Neo-Nazi rally in front of Statehouse ends early (USA)

Authorities said four people were arrested but there were no major incidents at a poorly attended rally held by a neo-Nazi group in front of the Statehouse on Saturday.

The approximately 50 members of the National Socialist Movement group were shouted down at times by 300 counterprotesters. The scheduled four-hour rally ended after only 90 minutes.

State Police Sgt. Stephen Jones said one of arrests was made after a tire iron was used to break a window at a Bank of America.

Jones said troopers also charged two others with fireworks possession and failure to follow an officer's instructions. Trenton police also made an arrest on an outstanding warrant.

There was a strong police presence, with protesters and counterprotesters kept far apart from each other. Jones said there were "hundreds" of officers equipped with riot gear from state, federal, municipal and county law enforcement agencies.

The State Police incurred no overtime because schedules were flexed to include rally security into regular workweeks, Jones said.

National Socialist Movement members made speeches criticizing various government policies, focusing mostly on immigration and foreign affairs. Core beliefs include "defending the rights of white people," according to the group's website.

Counterprotesters focused on what they say is the National Socialist Movement's hate message.

Some returned the message. Daryle Lamont Jenkins, head of One People's Project, which monitors activity of alleged racist groups, shredded a Nazi flag and stomped on the remains.

"This group, generally speaking, is irrelevant," said Jenkins, a former Somerset County resident who now lives in Philadelphia. "Hating black people and hating society is the least of their problems, because when you really get at it, you find they hate themselves."

The event was held in chilly temperatures with increasing rain showers. Trenton resident Bryan Williams held a sign that said it was raining because "God don't like Nazis."

Daily Record

DETECTIVES PROBE NAZI WAR CRIMES (UK)

Scotland Yard has launched an investigation into new allegations that a Nazi war criminal is living in Britain.

Detectives are looking into claims about an elderly suspect. If they find enough evidence, the alleged war criminal will be arrested and interviewed despite his advancing years.

Many of the SS officers responsible for atrocities at death camps in Germany and Poland during the Second World War have now died or are in their 90s.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “Inquiries are ongoing in relation to allegations of offences committed in Europe during the war.

“At this stage we have not identified specific offences and as no one has been arrested we are not prepared to discuss the identity of the individual involved or where they live.”

The Express

Mosque attack angers Montreal Muslim group (Canada)

The Muslim Council of Montreal (MCM) is calling for harsher penalties and zero tolerance for hate crimes in the wake of an attack last week on a Dorval mosque.

“It is indeed distressing that in a pluralistic and multicultural society such as ours, we have religious institutions being targeted again and again in crimes of hate and violence,” Salam Elmenyawi, president of MCM, said on Saturday. “These attacks go against the very Canadian values and principles that we are all committed to and must be condemned in the strongest terms.”

Elmenyawi’s comments follow an overnight break-in last Monday at a mosque at the corner of Neptune Blvd. and Nightingale Ave. in Dorval.

The intruders broke in through a fire exit door and stole a computer and fired steel bolts through a couple of windows.

In 2009, the mosque was vandalized four times, usually with graffiti painted on walls. The last time it was vandalized was in September 2009.

The mosque has about 2,000 members and has been operating since 1994.

Montreal Gazette

Arrests follow Halifax opposing protests (UK)

Fourteen people have been arrested following two rival demonstrations in a West Yorkshire town centre.

Officers said the protests in Halifax by the English Defence League (EDL) and the Muslim Defence League mostly passed peacefully with minimal disruption.

Police said the arrests were made for minor public order offences.

About 150 people gathered in the Bull Green area for the EDL protest while about 50 took part in the other demonstration in Park Ward.

West Yorkshire Police said about 200 officers were deployed to the events.

A spokesman said that during the EDL demonstration one man was taken ill and refused to be taken to hospital by ambulance. It was thought he had recovered and left the area without giving any details to officers.

Acting Supt Martin Lister said: "Our officers enjoyed a tremendous response to today's operation from the local public which ensured that today's demonstrations could both pass peacefully without disorder, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank residents and businesses of Halifax for this."

BBC News

Soho pub shuts its doors hours before gay kissing protest (UK)

A pub at the centre of a dispute over a gay kiss shut its doors last night as hundreds of demonstrators converged on it to hold a kiss-in.

