Pig’s head left outside planned mosque site treated as ‘potential hate crime’

October 10, 2023 Article

Police are treating the leaving of a pig’s head outside the site of a proposed mosque as a potential hate crime.

Officers were called to Mosley Street in Barnoldswick, Lancashire, at 2.10pm on Sunday to a report of a racially aggravated public order offence outside the former Methodist church building.

A probe is under way with a dedicated team of officers carrying out house-to-house inquiries and checking surrounding CCTV footage, as well as visiting local butchers and abattoirs.

Patrols have also been stepped up to give reassurance, police said.

Inspector Claire Pearson, from the Pendle and Ribble Valley neighbourhood policing team, said: “I want to make it clear that we do not tolerate hate of any form and we are taking this incident extremely seriously.

“We have a dedicated team of officers assigned to this case and they are working around the clock to identify those responsible.

“I am sure the residents of Barnoldswick will be equally as appalled by this behaviour and I want to appeal directly to them to contact the police if they have any information or footage which would assist us in our enquiries.”

Ibrar Ahmed, from the Barnoldswick Islamic Centre, said: “This incident is not aligned with the spirit of Barnoldswick, where Muslims have been an integral part of the community since the 1960s.

“The Barnoldswick Islamic Centre remains committed to fostering peace and harmony, working alongside everyone in our town to promote understanding. The Barnoldswick we know and call home is a place of friendship and respect, and together, we’ll ensure it stays that way.”

Anyone with information should email forcecontrolroom@lancashire.police.uk or call 101, quoting log 845 of October 8 2023.

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Categories: Barnoldswick, hate crime, Lancashire, Lancashire Police, mosque, mosques, pig's head, pork

Midlands neo-Nazi guilty of sharing extreme racist and anti-LGBT hate online

May 12, 2023 Article

Today (April 12), a Midlands-based white supremacist pleaded guilty to stirring up racial and anti-LGBT+ hatred by sharing over 130 extremist images and materials on the Russian social media platform VKontakte (VK).

Richard Osborne, 53, often posted graphic, dehumanising racist materials on his VK profile – ranging from Holocaust denial and trivialisation, anti-Jewish and anti-Black cartoons published on an infamous US-based white supremacist website in the early 200s, to content calling for the violent removal of Muslim, Jewish, and Black communities from the UK and Europe, our investigation unearthed. Other disturbing posts linked Muslims to bestiality.

Osborne, who uploaded photographs of his membership card for the neo-fascist National Front, further shared violent LGBT+ content, calling for their violent removal from Europe.

On September 4, 2021, he shared a video promoting the banned neo-Nazi terror group National Action that propagated the racist myth of a so-called “white genocide”.

Within this violent, racist and anti-LGBT+ echo chamber, our investigation found that throughout 2021 and after that, Osborne interacted with another convicted white supremacist – 63-year-old David Hutchinson, even lamenting his jailing.

His appearance at Birmingham Crown Court, where he will appear again for sentencing next month, revealed that the offences occurred between February 16, 2022, and January 9, 2023.

Other guilty pleas concerned the possession of a shotgun without a licence and an offensive cosh weapon.

The BBC stated that Osborne appeared before the court via a video link from HMP Wandsworth in south London.

Sentencing will occur at Birmingham Crown Court on June 9.

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Categories: anti-LGBT, Antisemitism, Far Right groups, Neo-Nazi, News, VK

Man in army uniform told family “Palestine isn’t real” during anti-Muslim rant

November 4, 2021 Article

A Muslim family shopping at a branch of the supermarket chain Sainsbury’s in north London described how a man in army uniform abused them in a long anti-Muslim and Islamophobic rant that included falsely accusing the father of ‘oppressing women’ and said that “Palestine isn’t real”.

Speaking to Tell MAMA’s Casework Team, the man, who wishes to remain anonymous, explained that their young child, curious about the man’s uniform, approached them to learn more only to be looked upon with disgust and suspicion, as the uniformed man questioned their identity and background.

The incident took place on the afternoon of October 24.

Having informed the perpetrator that some of the family had a Palestinian background, he turned to the young child and told them, “Palestine isn’t real.” Then, turning to the father, they ranted inchoately about the mistreatment of women and suggested and said to the Muslim man, “I’m sure that makes you happy, doesn’t it?!” falsely accusing him of oppressing and abusing women because of his Islamic faith. As they continued, in the father’s words, to jump from topic to topic, making crude anti-Muslim and Islamophobic remarks.

Feeling further threatened, the family left the store without submitting a complaint to security or management but later agreed for Tell MAMA to raise this with Sainsbury’s whilst protecting their identity.

