A group of right-wing extremists demonstrated outside a housing facility for unaccompanied refugee children near Stockholm after internet rumours about a suspected sexual assault spiraled out of control.
Police have launched a preliminary investigation into a suspected case of agitation against ethnic groups (hets mot folkgrupp) after a group of right-wing activists screamed racial slurs and threw eggs at the refugee housing facility in Solna, north of Stockholm.
"Outside the refugee facility they screamed 'blackheads' [svartskallar] and 'go home immigrants' and other things," police spokesperson Diana Sundin told the magasine Expo, which tracks right-wing extremism.
Police spokesperson Marie-Louise Nilsson from Stockholm's western district, while refusing to confirm who was behind the action, confirmed for the TT news agency that around 30 people, primarily men, arrived at the facility in their cars.
They were carrying signs and threw eggs at the building, in addition to screaming racial slurs, but left the scene once police arrived.
The attack on the refugee housing facility, which took place on Saturday, comes following accusations that residents at the facility had sexually molested girls at a nearby public pool.
A week prior to the incident, 18 teenage boys and 2 staff members from the facility visited the Husbybadet public pool.
During the visit, five to seven of the boys allegedly molested three young girls, aged 11 and 12 years old, the Aftonbladet newspaper reported.
"They were touched on the back, legs, and behind. No clothes were removed," police spokesperson Diana Sundin told the newspaper, adding that the boys were quickly separated from the girls when the incident took place.
The boys were subsequently reported to police on suspicions of sexual molestation.
In the days following the incident, however, the boys' alleged crimes became wildly exaggerated on a number of internet discussion forums.
Blogs and chat sites described a "gang rape of an 11-year-old girl, carried out by 20 men", a description which police emphatically reject.
"The whole thing has been blown way out of proportion. No one was raped. No one has said anything like that during interviews or in the report, but such rumours have started to spread on the internet," the police's Mats Eriksson told Aftonbladet.
According to Expo, the action was carried out by white-power activists from the Nordisk Ungdom ('Nordic Youth').
On the group's website are film clips and photos taken at what the Nordisk Ungdom call a "Protest action against rapists".
"This is to protest against the anti-Swedish and reckless sexual assault carried out by so called refugee children at the Husbybadet in Stockholm last Sunday against a 11-year-old Swedish girls," writes the group.
Now police fear the activists are planning new attacks against the facility.
"The whole thing has gone way out of proportion. Now there are rumours they plan to take another run at the facility," the police's Nilsson told the TT news agency.
As a result, police have increased surveillance around the facility. Johanna Hållén a spokesperson with facility operator Attendo Care, said the incident has affected the refugee children living there.
"Clearly they think it's unpleasant," she told Expo.
So far no one has been informed that they are suspected of any crime following Saturday's egg attack on the facility and police continue to investigate the matter.
The Local Sweden
Wednesday, 2 March 2011
Dutch polls open in crucial provincial vote (Netherlands)
Polling stations opened in the Netherlands for a vote that will determine whether or not the government, backed by an anti-Islam party, obtains a crucial senate majority.
"The polling stations are open. So far, there have been no reports of problems," an official at the electoral council's information centre told AFP, shortly after about 10,000 ballot stations opened at 7:30 am (0630 GMT).
In an unusually closely watched election for the country's 12 provincial councils, voters will choose 566 deputies charged in turn with electing, along party lines, the 75-member upper house of parliament, or senate, on May 23.
Almost 30 parties will contest Wednesday's elections in which about 13 million of the Netherlands' 16.5 million citizens are eligible to vote until 9:00 pm.
A minority, rightist government of the pro-business VVD and Christian Democratic CDA that came to power in national elections last June, already relies on an unstable pact with anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders's Party for Freedom (PVV) to pass laws through the 150-seat lower house.
It now needs majority support (38 votes) in the veto-wielding senate to pass laws as part of its rightist programme of budget cuts and tougher immigration measures, much maligned by the opposition.
Stressing it was too close to call, the latest opinion polls predicted 37 senate seats for the VVD-CDA-PVV alliance.
If correct, this will be the first government since World War I to see a senate elected in which it has no majority, forcing it to lobby for legislative support among opposition parties.
Analysts say that repeated senate rejection of its bills would leave the government no option but to quit.
The first exit polls are expected at 9:00 pm. The official outcome will be announced "a few days later", according to the electoral council.
Google Hosted News
"The polling stations are open. So far, there have been no reports of problems," an official at the electoral council's information centre told AFP, shortly after about 10,000 ballot stations opened at 7:30 am (0630 GMT).
