THE ABUSE, PHYSICAL DAMAGE, VIOLENCE
16 December 2016 Barney Davis in the Evening Standard, ‘
A young Muslim woman was knocked down and dragged along the pavement by her hijab in a “sickening” attack in a busy shopping precinct. The woman had been visiting a friend at a hair salon when two white men approached her from behind and tried to remove her headscarf. The 27-year-old was forced to the ground and dragged for several metres by her hijab in Hall Lane in Chingford Mount, north London. Witnesses say she was left lying on the floor for almost 20 minutes before managing to dial 999 and limp to a Turkish restaurant. Paramedics attended and treated her for back injuries before taking her to hospital.’ click here.
12 December 2016 Tom Powell in the Evening Standard, ‘A knifeman who stabbed a passenger on a train in south London marched through the carriages shouting “I want to kill a Muslim”, according to witnesses. Police arrested a 38-year-old on suspicion of GBH following the incident at Forest Hill station at around 1.15pm on Monday, while the victim, in his 40s, was rushed to hospital. There were scenes of panic as passengers fled the station screaming with terror while the attacker was on the loose.’ click here.
27th November 2016 Chris Slater in the Manchester Evening News, ‘More than 100 people joined a protest against the planned construction of the mosque and Islamic Centre in Great Lever in the town [Bolton], which has already been granted planning permission. A similar number are estimated to have joined a counter-protest led by Unite Against Fascism (UAF). The main group of ‘Stop the Mosque’ protesters were given a police escort from the railway station into the town’s main square.’ click here.
18th October 2016 Justin Davenport in the Evening Standard, ‘A woman had her hijab grabbed in a bid to snatch it from her head as she walked down Oxford Street in a new hate crime assault in London. The woman, in her 40s, was walking alone on Britain’s busiest shopping street when she was approached by a man who repeatedly told her to remove her hijab. When she refused the man became more aggressive and grabbed the woman’s headscarf and attempted to remove it by force.’ click here.
9th October 2016 Catherine Wylie reports in the Independent, ‘ A woman has had her hijab pulled down in a racially-motivated assault on a busy street. The victim, in her 20s, was not injured but was shocked and distressed by what happened, Scotland Yard said. She was walking along High Road in Tottenham, north London, with a woman friend at around 7.30pm on Wednesday September 28 when the attack happened. As they crossed the road by The College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London, she was approached from behind by two men. The Metropolitan Police said one of them pulled down the hijab she was wearing before both made off towards Pelham Road.’ click here.
19th September 2016 A mosque in Scotland’s capital has been damaged by fire in an incident police are treating as a hate crime. Edinburgh Central Mosque, in Potterow, sustained minor fire damage to the door and a small bush in the garden after an object was thrown at the building at about 2.10am on Sunday. click here.
13th September 2016 Mailonline reports, ‘The 34-year-old woman was beaten to the ground in a Co-Op car park in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, when the suspect followed her from the store after a row about queue-jumping. The suspect, who had been hurling racial abuse at the woman in the store, continued his tirade outside the store before launching the horrific assault. Witnesses say the woman – who was said to be wearing a headscarf – could be heard crying ‘help me’ as the man repeatedly kicked and stamped on her. When a passer-by tried to intervene, the suspect hit the 40-year-old man with a bag of ice and a bottle, leaving him with head injuries.’ click here.
1st September 2016 Mailonline reports, “A suspected neo-Nazi is accused of a terrorism offence and of writing a litany of racist, Islamophobic, homophobic and anti-Semitic calls to arms on social media. Sean Creighton, 44, allegedly stirred up racial hatred by posting an image of a man brandishing a rifle in front of a black child.” click here
27th August 2016 Metro reports, “A Muslim family have said they were accused of being terrorists while on a trip to Skegness. The group of 12, seven of whom were wearing hijabs, made their first visit to the the seaside town in Lincolnshire last week.” click here
8th August 2016 Rotherham Advertiser reports, ‘Neo-Nazis have sent a bomb threat to an Eastwood mosque, addressing the letter to “Muslim scum”. The writer posted a note to the Jamia Masjid Abu Bakr on Russel Street, Eastwood on August 1.’ click here.
