More than 1,000 rallied Friday night in Dearborn against the anti-Islam movie that has sparked protests around the world. Organized by Arab-American leaders, the rally was the third protest in metro Detroit over the movie, the biggest one yet.

"Say No to Hate-Mongering, Say No to Islamophobia," read a large banner at the rally in Dearborn's civic center, the Ford Performing Arts & Community Center. On the podium was a sign that read: "We (heart symbol) Prophet Muhammad."

Many came with their families to the rally, dressed in Islamic headscarves and robes. Speakers included Muslim leaders, Arab-American activists, a Unitarian minister, U.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-Detroit), Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Richard Halloran, and civil rights leaders.

"United we stand, divided we fall," Donnell White, executive director of the Detroit branch of the NAACP, told the crowd. "We stand with you as our brothers and sisters."

Judge Halloran spoke about his Irish Catholic roots, noting that his ethnic group often suffered discrimination decades ago after they arrived in the U.S. They "were not looked at positively," he said. And now, Muslims are facing bias that needs to be challenged, Halloran said. "We need to speak out against discrimination against Islam," he said.

Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab-American News, told the crowd that the people who made the anti-Islam film "are not (true) Americans. They are against what America stands for."

Tarek Baydoun, an attorney from Dearborn, said "the growing tide of Islamophobia" is what prompted the rally. "It's relentless," Baydoun said of anti-Islam sentiment in the U.S.

Detroit Free Press, 29 September 2012

For an example of the refusal among some Americans to address the issues intelligently and with some basic honesty, see Henry Payne, "Dearborn Muslims rally against the First Amendment", Detroit News blog, 28 September 2012

According to Payne, Osama Siblani's call for "deterrent legal measures against those individuals or groups that want to damage relations between people, spread hate and incite violence" amounts to a blasphemy law.

View the Original article

Police have spent £200,000 supervising protests against plans to turn a disused Scout hut into a community centre. The cost of the operation in Thurnby Lodge, Leicester, is rising daily as discussions continue to resolve the building's future.

Officers from city stations and as far afield as Hinckley and Coalville have had to be redeployed from their normal duties to oversee regular protests – occasionally lasting late into the night – against a plan by the Muslim group As-Salaam Trust to convert the Nursery Road building into a community centre.

The protests, which began early last month, have taken place outside the nearby community centre in Thurncourt Road, where members of As-Salaam have been meeting for the past two-and-a-half years.

Leicester Mercury, 10 September 2012

For previous coverage see here, here and here.

View the Original article

Federal authorities are offering a $15,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and indictment of the person responsible for setting a mosque in Joplin, Missouri earlier this month.

From a press release obtained by TPM from the FBI's Joplin office:

On the morning of July 4, 2012 at approximately 3:30 a.m., reports were received regarding a fire on the roof of the Islamic Center of Joplin. The fire, which was extinguished by the Jasper County Fire Department, was a surface fire, contained on the roof of the building, not penetrating the building or causing any interior damage.

A review of the surveillance video showed an unidentified white male walking up to the building and throwing an ignited object onto the roof. Below is a full face image, taken from the surveillance video, of the individual who threw the object onto the roof of the building.

TPM, 16 July 2012

View the Original article