A Serbian far right leader has been sentenced to two years in prison for inciting violence during a gay pride march that left scores of people injured.
Belgrade's Higher Court also sentenced 13 extremists to prison terms ranging from eight to 18 months for the attacks on police guarding the event in October 2010.
The court ruled Wednesday that Milan Obradovic, the leader of extremist group Obraz, or Honor, organized groups who used violence to disrupt the gay gathering, Serbia's first in years.
The march was seen as a test for Serbia which is seeking to join the European Union after years of nationalism.
More than 140 people _ mostly police _ were injured, and downtown Belgrade suffered widespread damage during the daylong clashes.
South Florida Gay News
Friday, 22 April 2011
New poll shows far right could squeeze out Sarkozy (France)
A new poll in France puts far-right leader Marine Le Pen (pictured) ahead of President Sarkozy in next year’s presidential race, reviving fears of a repeat of the shocking 2002 election results which saw the far right come second.
Exactly nine years ago far-right's Jean-Marie Le Pen shocked the French establishment by coming in second in the 2002 presidential elections. Now his daughter is on track to repeat history, according to a new French poll.
Marine Le Pen, leader of the anti-immigration National Front (FN), is projected to win enough votes to knock out President Nicolas Sarkozy from the second round of next year’s all important 2012 presidential election, the French daily Le Parisien's revealed on Thursday.
French presidential elections are organised into two rounds, with the two top vote winners of the first round advancing to a runoff.
Marine Le Pen, who took over the far-right party from her father in January, is ahead of all other potential candidates with the exception of French Socialist and International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
The poll, conducted by the French polling agency Harris Interactive, spells bad news for Sarkozy. The president would only advance to the second round if the candidate representing the main opposition Socialist Party were Segolene Royal, a former presidential candidate.
The famed “April 21” date still haunts many in France. It was on that day in 2002, that the National Front’s firebrand leader Jean-Marie Le Pen knocked out the Socialist candidate from the presidential race, setting up a runoff against former president Jacques Chirac.
Jean-Marie Le Pen eventually lost to Chirac and the FN’s popularity floundered in the following years, but the far right party has experienced a resurgence under Marine Le Pen, who is seen as more modern and less divisive than her father.
Premature polls
The poll confirmed a previous Le Parisien survey conducted in early March that gave Le Pen a considerable head start over Sarkozy, and even a small edge on IMF boss Strauss-Kahn. The March survey said Le Pen would gather 24% of French votes, beating Strauss-Kahn’s 23% and Sarkozy’s 20%.
In Thursday’s survey Strauss-Kahn climbed to 30% and Le Pen dipped down to 21%. Either way, the figures makes Le Pen a credible candidate in the 2012 race.
However, according to Jean-Yves Camus, political scientist at French Institute for International and Strategic Relations (IRIS), the poll is a poor indicator of the final results. The figures could change drastically once - and if - Strauss-Kahn and Sarkozy dive headfirst into the elections, Camus said.
While Strauss-Kahn’s candidature has been gathering momentum among opponents of Sarkozy, Strauss-Kahn himself has remained tight-lipped about his intention to run. The Socialists will not know who their candidate is until after their candidates square off in the much-anticipated, and potentially bruising, primaries in October.
President Sarkozy has also not officially announced his candidature. He is nonetheless expected to seek a second term and to mount a characteristically aggressive campaign to win back his core conservative constituency and avoid splintering the centre-right vote.
While all eyes are on Le Pen and the new-found confidence among France’s far right, her bid for next year’s election has not been insured either. Under French law she needs the signature of at least 150 mayors before she can present herself as a candidate.
IRIS’ Camus thinks she will succeed in attaining the endorsements, but still faces an uphill struggle to keep her poll numbers up. “She was the first candidate to start campaigning,” Camus explains. “But she will need to stay in the news and find something new to say everyday for the next 13 months, and that is not easy.”
France 24
Exactly nine years ago far-right's Jean-Marie Le Pen shocked the French establishment by coming in second in the 2002 presidential elections. Now his daughter is on track to repeat history, according to a new French poll.
Marine Le Pen, leader of the anti-immigration National Front (FN), is projected to win enough votes to knock out President Nicolas Sarkozy from the second round of next year’s all important 2012 presidential election, the French daily Le Parisien's revealed on Thursday.
French presidential elections are organised into two rounds, with the two top vote winners of the first round advancing to a runoff.
Marine Le Pen, who took over the far-right party from her father in January, is ahead of all other potential candidates with the exception of French Socialist and International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
The poll, conducted by the French polling agency Harris Interactive, spells bad news for Sarkozy. The president would only advance to the second round if the candidate representing the main opposition Socialist Party were Segolene Royal, a former presidential candidate.
