Mark Townsend in the Observer, 16th September 2012: “More people would support a political party that pledged to stop all immigration or promised to reduce the number of Muslims than one that encouraged multiculturalism, a survey conducted in the wake of the Olympics reveals.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/sep/16/voters-support-anti-immigrant-party
Mehdi Hasan in Huffington Post, July 2012:
“To say that I find the relentlessly hostile coverage of Islam, coupled with the personal abuse that I receive online, depressing is an understatement. There have been times – for instance, when I found my wife curled up on our couch, in tears, after having discovered some of the more monstrous and threatening comments on my New Statesman blog – when I’ve wondered whether it’s all worth it. Perhaps, a voice at the back of my head suggests, I should throw in the towel and go find a less threatening, more civilised line of work. But that’s what the trolls want. To silence Muslims; to deny a voice to a voiceless community. I shouldn’t have to put up with this abuse. But I will. I have no plans to let the Islamophobes win. So, dare I ask: who’s with me?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/08/muslims-public-life-abuse
Anti-Muslim Hate Crime Report (Tell MAMA), July 2012
“TELL MAMA, which was set up with Government backing at the end of February by interfaith organisation Faith Matters, has chronicled over 140 cases to date and led to the arrests and charging of three far-right English Defence League (EDL) sympathisers, with more cases and arrests likely in the coming months. Approximately 75% of the cases involve female victims, with far-right British National Party (BNP) or EDL sympathisers linked to one-third (33%) of all incidents.”
http://faith-matters.org/
Inayat Bunglawala at the Leveson Inquiry, January 2012:
“I can fully accept that newspapers are there to report stories and if Muslims are involved in those stories, there will be facts about Muslims or the faith of Islam which they need to touch upon, especially in a time when we’re facing a terror threat from Al Qaeda. It would be impossible for newspapers to avoid the subject of Islam and Muslims. Where I think a line needs to be drawn is on a clear falsehood on – where newspapers just tell plain falsehoods in their headline, where they seem to be fermenting prejudice, whereas if we replace the word “Muslim” with another minority group, we would very quickly recognise this is unacceptable. So I think the same standards should be applied to Muslims as to any other faith group or any other minority group community”.
THE CLUMSY ACTIONS & STATEMENTS
20th December 2012
In the UK, an organisation called the Quran Project planned to place posters in five major London Railway Stations – Waterloo, Victoria, Liverpool St, Marylebone and St Pancras International during 10 – 24 December 2012…The London railway posters went up at different times between Mon – Thurs last week. The campaign had been six months in the planning and the sites were reserved by JCDecaux who had approved the campaign, at a cost of £30,000, two thirds of which was raised online with JustGiving, a popular crowd funding platform….On Monday, 17 December, these billboards advertising free Qurans, were taken down….’rail companies have pointed out that this is not acceptable and we should not have done so. As a consequence, we began the process of removing your posters from the rail stations over the weekend’.<p>…The fact remains that both JCDecaux and Network Rail have allowed similar campaigns for other religious groups over the last two years, in particular The Trinitarian Bible Society and the Alpha Course, who have advertised widely including at Marylebone station (operated by Chiltern Railways).”
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/mohammed-ansar/advertising-islamophobia-london-railways_b_2322251.html?utm_hp_ref=tw
11th December 2012
An otherwise excellent article by Ian Birrell on the Census and the need to avoid scaremongering about Muslims is marred by the accompanying image – of a niqabi lady!
http://alturl.com/x23c7
9th December 2012
Offensive graffiti attacking Allah and Islam has been painted outside a Muslim family’s home weeks after a cross wrapped in ham was left by their door.
