OTTAWA — A Canadian Muslim organization wants the Ottawa Public Library to cancel a speech by a controversial British lawyer who advocates legal tactics to block the construction of new mosques in the U.K.

Self-proclaimed "mosquebuster" Gavin Boby is scheduled to speak at the library on Monday night, the first stop on a Canadian speaking tour that will also take him to Montreal and Toronto.

Boby is the founder of an organization called Law and Freedom Foundation, which he says is devoted to "resisting the tide of Islam" by using the municipal planning process to oppose the building of mosques.

Mosques, Boby contends, act as bridgeheads within Western society for the advance of Islam. They are unlike Christian churches because they are "primarily socio-political. Where you get a constellation of mosques you will get followers of Islam congregating," he says.

Boby encourages residents living near planned mosques to raise concerns about increased traffic or noise to convince British municipal councils to block their construction, instead of focusing on political issues that draw charges of Islamaphobia. His organization claims to have successfully opposed the construction of 16 planned mosques in 17 planning application challenges in Britain.

The Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR. CAN) calls Boby an "anti-Muslim hate-monger" and "openly Islamophobic." It points to media reports that say Boby has past links to the far-right English Defence League and claim he has said Islam encourages pedophilia, sex abuse and "pimping."

CAIR.CAN says his appearance will violate the library's rules that prohibit use of facilities for activities that contravene the Ontario Human Rights Code or the Criminal Code of Canada – specifically, hate speech.

"What we take issue with is the fact that he's being afforded a taxpayer subsidized venue as a soapbox for his message," said CAIR.CAN executive director Ihsaan Gardee. "Canadian Muslims shouldn't be asked to help foot the bill for somebody who is sending a message that basically denigrates them."

Gardee says he believes Boby should be allowed to speak in Canada but just not at a publicly-funded venue. He has not objection to Boby's planned events at Hotel Ruby Foo's hotel in Montreal and the Zionist Centre in Toronto, both private venues.

"We would be taking this exact same position if it was somebody coming to speak about preventing synagogues or gurdwaras being built."

Gardee says his group raised its objection with library but was told the facility was open to the public provided its policies are not breached.

CAIR.CAN last week sent out an alert to members encouraging them to write to library and the Ottawa city councillors on the library board.

Neither the library nor any of the councillors on the board responded to an email from the Citizen requesting comment on Saturday.

CAIR.CAN says Boby's Canadian tour is hosted by ACT! For Canada, which describes itself as a grassroots organization defending national security and Canadian democratic values.

ACT! For Canada's website, however, is given over almost entirely to discussions of Islam and terrorism, much of it highly inflammatory. The most recent edition of its newsletter, for example, claims Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf is a bestseller in Muslim countries.

Neither Gavin's group nor ACT! For Canada responded to requests for comment.

Ottawa Citizen, 2 February 2013

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Rotherham's councillor responsible for community cohesion has written to Home Secretary Theresa May describing the impact of the far right English Defence League's march in the town – and calling for membership of the group to be banned.

Coun Jahangir Akhtar said there were "several arrests" and a number of skirmishes between groups of people in the town centre after the march. He estimated the cost of the police operation during the event, and a rival gathering by Unite Against Fascism, was £300,000.

Coun Akhtar said: "The damage to the wider economy is also significant – possibly of greater magnitude to the policing costs as many town centre businesses decided not to open for fear of staff and customer safety, damage to their premises, the rise in insurance costs and the down-time in making repairs."

Coun Akhtar said he has since asked South Yorkshire Police why they did not apply to have the EDL march banned.

He said: "The EDL's expressed reason for this demonstration was to protest against 'the sexual exploitation of young girls'. The EDL has misused this issue in Rotherham, as it has misused other issues in local communities, not because it has a great sense of justice for these communities but instead because it serves their racist, Islamophobic objectives."

Coun Akhtar urged Ms May to ban the EDL. He said: "It is high time the EDL was added to that list of proscribed organisations for creating fear and promoting hatred."

The Star, 26 October 2012

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A progressive evangelical group has launched an online petition urging the U.S. Justice Department to investigate a July 4 fire at a Missouri mosque as a potential hate crime.

Sojourners, a Washington-based organization dedicated to social justice in a Christian context, sent out an e-mail announcing the campaign July 18. It follows an earlier plea by the Council on American-Islamic Relations for state and federal hate crime investigations of a suspicious fire at the Islamic Society of Joplin, Mo.

The blaze, which did not cause major damage, was the second fire in four years at the mosque in the southwestern Missouri city, best known for its show of unity following a destructive E-5 tornado that resulted in at least 161 deaths and more than 900 injuries in May 2011.

The FBI has offered a $15,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case, and released surveillance video of a man walking up to the mosque and throwing something on fire onto the roof.