In an unusually closely watched election for the country's 12 provincial councils, voters will choose 566 deputies charged in turn with electing, along party lines, the 75-member upper house of parliament, or senate, on May 23.
Almost 30 parties will contest Wednesday's elections in which about 13 million of the Netherlands' 16.5 million citizens are eligible to vote until 9:00 pm.
A minority, rightist government of the pro-business VVD and Christian Democratic CDA that came to power in national elections last June, already relies on an unstable pact with anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders's Party for Freedom (PVV) to pass laws through the 150-seat lower house.
It now needs majority support (38 votes) in the veto-wielding senate to pass laws as part of its rightist programme of budget cuts and tougher immigration measures, much maligned by the opposition.
Stressing it was too close to call, the latest opinion polls predicted 37 senate seats for the VVD-CDA-PVV alliance.
If correct, this will be the first government since World War I to see a senate elected in which it has no majority, forcing it to lobby for legislative support among opposition parties.
Analysts say that repeated senate rejection of its bills would leave the government no option but to quit.
The first exit polls are expected at 9:00 pm. The official outcome will be announced "a few days later", according to the electoral council.
Google Hosted News
Louis Farrakhan Continues Anti-Semitic Campaign At Annual Saviours' Day Conference (USA)
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said today that anti-Semitism was "front and center" at the Nation of Islam's annual meeting near Chicago, and that the organization and its longtime leader, Louis Farrakhan, continue to engage in a targeted campaign against Jews.
Minister Farrakhan's February 27 keynote address featured a range of conspiratorial messages about Jews and Zionists, including accusing Jews and Israel of trying to push the U.S. into a war with Iran, blaming Jews for killing Jesus, and claiming that Jews were responsible for Black suffering through history.
The NOI convention's opening plenary session, titled "The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews," sought to demonstrate disproportionate Jewish involvement in the slave trade and to blame Jews for Black suffering ever since. Speakers accused Jews of controlling the media and called for the NOI's anti-Semitic books to be taught in schools nationwide.
"Anti-Semitism has suffused the Nation of Islam's message, and Farrakhan is the standard bearer and bigot in chief," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "For the past two years he has put anti-Semitism front and center on the agenda, so that it is now a drumbeat heard across the organization. And perhaps what's more disturbing is that despite his anti-Semitic rants, he has not been made a pariah in his own community. What does it take for him to stop being a pied piper of hatred?"
Farrakhan, who has a long history of anti-Semitic and racist statements, addressed the Nation of Islam's 2011 Saviours' Day convention at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. Included among his conspiratorial messages was the allegation that "Zionists" are goading the United States into "a military offensive against Libya," whose leader, Muammar Qaddafi, he praised as "my brother" and "my friend."
"At a time when Qaddafi is engaged in a brutal and violent crackdown against his own people, it is shocking to hear Farrakhan praising him," said Mr. Foxman. "Qaddafi's actions against his own people are indefensible, and yet Farrakhan defends him."
Additional excerpts from Farrakhan's Saviours' Day address:
"President Obama, if you allow the Zionists to push you, to mount a military offensive against Qaddafi and you go in and kill him and his sons as you did with Saddam Hussein and his sons, I'm warning you this is a Libyan problem, let the Libyans solve their problem among themselves."
Farrakhan accused American Zionists and Israel of trying to push the U.S. into a war with Iran and charged that, "Zionists dominate the government of the United States of America and her banking system."
"Some of you think that I'm just somebody who's got something out for the Jewish people. You're stupid. Do you think I would waste my time if I did not think it was important for you to know Satan? My job is to pull the cover off of Satan so that he will never deceive you and the people of the world again."
"The Black people of America are the real children of Israel."
ADL
Minister Farrakhan's February 27 keynote address featured a range of conspiratorial messages about Jews and Zionists, including accusing Jews and Israel of trying to push the U.S. into a war with Iran, blaming Jews for killing Jesus, and claiming that Jews were responsible for Black suffering through history.
The NOI convention's opening plenary session, titled "The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews," sought to demonstrate disproportionate Jewish involvement in the slave trade and to blame Jews for Black suffering ever since. Speakers accused Jews of controlling the media and called for the NOI's anti-Semitic books to be taught in schools nationwide.