19th July 2016 Writing in the Sun on 18 July, Kelvin MacKenzie raised objections on Channel 4’s action of sending hijab-wearing anchor journalist Fatima Manji to cover the atrocity in Nice, France. He wrote, ‘was it appropriate for her to be on camera when there had been yet another shocking slaughter by a Muslim . . . was it done to stick one in the eye of the ordinary viewer who looks at the hijab as a sign of slavery of Muslim women by a male-dominated and clearly violent religion’. The journalist has now provided a powerful response via the Liverpool Echo:
It would be easy to dismiss Kelvin MacKenzie as an embarrassing, and serially embarrassed, relic of a bygone era in British journalism . . . But it’s dangerous to regard Mr MacKenzie and those who echo his Islamophobic sentiments as mere pantomime villains. Their soapbox allows them to spread their ill-informed, irresponsible and malevolent invective to millions of readers. Racist and Islamophobic rhetoric has real consequences – lives have been lost and shattered in our own country . . . Mr MacKenzie’s article was but one wild screed in a long-running and widespread campaign to intimidate Muslims out of public life. Young men and women of all backgrounds regularly ask me for advice on how to forge a career in journalism. Mr MacKenzie’s monologue will frighten many of them into believing that they will be on the end of tabloid attacks merely for daring to do their jobs . . .
Kelvin MacKenzie has attempted to smear 1.6 billion Muslims in suggesting they are inherently violent. He has attempted to smear half of them further by suggesting they are helpless slaves. And he has attempted to smear me by suggesting I would sympathise with a terrorist. In response to this, I have received kind messages from friends, colleagues, acquaintances and even those I have never met, expressing solidarity and anger at his words . . .
The truth is I always pride myself on journalistic integrity regardless of who I’m interviewing or what story I’m covering. That is my mission at Channel 4 News. I will not be deterred in this mission by the efforts of those who find the presence of Muslims in British cultural life offensive”. click here.
15th July 2016 Police are appealing for witnesses after rocks were thrown the window of the Yeovil Islamic Centre in Somerset during the evening of 15 July. click here
9th July 2016 A mum was subjected to a vile racist rant in the street before the yob told her ‘to go home’ because he had voted for leave in the EU referendum. British-born Bangladeshi woman Arry Nessa, 35, and nine-year-old Kalib were walking their usual route to school along Bury New Road in Prestwich when they were confronted by the man who unleashed a sickening verbal attack on the pair, calling Arry a ‘n*****’, ‘immigrant’ and ‘c***’. click here.
1st July 2016 Trainee accountant Adil Jamil, 23, was attacked in his BMW in Leyton by a stranger just after midnight on Wednesday as he drove his friend back from a Clapton mosque. The white man, aged in his 40s, attacked him with a metal pole, smashing his windscreen. He drove off before the man then allegedly tried to attack a Somalian taxi driver whilst shouting racist abuse about Muslims. click here.
1st July 2016 The British Bangladesh Cultural Academy (BBCA) said it has been forced to cancel its Eid al-Fitr prayer event in a Southampton park following a planned demonstration by the South Coast Resistance group at the weekend. click here.
30th June 2016 A Muslim school teacher said she was stopped in the street and told she would be forced to leave Britain following last week’s historic referendum vote. The secondary school teacher, who was wearing a hijab, said a stranger told her “you’re next” and that all Muslims would be forced to leave, just hours after the country voted to leave the European Union (EU). click here.
29th June 2016 Two Eid festival banners have been vandalised with racist graffiti. The banners, which were on railings at Leicester’s Victoria Park, were defaced by vandals who sprayed a swastika symbol and an anti-Islam comment. click here.
29th June 2016 A Muslim halal butchers has been gutted by fire after thugs threw a petrol bomb into the shop just days after Britain voted to leave the EU . . . The horrific attack on Kashmir Meat & Poultry butchers in Walsall, West Midlands, happened at 5.25pm yesterday. click here.
27th May 2016 The Islington Tribune reports, ‘Police are investigating a hate crime at the Finsbury Park Mosque after pig remains were thrown over the gate in the early hours of the morning. A bag containing pork sausages and meat remains was found in the grounds of the building in St Thomas’s Road. Police have issued a CCTV image of a man they would like to speak to in connection with the incident.’ click here.
22nd April 2016 The Bucks Free Press reports, ‘A mosque in High Wycombe has been targeted in a “racist hate attack”, with bottles of alcohol being thrown at the building in an attempt to smash the windows while people prayed inside. Community leaders have now condemned last week’s attack on Totteridge Mosque which they say poses a “serious threat to a cohesive and diverse society”. A “youth” was spotted throwing the bottles against a window at the back of the mosque, in Totteridge Road, at about 10.50pm last Wednesday, before driving off quickly in a car.’ click here.
5th April 2016 The Shields Gazette reports, ‘A spokeswoman for Northumbria Police said: “A 40-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of racial/religious aggravated assault after an incident at Asda in Coronation Street in South Shields at 12pm on Saturday, April 2”.’ click here.
