Nazi swastika graffiti appears on site of old EMD cinema in Walthamstow

Nazi graffiti, including swastikas and a Celtic cross, was daubed on a site of an old cinema in Walthamstow in east London.

A member of the public spotted the racist graffiti on the morning of July 28 at the site of the former cinema, the Mirth, Marvel & Maud on Hoe Street, which is undergoing building work and restructuring to re-open into a theatre.

The graffiti begins with a mathematical equation, asking what 7×4 is, as three Nazi swastikas appear below and present the number 28 – a numerical reference to the infamous violent neo-Nazi group Blood (2) and Honour (8).

Blood and Honour is a proscribed terrorist group in Canada, along with Combat 18. And emerged from the fascist music scene in England in 1987 and is banned in several European countries and Russia.

Blood and Honour chapters have committed racist violence in the UK, Europe, and the United States.

Calls to proscribe Blood and Honour in the UK are not new either.

The Celtic cross appeared above it, though it is unclear when the graffiti appeared.

Several months ago, we reported how upstanders had removed stickers promoting the Polish far-right on the same Walthamstow street.

Tell MAMA can confirm that the Metropolitan Police are now aware and have launched an investigation after our Casework Team made a police report on their behalf, once we had their informed consent.

We will provide further updates where possible.

UPDATE: The council has since removed the graffiti – we thank them for a speedy resolution, as the police continue to look into it. Tell MAMA has also informed Waltham Forest Council members and the local MP Stella Creasey.

 

 

 

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Categories: Blood and Honour, Far Right groups, hate crime, Metropolitan Police, Neo-Nazi, News, Swastika, Walthamstow

Damning report outlines institutional racism at Cricket Scotland

A damning, independent report unearthed 448 examples of institutional racism at Cricket Scotland, bringing it into special measures and the resignation of its board in advance of its publication.

The solicitor representing Majid Haq and Qasim Sheikh Aamar Anwar called the resignations the “cowardly option” that avoids accountability, as Cricket Scotland published an apology on its website.

The review and subsequent report, published by the group Plan4Sport for Sportscotland, found top-down structural failings in staff diversity, an absence of a consistent means to report racist incidents and discrimination, and an absence of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) or anti-racist training programmes for its board, playing and non-playing staff (and volunteers).

Racism impacted international cricketers, those at a grassroots, umpires, club volunteers, and the parents of young people and community leaders, the 52-page report found.

The report outlined a total absence of information in the mechanisms to report racism formally. And when individuals reported racism either to a Regional Association or Cricket Scotland, no action followed, or reports sat in stasis for years. Understandably this eroded trust in Cricket Scotland, the Regional Associations, or the Western District Cricket Union to handle complaints of racism effectively or transparency.

Racism drove some out of the sport entirely.

Other high-level concerns raised in the report is that Cricket Scotland failed to provide a reporting service for racist incidents off-field and provided zero guidance to clubs about implementing a zero tolerance approach to racism as clubs failed to promote diversity and inclusivity. Nor did Cricket Scotland provide EDI and anti-racism training to club volunteers, nor offer templates or verbal communications to assert best practices for EDI and anti-racism.

Some examples of racism reported to Plan4Sport resulted in hate crime reports to Police Scotland, with some reports subject to potential police involvement moving forward.

Others did not seek further but, in their experiences of or witnessing racism and discrimination, described the harms of microaggressions of racism as mere “banter” as “sledging” on the field of play included racism.

Plan4Sport drew on the MacPherson definition of institutional racism, where “processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice ignorance, thoughtlessness and racist stereotyping which disadvantages minority ethnic people,” and developed their indicators of institutional racism shaped by 31 indicators.

Of the 31 indicators of institutional racism Plan4Sport devised, Cricket Scotland failed 29.

Just over 10 per cent of those surveyed identified as Muslim, while 16 per cent identified as Asian, Scottish-Asian or from British-Asian backgrounds.

Regarding 68 individual concerns brought to the attention of the review, 31 allegations of racism concern fifteen individuals, two clubs, and a Regional Association (with some concerns raised about individuals multiple times). Allegations range from racist abuse to the preferential treatment of white public school boys and a non-transparent system for selecting Black, Asian, and minority ethnic players. As participants further raised concerns about a selection bias of boys from the public, not state-funded schools.

In a press conference following the report’s publication, Majid Haq said: “You don’t get the same opportunities as a white player. You always have to play twice as well to get anywhere near the same opportunity as a white cricketer”.