"Anti-Semitism has suffused the Nation of Islam's message, and Farrakhan is the standard bearer and bigot in chief," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "For the past two years he has put anti-Semitism front and center on the agenda, so that it is now a drumbeat heard across the organization. And perhaps what's more disturbing is that despite his anti-Semitic rants, he has not been made a pariah in his own community. What does it take for him to stop being a pied piper of hatred?"
Farrakhan, who has a long history of anti-Semitic and racist statements, addressed the Nation of Islam's 2011 Saviours' Day convention at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. Included among his conspiratorial messages was the allegation that "Zionists" are goading the United States into "a military offensive against Libya," whose leader, Muammar Qaddafi, he praised as "my brother" and "my friend."
"At a time when Qaddafi is engaged in a brutal and violent crackdown against his own people, it is shocking to hear Farrakhan praising him," said Mr. Foxman. "Qaddafi's actions against his own people are indefensible, and yet Farrakhan defends him."
Additional excerpts from Farrakhan's Saviours' Day address:
"President Obama, if you allow the Zionists to push you, to mount a military offensive against Qaddafi and you go in and kill him and his sons as you did with Saddam Hussein and his sons, I'm warning you this is a Libyan problem, let the Libyans solve their problem among themselves."
Farrakhan accused American Zionists and Israel of trying to push the U.S. into a war with Iran and charged that, "Zionists dominate the government of the United States of America and her banking system."
"Some of you think that I'm just somebody who's got something out for the Jewish people. You're stupid. Do you think I would waste my time if I did not think it was important for you to know Satan? My job is to pull the cover off of Satan so that he will never deceive you and the people of the world again."
"The Black people of America are the real children of Israel."
ADL
Four white supremacists convicted in 2008 beating (Hemet, USA)
Four members of a white supremacist gang were found guilty this week of a 2008 beating in a Hemet mobile home park that left a Hispanic man in a coma for several weeks.
Three different juries convicted Justin Tyme Hayes, 23, Derek Shane O'Brien, 24, Scott James Siewert, 25, and Mark Wisler, 19, of various charges.
The four men are members of the C.O.O.R.S. Family Skins, a Hemet skinhead gang whose name stands for Comrades of Our Racial Struggle.
All four men jumped Sergio Cortez on Nov. 14, 2008, at the Jackson Mobile Home Park on Elk Avenue in Hemet. During the attack, both Wisler and Hayes yelled out, "White power" and "C.O.O.R.S. up," Deputy District Attorney Tim Cross said.
Prosecutors alleged that the attack was racially motivated but did not pursue hate crime charges because they didn't believe they could prove to every jury that race was the only motive.
The attack began when Siewert and Derek Richardson, who was not charged in the case, thought they saw Cortez breaking into Siewert's car. They ran outside and started hitting him. Cortez was able to run away but Richardson gave chase, Cross said.
Defense attorney Thomas Gage said Hayes admitted to the attack. But Gage said it did not amount to attempted murder because it began in the heat of passion.
"He didn't act with the intent to kill. The jury obviously saw it otherwise," Gage said. "He acknowledged his role in the assault. It was more of a spontaneous, booze-fueled assault more than anything planned out."
The same jury that convicted Hayes found Siewert guilty of assault. He faces up to eight years in prison.
Another jury found Wisler guilty of attempted murder and assault and gang charges, and ruled the attack was premeditated. He could face life in prison for the premeditation charge.
The third jury found O'Brien guilty of attempted murder, assault and a gang enhancement. He also faces up to 22 years in prison.
Sentencing is set for May 6 in French Valley.
PE.com
Three different juries convicted Justin Tyme Hayes, 23, Derek Shane O'Brien, 24, Scott James Siewert, 25, and Mark Wisler, 19, of various charges.
The four men are members of the C.O.O.R.S. Family Skins, a Hemet skinhead gang whose name stands for Comrades of Our Racial Struggle.
All four men jumped Sergio Cortez on Nov. 14, 2008, at the Jackson Mobile Home Park on Elk Avenue in Hemet. During the attack, both Wisler and Hayes yelled out, "White power" and "C.O.O.R.S. up," Deputy District Attorney Tim Cross said.
Prosecutors alleged that the attack was racially motivated but did not pursue hate crime charges because they didn't believe they could prove to every jury that race was the only motive.
The attack began when Siewert and Derek Richardson, who was not charged in the case, thought they saw Cortez breaking into Siewert's car. They ran outside and started hitting him. Cortez was able to run away but Richardson gave chase, Cross said.
Defense attorney Thomas Gage said Hayes admitted to the attack. But Gage said it did not amount to attempted murder because it began in the heat of passion.
