An example of British National Party propaganda against the proposed centreControversial plans for Oswestry's first Muslim centre have been given the go-ahead. It will be sited in a 19th century former Presbyterian church.The bid to change...

An interesting feature of the recent controversy over the so-called "Muslim patrol" in Tower Hamlets was that some of those you might have expected to seize on the case as an excuse for a bit of anti-Muslim scaremongering balked at resuming...

"I think I can safely speak for the majority of the community when I say that the government is guilty of double standards and an inability to tackle the issue appropriately. On the one hand we have politicians frequently scapegoating Muslims when they need to distract the public from their own failures, and on the other they think we should be grateful for the fact that they have provided us with a helpline to monitor the consequences of their actions."Sofia Ahmed responds to Sayeeda Warsi's speech at the Tell MAMA dinner last week.Huffington Post, 31 January 2013 View the Original arti...

A Muslim family say they have been forced to move from their home after offensive graffiti and a cross wrapped in ham were left outside their house. Murad Alam, 39, said his wife and two sons, aged eight and 10, had moved out of their home...

Just three days into 2013, Annika Rydh, a Swedish government official from the town of Almhult, issued a shrill call to both her colleagues and neighbors. Worried about the perceived growth of the Muslim population in her homeland and beyond, she urged the European Union "to act by having some kind of restriction, like the one-child policy in China." If Muslims don't like the proposed rule, she continued, they can go back where they came from.Rydh's appeal comes on the heels of a decade-long campaign to curtail Muslim immigration into western countries and reduce the number of babies born to Muslim families. International in scope, the anti-Islam movement relies on scare tactics that, more often than not,...

In an interview with the Guardian, DCS Tony Mole, who has just taken over as head of the North West Counter Terrorism Unit, appeals to members of the public to report any suspicious activity. This includes the following behaviour:"People...

"The streets around Acton, which has been my home since 1996, have taken on a new identity. Most of the shops are now owned by Muslims and even the fish and chip shop and Indian takeaway are Halal. It seems that almost overnight it's changed...

Bremen is the third German state to recognize Islamic organizations as official religious bodies. Holidays, funerals and pastoral care will be regulated by state contracts. Other states will likely follow suit.For Erol Pürlü, spokesman for the German Muslim coordination council, the signing of the contract with the city-state of Bremen marked a "day of joy". Three Muslim associations were officially recognized as religious bodies. "That sends a clear signal that Islam belongs to Germany," said Pürlü.Bremen is the third German state to confer this status on Islamic organizations. Hamburg made a similar agreement last November, while Hesse officially recognized two Islamic organizations and allowed them to offer their own...

The English Defence League (EDL) will not be marching through Cambridge, but will be kept to one place in the city, police said.The Cambridgeshire force is planning its strategy to deal with the demonstration by the right- wing group which has protested against the building of a new mosque off Mill Road.But almost 700 protesters have signed up to march against the group under the banner of Cambridge Unite Against Fascism (CUAF). Muslim leaders and politicians have signed a list opposing the EDL's planned march on February 23.Richard Rose, of CUAF, said: "I think it is a clear sign of the weakness of EDL that they are now having a static protest rather than a march."We are delighted they will not be marching through...

The decline and break-up of the English Defence League has prompted a number of extremist groupings to try and establish a replacement anti-Islam street movement. While their stated aim is invariably to unite the far right, all they have succeeded...

Brighton Organisations and Leading Figures Launch Unity Statement Ahead of Far Right MarchPeople of Brighton should show unity against a racist march according to leading local politicians, unions and other individuals and group who are supporting a Unity Statement, that is now online for members of the public to sign.Supporters include Brighton Trades Council, the Brighton University branch of the UCU union, Brighton and Hove NUT,  University of Sussex Students Union, Brighton Unite Against Fascism, Brighton Love Music Hate Racism, and Sussex Labour Representation Committee. Individuals who are supporting it include Caroline Lucas MP, and ten Green and Labour members of the council; as well as Simon Burgess,...

A businessman who hurled missiles as he marched through Bristol with the English Defence League handed himself into the authorities when he realised he was a wanted man.Barry Johnson was one of hundreds of marchers who took part in the high-profile...

Two women have been charged after graffiti was sprayed near a mosque in Woking.The two 19-year-olds, from Woking and Addlestone, are accused of five counts of racially aggravated criminal damage and four offences of criminal damage.It follows incidents last November when graffiti was sprayed in a shop, on a wall outside the Shah Jehan Mosque and outside residential properties.Surrey Police said the pair were due to appear before magistrates in February.BBC News, 26 January 2013See also "Two charged with racially aggravated criminal damage", Surrey Police news report, 25 January 2013Via ENGAGE View the Original arti...

The decline and break-up of the English Defence League has prompted a number of extremist groupings to try and establish a replacement anti-Islam street movement. While their stated aim is invariably to unite the far right, all they have succeeded...

Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin (Likud) castigated fans of the soccer club he supports, Beitar Jerusalem, after three were arrested at the capital's Teddy Stadium Saturday night for calling out racist chants during a match against Bnei Yehuda.The...