Special measures mean Sportscotland assumes control of Cricket Scotland until the autumn of next year, according to the BBC, as any board appointed by September 2022 must have 40 per cent male and 40 per cent female representation, with at least one-quarter from ethnic minority backgrounds.

The public is encouraged to download our free tool kit which addresses workplace discrimination issues, workplace rights, and what support is available. You can download it here.

 

 

 

 

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Categories: cricket, Cricket Scotland, discrimination, institutional Islamophobia, News

How Christchurch still influences far-right terror convictions in the UK

Three years after the murder of 51 Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand, footage of that tragedy, committed by a white supremacist terrorist, continues to influence those convicted of far-right terror offences in the UK, our investigation found.

Our starting point is the conviction of 19-year-old Mason Yates last month – a self-identified “literal Nazi” who took an interest in the Christchurch terrorist, downloaded two terrorist manuals and spread vast amounts of racist and homophobic hate on Telegram. During his teens, Yates received two Prevent referrals, with the second referral coming from his college, aged sixteen. He would boast, “I’m as far right as you can be” and “I haven’t got just an issue with Muslims, it’s the whole of Islam,” and wore a pro-Ukip bracelet. Yates disengaged from Prevent after their father declined assistance.

We shift attention to Keighley in West Yorkshire and Anglesey in Wales, as the Telegram channel used a fascist terror cell, mainly of individuals from Keighley in West Yorkshire, before their convictions, including various racist and terrorist materials, were uploaded, including a copy of the Christchurch live stream. Samuel Whibley, a cell member from Anglesey, admitted to sharing the notorious neo-Nazi terror book Siege and was later found guilty of eight terrorism offences that included the encouragement of terrorism (contrary to Section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2006).

Following the jailing of the far-right terrorist Connor Burke in February 2022 – a 19-year-old from Bexleyheath, it emerged that he had a copy of the live stream on his PC, along with other white supremacist propaganda and paraphernalia (including a copy of Hitler’s Mein Kampf and SS-branded daggers. Burke received a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence after disguising bomb-making guides as PDF files for the video game Minecraft. He also used a Telegram channel to spread white supremacist materials and referred to his teaching staff in racist terms – using the P-word.

In October 2021, neo-Nazi Sam Imrie, 24, guilty of various terrorism offences, threatened to burn down Fife Islamic Centre. Police recovered various weapons, possession of child abuse images and violent, necrophilic pornography. He plotted to live stream the attack on the Islamic centre. Nevertheless, it went further still: Imrie saw the Christchurch terrorist like the above – as a hero (indeed, a ‘saint’, mirroring the language of neo-Nazis in other countries). He believed they had done ‘nothing wrong’ and admitted to watching the murders several times as police recovered several copies of the live stream from an iPhone.

Neo-Nazi Thomas Leech, 19, spent innumerable hours online spreading racist material – targeting Muslims, Jews, and other minorities – promoting Holocaust denial and urging the use of racist terror and violence. Other racist conspiracies Leech propagated included the so-called “Great Replacement” and the myth of “Islamification”. He valorised several infamous neo-Nazi terrorists – from Anders Breivik, Robert Bowers, and Dylann Roof to the Christchurch terrorist. Like Sam Imrie, Leech pleaded guilty to the creation and possession of child abuse images.

Weeks earlier, a 14-year-old neo-Nazi avoided prison after creating a Telegram channel to promote racist terrorism towards minorities in Dover. That group, identified as the ‘British Hand’, boasted a core membership of fifteen people aged in their teens to mid-twenties, according to The Times. Members within the chat also glorified Breivik and the Christchurch terrorist.

Those convicted of far-right terror offences where Christchurch appears in news reports (or influenced motives) include Harry Vaughan (top far left), Mason Yates (left), Morgan Seales (right), Vincent Fuller (top far right), Matthew Cronjager (bottom left), Benjamin Hannam (bottom left), Gabriele Longo (centre bottom left), Dean Morrice (bottom far right).

18-year-old Matthew Cronjager, a member of the fascist ‘British Hand’ Telegram channel, called for racist and anti-LGBT+ violence and terror – targeting Muslim, LGBT+, and Jewish communities also possessed a copy of the Christchurch live stream on his mobile phone. Cronjager helped build a library of white supremacist propaganda, expressed a desire to build weapons from a 3D printer, and shared materials that could assist those seeking to commit acts of terrorism – leading to an 11-year prison sentence.