The family described the perpetrator as a white male in his mid-to-late-fifties.

Having flagged the incident with the supermarket, a spokesperson for Sainsbury’s told Tell MAMA: “Sainsbury’s is an inclusive retailer and does not tolerate any abusive, discriminatory or threatening behaviour in our stores. If a customer experiences anything of this nature we will support them to report the incident to the police and help with investigation in any way that we can.”

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: anti-racism, hate, Muslim, News, Palestine, Sainsbury's

Derbyshire Teenager Threatened to Plan Attack in Dover Against Muslim Refugees

August 2, 2021 Article

A 15-year-old boy set up an extremist right-wing group after spending a “concerning amount of time online” during the first national lockdown, a court has heard.

The teenager, from south Derbyshire, ran the openly racist channel, which had 38 subscribers, on the encrypted Telegram app from August 5 last year, when he was 14.

He vetted others into private chat groups where they talked about “doing something” against ethnic minorities, and discussed weapons, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard.

The boy downloaded a video of the Christchurch mosque attacks in New Zealand, in which gunman Brenton Tarrant shot and killed 51 people, and saved an image of a “leader board” of right-wing terrorists, including the number of people they had killed.

In one post, he wrote in capital letters: “I am planning a(n) attack against the Dover coast where every Muslim and refugee has been given safe(t)y if your interested tell me now.”

The youngster, who cannot be identified because of his age, pleaded guilty in June to possessing a terrorist publication called the Anarchy Cookbook Version 2000, disseminating a terrorist publication, and encouraging terrorism, in August and September last year.

A 16-year-old boy, from Kent, who was a member of the Telegram chat group, admitted disseminating a terrorist publication called the White Resistance Manual by sending an electronic link in August which allowed others to access it.

During a sentencing hearing on Monday, prosecutor Alistair Richardson said: “Both defendants’ messaging, and analysis of their devices, demonstrates a deep-rooted, extreme right-wing, racist ideology of an abhorrent, entrenched and concerning nature.”

The 15-year-old received a caution in September 2019 for sending pictures of bombs to a fellow school pupil over Snapchat.

He has previous convictions for hate crimes, after threatening to blow up a mosque on January 20 last year, and assaulting an emergency worker, by headbutting a police officer who came to his home.

The court heard he also made a string of phone calls to mosques across London and was twice referred to the Government’s Prevent de-radicalisation programme.

Mark Luckett, defending, said his client has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, adding: “It is clear at some point he had been manipulated.

“The offences occurred during the first national lockdown. (He) appears to have spent a concerning amount of time online during which has unfortunately led him down a very dark rabbit hole.”

The lawyer said the boy “lacks maturity”, his “primary focus was on computer games”, and he “didn’t understand what he was doing”.

He told the court the boy was “encouraged by the number of responses he has from other members of the group”, who referred to him as “the commander”.

Addressing Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring, the 15-year-old said he wants to go to university to study veterinary medicine or zoology.

“I don’t hold those views and I don’t know how I got to hold those views. That’s not the person I am,” he said.

“I spent a lot of time in my bedroom doing nothing. I think I need to be a normal child again.”

The 16-year-old said: “I’m really sorry. I will never touch that aspect of belief in my life and I will stop anyone I can from even trying to touch it.”

Mr Goldspring adjourned sentencing to September 9, remanding the 15-year-old into youth custody and granting the older boy conditional bail.

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Categories: Attack, Derbyshire teenager, Dover, Far Right groups, News, refugee

Anger as China says it is freeing Uighur women from being ‘baby-making machines’

January 11, 2021 Article

A Chinese official denied Beijing has imposed coercive birth control measures among Muslim minority women, following an outcry over a tweet by the Chinese Embassy in Washington claiming that government polices had freed women of the Uighur ethnic group from being “baby-making machines”.

Xu Guixiang, a deputy spokesperson for the Xinjiang regional government, told reporters that birth control decisions were made of the person’s own free will and that “no organisation or individual can interfere”.

“The growth rate of the Uighur population is not only higher than that of the whole Xinjiang population, but also higher than that of the minority population, and more significantly higher than that of the (Chinese majority) Han population,” Mr Xu said.

“As for the so-called forcing ethnic minority women in Xinjiang to wear IUDs, or undergo tubal ligations or abortions, it is even more malign.”

An investigation in June found that the Chinese government was forcing draconian birth control measures on Uighurs, Kazakhs, and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, including IUD fittings, contraceptives, and even abortions and sterilisations.

The measures are backed by the threat of detention, with parents with three or more children swept into camps and prisons if they are unable to pay massive fines.