James Bull, 23, and Jonathan Williams, 26, were enjoying their first date on Wednesday evening when they said they were forcibly removed from the John Snow pub in Soho, central London, by management who described their behaviour as "obscene".

Word of the ejection caused a storm on social networking sites and a protest was quickly organised on Facebook for demonstrators to fill the John Snow and start a kiss-in. But after learning of the event, the pub management decided to close for the evening

Continued at The Independant

TRUE FINNS' NATIONALISM COLOURS FINLAND ELECTION

An anti-immigration party in Finland - the True Finns - has surged in popularity and could produce a surprise in Sunday's general election, opinion polls suggest. Jan Sundberg, Professor of Political Science at Helsinki University, looks at the True Finns phenomenon and the party's chances of joining the next coalition government.

The True Finns saw political potential among the neglected people in society. Their political message is two-fold: social-democratic welfare combined with nationalism and xenophobia. They have targeted dissatisfied Finns who have suffered from the previous governments' economic policies. The last time Finland faced a similar situation was in 1970, when the True Finns' predecessor, the Rural Party, surged from almost nothing to 18 seats in the 200-seat parliament. Later the Rural Party split, but it made a successful comeback in the 1983 election.

'Embraced to death'
Finnish politics has been stable for years because ruling coalitions have integrated and then diluted the radical parties of left and right. That was the fate of the Communists and, later, the Rural Party. Novelist Leif Salmen wrote that the Communists were "embraced to death". The True Finns emerged from the Rural Party in the 1990s when that party failed to keep its election promises. Finland is officially bilingual, but the True Finns' nationalism has no room for Swedish. It excludes Swedish as something unfamiliar to Finnish culture. Polls suggest that most Finns share that view and want to stop the teaching of Swedish in Finnish schools. There is also a widespread view that immigration is damaging Finland and Finnish culture. Parties tend to follow popular trends among the electorate, even if they have an authoritarian streak. That is a general weakness of democracy. The right-wing populist Danish People's Party is not a strong actor in Danish politics, but its xenophobia has spread to the major parties. The Sweden Democrats, on the other hand, are kept isolated by all parties in the Swedish parliament. In contrast to Sweden, parties in Finland have adopted - to differing degrees - the nationalist stance of the True Finns. That is certainly true of the Christian Democrats and Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi's Centre Party.

Nationalist message
The True Finns' manifesto indicates they have much in common with right-wing populist parties elsewhere in Europe. They believe that a low birth rate is not solved by immigration, as that results in problems and foreigners are do not fit into Finnish culture. Instead, young women should study less and spend more time giving birth to pure Finnish children. That is like a faint echo of Nazi ideology. If the True Finns do as well as expected the rival parties may opt for the traditional strategy of integration, but this time it is likely to backfire, because the economic climate has changed. Finland suffered when the Soviet economy collapsed, because the USSR was a major export market for Finnish goods. But in 1995 Finland joined the EU and Nokia developed into a globally successful mobile phone manufacturer. Finland joined the eurozone wholeheartedly in 2002. But for many Finns today EU membership is no longer sexy - not when it involves bailing out countries like Greece, the Republic of Ireland and Portugal. Other companies have caught up with Nokia and even the traditional "green gold" of Finland - timber - has lost its lustre. One paper and pulp mill after another has closed and many workers have been fired. If the True Finns join the next coalition Finland will turn in some degree towards stronger nationalism and protectionism.

BBC News

Racist leaflets delivered to residents (UK)

A leading anti-fascist campaigner has slammed a racist leaflet delivered to homes in Millom.

The leaflet, which was delivered to homes in the Newtown area of Millom, has been described as ‘a poor attempt at satire’.

Police believe the leaflets to have been made by an amateur but are treating the incident as ‘serious’.

Residents gave police the leaflets while they were investigating anti-social behaviour in the Market Street area.

They have also been delivered in Lord Street and Albert Street.

The leaflet refers to the Muslim burka, a veiled dress traditionally worn by women, as a ‘black crow like tent’ and describes the British Government as ‘treacherous’.