"He didn't act with the intent to kill. The jury obviously saw it otherwise," Gage said. "He acknowledged his role in the assault. It was more of a spontaneous, booze-fueled assault more than anything planned out."
The same jury that convicted Hayes found Siewert guilty of assault. He faces up to eight years in prison.
Another jury found Wisler guilty of attempted murder and assault and gang charges, and ruled the attack was premeditated. He could face life in prison for the premeditation charge.
The third jury found O'Brien guilty of attempted murder, assault and a gang enhancement. He also faces up to 22 years in prison.
Sentencing is set for May 6 in French Valley.
PE.com
Athens mayor struggles to keep far-right group in check
Athens Mayor Giorgos Kaminis is to invite the heads of the various political groupings on the City of Athens council for talks after another rowdy meeting of councillors on Monday threatened to get out of hand.
Kaminis decided on holding head-to-head meetings after more complaints about the behavior of the leader of the far-right Chryssi Avgi grouping Nikos Michaloliakos.
The outspoken Michaloliakos has already caused controversy at council meetings by verbally abusing leftist councillor Petros Constantinou and performing the Nazi salute.
On Monday, Michaloliakos asked for a constituent to address the council meeting and, after obtaining permission, the guest launched a verbal assault on Constantinou.
Representatives of other groupings also complained about the large number of associates that accompany Michaloliakos to council meetings.
City of Athens council rules mean that each grouping is only allowed a limited amount of guest passes for meetings but opponents have accused Chryssi Avgi of ignoring the restrictions and creating an intimidating atmosphere at City Hall.
Michaloliakos became the first member of Chryssi Avgi to be voted onto the City of Athens council in last November’s local election. The extreme right group campaigned very heavily in Aghios Panteleimonas and other central Athens districts with a high percentage of immigrant residents.
ekathimerini
Kaminis decided on holding head-to-head meetings after more complaints about the behavior of the leader of the far-right Chryssi Avgi grouping Nikos Michaloliakos.
The outspoken Michaloliakos has already caused controversy at council meetings by verbally abusing leftist councillor Petros Constantinou and performing the Nazi salute.
On Monday, Michaloliakos asked for a constituent to address the council meeting and, after obtaining permission, the guest launched a verbal assault on Constantinou.
Representatives of other groupings also complained about the large number of associates that accompany Michaloliakos to council meetings.
City of Athens council rules mean that each grouping is only allowed a limited amount of guest passes for meetings but opponents have accused Chryssi Avgi of ignoring the restrictions and creating an intimidating atmosphere at City Hall.
Michaloliakos became the first member of Chryssi Avgi to be voted onto the City of Athens council in last November’s local election. The extreme right group campaigned very heavily in Aghios Panteleimonas and other central Athens districts with a high percentage of immigrant residents.
ekathimerini
Action on hate crime (UK)
An event is being held in Hartlepool aimed at targeting hate crime after there were 83 complaints reported to police last year.
A group called Ohanaezi is organising a community safety event which will look at crime experienced by minority groups, including ethnic minorities, disabled people and lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgendered (LGBT) people in Hartlepool.
It will take place this Saturday at St Joseph’s Church Hall, in Grange Road, and anyone who has encountered intimidation, bullying, racist abuse or any other anti-social behaviour linked to their way of life is encouraged to attend.
A range of speakers will be at the event, including police community support officers from Cleveland Police, and Hartlepool MP Iain Wright.
The aim of the event, which runs from 10am until noon, is to encourage minority groups to speak out and report hate crime.
Police figures from 2010 show there were 83 reported incidents of hate crime in Hartlepool, which now has residents of more than 20 different nationalities, including Polish, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, African and Filipino.
Of these, 63 were race-related, 16 were homophobic, one was faith-related, one was transgender-related and two targeted disabled people.
During the event, various agencies will be on hand to give advice and support on how to deal with such issues.
Hartlepool Voluntary Development Agency (HVDA), which helped to set up Ohanaezi, which supports black, Afro-Caribbean and other minorities, is helping to organise the event and other agencies involved include the Safer Hartlepool Partnership and Hartlepool Community Network.
Peter Gowland, project development officer with HVDA, said: “It’s important that minority communities are supported and advised just as any group would be in Hartlepool..”
Ward councillors are expected to attend the event, as well as ethnic minority groups including Hartlepool Chinese Association, the town’s asylum seeker and refugee group.
Traditional foods from around the world will be served at the end of the event.
For more information, call HVDA on (01429) 262641.