The famed “April 21” date still haunts many in France. It was on that day in 2002, that the National Front’s firebrand leader Jean-Marie Le Pen knocked out the Socialist candidate from the presidential race, setting up a runoff against former president Jacques Chirac.
Jean-Marie Le Pen eventually lost to Chirac and the FN’s popularity floundered in the following years, but the far right party has experienced a resurgence under Marine Le Pen, who is seen as more modern and less divisive than her father.
Premature polls
The poll confirmed a previous Le Parisien survey conducted in early March that gave Le Pen a considerable head start over Sarkozy, and even a small edge on IMF boss Strauss-Kahn. The March survey said Le Pen would gather 24% of French votes, beating Strauss-Kahn’s 23% and Sarkozy’s 20%.
In Thursday’s survey Strauss-Kahn climbed to 30% and Le Pen dipped down to 21%. Either way, the figures makes Le Pen a credible candidate in the 2012 race.
However, according to Jean-Yves Camus, political scientist at French Institute for International and Strategic Relations (IRIS), the poll is a poor indicator of the final results. The figures could change drastically once - and if - Strauss-Kahn and Sarkozy dive headfirst into the elections, Camus said.
While Strauss-Kahn’s candidature has been gathering momentum among opponents of Sarkozy, Strauss-Kahn himself has remained tight-lipped about his intention to run. The Socialists will not know who their candidate is until after their candidates square off in the much-anticipated, and potentially bruising, primaries in October.
President Sarkozy has also not officially announced his candidature. He is nonetheless expected to seek a second term and to mount a characteristically aggressive campaign to win back his core conservative constituency and avoid splintering the centre-right vote.
While all eyes are on Le Pen and the new-found confidence among France’s far right, her bid for next year’s election has not been insured either. Under French law she needs the signature of at least 150 mayors before she can present herself as a candidate.
IRIS’ Camus thinks she will succeed in attaining the endorsements, but still faces an uphill struggle to keep her poll numbers up. “She was the first candidate to start campaigning,” Camus explains. “But she will need to stay in the news and find something new to say everyday for the next 13 months, and that is not easy.”
France 24
Suspect in MLK Day bomb plot charged with hate crimes (USA)
A reputed neo-Nazi accused of planting a backpack bomb along the parade route of a Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration was newly charged on Thursday with committing federal hate crimes.
The latest charges against Kevin Harpham, 36, were added to a federal indictment originally returned last month in an alleged bombing attempt in Spokane, Washington, on January 17, a national holiday celebrating the birth of the slain civil rights leader.
The three-page superseding indictment charges that Harpham tried to use the backpack bomb to injure individuals attending the parade because of their "actual or perceived race, color and national origin."
It also accuses him of seeking to use a destructive device in the furtherance of a hate crime.
Harpham faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement.
He was arrested at his home in Colville, Washington, on March 9, about seven weeks after the bomb was discovered along the parade route. The device was neutralized by bomb technicians after it was found, and no one was hurt.
About 1,500 people attended the parade, which was rerouted when the bomb was discovered.
Harpham pleaded not guilty in March to charges of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and possessing an improvised explosive device.
Officials from the Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based civil rights group, said Harpham was a member of the neo-Nazi National Alliance in 2004.
U.S. officials have said little about the findings of the investigation that led to Harpham's arrest.
His lawyer, Roger Peven, a federal public defender, was not immediately available for comment on the latest charges.
Reuters
The latest charges against Kevin Harpham, 36, were added to a federal indictment originally returned last month in an alleged bombing attempt in Spokane, Washington, on January 17, a national holiday celebrating the birth of the slain civil rights leader.
The three-page superseding indictment charges that Harpham tried to use the backpack bomb to injure individuals attending the parade because of their "actual or perceived race, color and national origin."
It also accuses him of seeking to use a destructive device in the furtherance of a hate crime.
Harpham faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement.
He was arrested at his home in Colville, Washington, on March 9, about seven weeks after the bomb was discovered along the parade route. The device was neutralized by bomb technicians after it was found, and no one was hurt.
About 1,500 people attended the parade, which was rerouted when the bomb was discovered.
Harpham pleaded not guilty in March to charges of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and possessing an improvised explosive device.
Officials from the Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based civil rights group, said Harpham was a member of the neo-Nazi National Alliance in 2004.
U.S. officials have said little about the findings of the investigation that led to Harpham's arrest.
His lawyer, Roger Peven, a federal public defender, was not immediately available for comment on the latest charges.