The 31-year-old mother and two sons, eight and 10, say they have suffered five or six racist incidents since they moved to Bingham, Notts, in October.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-20657244
7th December 2012
…comments made by a DUP councillor about Muslims did not appear on that meeting’s minutes ‘for legal reasons’….As revealed in the Mail, DUP Cllr Alan Carson said Muslims were ‘causing bother in the Middle East’ and the British Army represented all sides “Protestant, Catholic, Hindu, Jew, Muslim whatever – well, maybe not Muslim”.
http://www.lurganmail.co.uk/news/local/muslim-slur-left-out-of-council-minutes-1-4563178
6th December 2012
At about 8.30pm last night, the proposals were rejected by councillors on the grounds the building was “too big”, would generate too much traffic and the site was “heavily contaminated”…More than 25,000 letters in support of the mosque had been received by the council, compared with 3,000 against. But in recent weeks the No lobby begun to scent victory.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/rejected-the-mosque-plan-that-grew-so-big-it-attracted-the-wrong-sort-of-crowd-8386158.html
25th November 2012
A former Conservative peer has waded into the row surrounding the controversial new Tory campaign chief, Lynton Crosby, by saying she agrees the party should not court Muslim votes because they are “all on benefits”.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/11/25/shreela-flather-lynton-crosby-muslim_n_2187647.html?utm_hp_ref=tw
17th November 2012
“Outspoken Australian ‘fixer’ Lynton Crosby used the phrase ‘f****** Muslims’ in a diatribe while working for London Mayor Boris Johnson. But No 10 officials said the Prime Minister has no intention of changing his mind about appointing the strategist, despite the new revelations”.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2234565/Lynton-Crosby-Foul-mouthed-abuse-campaign-chief-revealed-lands-Tory-post.html
16th November 2012
In her new book, Clarissa Dickson Wright describes a visit to Leicester ‘as one of the most frightening experiences of my life’….She describes coming off the ring road to escape a traffic jam and becoming lost. “I found myself in an area where all the men were wearing Islamic clothing and all the women were wearing burkas and walking slightly behind them,” she wrote.
http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/Fury-TV-chef-Clarissa-Dickson-Wright-s-comments/story-17337845-detail/story.html
13th November 2012
Tory MP Kris Hopkins has sparked a row in the Commons by claiming gangs of Muslim men are raping white ‘kids’. The Keighley MP claimed police had felt they needed ‘permission’ to go after abusers due to ‘political correctness’….He acknowledged that there were “long lists of notorious abusers” who were not Muslim but he added: “We shouldn’t get away from the fact that there are gangs of Muslim men going round and raping white kids”.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20316934
1st November 2012
The Daily Mail’s distressing headline: “Mother ‘beat son, 7, to death then set fire to his body’ because he struggled to learn the Koran off by heart”. It ought to have highlighted that this was a mother with a record of mental history and child abuse. Instead the story reinforced the stereotype of fanatical and irrational Muslim parents.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2226408/Sara-Ege-beat-son-Yaseen-death-set-body-struggled-learn-Koran-heart.html
7th August 2012
A London-based retailer forced a Muslim employee to resign after she wore a headscarf to work, because it wanted to retain its ‘trendy’ image, an employment tribunal has ruled. Farrah won her claim for unfair dismissal but lost her claim for direct religious discrimination. However, the judge said that, had she brought a claim for indirect discrimination, the tribunal would have “in all likelihood” ruled in her favour.