As a result, the birth rate in Xinjiang’s minority regions plummeted by over 60% in just three years, even as Beijing eases birth restrictions on the Han population ahead of a looming demographic crisis.

Twitter took down the Chinese Embassy’s January 7 tweet following protests by groups that accuse Beijing of seeking to eradicate Uighur culture.

Users complained the tweet was a violation of rules set by Twitter, which is blocked in China along with Facebook and other American social media platforms.

“China’s fascist government is now openly admitting and celebrating its use of concentration camps, forced labour, forced sterilisations and abortions, and other forms of torture to eliminate an ethnic and religious minority,” Nihad Awad, national executive director of The Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in an emailed statement.

China has been waging a years-long campaign against what it calls terrorism and religious fanaticism in Xinjiang and the embassy’s tweet referenced those polices, saying: “Study shows that in the process of eradicating extremism, the minds of Uygur women in Xinjiang were emancipated and gender equality and reproductive health were promoted, making them no longer baby-making machines.”

The tweet cited a study by Li Xiaoxia, a Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences researcher who has asserted that the birth control measures in Xinjiang are voluntary.

Ms Li’s papers in past years laid the theoretical foundations for justifying mass birth control measures.

In one 2017 paper, Ms Li said having many children was a sign of “religious extremism and ethnic separatism”.

Ms Li worried that predominantly minority districts were breeding grounds for terrorism, calling it “a big political risk”.

Monday’s news conference was the latest attempt by Beijing to deflect rising international criticism over its policies in Xinjiang, particularly over alleged forced labour and the detention of more than one million Uighurs, Kazakhs and others in prison-like centres for political indoctrination.

China says the centres are intended to combat extremism and teach job skills, but former residents and rights groups say they target Islam and minority languages and culture.

Elijan Anayat, another regional government spokesperson, said all those at the centres had “graduated” as of October 2019, countering reports that China continues to expand the system.

“With the help of the government, they have achieved stable employment, improved the quality of life and lived a normal life,” Mr Anayat said.

“At present, there is no education and training centre in Xinjiang.”

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Categories: birth rates, China, Chinese Embassy, Muslim Uighurs, News, Xinjiang

Polish Private Investigator with anti-Muslim Views on Trial for Possessing Terrorist Instruction Manuals

September 3, 2019 Article

A private investigator voiced “racist, anti-Muslim and anti-immigration views” on social media and to work colleagues, a jury has heard.

Pawel Golaszewski, 34, is accused of possessing instruction manuals on making weaponry and killing techniques.

He denies six counts of possessing a document containing information useful for terrorist purposes under the Terrorism Act.

It is alleged that, on or before February 23, Golaszewski had copies of 21 Silent Techniques Of Killing by Master Hei Long, The Anarchist Cookbook and The Big Book Of Mischief.

It is also alleged he had the Improvised Munitions Handbook, Murder Inc The Book by Jack The Rippa, and Mini-manual Of The Urban Guerrilla by Carlos Marighella.

Prosecuting, Dan Pawson-Pounds told the Old Bailey on Tuesday that one of the documents gave “detailed instructions on how to kill people, as simple as that”, while another contained instructions on how to “fight against a government”.

Armed police stopped the defendant’s car on Abbey Road, Leeds, on February 23 and arrested him on suspicion of terrorist offences.

They seized a laptop and tablet computer – devices on which the documents were found – as well as three sets of double looped tie-wraps, a folding pocket knife and a pair of chain link handcuffs.

Searching his home in Armley, officers seized a survival knife in a sheath on a wall in the living room, two smoke grenades and a torch with a concealed knife in a desk drawer.

Mr Pawson-Pounds said Golaszewski, who appeared in the dock assisted by a Polish interpreter, told police at Eccleshill Police Station in Bradford that he was “not a terrorist” and the manuals were for professional research.

“I’m not a terrorist. In regards Britain First I’m not agreeing with their policies, their views and I think what they are doing is wrong,” the defendant told police.

“In regards the manuals on my devices, I was doing research, general research as I wanted to join army forces.

“And also I was doing some general research as part of my business and work.

“In regards to smoke grenades, I bought them legally from UK shop and they were for paintball purposes and I’m taking part in paintball events.”

Golaszewski, who was arrested while wearing a Nationwide Security Services uniform, claimed he obtained the documents as research for work as a security guard.

“The Crown’s position is that there can be no legitimate reason for someone working in this industry, as a security guard or front door bouncer, to need to possess such material,” Mr Pawson-Pounds told the court.

“The world would be a very dangerous place if that was a legitimate reason.”