White supremacists in an older age bracket would find themselves jailed in the summer of 2021, including a 53-year-old white supremacist named Nicholas Brock. He received a three-year prison sentence in May 2021 for terrorism-related offences and owned various Nazi-era knives and other fascist propaganda, including a copy of the Christchurch terror footage.

The second example concerns 38-year-old neo-Nazi Michael Nugent, who ran several neo-Nazi Telegram channels to distribute racist propaganda and terrorist materials. On the first anniversary of the terror attacks in Christchurch, Nugent uploaded the live stream and a copy of the infamous screed (‘manifesto’). In addition, he boasted in a private diary that the terrorism inflicted upon Muslims in Christchurch was a “game changer” as his prison sentence increased to five years later that year.

Also, in May 2021, 24-year-old Robert Gregory from Bournemouth received a four-and-a-half-year prison sentence for terrorism offences. Gregory is a violent fantasist who dreamed of assassinating the former prime minister Theresa May and had extensive internet searches about murdering Muslims, buying a gun from his local area, and how to build viable explosives. Gregory divulged other violent fantasies in his diary, including his hope of murdering other MPs, killing a journalist live on-air and blowing himself up inside a mosque or at a Pride rally. He hoped to recruit others to his cause.

Further chilling diary extracts reported in the local press concerned how Gregory wished that the Christchurch terrorist had murdered more Muslims. For example, that entry read: ” ‘Got news of terror attack in New Zealand finally we are taking a stand.

“Why do Muslims continue to condemn attacks on their own people not the ones on us?”

Those convicted of far-right terror offences where Christchurch appears in news reports (or influenced motives) include Paul Dunleavy (top far left), Thomas Leech (top left), Filip Bednarczyk (top right), Luke Hunter (top far right), Sam Imrie (bottom far left), Samuel Whibley (bottom left), Michael Nugent (bottom right), Robert Gregory (bottom far right).

A disgraced former member of the armed forces, neo-Nazi Dean Morrice, 34, was jailed for multiple terrorism offences in June 2021 – including stockpiling explosive materials. Morrice possessed terrorism documents and instructions to make a 3D-printed gun. During the trial, Morrice claimed past affiliation to Ukip and the strong support of Nigel Farage. He also shared an edited version of the terrorism in Christchurch, strumming a guitar to the sound of gunshots. Avon and Somerset Police confirmed that Morrice possessed copies of various far-right terrorist screeds.

The previous year included several high-profile far-right-related terrorism convictions where evidence of their possession of the terror attacks in New Zealand appeared in press coverage. For example, in December, 23-year-old Luke Hunter received a prison sentence for several terrorism-related offences, including membership in the proscribed Feuerkrieg Division and a dizzying number of digital platforms to spread neo-Nazi hate, including calls for the genocide of Jewish communities, minority ethnic groups, and LGBT+ communities. On Telegram, Hunter glorified various neo-Nazi terrorists – including David Copeland and the Christchurch terrorist.

Weeks earlier, it emerged that 18-year-old Harry Vaughan, guilty of various far-right-inspired terror offences, possessed a copy of the live stream, violent child abuse images (having admitted creating one such image), and other far-right literature with materials concerning the building of bombs and firearms.

A teenage member of this terror group, named because of the circumstances of the case, pleaded guilty to nine counts of possessing terror manuals and a copy of the Christchurch terror video. Paul Dunleavy, 17, received a prison sentence of five years and six months.

By May of that year, two high-profile cases resulted in criminal justice outcomes, including that of 26-year-old Luton-based Filip Golon Bednarczyk – who possessed a copy of the screed and horrific memes mocking the terror of 15 March. Following his conviction, which included admitting possession of a 2kg bag of an explosive substance, identified as sulphur powder under suspicious circumstances, we exclusively revealed his history of anti-Muslim and anti-LGBT hate on Facebook.

Ben Hannam, a probationary police officer at the Metropolitan Police, was found guilty of belonging to the proscribed neo-Nazi terror group National Action (which we have covered extensively) in April 2021. The BBC reported that Hannam, 22, downloaded a fascist propaganda image sanctifying the Christchurch terrorist.