http://www.personneltoday.com/Articles/07/08/2012/58724/muslim-employee-forced-to-resign-after-wearing-headscarf-to-work.htm
23rd July 2012
Joseph Harker Joseph Harker in the Guardian: … Because these sex assaults did not take place in Rochdale, where a similar story led the news for days in May, but in Derby earlier this month. Fifteen girls aged 13 to 15, many of them in care, were preyed on by the men. And though they were not working as a gang, their methods were similar – often targeting children in care and luring them with, among other things, cuddly toys. But this time, of the eight predators, seven were white, not Asian. And the story made barely a ripple in the national media…Make no mistake, the Rochdale crimes were vile, and those convicted deserve every year of their sentences. But where, amid all the commentary, was the evidence that this is a racial issue; that there’s something inherently perverted about Muslim or Asian culture?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/22/how-racism-takes-root
12th June 2012
[Bournemouth] Councillor Sue Anderson…potentially breached the council’s code of conduct with her comments on Twitter late at night on Saturday, May 5…. One of her comments was that ‘nobody else except the EDL stick up for the English’.http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/9752166.Councillor_Sue_Anderson_ordered_to_make_apology_after_EDL_Twitter_comments/
27th May 2012
The Sunday Telegraph rarely comments on the faith of criminals, referring to them by ethnicity or nationality – except when it comes to Muslims: “…a case which saw nine Muslim men found guilty of grooming young white girls for sex”.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9293193/Calls-for-Warsi-to-stand-down-for-investigation-into-flat-expenses.html
15th Jan 2012
Sunderland mosque planning application protest – according to one objector, “It will end up being mosquefield, not Millfield”. for Lib Dem Councillor Paul Dixon, the mosque plans risks “upsetting the balance”
http://alturl.com/tio3d
7th Jan 2012
David Stones, would-be Lib Dem Councillor: “Regarding the mosque being built near ground zero. I say let them build it. But then, across the street we should put a topless bar called “You Mecca Me Hot” … and next to that a pork rib restaurant … Then we’ll see who’s tolerant.”
http://politicalscrapbook.net/2012/01/lib-dem-anti-islam-candidate/
THE MOCKING, ALARMIST TALK
29th December 2012
The British National Party has urged the public to reject the plans which would see the 19th century former Presbyterian Church on Oswald Road converted into the prayer centre. BNP leaders say more than 2,000 leaflets have been put through Oswestry letterboxes opposing the scheme.
http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2012/12/28/oswestry-split-over-plan-for-muslim-prayer-centre/
29th November 2012
Alan Craig, campaign director of ‘MegaMosque No Thanks’ and a former Newham councillor, said: ‘Now it’s up to the planning committee to follow the recommendation to reject. The building would be ugly, it would add nothing to the area and we have huge concerns about the group behind it.’
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/protesters-scent-victory-in-fight-to-halt-newham-megamosque-8367634.html
7th November 2012
RENOWNED atheist Professor Richard Dawkins received a surprise standing ovation in the traditionally Christian community of Stornoway last night, following a two-hour speech in which he said there was probably no God. The 71-year-old described Islam as “one of the great evils of the world” in his lecture…We are terrified of being called ‘Islamophobic’. It is a disgrace a religion prescribes death for leaving it. Members of the audience cheered loudly as Prof Dawkins used the appearance to attack Islam, while stressing that the ‘vast majority of Muslims’ were not evil, only their religion was [!!!]
http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/scotland/there-s-no-god-and-islam-is-evil-speech-earns-richard-dawkins-ovation-from-islanders-1-2612951
11th October 2012
Peter Hitchens’ fantasy: “… He fears that Britain will become an Islamic state within 50 years.”
http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/he-wants-to-bring-back-hanging-and-believes-we-are-in-a-state-of-terminal-moral-decline-peter-hitchens-brother-of-the-more-famous-christopher-8206479.html
8th September 2012
National Front deputy chairman, Kevin Bryan, said: “We are completely against plans for a Halal slaughterhouse in Skegness and plan to hold a demonstration in the town on the 15th and will also be handing out leaflets.
“Obviously people need educating on how cruel Halal slaughter is, the Qur’an doesn’t allow for animals to be stunned first and we want to educate people”.
http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/National-plans-peaceful-protest-Halal/story-16825610-detail/story.html
5th September 2012
“An Islamic group will this week relaunch its bid to build a 12,000-capacity ‘mega-mosque’ next to the Olympic site….The Tablighi Jamaat group, a Muslim missionary movement wants to build Britain’s biggest place of worship in West Ham….Alan Craig, campaign director of ‘MegaMosque No Thanks’ and a former Newham councillor, said:’ The community is concerned about the harm this will have on Newham. It is inappropriately large, but we also have worries about the group behind it.’