Controversial anti-Islamic Dutch MP Geert Wilders will face protests from Muslims and others in Melbourne next month.The Baillieu Government has also warned that Mr Wilders could fall foul of the state's hate speech laws if he incites tensions.Mr Wilders had been due to visit Australia last year but had to postpone the trip following delays in processing his visa.He opposes the "Islamisation" of the Netherlands and has called for the banning of the Koran, which he equates with Adolf Hitler's autobiography Mein Kampf.Mr Wilders was invited to Australia by a nationalist group called the Q Society.A meeting is planned for Melbourne on February 19, and there are appearance dates in Sydney and Perth.Islamic Friendship...

Geert Wilders has launched a new website, MoskNee (MosqueNo), which aims to offer advice to non-Muslims who want to mount a legal challenge to plans for a new mosque in their area. The site claims:"Netherlands is not an Islamic country and...

The state-sponsored blackmail and harassment of a former Haverstock schoolboy and other Somalis living in Camden by MI5 is a "national disgrace", according to one of the country's leading miscarriage-of-justice campaigners.Solicitor Gareth Peirce – who has represented the Guildford Four, Birmingham Six, the family of Jean Charles de Menezes and Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg – spoke in support of Mahdi Hashi at a packed public meeting inside the Town Hall on Friday night.The 23-year-old was stripped of his British citizenship after refusing to spy on young Muslims in Camden, according to his family.Mr Hashi, who lived in Gilbey's Yard, Chalk Farm, was later arrested in east Africa and taken to New York where...

Jak Beasley, Dean Spence and Christopher CaswellThree men linked to a right-wing pressure group have had their convictions quashed for racially aggravated public disorder. The trio's fines were also slashed for behaviour described by a Teesside...

A candidate for Bob Katter's fledgling political party declared his preference for buying ''guaranteed non-halal meat'' so his money does not ''go to the Muslim community''.Jamie Cavanough, who is standing for Katter's Australian Party in...

"The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is being sued for religious discrimination. And for good reason. The government watchdog agency was created in 1998 to officially promote and protect religious freedom abroad, but it actually suppresses religious freedom, rather than supporting it. It should be shut down."Elizabeth Shakman Hurd examines the case of Safiya Ghori-Ahmad and attributes her treatment to a world view that embodies "a toxic combination of Christian supremacy and flagrant bias against Islam".Boston Review, 24 January 2013 View the Original arti...

An outfit calling itself the Creative Zionist Coalition has announced that it is awarding Pamela Geller with the "Queen Esther Award for Jewish Heroism" and Robert Spencer with the "Shushan Award for Righteous Gentile".Loonwatch reports on...

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — Kamal Saleem, the self-proclaimed former terrorist whose multiple appearances in West Michigan have been marked by controversy, will talk at three West Michigan events next month.Saleem is scheduled to speak about the "threat...

A new survey by Paris-based Ipsos research company on Thursday showed 74% of French respondents believe the Muslim religion is ''intolerant'' and incompatible with their social values.The survey, published on the Le Monde newspaper website,...

Fewer than one in four people now believe that following Islam is compatible with a British way of life, Britain's most senior Muslim minister will warn today.Highlighting unpublished research showing that a majority of the country now believes...

A new bill on the amendment to Poland's animal rights law to make kosher and halal slaughter legal in Poland has been submitted for public consultation, a spokesperson for the Ministry of agriculture has announced.Spokeswoman Małgorzata Książyk says the public consultation period will last one week, following a Constitutional Court ruling late last year which said that ritualised slaughter of animals for religious purposes was inconsistent with Polish animal rights law.The court concluded that a 2004 amendment that introduced exceptions to an animal protection law that forbade the slaughter of animals without prior stunning was "unconstitutional."Last week, the new draft law, which would make Polish law compatible...

A man who placed a pig's head outside a community centre used for prayers by Muslims has been warned he faces a possible jail sentence for the offence.Liam Ferrar (24) appeared at Leicester Magistrates' Court today to admit religiously aggravated...

A man who made hoax bomb threats against mosques in Southampton has been spared jail.Timothy Bingham, 43 of Fairbairn Walk, Chandlers Ford, made calls to police giving false information about bombs in and around the city.He was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment, suspended for two years at Winchester Crown Court. He was also ordered to complete 100 hours unpaid work and given a six month curfew.BBC News, 24 January 2013 View the Original arti...

Most Australians think multiculturalism works well, with only occasional problems.A Galaxy poll of 1000 people run exclusively for News Limited revealed people's attitudes in the run up to Australia Day to the sometimes divisive issue.One in 10 said multiculturalism worked very well and made Australia what it is, while just over half said it worked generally quite well, causing only the occasional issue.One quarter said multiculturalism generally did not work very well and seemed to create more problems than the benefits it brought. Thirteen per cent said it caused lots of cultural issues and problems.Australian National University immigration expert Dr James Jupp, who worked with the late Jerzy Zubrzycki, the Polish-born...

A 36-year-old Ohio woman who is half-Jewish and half-Arab is suing the FBI and other federal agencies, saying she was yanked off an airplane at Detroit Metro Airport on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, strip-searched, and...