Reuters
Racism whistleblower faces 'negro slave' taunt (Sweden)
The man who reported two Lund University student groups over a party featuring guests dressed as "slaves" to be sold at auction has since been subjected to racial slurs at his workplace.
Jallow Momodou of the National Afro-Swedish Association (Afrosvenskarnas riksförbund) reported Halland and Helsingkrona student associations for failing to take action when guests who arrived at "jungle parties" showed up with blackened faces and ropes around their necks.
Following news of his complaint, Momodou arrived at his office at Malmö University on Wednesday morning to find posters on the library bulletin board featuring his face superimposed on the image of a naked man in chains.
"Our negro slave has run away," read the text on the posters.
Momodou, who had been alerted the night before that the posters may be circulating at the university, consulted the attending librarian.
He was told that a student had handed over a stock of similar posters on Tuesday night, which had apparently been printed out from the library computers.
"It felt awful…really, really bad," Momodou told The Local.
While he was also angered by the posters Momodou said he isn't surprised.
"For me it's proof that racism really exists in Sweden and is on a level comparable to the southern United States in the 1970s," he said.
Momodou has since reported the incident to the police.
And his supervisors and other high ranking officials at Malmö University all expressed their concern about the incident and promised to do what they could to ensure similar incidents didn't occur in the future.
In an interview published later on Wednesday by Lund University's student newspaper, Lundagård, controversial artist Dan Park, claimed responsibility for the posters.
"I want to make fun of the fact that people get upset about something like this," he told the newspaper.
At the time, Park was putting up copies of the poster in Lund.
He believes reaction to the "slave auction" has been blown out of proportion.
"Certain people are always offended. They have no sense of humour," he said.
Park was arrested while putting up the posters and is suspected of doing so without a permit. However, prosecutors will also look into whether he may be charged with racial agitation, the Expressen newspaper reports.
Now that the creator of the posters has been identified, however, Momodou hopes that the promises of action to address the incident will be realised.
"I'm really hoping and expecting that the university and police will take responsibility and show that such actions will not be tolerated," he said.
Momodou also lamented that no politicians had publicly condemned the "slave auction" incident, calling the lack of response "tragic".
"I'm a Swedish citizen and there are lots of Afro-Swedes who feel attacked by this," he said.
Momodou emphasised, however, that he wouldn't back down in the face of racism.
"I will not be intimidated," he said.
"If anything, this encourages me to keep fighting for my rights."
The Local Sweden
Jallow Momodou of the National Afro-Swedish Association (Afrosvenskarnas riksförbund) reported Halland and Helsingkrona student associations for failing to take action when guests who arrived at "jungle parties" showed up with blackened faces and ropes around their necks.
Following news of his complaint, Momodou arrived at his office at Malmö University on Wednesday morning to find posters on the library bulletin board featuring his face superimposed on the image of a naked man in chains.
"Our negro slave has run away," read the text on the posters.
Momodou, who had been alerted the night before that the posters may be circulating at the university, consulted the attending librarian.
He was told that a student had handed over a stock of similar posters on Tuesday night, which had apparently been printed out from the library computers.
"It felt awful…really, really bad," Momodou told The Local.
While he was also angered by the posters Momodou said he isn't surprised.
"For me it's proof that racism really exists in Sweden and is on a level comparable to the southern United States in the 1970s," he said.
Momodou has since reported the incident to the police.
And his supervisors and other high ranking officials at Malmö University all expressed their concern about the incident and promised to do what they could to ensure similar incidents didn't occur in the future.
In an interview published later on Wednesday by Lund University's student newspaper, Lundagård, controversial artist Dan Park, claimed responsibility for the posters.
"I want to make fun of the fact that people get upset about something like this," he told the newspaper.
At the time, Park was putting up copies of the poster in Lund.
He believes reaction to the "slave auction" has been blown out of proportion.
"Certain people are always offended. They have no sense of humour," he said.
Park was arrested while putting up the posters and is suspected of doing so without a permit. However, prosecutors will also look into whether he may be charged with racial agitation, the Expressen newspaper reports.
Now that the creator of the posters has been identified, however, Momodou hopes that the promises of action to address the incident will be realised.
"I'm really hoping and expecting that the university and police will take responsibility and show that such actions will not be tolerated," he said.
Momodou also lamented that no politicians had publicly condemned the "slave auction" incident, calling the lack of response "tragic".
"I'm a Swedish citizen and there are lots of Afro-Swedes who feel attacked by this," he said.
Momodou emphasised, however, that he wouldn't back down in the face of racism.
"I will not be intimidated," he said.
"If anything, this encourages me to keep fighting for my rights."
The Local Sweden
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