Twenty-year-old George Fowle from the town of Snodland in Kent received a suspended prison sentence after accessing terrorist materials, alongside accessing materials to build plastic explosives at 17. KentOnline reported that Fowle had over 400 photos of neo-Nazi and far-right materials, including pro-Hitler materials. In addition, Fowle owned a copy of the Christchurch terror attack, having received the footage over Snapchat. The BBC revealed that Fowle’s college made a Prevent referral after a classmate raised concerns that he risked becoming a “school shooter”. News of Fowle’s conviction appeared in the local council’s annual Prevent report for 2020.

In October 2019, Morgan Seales (known to the authorities after flyering for National Action), 20, and Gabriele Longo, 26, were guilty of using a white supremacist WhatsApp group chat (with members as young as 14 years old) to call for copycat terror attacks uploading bomb-making instructions to the group. And when another group member posted, “let’s kill some Muslims”, Longo replied, “Or Jews.” Other messages revealed talk of targeting worshippers at a mosque during Jummah (Friday) prayers.

One of the most immediate and abhorrent acts of white supremacist terror domestically was committed by 50-year-old Vincent Fuller, who admitted to stabbing a Bulgarian man, Dimitar Mihaylov, as he searched out a Muslim person to murder a day after the tragedy occurred. Fuller also glorified the Christchurch terrorist on Facebook. As a result, he received a prison sentence spanning 18 years and nine months – with an additional five-year extended sentence.

Distinguished Professor, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Massey University, Paul Massey, when outlining the globalised influence of the terror in Christchurch (which we also covered), reflected in March 2020 on the necessity of an equivalent version of Tell MAMA in New Zealand.

Chapter 4: Hate crime and hate speech (76) reads: There have been calls for better records to be kept of hate-motivated offending complaints and official acknowledgements that such records are desirable. We note that recently the Foundation Against Islamophobia and Racism has established an online mechanism for recording hate-motivated offending in New Zealand based on the United Kingdom’s Tell MAMA (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks) model”. Credit: The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the terrorist attack on Christchurch masjidain on 15 March 2019.

The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the terrorist attack on Christchurch masjidain on 15 March 2019 would confirm that such an organisation now existed – the Foundation Against Islamophobia and Racism.

For comment or further analysis of this issue, please email info@tellmamauk.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Categories: Christchurch, Christchurch attack, Far Right groups, News, terrorism

Disgraced estate agent sacked after calling a Sikh police officer a ‘Muslim c***’ and threatening rape toward female officer

A disgraced estate agent who avoided prison after threatening to rape a female officer, kill an officer and his family, and subject a Sikh officer to anti-Muslim abuse, was sacked by his employer immediately following the verdict.

37-year-old Laurie Kavanagh made headlines in late June after The Metro newspaper covered his conviction under the headline, “Football fan called police officer ‘Muslim c*** with a turban’ after Chelsea game”.

When we became aware of the crime and the insufficient criminal justice outcome, we wrote: “For such abhorrent racism and other serious offences not to result in a custodial sentence flies in the face of what victims and those impacted expect and deserve from the justice system.”

We would raise our concerns about the lenient sentence with the relevant bodies.

The Metro article also highlighted how he ‘boasted’ of a £50,000 salary and that ‘he paid’ the wages of the attending police officers.

Two days later, on June 30, we noted on Twitter that Laurie Kavanagh’s name and job title had vanished from the website of their former employer, Myddelton and Major, as an official confirmation of their termination appeared days later.

The Salisbury Journal reported on July 5 that Myddelton and Major had sacked Kavanagh (who joined the firm in late 2020), revealing that Kavanagh had not informed his employer of the offence or trial.

Philip Holford, a managing partner at the firm, told the Salisbury Journal: “Everyone here is appalled and deeply shocked by the former employee’s repugnant actions; his employment contract was terminated as soon as we were made aware of the court facts and sentence.

“He has brought disgrace and shame not only to our good company name but to the wider Salisbury community. We did not know he was facing criminal proceedings – we had not been notified by him.”

Staff had faced abuse online following news of Kavanagh’s conviction – which may explain the sudden deletion of their Facebook page, which, whilst causing upset to staff, Holford added that it was “nothing compared” to what the officers faced, as they extended their sympathies to those impacted.

Kavanagh, who represented himself, told the court: “I accept that my behaviour was completely unacceptable, and I am extremely remorseful”.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of threatening and abusive and one count of religiously aggravated intentional harassment following Chelsea’s draw with Manchester United on November 28, 2021.