The English Defence League (EDL), an extremist far-right pressure group, has announced that they are planning a march in Cambridge. The anti-Islamic group will gather on the 23rd February, following their controversial march in July 2011.In response, the Cambridge branch of Unite Against Fascism (CUAF), a national anti-fascist campaigning organisation, has called for a "massive" counter march. PhD student Owen Holland, whose previous political history saw him suspended for one term by the University after interrupting a talk by Universities Minister David Willets, has come out in support of the UAF's counter-demonstration. "When the English Defence League tried to march in Cambridge in July 2011, they were vastly outnumbered."...

Aiman Mazyek, chairman of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, warns against the trivialisation of anti-Islamic tendencies and right-wing extremist violence, both of which are increasingly posing a threat to social peace in Germany.Qantara.de, 23 January 2013 View the Original arti...

A Thatcham man was today (Weds) sentenced to three months' imprisonment after admitting to one count of racially aggravated harassment and a section 4 public order offence at Reading Magistrates' Court.Rory Rowbottom, aged 21 of Poffley Place,...

In rare criticism of a Jew, the Anti-Defamation League called on Knesset candidate Jeremy Gimpel to apologize to Muslims for suggesting blowing up the Dome of the Rock mosque.Gimpel, an ordained rabbi, is a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen. If elected...

Metropolitan Police statement, 22 January 2013Officers investigating a series of incidents that took place over the course of the weekend of 12/13 January in east London, whereby a small group of individuals were seen to approach and harass members of the public at various locations, have arrested two men.Videos of the incidents were uploaded onto YouTube.A 22-year-old man was arrested in the Acton area on Sunday, 20 January and a 19-year-old man who voluntarily attended an east London police station on Monday, 21 January have been arrested in connection with the investigation.The pair were arrested on suspicion of GBH and Public Order offences and have been bailed to return to an east London police station on...

Police are investigating a racist message which was stuck to the front door of a mosque in Horsham.On Friday January 18 a notice was found on the front of Madina Mosque in Park Terrace East, Horsham, which included racist language.It is believed...

A former Marine who said he set fire to an Ohio mosque because he wanted to avenge the killings of American troops asked Tuesday to withdraw his guilty plea to federal hate crime charges.In his request, Randy Linn said he was under duress and depressed when he entered his plea last month in the fire at a suburban Toledo mosque. "I made the wrong decision," he wrote.A deal between prosecutors and Linn had called for him to be sentenced to 20 years next April after he pleaded guilty to intentionally damaging and destroying religious property and two gun-related charges.Associated Press, 22 January 2013 View the Original arti...

ENGAGE draws our attention to an Early Day Motion on "Recording Islamophobia as a crime", tabled by Labour MP Keith Vaz and jointly sponsored by fellow Labour MP John McDonnell and Conservative MP Peter Bottomley. It states:That this House notes the recognition of anti-Muslim sentiment and hate crime in the Department for Communities and Local Government's document Creating the Conditions for Integration; further notes that the document acknowledges the limited collection of data on anti-Muslim hate crime; recognises that currently only the Metropolitan Police Service specifically records this hate crime under the definition Islamophobia as a specific crime flag, similar to anti-Semitism, racism and others, whereas...

A teenager pulled a hijab from a woman's head in a racist attack on her in a park. Paige Bain and her aunt Eileen Kennedy assaulted Umaimi Musa as she was sitting with her friend Mary Marandran in Glasgow.On Monday, Glasgow Sheriff Court heard 16-year-old Bain also attacked Mrs Marandran, who was five months pregnant at the time of the incident in the city's Royston Road.As Ms Musa and Mrs Marandran were sitting in the park, one of Bain or Kennedy, 28, uttered racist phrases towards them, including "f****** black African" and "f****** brings you to this country?"The incident was captured on CCTV which was shown to the court, while the camera operator alerted police to the attack on September 3, 2012.Sheriff Kenneth...

The Commentator provides an update on its "Muslim patrol" report with a more recent video, also apparently from Tower Hamlets, in which the self-appointed mutaween target a man they take to be gay.The harassment recorded here is significantly more unpleasant and intimidatory than in the first video, and we can only hope that the people responsible are quickly identified, arrested and prosecuted. In fact the case underlines the need for new legislation to introduce specific homophobically aggravated offences, on a par with the racially and religiously aggravated offences already on the statute book.However, it is almost certainly the same two individuals who are involved in this most recent video, one of whom carries...

Trevor Kavanagh takes the opportunity to use the Algerian gas plant attack and the conflict in Mali in order to paint the British Muslim community as a terrorist threat:Britain is a melting pot of nationalities and faiths, home to hundreds of thousands of Malians, Iraqis, Syrians, Somalis, Kenyans, Nigerians, Yemenis and Pakistanis.Not all are grateful. Indeed, many are becoming outspokenly defiant. Some have colonised suburbs in major cities. One London borough is so staunchly Muslim it has become known as the Islamic Republic of Tower Hamlets.Last week, hooded gangs of self-appointed religious police [in reality, probably just two individuals – ed.] roamed Muslim-populated suburbs ordering women to cover up and confiscating...