11th May 2012
Following the sentences of a Pakistani-origin criminal gang for child grooming offences, the Tudor historian David Starkey ventured: “Those men were acting within their own cultural norms. Nobody ever explained to them that the history of women in Britain was once rather similar to that in Pakistan and it had changed…”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9258403/Asian-sex-gang-were-acting-within-cultural-norms.html
8th May 2012
A RIGHT-WING activist says he has launched a campaign against a proposal to turn a former pub into an Islamic community centre. Stephen Tweed is the West Norfolk organiser of the British Freedom Party and is objecting to the West Norfolk Islamic Association’s plans for the former Queen’s Arms in London Road, Lynn.
http://www.lynnnews.co.uk/news/latest-news/king-s-lynn-islamic-centre-in-the-eye-of-the-storm-1-3779388
17th March 2012
A MAN posted a racially offensive comment on Facebook during a group discussion about a Bury Free Press front page, a court has heard. Luke Janzen joined in a debate started by one of his friends about The Falcon pub, in Bury St Edmunds, being converted into a mosque, saying if that happened it would ‘be burned down’.
Prosecuting, Colette Griffiths …She told the court he wrote: “If there’s going to be a mosque in Bury then the f*****’s going to be burned down.”
http://www.buryfreepress.co.uk/news/latest-news/man-s-facebook-f-word-blast-1-3927744
14th Feb 2012: “The man attempting to stir up fears over plans to build a mosque in Purley is a far-right activist and avid supporter of the woman accused of racially abusing people on a tram. English Defence League member Frank Day proudly claims to have put leaflets through the doors of 600 homes in the area….”
http://alturl.com/5ox22
7th Feb 2012: Anti-Islamic literature..”A former BNP member has been convicted of a religiously aggravated public order offence for putting anti-Islamic literature in his window…Edward Johnson, prosecuting, described the material on his windows as grossly offensive towards the Muslim faith. Conway admitted that at the time of the offence he was a member of the BNP and a supporter of the English Defence League but said he had since left the BNP”.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-16913913
THE ABUSE, PHYSICAL DAMAGE & VIOLENCE
28th December 2012
The head of the pig, which is offensive to Muslims who consider the animal unclean and are forbidden from eating pork, was discovered by worshippers from the As Salaam group at the Thurnby Lodge centre at 7.30am on Boxing Day. A 40-year-old woman and two men, aged 37 and 46, were arrested on Wednesday.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/dec/28/pigs-head-outside-centre-muslims
3rd December 2012
Two men were arrested yesterday during a protest over a planned Muslim education centre in the North.
Police estimate that around 200 members of the English Defence League turned out to the protest in the former pit village of Shotton Colliery, County Durham.
http://www.islamophobia-watch.com/islamophobia-watch/2012/12/2/two-arrested-at-edl-shotton-colliery-protest.html
20th November 2012
THE leader of the English Defence League (EDL) in Bristol has been arrested in connection with graffiti sprayed on mosques and Sikh temples. Mickey Bayliss, from Upton Cheyney near Bitton, was arrested on Wednesday. along with another man.
http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/EDL-leader-arrested-connection-graffiti-attacks/story-17362146-detail/story.html
31st October 2012
[Amanda] Lowe had been drinking with Wesley Earls, father of her unborn child, and Daniel Wray in Piccadilly Gardens in the centre of Manchester this May when the attack took place…he area was crowded with families enjoying the evening sunshine as Khuram Nisar walked through on his way home from work. Without provocation, Lowe shouted racist abuse at him and added: ‘You’re a terrorist, don’t come near me, I’m worried you’ll blow me up’ and ‘Go back to Pakistan’…He responded by telling 26-year-old Earls to ‘control his woman’, but Earls reacted by punching Mr Nisar to the ground, joined by Wray, 21.
http://alturl.com/3wqz8
16th October 2012
A judge has slammed prosecutors for failing to charge a knifeman with racism after he screamed vile abuse at worshippers outside a mosque. Jonathan Russell (32) waved a blade at two men on their way to prayers before snarling: “Where’s Allah to protect you now?”
