Seven anti-fascist protesters are facing jail today for plotting to ambush two men making their way to a 'neo-Nazi' event.
The masked and hooded demonstrators lined a railway platform waiting for their targets to get off a train, and attacked on hearing the command: "Kill the Nazis", the court heard.
Patrick O'Donovan was punched and kicked to the ground and his companion Michael Heihl was chased onto the tracks at Welling station, Kent, the jury was told.
Ringleader Andrew Baker, 40, Ravinder Gill, 39, Sean Cregan, 44, Philip de Sousa, 37, Austen Jackson, 40, Thomas Blak, 34, and Jonathan Wood, 22, were convicted of conspiring to commit violent disorder.
Four others were cleared after a trial at Blackfriars Crown court. The seven found guilty will be sentenced in August and face a maximum sentence of five years.
Mr O'Donovan and Mr Heihl were set upon as they made their way to a nearby pub in March 2009 which was holding a rock concert organised by the reight wing extremists Blood and Honour.
The defendants had earlier joined up to 35,000 demonstrators on a Put People First march through central London as part of the G20 protests.
They met at London Bridge station before travelling by train to their intended target.
During the trial, Mark Trafford, prosecuting, said: "Whatever these people's actual views about life, politics or anything else, whatever groups they may or may not be members of, they didn't deserve to be attacked in this way. The attack was vicious."
Police later used mobile phone records and CCTV footage to link the attackers to the scene.
Baker, of Basildon, Blak, of Hackney, Wood, of Leeds, Jackson, of Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, Gill, of Bedford, Cregan, of Streatham, and de Sousa, of Brighton, were found guilty of conspiring to commit violent disorder.
This is London
Thursday, 30 June 2011
BNP chief leads Mr Monkey protest at town hall (UK)
The leader of the British National Party (BNP) was in South Tyneside yesterday to make a town hall protest over taxpayers’ cash being used to unmask a mystery blogger.
The Mr Monkey blog has made vile and malicious comments about councillors, South Tyneside Council officers, and other figures in the borough, which led to landmark proceedings forcing social network giant Twitter to hand over personal information – including that of Coun Ahmed Khan.
Council chiefs are insisting less than £75,000 was used to fund the fight, and plaintiffs have said that money would be paid back from any proceeds of libel action.
But Nick Griffin and about 30 members of his party – one dressed in a monkey costume – were on the steps of South Shields Town Hall claiming that figure was likely to be £250,000.
Mr Griffin also made allegations about the Shields Gazette, claiming the paper had not covered the issue in depth – despite a number of front-page stories. Mr Griffin, who was in the region for a meeting, said: “I’m here today to let the South Tyneside public know exactly how their money is being spent.
“The council cannot sue for libel, and instead have put their legal action in the names of councillors and an employee. It’s a waste of the taxpayers’ cash, and everyone should be aware of this.
“The support we have received while standing here has been very positive.” Police were present at the demonstration, which lasted about 30 minutes, and one man was arrested for a public order offence after throwing an egg at a BNP member. The 42-year-old was later released with no further action.
However, not all passers-by realised the stunt was in connection with the online blog.
A 28-year-old man said: “To be honest, I saw the BNP and then saw a man in a monkey suit. I just assumed they were being derogatory towards certain races.
“It wasn’t until I stood for a good few minutes and listened to what Griffin was saying that I realised it was connected to the blog, which I admit I don’t know that much about, but had heard of. I guess in a way I do see what they’re trying to achieve, because I do think it was a waste of cash, which could be spent on more worthy things.
“But then it’s also wrong that some people had to put up with awful things being published about themselves. It’s a tricky one.”
Gazette editor John Szymanski said: “The Gazette has continued to inform the South Tyneside public about the Monkey blog and efforts to unmask its author.
“We have carried in-depth and extensive coverage both in the newspaper and online about the fight to stop this blog in its tracks.
“This ludicrous publicity stunt by the BNP shows what a clearly ill-informed and misguided party it really is. Thankfully, the BNP holds little sway in South Tyneside and has very little influence with its nonsensical claims and extremist rantings.”
A police spokesman said: “Police in South Tyneside were informed about a protest and carried out the role of monitoring the situation to ensure all parties involved behaved in a lawful manner.
“As expected, the event was peaceful and passed smoothly.”
South Tyneside Council declined to comment.
Shields Gazette
The Mr Monkey blog has made vile and malicious comments about councillors, South Tyneside Council officers, and other figures in the borough, which led to landmark proceedings forcing social network giant Twitter to hand over personal information – including that of Coun Ahmed Khan.
Council chiefs are insisting less than £75,000 was used to fund the fight, and plaintiffs have said that money would be paid back from any proceeds of libel action.
But Nick Griffin and about 30 members of his party – one dressed in a monkey costume – were on the steps of South Shields Town Hall claiming that figure was likely to be £250,000.
Mr Griffin also made allegations about the Shields Gazette, claiming the paper had not covered the issue in depth – despite a number of front-page stories. Mr Griffin, who was in the region for a meeting, said: “I’m here today to let the South Tyneside public know exactly how their money is being spent.
“The council cannot sue for libel, and instead have put their legal action in the names of councillors and an employee. It’s a waste of the taxpayers’ cash, and everyone should be aware of this.