Paul Jenkins, chairman of Unite Against Fascism north west, said: “Whoever is getting this sort of thing out there is completely unacceptable.

“In the same way in the 1930s Hitler’s Nazis targeted Jews, now far right groups and others are trying to scapegoat Muslims.

“Muslims are not to blame for the cuts or other problems.

“Our communities are better united than divided.”

A number of residents have voiced their concern following the news.

One woman, who did not wish to be named, said: “I think there is a problem.

“I don’t think everyone is racist but if people start a foreign restaurant there is always a lot of trouble, a lot of people have left the town because of it.”

Arthur Ferguson served in Burma during the Second World War.

He said: “I am not a racist and I despise anyone that is, it is ignorant.

“I fought alongside a lot of Burmese people and Gurkhas, and dealt with Indian people all my life in business – they are just like anybody else.”

Harry Turner, of Devonshire Road, Millom, said: “It does surprise me.

“There are only a few different races in the town and nobody seems to bother.

“Everyone always speaks to you no matter what.”

Sergeant Ashley Bennett of Copeland Neighbourhood Policing Team said: “We have been made aware of several leaflets being posted through doors in the Millom area over the last week.

“They read like they have been written by a person of Islamic faith however upon closer examination they appear to be spoof in nature.

“They have clearly been done on somebody's word processor as they have not been professionally published and printed.

“That said we take all forms of racism very seriously and are investigating the matter.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 0845 3300247

North West Evening Mail

Tribute page to slain teenager Negus McClean targeted by racists (UK)

Racists have targeted a website set up in tribute to a teenage boy stabbed to death in Edmonton.

More than 11,000 people have joined a Facebook site paying tribute to 15-year-old Negus McClean, who was murdered on Sunday evening in Westminster Road.

However, the site has been infiltrated by people posting racist remarks, offensive pictures, and twisted jokes.

Many of the offensive posts, including pornography and depictions of Hitler, have been removed by Facebook bosses but some have continued to appear today.

Friends of the teenager have called for the page to be shut down to stop the abuse, and for the perpetrators to be caught and prosecuted.

One person wrote: “Let's all just ignore the racist comments and insults now, responding is exactly what they want.

“There's no point arguing with them cos you can't argue with a mad person.”

New Facebook sites paying tribute to the Edmonton County pupil have been set up to try to dodge the abusive comments.

Negus was stabbed repeatedly in the thigh and chest by a gang of up to 13 teenagers on mountain bikes who had chased him and his younger brother Elijah along Bounces Road.

It is believed they were fleeing from the gang after a dispute over a mobile phone.

Two teenage boys, aged 14 and 16, were today arrested on suspicion of murder, and remain in police custody for questioning.

Four others, aged 14, 16, 18, and 20, were arrested earlier this week and have been released on bail pending further police enquiries.

Enfield Independent

Dutch anti-Islam MP seeks new judges for trial (Netherlands)

Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders wants the withdrawal of a new panel of judges chosen to try him for hate speech, his lawyer said Friday, claiming they were biased.

"Mr presiding judge, I will demand the recusal of your chamber," lawyer Bram Moszcowicz told judge Marcel van Oosten at a hearing in Amsterdam six months after Wilders succeeded in having a first panel of judges withdrawn.

Wilders and his lawyer question the new judges' partiality based on their refusal to open a perjury probe of a witness accused of lying to the court.

An independent chamber of judges has been assigned to rule on the latest application.

The trial of Wilders, who leads the Netherlands' third biggest political party, opened in October last year but was abruptly halted three weeks later when the judges trying him were ordered to step down by a panel of their peers who upheld the politician's claims of bias.

In March, the new judges ruled that the trial must go ahead, dismissing Wilders' claims that they had no jurisdiction in the case.

Wilders, 47, faces five counts of giving offence to Muslims and of inciting hatred against Muslims and people of non-Western immigrant origin, particularly Moroccans.

The allegations arise partly from the short film "Fitna", which catapulted Wilders to international notoriety in 2008 and in which he mixes Koranic verses with footage of extremist attacks.

In the film he likens the Koran to Hitler's "Mein Kampf".

