than 50 members - came to prominence last September when he announced plans for his "International Burn a Koran Day" on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
His plan was internationally condemned and sparked many demonstrations around the world before he eventually called off his protest.
'Unacceptable behaviour'
A Home Office spokesman said: "Numerous comments made by Pastor Jones are evidence of his unacceptable behaviour.
"Coming to the UK is a privilege not a right and we are not willing to allow entry to those whose presence is not conducive to the public good.
"The use of exclusion powers is very serious and no decision is taken lightly or as a method of stopping open debate."
Mr Jones said he had not been planning to break any laws while in England.
"The whole object of the exercise is to have a discussion about the
Islamification of the UK and just have dialogue about the problems”
Quote Barry Taylor England Is Ours
Quote Barry Taylor England Is Ours
"I'm not against Muslims, we are not against their religion," he said. "We have, here in the West, freedom of religion and limited freedom of speech which we don't have in their countries.
"What I am against is the radical element. If I came to England we would expect Muslims to rally with us."
He added that the ban was also unfair on a "human basis" because his daughter lived in England and his grandchildren were English.
Mr Jones had accepted an invitation to speak to England Is Ours in February and was due to address a series of demonstrations against the expansion of Islam and the construction of mosques in the UK.
Barry Taylor, secretary of England Is Ours, said he was "very disappointed" by the decision.
"The whole object of the exercise is to have a discussion about the Islamification of the UK and just have dialogue about the problems," he said.
"The idea isn't to cause trouble or kick up a stink. These things do need addressing and people do need to speak about them. We shouldn't be frightened about them."
Sabotage of rights
He said he had expected about 100 people to attend events organised for Mr Jones, including about 30 members of England Is Ours.
"It's quite possible that other members of his outreach may be able to come," Mr Taylor said.
"I understand Pastor Jones is planning some visits to nearby European countries and we will be able to go and visit him there," he added.
A press release issued by Stand Up America - which is organising rallies addressed by Mr Jones - said the UK ban exemplified the sabotage of the basic human rights of freedom of speech and freedom of expression.
In December, Home Secretary Theresa May said she was "actively looking at" whether Mr Jones should be banned from entering the UK after the right-wing English Defence League (EDL) had invited him to share his views on Islam at a rally in Luton in February.
However the EDL later withdrew the invitation to Mr Jones. A spokesman said it was because of his critical views on homosexuality and race.
BBC News
Teens protest against racism in Israel
Members of left-wing youth movement gather in downtown Jerusalem to fight 'public's indifference' to acts of racism
Hundreds of members of the left-wing HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed (Working and Studying Youth) movement protested in downtown Jerusalem Wednesday evening against the growing racism in Israel.
The rally was organized by 11th and 12th graders who recently returned from a trip to Poland. "As teenagers who love this country we fear the racism that is seeping into people's hearts and the indifference displayed by the public and its leaders," youth movement member Tal Kedmi said.
"We've decided not to stand by and watch as darkness threatens to take over," she said.
The protestors waved signs reading, "Racism will destroy Israel" and "Jerusalemites are stopping racism".
Protestor Yoav Rimer mentioned the rabbis' letter calling on Jews not to sell or rent apartments to Arabs, violence acts perpetrated by Jewish teens against Arabs and the "discrimination against students of Ethiopian and Sephardic descent" as clear signs that racism is spreading.
YNet News
Hundreds of members of the left-wing HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed (Working and Studying Youth) movement protested in downtown Jerusalem Wednesday evening against the growing racism in Israel.
The rally was organized by 11th and 12th graders who recently returned from a trip to Poland. "As teenagers who love this country we fear the racism that is seeping into people's hearts and the indifference displayed by the public and its leaders," youth movement member Tal Kedmi said.
"We've decided not to stand by and watch as darkness threatens to take over," she said.
The protestors waved signs reading, "Racism will destroy Israel" and "Jerusalemites are stopping racism".
Protestor Yoav Rimer mentioned the rabbis' letter calling on Jews not to sell or rent apartments to Arabs, violence acts perpetrated by Jewish teens against Arabs and the "discrimination against students of Ethiopian and Sephardic descent" as clear signs that racism is spreading.
YNet News
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