The judge sentenced Kavanagh to 300 hours of community service (carried out over 12 months), refrain from alcohol for 60 days (whilst wearing an alcohol monitoring device), and ordered him to pay just £150 in compensation to each police officer he targeted and additional £535 in court costs.

The racialised targeting of a Sikh police officer with anti-Muslim and Islamophobic abuse is an example of something we have previously highlighted in our case studies and research reports.

Tell MAMA continues to stand with Sikh communities against all forms of racism and abuse.

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Categories: employment, hate crime, MET Police, News, Salisbury

GUILTY: 18-year-old pleads guilty to various far-right terror offences

An 18-year-old from Oxfordshire will face sentencing next month after pleading guilty to various far-right terror offences.

Oliver Riley pleaded guilty at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday (July 11).

The offences included three counts of possessing documents or records that would likely prove useful to an individual preparing an act of terrorism, contrary to Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

A further offence concerned the provision of a service to others which helps them obtain, read, listen or access a publication (intended or recklessly) that would influence (directly or indirectly) encouragement or other inducements to the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, contrary to Section 2 of the Terrorism Act 2006.

In the final offence, Riley had sent grossly offensive content online, a breach of Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003.

Riley uploaded various neo-Nazi videos that breached existing terrorism legislation.

We covered the terrorism charges against Oliver Riley in June.

Detective Chief Superintendent Oliver Wright, who leads Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE), said: “Riley has recognised that he committed these offences by being in possession of videos which glorify terrorism and which promote white supremacy throughout.

“Some of the harmful content Riley had promotes the separation of races by violent means, along with some particularly hateful content being directed at the LGBTQ+ community.

“These are serious offences and I am glad that he at least acknowledged  these offences by pleading guilty.”

Yesterday, we highlighted key extracts from the wide-ranging Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament report on far-right terrorism and extremism on Twitter, including how digital platforms, both mainstream and non-mainstream, are fertile grounds for recruiting and propaganda purposes.

Riley will appear at the Old Bailey on August 19 for sentencing.

 

 

 

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Categories: Far Right groups, Neo-Nazi, News, Oxfordshire, terrorism

Man shouted “go back to your country” & “I hate Muslims” on busy London bus

A Muslim mother travelling with her children during the busy school run on a London bus faced a torrent of anti-Muslim abuse from a man who shouted “go back to your country” and “I hate Muslims”.

The shocking incident occurred on Friday morning (July 8) in north London, as the number 91 bus travelled towards Tottenham.

A friend got in touch to report what happened to our service and to have the abuse highlighted anonymously.

The perpetrator shouted: “Go back to your country. Go back to your country – I am very racist, you don’t belong here, I hate Muslims”.

They added that three women, described as Black, Somali and white, shielded the family.

The bus driver, they added, challenged the perpetrator, ordering them to stop the abuse and to leave the bus.

The Muslim woman, who wears the hijab, has faced similar abuse before – for her ethnicity and religious identity, as their friend described the perpetrator as a Black male in their mid-to-late forties.

Over the years, we’ve evidenced the impacts of racist language and violence targeting visibly-dressed Muslim women and their families when using public transport in London and nationally.

We have also highlighted examples of anti-Muslim and Islamophobic discrimination, including an example of a Muslim woman denied entry onto a bus due to her face veil (niqab).

The examples also show the intersections of racialised misogyny.

We encourage upstanders in the public to stand up for others in safe ways. This includes calling the police on behalf of individuals (if they consent for you to do so) to speaking with victims when the perpetrator(s) leave and offering reassurance, challenging the perpetrator(s) when safe to do so – including gathering evidence such as their clothing or identifiable features (like tattoos or piercings) to gathering photographic or video evidence.

You can get advice from our confidential and free helpline on 0800 456 1226. Or through our free iOS or Android apps. Report through our online form. Or contact us via WhatsApp on 0734 184 6086.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Categories: bus, hate crime, Hijab, News, public transport, TFL

Far-right terror arrest in Ipswich

Officers from the Met Police’s Counter Terrorism Command made an arrest yesterday concerning an investigation into far-right terrorism.

A 45-year-old man from Ipswich was arrested on July 6 concerning alleged offences contrary to section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000 – collecting information of a terrorist nature.

Searches in the Ipswich area have since been complete, a press release from the Met Police confirms, with the man released on bail.

Tell MAMA continues to track and record arrests and convictions of the far-right on its website.

 

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Categories: counter-terrorism, Far Right groups, News