http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/Melton-man-jailed-knife-incident-outside-London/story-17086464-detail/story.html
7th October 2012
David Hammond, 41, of South Street, Hemsworth, admitted shouting, swearing and using racist insults against PC Junaid Farooq….Prosecuting Diane Gomersall said: ‘He shouted ‘all you Muslims just fly planes into buildings.’
http://www.hemsworthandsouthelmsallexpress.co.uk/news/local/man-guilty-of-racially-abusing-police-officer-1-4988537
7th October 2012
“FAR-RIGHT groups clashed with anti-fascists and sparked a massive police operation at the site of a recently-approved new mosque. Around 200 people were involved in the demonstration on St Mark’s Road, Sunderland, with police making more than a dozen arrests yesterday”.
http://www.sundaysun.co.uk/news/north-east-news/2012/10/07/13-arrests-after-protesters-clash-at-sunderland-mosque-site-79310-31982421/
24th September 2012
Fraser Rae, 28, entered Glasgow’s Central Mosque on September 23 and urged those inside to run away, prosecutors said. Rae, from Johnstone in Renfrewshire, also shouted that he had a gun and threatened to shoot those near him, the court was told.
Following his arrest at the scene, Rae’s backpack was searched and found to contain a number of items including a ‘Scream’ mask, gloves and scissors. He was also shouting racist and threatening remarks.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/man-jailed-for-two-years-after-1498979
8th September 2012
A MAN is due to appear in court after messages appeared on Facebook threatening an ‘Oslo-style’ bomb attack targeting Muslims in South Tyneside.K enneth Graham Holden has been charged with two counts of sending offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing messages or matter, and will appear at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court on September 25.
http://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/crime/man-charged-after-oslo-style-facebook-bomb-attack-threats-to-muslims-1-4903919
6th September 2012
A £5,000 reward is being offered by police after the body of a Muslim woman was found in a hospital mortuary, covered with rashers of bacon. The woman’s daughter said it was like a nightmare that was still deeply affecting the family.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/muslim-womans-body-found-in-hospital-morgue-covered-with-bacon-745706.html
15th August 2012
A gifted young English chess player was physically assaulted and his family subjected to Islamophobic abuse by other parents during a recent competition in Austria, his father claims….According to Mr Rahman’s testimony, trouble began when his wife, Tomasina Contu, complained that the hotel they were staying in would not serve halal food despite assurances that their dietary requirements would be catered for. The competition was being held in the middle of Ramadan.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/muslim-brothers-abused-by-rivals-parents-on-chess-trip-8046831.html
8th August 2012
An Islamic centre in [Horley] Surrey has been vandalised with alcohol and eggs thrown at the building. The centre, which is on the corner of High Street and Yattendon Road, in Horley, also had graffiti sprayed on the main door.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-19168612
16th June 2012
A 26-year-old man has admitted pulling a niqab veil off a Muslim woman at a shopping centre in the West Midlands. Ian Brazier, of Shirley, Solihull, admitted racially aggravated assault after he tugged at Farhana Chughtai’s hair in Touchwood, Solihull, in March.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-18426178
12th May 2012
Peter James Crawford (52) was said to have torn pages from his own copy of the Koran and thrown the holy book on the ground next to a stall run by the Islamic Information Centre, near the Clock Tower, in Leicester city centre, on the afternoon of May 12.
http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/Koran-ripping-case-jury-discharged-Leicester/story-17656040-detail/story.html
10th May 2012
Michelle Eager tried to pull off Zakir Mohammed’s religious headgear before spitting at her and then hitting the 24-year-old in the face. The 41-year-old, who was hurling foul abuse, then turned on Mrs Mohammed’s 17-year-old niece, Atif Khan, and also hit her in the face.
http://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/crime/mum-jailed-for-drunken-race-hate-attack-1-4532289
8th May 2012
A politician’s eight-year-old daughter was left “petrified” when anti-Islamic protesters marched into the garden of their home with banners and banged on the window. Lancashire MEP Sajjad Karim’s home was targeted by the English Defence League (EDL) as part of a day of protests against “radical Islam” in the county on July 2 last year.