Sojourners says if Christians are to be taken seriously in their advocacy for global religious liberty, they must begin in their own backyard.

"By asking the Department of Justice to investigate this attack in Joplin as a potential hate crime, Christians can send a clear message that violent attacks targeting Muslims in the United States are unacceptable and must stop," says a statement on the Sojourners website.

The American Civil Liberties Union has tracked dozen of attacks on American mosques during the last five years, enough to display on an interactive map on the ACLU website.

"We've seen a wave of anti-Muslim sentiment and anti-mosque attacks," Heather Weaver, an ACLU staff attorney told the Joplin Globe. She said such attacks were especially prominent during the debate over the Park 51 Center in New York City, the so-called "ground zero mosque."

Weaver said it was particularly disturbing that the Joplin incident took place on Independence Day. "I think it's especially troubling," she said. "On Independence Day, we should be celebrating all of our freedoms, including freedom of religion."

The Sojourners petition calls on the federal government to investigate the Joplin incident as a possible hate crime, "devoting to this investigation the attention and resources warranted by the offensive nature of the attack."

Associated Baptist Press, 18 July 2012

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Alexander Müller, a Zurich politician from the far-right Swiss People's Party has caused outrage by appearing to call for "another Kristallnacht" in a hateful anti-Islamic tweet.

The offending message, which has since been taken down from Müller's @DailyTalk account, said: "Maybe we need another Kristallnacht… this time for mosques."

The Zurich prosecutor is considering whether to launch a formal criminal investigation into Müller, who also works as a school nurse. "It is possible that the Twitter post breached the criminal provisions on racism," Corinne Bouvard, spokeswoman for the Zurich prosecutor's office, told the website.

The Young Greens have also called for Müller's immediate resignation from his position as school nurse.

Müller denies writing the post, and has alleged that someone forged it, newspaper Tages Anzeiger reported.

In other tweets, he has previously been seen to make fun of beauty contests in Saudi Arabia, voiced his opposition to integration and the "Islamization" of the country, and accused Muslims of trying to litter the country with mosques and minarets.

The Local, 26 June 2012

Via Loonwatch and Islamophobia Today

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A Bristol MP has written to police and the council urging them to scrap plans to allow a march by right-wing extremists to go ahead on the same day as the city's Pride march.

The English Defence League (EDL) is allegedly planning on holding a march in Bristol on Saturday, July 14 – the same day as the city's annual Pride celebrations.

Kerry McCarthy, MP for Bristol East, has said "many LGBT people will feel intimated by the proposed march and people will inevitably stay away from what is suppose to be a family friendly event".

Meanwhile, Bristol's Somali community has also raised fears about an impending confrontation, believing "a hate group [is] planning to target Bristol's Muslim, specifically Somali, community in July".

Some 400 people have now signed an online petition calling for the EDL march to be banned, stating: "The EDL must not be able to bring their message of hate and division to places where diversity is a strength not a weakness."

The Bristol march is one of seven events the EDL have pencilled in for the summer across the UK.

Ms McCarthy has said that while she has "every confidence" in the police's ability to deal with both events, she is not satisfied that public order will be maintained after the march.

She added she is "deeply troubled" that people's personal safety will be put at risk following the event which celebrates the city's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender population.

"I am deeply troubled that the EDL have been allowed to march on the day our city comes together to celebrate diversity at Bristol Pride," she said. "I know many LGBT people will feel intimated by the proposed march and people will inevitably stay away from what is suppose to be a family friendly event.

"Last year's pride was a huge success, people from all backgrounds, faiths, races and sexualities came together in what was an inclusive and carnival like atmosphere. Sadly this is now at risk and I am concerned by reports that Pride organisers are now under pressure about whether or not go ahead with the event this year.

"The EDL's reputation for Islamophobia, intolerance and public disorder runs contrary to what Pride and vast majority of decent Bristolians stand for. We know from their previous demonstrations in towns like Luton that EDL marches place a huge burden on the Police and can lead to violence and intimidation.

"For me this is not an issue about the freedom to protest, but a matter of public safety. The clash of these two quite contradictory events on the same weekend will put our city under enormous pressure and could put public safety at risk. For this reason I have written to the Police and Bristol City Council to express my profound concern and to request that they reconsider their decision to allow the EDL to march on July 14."

Her call was backed by councillor for Bedminster Mark Bradshaw. "I ask the police to think again about allowing the EDL to march in Bristol," he added. "For this to happen on the same day as Bristol Pride makes a mockery of the celebration of diversity and inclusion that is Pride."

Bristol 24-7, 14 May 2012

Update:  The EDL now say they are prepared to hold their demonstration on another day that doesn't clash with Bristol Pride. And a Green councillor has come out against a ban on the EDL's march on the grounds that "freedom of expression and of protest is a human right and it must be defended".

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