“The support we have received while standing here has been very positive.” Police were present at the demonstration, which lasted about 30 minutes, and one man was arrested for a public order offence after throwing an egg at a BNP member. The 42-year-old was later released with no further action.
However, not all passers-by realised the stunt was in connection with the online blog.
A 28-year-old man said: “To be honest, I saw the BNP and then saw a man in a monkey suit. I just assumed they were being derogatory towards certain races.
“It wasn’t until I stood for a good few minutes and listened to what Griffin was saying that I realised it was connected to the blog, which I admit I don’t know that much about, but had heard of. I guess in a way I do see what they’re trying to achieve, because I do think it was a waste of cash, which could be spent on more worthy things.
“But then it’s also wrong that some people had to put up with awful things being published about themselves. It’s a tricky one.”
Gazette editor John Szymanski said: “The Gazette has continued to inform the South Tyneside public about the Monkey blog and efforts to unmask its author.
“We have carried in-depth and extensive coverage both in the newspaper and online about the fight to stop this blog in its tracks.
“This ludicrous publicity stunt by the BNP shows what a clearly ill-informed and misguided party it really is. Thankfully, the BNP holds little sway in South Tyneside and has very little influence with its nonsensical claims and extremist rantings.”
A police spokesman said: “Police in South Tyneside were informed about a protest and carried out the role of monitoring the situation to ensure all parties involved behaved in a lawful manner.
“As expected, the event was peaceful and passed smoothly.”
South Tyneside Council declined to comment.
Shields Gazette
Minister apologises to Roma gypsy family for police brutality (Serbia)
Serbian police minister Ivica Dacic Tuesday issued an apology to a Roma family for police brutality in a case that shocked the public and sparked protests by human rights organisations. Dacic received a Roma youth, Danijel Stojanovic and his father Gani, after it was discovered that Danijel was brutally beaten by police in the eastern city of Vrsac four years ago. The scandal wound up on the popular Youtube video-sharing website and caught public attention after one of three policemen who took part in the beating sold his mobile telephone on which he filmed the beating in Vrsac police station.
Apologizing to Danijel, now 22, Dacic said two police officers had been arrested over the beating and legal proceedings were under way for a third who had in the meantime retired, Dacic said. Police claimed Stojanovic and his father were involved in criminal activities, but Dacic said these allegations could not justify the policemen’s brutal behaviour. “It is in the public interest that citizens think well of police, not badly,” Dacic said. “I hope this event will be a turning point for police and for the Stojanovic family and that all will draw a lesson from it,” he added. Police brutality was widespread in Serbia due a lack of reform including internal controls, according to Ivan Kuzmanovic, an official from Serbia’s Helsinki Committee for Human Rights group.
His organization had interviewed about 300 prisoners in Serbian jails and more than 200 of them complained that they had been subject to “some sort of torture” by police, Kuzmanovic told Belgrade television B92.
Adnkronos
Apologizing to Danijel, now 22, Dacic said two police officers had been arrested over the beating and legal proceedings were under way for a third who had in the meantime retired, Dacic said. Police claimed Stojanovic and his father were involved in criminal activities, but Dacic said these allegations could not justify the policemen’s brutal behaviour. “It is in the public interest that citizens think well of police, not badly,” Dacic said. “I hope this event will be a turning point for police and for the Stojanovic family and that all will draw a lesson from it,” he added. Police brutality was widespread in Serbia due a lack of reform including internal controls, according to Ivan Kuzmanovic, an official from Serbia’s Helsinki Committee for Human Rights group.
His organization had interviewed about 300 prisoners in Serbian jails and more than 200 of them complained that they had been subject to “some sort of torture” by police, Kuzmanovic told Belgrade television B92.
Adnkronos
Neo-Nazi violence up in eastern Germany: Report
Neo-Nazi violence is on the rise in eastern Germany even though overall national figures are down, Die Welt newspaper reported quoting an official report due out on Friday.
While acts of neo-Nazi violence dropped by 14.5 per cent nationwide in 2010 compared to the previous year, they were up 4.8 per cent in the five eastern states which used to form former communist East Germany, the paper said quoting a yearly report by the Office for the Defence of the Constitution.
Out of a total of 706 violent acts by extremist right-wingers, 306 - or 40 per cent - were carried out in the economically depressed former East Germany which is home to just 15 per cent of the country's population.
The eastern state most affected by violence in 2010 was Saxony-Anhalt where a neo-Nazi party this year narrowly failed to win the five per cent of the vote needed to enter the local parliament.
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution, a domestic intelligence service, said the number of extreme right-wingers had fallen by 1,600 to some 25,000 nationwide.
The Straits Times
While acts of neo-Nazi violence dropped by 14.5 per cent nationwide in 2010 compared to the previous year, they were up 4.8 per cent in the five eastern states which used to form former communist East Germany, the paper said quoting a yearly report by the Office for the Defence of the Constitution.
Out of a total of 706 violent acts by extremist right-wingers, 306 - or 40 per cent - were carried out in the economically depressed former East Germany which is home to just 15 per cent of the country's population.
The eastern state most affected by violence in 2010 was Saxony-Anhalt where a neo-Nazi party this year narrowly failed to win the five per cent of the vote needed to enter the local parliament.
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution, a domestic intelligence service, said the number of extreme right-wingers had fallen by 1,600 to some 25,000 nationwide.
The Straits Times
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)