http://www.lep.co.uk/news/local/edl-mob-pleads-guilty-1-4490366
2nd May 2012
“A SOUTH Tyneside man has been arrested over allegations he threatened to launch a bomb attack on one of the borough’s Muslim communities.A police probe was launched after race-hate posts were allegedly made on social network site Facebook threatening an ‘Oslo-style’ attack on Ocean Road, South Shields. Officers arrested Kenny Holden, 29, on suspicion of assault and possessing racially inflammatory material.”
http://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/crime/shields-man-arrested-over-facebook-threat-to-bomb-town-s-muslims-1-4475638
17th Apirl 2012
Birmingham woman’s niqab ripped off: “DETECTIVES are hunting a man who grabbed a Muslim woman by the head and pulled off her face covering in a packed shopping centre. The thug approached the 26-year-old from behind in Solihull’s Touchwood shopping centre on Saturday, March 3 at 2pm….A similar attack in Glasgow in 2010 resulted in man being jailed for two years after he admitted racially assaulting 26-year-old Anwar Alqahtani. William Baikie, also 26, ripped Ms Alqahtani’s niqab from her face near the city’s central train station”.
http://alturl.com/t68w2
3rd April 2012
AN investigation is underway after an arson attack at a mosque in Bury Park in the early hours of this morning (April 2). Fire crews were called to the Bury Park Jamie Masjid in Bury Park Road at 4.30am, after two large metal bins were pushed up against a door and set alight
http://www.lutontoday.co.uk/news/local/police-probe-mosque-fire-1-3692062
31st March 2012
BEDFORD’S Islamic community has been left ‘devastated’ by attacks on two Queens Park mosques on Saturday. Burglars raided the Jamia Masid Hafia Ghousia Mosque in Ford End Road and the Gulshan-e-Baghdad Mosque in Westbourne Road causing thousands of pounds worth of damage and stealing items including CCTV equipment.
http://www.bedfordtoday.co.uk/news/local/double-mosque-attack-shocks-queens-park-1-3674965
6th March 2012
Barry Stanbury, 42, was caught on CCTV cameras at shortly before 2.30am on
March 5, wandering around the Exeter Mosque before a window was smashed, Exeter
magistrates heard…he told police his motive for carrying out the religiously
aggravated criminal damage was seeing on the news that Commonwealth graves had
been desecrated in Libya.
http://www.thisisexeter.co.uk/Man-launched-drunken-attack-Exeter-mosque/story-17210666-detail/story.html
18th Feb 2012
“A SECURITY guard and English Defence League activist was sacked after he left pork scratchings outside a Liverpool supermarket – in a bid to deter Muslim customers
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2012/02/18/exposed-the-vile-racist-rants-of-liverpool-english-defence-league-coordinator-kurtis-cawley-100252-30354474/
27th Jan 2012
“A FAMILY barricaded themselves in their home as a neighbour armed with knives threatened to kill them, a court heard. Daniel Smith is said to have shouted racist abuse and English Defence League slogans as he smashed his way into the Thornhill Lees home”. http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/cumbrian-man-accused-muslim-of-planning-bombs-1.919593?referrerPath=home
20th Jan 2012
“A race attack in Surrey on an 11-year-old girl will be the focus of community talks in Sunbury-on-Thames. The girl was attacked by older white girls who kicked her, pushed her to the ground and drew on her face.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-16626068
17th Jan 2012
” Police have arrested 15 people after violence between far-right activists and local youths outside a mosque in east London.
Witnesses said the clash near the East London Mosque in Whitechapel erupted after supporters of the English Defence League chanted anti-Muslim slogans…A member of staff at the Indo, a pub opposite the mosque, said the incident began when a gang of ‘hooligans’ entered the bar and started drinking heavily.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jan/14/edl-supporters-east-london