The MP, whose Party for Freedom gives parliamentary support to a right-leaning coalition, faces up to a year in jail or a 7,600 euro (10,300 dollar) fine for comments made in his campaign to "stop the Islamisation of the Netherlands".

Prosecutors initially dismissed dozens of complaints against Wilders in June 2008 but were compelled by appeals judges to mount a case against him in 2010.

Expatica

Italian far-right urges use of weapons against refugee 'invasion'

Two politicians from Italy's Northern League party want to control Italy's refugee problem by taking up weapons. The staunchly anti-immigration party is an increasingly strong voice in Silvio Berlusconi's government.

Two right-wing politicians from Italy's Northern League party have pushed for the ability to use weapons against the influx of migrants flocking to southern Italy.

More than 25,000 migrants, mostly Tunisian nationals, have arrived at the southern Italian island of Lampedusa since January, prompted by the conflict in the North Africa.

Speaking to an Italian broadcaster, Deputy Transport Minister Roberto Castelli said Italy needed to protect itself against the "invasion."

"This problem could become so unbelievably big that we must ask ourselves if we need to use weapons," he said. "There is a risk this invasion could grow to millions or tens of millions."

'Violating Italy'
His comments were echoed by his party colleague, Francesco Speroni ,who is a member of the justice committee in the European Parliament.

He said "all means" should be used to suppress the influx of people who are "violating Italy and her rules."

"That means weapons as a last resort," he added.

Both politicians argued that if resorting to force was admissible in Libya, then the same should be true of the situation in Lampedusa.

"Europe uses weapons in the same setting in Libya. I don't understand why in one case weapons can be used, and not in another," said Speroni.

League's political power
The Northern League is staunchly anti-immigration and is a partner in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's coalition government. They have several representatives in Berlusconi's cabinet, including Interior Minister Roberto Maroni.

At a meeting of EU interior ministers on Monday, Maroni questioned whether Italy should remain an EU member if other countries in the bloc did not offer to share the burden of the thousands of migrants.

The Northern League currently holds a great deal of power in Italian politics, as they are the glue keeping Berlusconi's crumbing coalition together.

In power since 1994, Berlusconi's ruling Freedom Party has suffered setbacks in recent months, as the prime minister became embroiled in fresh scandals.

Several members of Berlusconi's government resigned in November, forming a breakaway center-right political movement under the guidance of former Berlusconi-ally Gianfranco Fini.

Berlusconi now heavily relies on the Northern League to prop up the coalition, meaning he also has to make concessions to them in order to ensure their continued support.

Shortened trials
On Wednesday Italy's lower house of parliament approved a bill that would cut the length of some criminal trials. The measure was seen by opposition politicians as a bill tailor-made to end Berlusconi's trial for allegedly bribing his lawyer David Mills.

The measure passed by a narrow margin of 314 to 296, amid boos and shouts from the opposition.

If passed by the Senate - where Berlusconi has a strong majority - it would cut eight months from the Mills trial, effectively bringing it to an end this summer.

"The law on short trials is an amnesty in disguise, thought up to avoid having the prime minister face trial," said Piero Fassino, a deputy from the center-left Democratic Party.

Berlusconi denies accusations of paying Mills a $600,000 (414,400 euros) bribe to give false testimony about his business dealings.

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the parliament building on Wednesday, accusing Berlusconi of amending the law in his own interest.

DW World

Interior minister says far-right group breaking law by patrolling eastern town (Hungary)

Interior Minister Sándor Pintér said yesterday that members of far right paramilitary group the Szebb Jövő Society had committed "misdemeanours" in Hajdúhadháza, Hajdú county. The police and authorities will handle the transgressions in proportion to their illegality, he added.

Some 200 Society members have since Tuesday been patrolling the town, which has a large Roma population. The area's Fidesz MP, the Socialist Party, the national federation of municipal councils and six NGOs have all asked the cabinet to take decisive action. However the group has remained in the town, despite Pinter's request.

Police stepped up checks on Wednesday night and on Thursday evening searched and checked the identification cards of ten guard members outside the local train station.

Politics.Hu

Editorial: Neo-Nazi rally at N.J. Statehouse is a disgusting display of hate (USA)

The prospect of jackbooted marchers, swathed in swastikas and spouting racist propaganda, is an unsettling one. An embodiment of Hitler and all his hate, they thrust their fringe beliefs, rudely and crudely, in the face of decent people.