23rd March 2016 Brussels bombing aftermath in Croydon – The Daily Telegraph reports, ‘Matthew Doyle, partner at a south London-based talent & PR agency, posted a tweet on Wednesday morning saying: “I confronted a Muslim woman in Croydon yesterday. I asked her to explain Brussels. She said ‘nothing to do with me’. A mealy mouthed reply”. click here.
4th March 2016 Araeebullah reports in roarnews.co.uk, ‘Police have arrested two men for “using racially aggravated threatening words and behaviour” after a muslim student’s niqab was pulled off outside the Strand campus earlier today’ click here.
29th January The Swansea Evening Post reports, ‘A man abused a fellow customer in a Swansea social club and called him a “suicide bomber” before assaulting him and throwing him out of the premises, a court has heard’. click here.
24th January Luton on Sunday reports, ‘Bedfordshire Police has said it is investigating an unannounced march by Britain First over the weekend (23-24 January). The group, which said it was on a ‘Christian Patrol’, marched through Dunstable Road, Bury Park on Saturday (January 23) carrying crosses and handing out newspapers.’ click here.
17th January 2016 Britsol Post reports, ‘A 34-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a hate crime incident at a mosque in Totterdown. The incident took place at 12.50pm outside Bristol Jamia mosque on Green Street yesterday. Two men and a woman are understood to have left pig meat outside of the building and shouted abuse at people trying to pray.’ click here.
7th January 2016 Evening Standard reports, ‘A Muslim taxi driver has told of how he “thought he would die” after being racially abused and robbed while collecting money for charity in south London.Muj Hussain, 31, had been fundraising for charity Source4Life at The Horseshoe pub in Thornton Heath on December 24 when he was attacked.Mr Hussain was walking back to his car at about 10.30pm when someone allegedly shouted “f****** Paki”, before he was hit on the head and robbed of the £500 in donations he had collections.’ click here.
THE MOCKING, ALARMIST TALK
6th June 2016 Kate Hopkins in the Daily Mail raises belittles Ramadan, ‘ . . .I fail to see how Ramadan is compatible with normal modern life. Many argue this Muslim festival is no different to the needs of Christians at Christmas who take time off for holidays or Christmas shopping. But I don’t return from a trip to town starving and desperate for a drink. If I did I’d pop to a non-halal restaurant of my choice. Moreover, there are broader, more strategic concerns than health and safety or cost to employers. Ramadan typically coincides with a spike in terror violence. The new target of choice is Europe . . . If we are a truly secular society. Just how much longer are we going to pander to this intolerant religion of peace?’ click here.
16th May 2016 An article published by the charity Christian Concern entitled Londonistan with Khan? warned he would fuel an “increase in Islamic segregation in London leading to increased radicalisation”. The article also suggests Khan will not support police in upholding the law in areas with high Muslim populations. Source: Christian Today
19th April 2016 In the Commons, Cameron said he was “concerned about Labour’s candidate [Sadiq Khan] as mayor of London who has appeared again and again and again” on a stage with people he described as extremists. After being interrupted by cries of “racist” by Labour MPs, Cameron continued: “The leader of the Labour party is saying it is disgraceful. Let me tell him, Suliman Gani – the honourable member for Tooting [Sadiq Khan] has appeared on a platform with him nine times. This man supports IS [Islamic State]. I think they are shouting down this point because they don’t want to hear the truth.” However, Cameron’s claim came under pressure when Gani told LBC Radio that he backed the Tory candidate Dan Watkins last May against Khan in Tooting and even supplied canvassers for his campaign . . . Former shadow business secretary Chuka Ummuna, the Labour MP for Streatham, said: “They would not be raising these questions if Sadiq was not a Muslim. If our mayoral candidate was a non-Muslim human rights lawyer, they would not be making any of these allegations at all.” click here, report by Rowena Mason, Heather Stewart and Anushka Asthana in the Guardian, click here.
1st March 2016 The Daily Mail reports that ‘Labour’s candidate for Mayor of London has been described as a ‘lackey who speaks alongside extremists by Defence Secretary Michael Fallon’. The MCB responded to this damaging allegation: Sadiq Khan deserves to be scrutinised on his record and policies, not smears by insinuation. [For Daily Mail article, click here].
7th January 2016 Daily Mail headline: ‘Fanatics’ campaign of hate on campus – Revealed: how Islamic zealots who backed Jihadi John are poisoning minds of students.
Note the emotive words: fanatics, hate, zealots, poisoning…
The organisation demonised is Cage, a critic of the Government’s Counter-Terrorism strategy, particularly the Prevent strand.
