Metropolitan Police statement, 22 January 2013

Officers 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 a dates in February and March pending further enquiries.

The Metropolitan Police Service takes these incidents very seriously and is pursuing various lines of enquiry with a view to identifying and prosecuting the individuals concerned.

The investigation is being coordinated by the Community Safety Unit at Tower Hamlets.

Patrols continue across east London to reassure local communities.

Anyone with information relevant to the investigation is asked to contact police at thcsu@met.police.uk for the attention of DI Cliff Jones, DS Chris Bagshaw, DC Stacey Yarker or to report it to police via 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

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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 out most of the actual harassment while the other records the victim's response on his mobile phone. This doesn't prevent The Commentator from referring to "Muslim Patrols" in the plural, in order to suggest that it is part of some wider and more frightening pattern.

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That's the headline to a report in the Daily Mail. Ever eager to alert its readers to the encroaching Muslim menace, the paper claims that "a gang claiming to be Islamic vigilantes have been confronting members of the public and demanding they give up alcohol and women cover their flesh in their 'Muslim area'". This is accompanied by a video, originally posted by its creators on YouTube, in which a self-styled "Muslim patrol" harasses passers-by over their un-Islamic behaviour. According to the Mail, the events took place in Waltham Forest.

The report is taken from a piece on The Commentator website, titled "'Muslim Patrol' vigilantes attempt to control London streets", which states that the video is "likely to have come from East London, where 'Shariah zones' were set up last year". It provides a link to a 2011 report in the Mail headlined "'No porn or prostitution': Islamic extremists set up Sharia law controlled zones in British cities", which was illustrated with photographs of one of Anjem Choudary's idiot supporters putting up stickers in Waltham Forest announcing that the borough was a "Shariah controlled zone". The Commentator adds that the individuals featured in the "Muslim patrol" video "are thought to be a part of an extremist network in East London", the implication being that they are members of Choudary's group.

In reality, it is clear that the video was shot in Tower Hamlets, near to the East London Mosque (which has issued a statement condemning the actions of the "Muslim patrol" and calling on anyone with information on the individuals involved to contact the police). There have in any case never been any sharia zones "set up" in Waltham Forest or anywhere else in East London. One dickhead putting stickers on lampposts doesn't bring a "Shariah controlled zone" into existence.

Nor is there a "gang" harassing the citizens of Tower Hamlets over their alcohol drinking or way of dressing. As Richard Bartholomew has pointed out, the "patrol" appears to consist of just two individuals, one of whom is holding the mobile phone with which the video is taken. There is moreover no evidence that they are connected to Choudary's minuscule band of nutters or indeed that they are part of any "extremist network" at all. Their behaviour was no doubt upsetting for the people they targeted, and hopefully they will be identified and charged with harassment, but if a couple of prats pulling a single Candid Camera type stunt constitutes a serious attempt by Islamist extremists to "control London streets" then words have lost all meaning.

This irresponsible reporting has of course had the predictable result of inflaming the far right, as it plays directly to their paranoid racist fantasies about the Islamification of Britain and the imposition of sharia law on non-Muslims. The English Defence posted a link to the Mail report on their Facebook page, provoking the usual outpouring of anti-Muslim hatred, threats of violence and calls for civil war. Not to be outdone, the EDL breakaway group Combined Ex Forces has announced that "members of CxF and other Patriots/Nationalists will be descending on London in the very near future to reclaim our streets".

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Simon Childs of Vice talks to BNP members demonstrating against paedophilia outside Broadcasting House.

VICE: What's brought you out here today?
It's my duty as a nationalist, mate. The BBC have got a pretty entrenched problem here. The whole BBC is a big cover up at the moment.

What's nationalism got to do with being against paedophilia?
We've got to stand up against these grooming gangs. There’s a problem with the Islamic people targeting Christian children and not their own. Alright, you've got British paedophiles – I can't deny that – but you haven't got nine or ten British people in a gang doing it.

What? There are far more examples of white paedophile gangs in Britain than Muslim ones.
There's no evidence of that.

I'm pretty sure that there is.
You know what? Leave me alone. All you journos are the bloody same.

VICE: What are your thoughts around all this?
Paedophilia is part of Muslim culture. They all vote Labour. The Labour Party is Marxist and they're involved with this Marxist mob here.

Wait, the BBC is Marxist?
It's full of them. It's been riddled with Marxists since its inception.

Really? One of the first things the BBC did was help break the General Strike in 1926. 
And?

Well, strike-breaking isn't very Marxist.
That's just offerings; just crumbs.

Do you think the BBC's Marxism manifests itself in its programming?
Well, just look what happened when they let Nick Griffin on Question Time if you want an answer to that. They selected the audience – full of Marxists. And the panel was absolutely full of them.

Baroness Warsi is a Marxist?
No, she's a Muslim. Her father is an immigrant. He’s got nothing to offer this country. It’s take, take, take.

That's funny, because I read he started a successful company that employs a bunch of British people. It's funny what you can choose to ignore.

Via ENGAGE

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The Sunderland mosque protest wasn't the only far-right anti-Muslim demonstration in the UK yesterday. Britain First, a small fascist grouping led by former British National Party councillor Paul Golding and the party's ex-fundraiser Jim Dowson, held a protest in London demanding "justice for victims of Muslim grooming". They demonstrated outside Downing Street before marching down the road to Parliament Square where they burnt a Saudi flag. (There is of course a clear connection between the Saudi monarchy and the disappearance of Charlene Downes in Blackpool.)

Britain First claims that their demonstration was attended by "around 80-100 patriots, from several organisations". Judging by the photographs on their own website it looks like no more than a couple of dozen were there. However, Paul Golding's claim that a "disciplined delegation from the English Defence League" was among those participating is interesting, given that other organisations that were represented included the BNP and the ex-EDL breakaway group the Infidels. According to Hope Not Hate another participant was the veteran neo-Nazi Eddie Stamton, who a year ago was proscribed by the EDL, along with the Infidels.

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Someone vandalized an Obama campaign building in Des Moines by spray painting the words "Muslim Lier" on a large banner, police said. The word "liar" was misspelled on the sign, officers said.

The blue banner is 16 by 8 feet and hangs on the south side of the building at 2307 Hubbell Ave. The words were written with red spray paint, police said. The vandalism occurred sometime between 11:30 p.m. Wednesday and 10 a.m. Thursday, when it was discovered, police reports show.

The same message was reportedly spray painted near the Iowa State Fairgrounds earlier in the week.

Des Moines Register, 5 October 2012

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A 21-year-old man has been arrested during a demonstration by Far Right campaigners in Swansea.

Police intervened during the demonstration in the city centre on Saturday organised by the South Wales National Front in Union Street.

Officers made the arrest for an alleged racial public order offence. They also confiscated banners and posters to ensure there was no breach of the peace.

The 21-year-old man is believed to be from Swansea and has been released on bail following the arrest.

South Wales Evening Post, 9 July 2012

As the NF's own report makes clear, the demonstration was directed against "Muslim rapists" and involved protestors brandishing placards featuring the popular racist slogan "Our children are not halal meat".

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