When these skin-headed thugs have shown up uninvited but with plenty of notice in other corners of the country, it’s been rather easy to view the issue as a classic example of the American right to free speech. Their message is odious, but they are free to express it.

Then comes word that members of the Nationalist Socialist Movement plan to rally in front of the Statehouse in Trenton tomorrow. A group leader says they will protest high taxes, illegal immigration and crime. Given their history, the much more likely reason they are coming to the capital of New Jersey is to provoke. With inflammatory rhetoric, and incendiary symbol and their very presence, they intend to provoke.

Whether they choose Skokie, Illinois, or our own back yard for their antagonistic display, the conclusion remains: Their message is odious, but they are free to express it.

The message is indeed odious. Outlining the NSM rally to Times writer Alex Zdan, chief of staff Jason Hiecke mildly described himself as a “patriot of the United States with European heritage.” Yet a cursory glance at the group’s website reveals videos with burning crosses, salutes to Hitler and even children outfitted in Ku Klux Klan robes.

Read the full item at NJ.com

English Defence League postpones Blackpool march (UK)

The English Defence League has agreed to rearrange a planned march in Blackpool following a request from police.

Lancashire Police had been concerned the march would clash with Blackpool's Premier League match against Bolton Wanderers on 14 May.

An EDL spokesman said: "The EDL are only to happy to facilitate this request with the local police."

However the match might be rearranged if Bolton make the FA Cup Final.

An EDL march through Blackburn earlier in the month cost police £500,000, the Lancashire Police Authority said.

A Lancashire Police spokesman said the force would not be releasing any details about the meeting until next week.

BBC News

Ukraine officials dismiss UEFA fears that Euro 2012 tournament will be plagued by fascist attacks

Ukraine's political officials have dismissed fears that visitors could be the victims of fascist attacks during the Euro 2012 tournament.

Borys Kolesnikov, the Deputy Prime Minister, was responding to a UEFA report that documented more than 200 serious hate crimes at matches in Ukraine and Poland during an 18-month period. These included fans racially abusing their own black players, the use of fascist banners and violent attacks on anti-racist groups.

"Ukraine is 100 percent ready with regards to security," Kolesnikov told The London Times before using the Heysel disaster, in which 39 people died after fan rioting, as his example to suggest no country is exempt from problems. "Look at the 1985 European Cup Final between Liverpool and Juventus. Any country can have reason to be cautious about fans. Fears can always exist."

The majority of the incidents in the report by the East European Monitoring Center happened in Poland, but 62 happened in Ukraine, including an attack by neo-Nazi Dynamo Kiev fans on left-leaning Arsenal Kiev supporters. One fan was stabbed three times at the match last August while Dynamo fans chanted "Heil Hitler."

Markiyan Lubkivskyi, Ukraine's tournament director, said, "Racism is not a Ukrainian problem, but we know we have to work with police in terms of communication and language. It's the tip of the iceberg. We have to show we are not a police state, but we have to be sure everyone can feel safe."

Michel Platini, the UEFA president, has promised a zero-tolerance approach to hooliganism, but Martin Kallen, the body's operations director of 2012, admitted concern at crowd trouble before last month's friendly between Poland and Lithuania.

That prompted Poland's Interior Ministry to announce a raft of new measures, including banning orders and summary trials to be held within stadiums. Analysts claim that football hooliganism in Poland now has strong links with organised crime.

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Lubkivskyi said safety and security were his main concerns but with a million visitors expected, he admitted to fears about health and medical facilities, too.

"It would be relatively easy to organise a tournament in Austria and Switzerland, but here we are faced with very different problems," he said.

Euro 2012 will be hosted by Poland and Ukraine next year between 8 June and 1 July.

Fox Sports

"Family Friendly" Machine Gun Festival Welcomes Neo-Nazi Extremists (USA)

The Knob Creek Gun Range in West Point, Kentucky advertises its World Famous, twice-a-year Machine Gun Shoot as "Family Friendly" entertainment. The slogan: "Nothing brings families together like blowing stuff apart...safely."

I won't deny the red-blooded-American joy of firing automatic weapons at exploding targets.