5th January 2016 BedfordshireOnSunday reports, ‘Tommy Robinson, former leader of the English Defence League, will announce that Paul Weston will become the new leader of PEGIDA UK. Joining Paul in PEGIDA management will be Anne Marie Waters, chairwoman of Sharia Watch and 2016 Greater London Assembly candidate for the United Kingdom Independence Party…PEGIDA, was originally formed in Dresden, Germany and has spread across Europe with a number of demonstrations.’ click here.
Salaam note: UK PEGIDA’s first major rally planned for Birmingham
THE CLUMSY ACTIONS & STATEMENTS
14th August 2016 A headline which only serves to increase distrust and hatred of British Muslims. Vote fraud charges should have been tied to some other characteristic – not religion!
27th May 2016 Joe Murphy et al in the Evening Standard, ‘In a statement the party confirmed that David Dean, a Merton councillor who stood as the area’s official Tory candidate in the London Assembly elections this month, is facing an investigation. It follows a complaint from a Putney resident that Mr Dean told him that if Mr Khan was elected, “as a white man … you will be a pariah in your own town. He will treat you like dirt”. click here.
10th May 2016 Police have apologised for making a fake Islamist suicide bomber use a “religious phrase” during a counter-terror exercise in Manchester. The simulated attack started on Monday night, when a man dressed in black walked into the Trafford Centre and shouted at the crowd. Moments later an explosion rocked the food hall and hundreds of volunteers, wearing ear defenders and safety glasses, dropped to the floor and ran into shops and cafes screaming . . . A man playing the part of a terrorist repeatedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“God is great”) before acting out the explosion. Community groups and activists condemned the use of “stereotypes” for the exercise, with some raising concerns it would fuel anti-Muslim prejudice. click here
5th April 2016 The Mirror reports, ‘Butlin’s has apologised after families were asked to boo bearded baddie ‘Hakim’ and chant “En-ger-land” at opponent Tony Spitfire wearing Union Jack shorts.’ click here.
20th February 2016 The headline in The Times – ‘Imam beaten to death in sex-grooming town’. As rightly pointed out by Police chief Hopkins:’The headline has no relevance to the horrific murder of a former Imam in Rochdale . . . your headline and its irrelevance to this case has the potential to cause community tension. It is also offensive to the thousands of peaceful, law-abiding Muslims and non-Muslims living in Rochdale who are shocked by this murder . . . I hope in the circumstances you issue an immediate apology and provide a response’. click here.
25th January 2016 Speaking at a Policy Exchange think tank on Monday, Trevor Phillips said it was disrespectful to suppose that Muslim communities would change and that the UK should accept that they “see the world differently from the rest of us . . . because what you are essentially saying is the fact that they behave in a different way, some of which we may not like, is because they haven’t yet seen the light. It may be that they see the world differently from the rest of us.” click here.
More exceptionalisation of Muslims! A riposte from the Muslim Council of Britain: “It assumes that Muslims are not equal, and not civilised enough to be part and parcel of British society, which they most certainly are.”
18th February 2016 Prime Minister David Cameron did much to reinforce the negative stereotypical view of British Muslims, in his reference to ‘backward’ men who ‘controlled’ women and were ‘fearful’ of their career aspirations. Among his assertions:
issues like gender segregation and discrimination and the isolation of some women in society could help lead to a slide towards radicalisation and extremism.
. . . In Britain, men are not frightened of women’s success; it is celebrated proudly. click here.
He also referred to a statistic: ‘190,000 Muslim women had little or no English’, without clarification of their age band. Again the suggestion was of a population unwilling to adapt or integrate – far from the reality! He also made links to extremism:
“I’m not saying there’s some sort of causal connection between not speaking English and becoming an extremist – of course not, that would be a ridiculous thing to say.
“But if you’re not able to speak English, you’re not able to integrate, you may find, therefore, that you have challenges understanding what your identity is and you could be more susceptible to the extremist message.” click here.
6th January 2016 Harriet Sherwood reports in The Guardian, ‘A born-again Christian pastor who denounced Islam as “heathen”, “satanic” and a “doctrine spawned in hell” has been cleared after a three-day trial in a verdict that upheld the right to offend under the principle of freedom of expression…Although the words on which the charges were based were offensive, they did not cross the legal threshold of being “grossly offensive”, the judge said…Several high-profile politicians, including Northern Ireland’s former first minister Peter Robinson, the Democratic Unionist party deputy leader, Nigel Dodds, and the former finance minister Sammy Wilson, spoke out in support of the pastor.’ click here.