Hartlepool Mail
A group called Ohanaezi is organising a community safety event which will look at crime experienced by minority groups, including ethnic minorities, disabled people and lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgendered (LGBT) people in Hartlepool.
It will take place this Saturday at St Joseph’s Church Hall, in Grange Road, and anyone who has encountered intimidation, bullying, racist abuse or any other anti-social behaviour linked to their way of life is encouraged to attend.
A range of speakers will be at the event, including police community support officers from Cleveland Police, and Hartlepool MP Iain Wright.
The aim of the event, which runs from 10am until noon, is to encourage minority groups to speak out and report hate crime.
Police figures from 2010 show there were 83 reported incidents of hate crime in Hartlepool, which now has residents of more than 20 different nationalities, including Polish, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, African and Filipino.
Of these, 63 were race-related, 16 were homophobic, one was faith-related, one was transgender-related and two targeted disabled people.
During the event, various agencies will be on hand to give advice and support on how to deal with such issues.
Hartlepool Voluntary Development Agency (HVDA), which helped to set up Ohanaezi, which supports black, Afro-Caribbean and other minorities, is helping to organise the event and other agencies involved include the Safer Hartlepool Partnership and Hartlepool Community Network.
Peter Gowland, project development officer with HVDA, said: “It’s important that minority communities are supported and advised just as any group would be in Hartlepool..”
Ward councillors are expected to attend the event, as well as ethnic minority groups including Hartlepool Chinese Association, the town’s asylum seeker and refugee group.
Traditional foods from around the world will be served at the end of the event.
For more information, call HVDA on (01429) 262641.
Hartlepool Mail
Spokesperson for EDL's Norwegian sister organisation resigns, says it has been 'taken over by neo-Nazis'
The PST (Norwegian Security Service) held a press conference yesterday to announce their new threat-assessment report. As in previous years the report noted the threat of internet radicalization among Muslims, but this year PST chief Janne Kristiansen also named a new anti-Islamic organization, the Norwegian Defence League (NDL).
The organization is not discussed much, but is well known among the extreme right, Islam critics and anti-racist movements. On Facebook, different NDL groups have 500 members, and the group's leaders claim they have over 600 supporters in Norway. Many are young men in their 20s, inspired by the English Defence League in the UK.
"NDL profiles itself as a legal political movement, but as we see from the UK, the boundaries are fluid. It oftens ends in violent confrontations with those holding the opposite opinion," PST department head Jon Fitje told Dagbladet.
Remi Huseby (22), from Haugesund, who presented himself as the group's spokesperson last month, has received much attention from the media and anti-fascist groups. Last week he was kicked out of the Transport Workers Union due to his position. After PST named the NDL yesterday, he had enough. In an SMS to Dagbladet Huseby announced he's resigning from the organization: "Hereby confirm that I'm leaving the NDL because the NDL has been taken over by neo-Nazis".
"Islam-hostile groups can take different forms. We see the developments in Europe and fear the same in Norway," says Fitje. Though the NDL hadn't used violence, the PST defines it it as an "extreme right-wing group". With Huseby out of the organization, it's unclear what political profile the NDL will have. If cultivating violence and radicalization become dominant, the group might get more attention from the security service.
Dagbladet
Translated by Islam in Europe
The organization is not discussed much, but is well known among the extreme right, Islam critics and anti-racist movements. On Facebook, different NDL groups have 500 members, and the group's leaders claim they have over 600 supporters in Norway. Many are young men in their 20s, inspired by the English Defence League in the UK.
"NDL profiles itself as a legal political movement, but as we see from the UK, the boundaries are fluid. It oftens ends in violent confrontations with those holding the opposite opinion," PST department head Jon Fitje told Dagbladet.
Remi Huseby (22), from Haugesund, who presented himself as the group's spokesperson last month, has received much attention from the media and anti-fascist groups. Last week he was kicked out of the Transport Workers Union due to his position. After PST named the NDL yesterday, he had enough. In an SMS to Dagbladet Huseby announced he's resigning from the organization: "Hereby confirm that I'm leaving the NDL because the NDL has been taken over by neo-Nazis".
"Islam-hostile groups can take different forms. We see the developments in Europe and fear the same in Norway," says Fitje. Though the NDL hadn't used violence, the PST defines it it as an "extreme right-wing group". With Huseby out of the organization, it's unclear what political profile the NDL will have. If cultivating violence and radicalization become dominant, the group might get more attention from the security service.
Dagbladet
Translated by Islam in Europe
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