Still I have to ask: What's up with the little kids in Nazi shirts?

I was on site at the Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot fewer than 20 minutes last Saturday before I passed a shaved-head lad with with a Totenkopf death head on his chest. (The Totenkopf was the symbol of the Nazi SS division that ran death camps like Auschwitz during the Holocaust.)

The shirt looked brand new. I took that to mean the kid or whoever gave it to him bought it from one of the dozen or so permitted vendors who openly sold white supremacist merchandise. This included a wide selection of t-shirts and flags bearing symbols popular with racist skinheads and neo-Nazis. (And no, I'm not counting Confederate battle flags.) Also for sale were the race war fantasy novels Hunter and The Turner Diaries by William Pierce, founder of the National Alliance, a notorious hate group. A Friends of the NRA fundraising booth was located within sight of a stall of swastika flags.

Continued at AlternNet.org

Police in CCTV plea over racist abuse at newsagents (UK)

These are the two men police want to speak to about the racist abuse of shop staff.

The two alleged hate crimes by took place on different days at Wright News on Copplehouse Lane, Fazakerley.

The first took place on Friday February 25 at around 8.15am.

A man entered the shop with a dog, and then hurled racial abuse at staff after being asked to take his pet outside.

In the second incident, on Saturday March 19 at about 8pm, a man confronted staff and then racially abused them before leaving the shop.

Officers are now looking to speak to the two men in the CCTV images to help them with their enquiries.

DS Michelle Hogg, of Knowsley’s sigma unit, said: “We are dedicated to stamping out racist and any other type of hate crime in Knowsley.

“This kind of behaviour is clearly unacceptable and we will aim to take positive action to put offenders before the courts.”

Anyone with information about the men pictured is asked to call police on 0151 777 6545.

Alternatively anyone with information can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Liverpool Echo

Youth 'bully' website shocks Germany

A website enabling teenagers to post insults and racist comments about their peers has prompted an outcry in Germany after 20 youths beat another teen senseless over remarks made on its forums.

"Michelle is one of the biggest whores in the school"; "Elizabeth is a slut and bad in bed"; "Carola in class nine is screwing her biology teacher" - a selection of comments on the site where users can post in total anonymity.

Other postings on the German-language site are anti-Semitic or xenophobic. One forum is entitled: "We should get rid of these dirty Turks once and for all".

The site, iShareGossip.com, has hit the headlines after online baiting turned to real-life violence.

A 17-year-old boy confronted another teen who had insulted his 18-year-old girlfriend on the site, dubbed the "bullying platform" in the press.

In a resulting fight, he was attacked by about 20 other people, suffering serious head injuries and needing an emergency trip to hospital.

Another recent brawl, also after barbs were traded on the site, resulted in bystanders coming to the aid of a 15-year-old boy who was set upon by about 20 others.

In another incident from the forum, a secondary school in Berlin had to close for two days after a pupil boasted he was going to cause carnage there.

Youth protection agencies have called for the closure of the site, which was apparently inspired by the hit US drama Gossip Girl in which a New York teenager blogs about her daily life, dishing about friends and acquaintances.

The site has caused uproar in Germany, where people are especially sensitive about privacy and where insults can be punished with a jail term.

Appeals to boycott the site have begun to surface on social networking website Facebook and some of its own users itself have taken a stand. "This site should be banned," one correspondent wrote.

"At least 20 youths hospitalised a 17-year-old in Berlin. The young man wanted to prevent an argument and ended up with concussion. You should all be thoroughly ashamed of yourselves," wrote another.

The authorities have been stung into action by the wide media coverage. Prosecutors in Frankfurt, who are responsible for cybercrime, have begun a probe into the website.

The family ministry has announced the site would be placed on a list of web pages deemed harmful to young people. This does not mean it will be taken down but German search engines will not direct users to it.

In Britain, the owners of a similar website closed it down after racist comments and other malicious remarks were posted.

And a high-profile case in 2006 in the United States showed how far so-called "cyber-bullying" can go when a 14-year-old girl hanged herself after being harassed on the MySpace website.

The founder of iShareGossip.com said in the only interview he has given, and on condition of anonymity, that the site was hosted by the same Swedish server as document-sharing platform WikiLeaks.

The site itself says it "aims to contribute to more transparency on the web". Anonymity allows users "to exchange opinions that they might not publish under their own name," the site adds.

And in a defiant response to rumours it was set to be shut down, a recent post read: "I do not know where people have got this information from. iShareGossip will definitely not be going offline."

Herald Sun

ITALIAN BASKETBALL PLAYERS TO PROTEST AGAINST RACISM BY PAINTING FACES BLACK

Italian basketball players and fans have been urged to paint their faces black during the next round of fixtures to show support to a player who was racially abused. The idea was prompted by the case of Abiola Wabara, 30, who was abused and spat at while playing for Bracco Geas SS Giovanni in the A1 women's league quarter-final win over Comense. At the time officials took no action, but a subsequent investigation by the federation, Federbasket, resulted in the call for a day of protest across all Italy's basketball leagues. Among the campaign's slogans, which all begin "I would like black skin", are: "I would like black skin so I can be like her and shout to the world our desire for freedom;" and: "I would like black skin, or red, green, yellow. I would like to have the skin of all colours of the soul." In 2001 the entire Treviso football team painted their faces black during a home match against Genoa after their Nigerian striker Akeem Omolade was abused, prompting a group of supporters to walk out in protest.

The Guardian

Cable in outspoken attack on Cameron over migrants (UK)

Vince Cable has broken Coalition ranks to accuse David Cameron of risking inflaming tensions over immigration.

The LibDem Business Secretary called the Prime Minister’s words “very unwise” and suggested they were calculated to win votes in next month’s local elections.

The Tory leader used a keynote speech to warn the UK needed “good immigration, not mass immigration”. It came just weeks after he caused a storm by attacking multiculturalism.

Mr Cable condemned the speech and appeared to accuse Mr Cameron of blatant electioneering.

“I do understand there is an election coming but talk of mass immigration risks inflaming the extremism to which he and I are both strongly opposed,” he said.

Mr Cable disowned the Prime Minister’s plans to cut immigration to tens of thousands, saying they were not Government policy but “Tory party policy”.

However, within hours he appeared to have done a U-turn, saying he backed the plans.

Mr Cameron rejected the accusation he was inflaming problems, saying he was talking about “sensible” measures.

Labour accused the Coalition of being in chaos over the row, which comes just months after Mr Cable narrowly kept his job following reports he had said he was waging war on Rupert Murdoch, the media mogul.

At the time he was in charge of deciding whether Mr Murdoch would be allowed to proceed with a multimillion takeover of broadcaster BSkyB. Many thought Mr Cable would be forced to resign, but in the end he was stripped only of some responsibilities.

The LibDems have disagreed with the Tories on immigration before, and just weeks ago party leader Nick Clegg defended multiculturalism.

The new row comes as both parties face local polls in England and Holyrood elections next month.

A poll published by Ipsos Mori yesterday showed that more than half of people think some form of cap on immigration is needed, and only one in seven oppose such a measure.

Further evidence of the parties’ attempts to emphasise their separate identities to voters was seen when Liberal Democrat deputy leader Simon Hughes yesterday described the Coalition as a “practical business relationship” rather than a “meeting of minds”.

Labour’s Keith Vaz warned the split in Coalition ranks over immigration could be exploited by extremists. He said: “We are not at all clear what he (the Prime Minister) means by bad immigration.

“We understand the need to debate these issues but we should have clear definitions and some clarity as to where Government policy actually is.”

Meanwhile, Mr Cameron was accused of getting his figures wrong for the second time in less than a week. On Monday Oxford University reacted angrily when the Prime Minister accused them of only accepting one black student last year – saying that the real figure had been 26.

Yesterday, the Tory leader said net migration from the EU into Britain over the course of a year had been just 27,000.

However, the Government’s official statisticians, the Office for National Statistics, said that figure had been quoted incorrectly, and did not include countries which had joined the EU since 2004, such as Poland.

The true figure was more than twice as high, at 57,000.

Herald Scotland

Sion Owens BNP Koran Burner ITV1 Wales a video report (UK)

Here's a video report from ITV Wales about the BNP Koran burning member Sion Owens.