Golaszewski also claimed the manuals were to assist his own private investigations company, PG Investigations, in tracing missing persons and debtors, serving legal documents, matrimonial cases and surveillance.

The jury was told that investigators found that, after speaking to the defendant’s work colleagues and analysis of his Facebook account, he had voiced “anti-Muslim and anti-immigration” views.

Mr Pawson-Pounds said: “The defendant presents as a deeply bigoted individual, espousing far right causes and voicing racist, anti-Muslim and anti-immigration views.”

Two copies of the Improvised Munitions Handbook were allegedly found on the defendant’s laptop – one in a subfolder called “banned books collection” – and another copy was found on his tablet, where it had been downloaded in Kindle format.

An expert in explosions concluded that guidance in the 256-page document was “largely accurate and could be used to make viable explosive substances”, the jury heard.

Golaszewski, of Wensleydale Mews, Armley, has been remanded in custody.

The trial was adjourned until Wednesday morning.

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Categories: Golaszewski, News, terrorism

Pegida – A Snapshot into their Protectionist World of German Culture & Ardent Xenophobia

May 19, 2019 Article

In 2016, intelligence services estimated that there were just over 23,000 right-wing extremists in Germany. A myriad of groups networking covertly, utilizing social media to extreme effect, was sowing major social discord. Germany has in modern times been regarded by the rest as immune to the reach of the far-right, partly out of collective shame for Nazism. The country had seen where hate led and would not saunter down that path again.

DOWNLOAD THE PEGIDA REPORT HERE

Pegida – The Rise of the Far Right in Germany

But today, the country exists as a hotbed of far-right extremism. The proliferation of populist, racist movements has caught many within its political class off guard. One such group is Pegida.

The movement caught on fire in late 2014 through to early 2015, whipping up mass anger around immigration. The organisation threatened Germany’s long held social cohesion, fracturing it in the backwaters of east Germany where anti-immigration attitudes had been rapidly bubbling for a while. Pegida’s aim was to force into the national conversation the concept of a national cultural identity being threatened by refugees and asylum seekers. It was dangerous, but for a while, it was effective. The group came to influence the political system, and particularly, the part Alternative for Germany (AfD). This report will look into their tumultuous history, their peak moments, setbacks, controversies and structural reasons for why they were as popular as they were.

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Categories: Germany, News, Pegida

Pork Put Through Letterbox of Muslim Family

May 8, 2019 Article

A family who just moved into their new home in London had pork put through the letterbox. The family reported in the abuse and which Tell MAMA actioned.

The pork was put through the letterbox on the first day of Ramadan, a month where Muslims fast and pray. It was therefore meant to be a further insult to the religious identity of the family who moved into the area.

Whilst some suggest that such actions are ‘childish pranks’ and should be ‘disregarded’, individuals who are targeted by such actions have explained to Tell MAMA that being targeted like this makes them feel unwelcome and unwanted. Some have also suggested that it has increased their fear levels and they have always had to remain vigilant when going out, something that has been emotionally and mentally taxing over a period of time.

If you are targeted in this manner, please do get in touch with us and our work and engagement with police forces across England and Wales can be a source of support for people and families who feel vulnerable at such times.

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Categories: Hate Crimes, Muslim Family, News, pork

No Upstanders Here: No-One Reported the Killers Facebook Live Stream in says Facebook

March 19, 2019 Article

No-one reported the video of the Christchurch terror attack while it was being streamed live, Facebook has said.

It was 29 minutes after the video had started – and 12 minutes after it had ended – before the first user flagged up the footage, the social media giant said.

The company earlier revealed that it had removed 1.5 million videos of the attack worldwide in the 24 hours after the shootings, 1.2 million of which were blocked at upload.

Facebook and other social media firms have come under fire over the rapid spread of the footage across the networks and around the world.

In a blog post on Tuesday, Chris Sonderby, vice president and deputy general counsel at Facebook, said the video was viewed fewer than 200 times during its live broadcast.

“No users reported the video during the live broadcast,” he added.

“Including the views during the live broadcast, the video was viewed about 4,000 times in total before being removed from Facebook.

“The first user report on the original video came in 29 minutes after the video started, and 12 minutes after the live broadcast ended.

“Before we were alerted to the video, a user on 8chan posted a link to a copy of the video on a file-sharing site.”

Mr Sonderby said Facebook was “working around the clock” to prevent the video from appearing on its site.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has called on social media companies to take responsibility for ensuring that such content cannot be distributed or viewed on their platforms, saying they are “the publisher, not just the postman”.

She told the country’s parliament: “There is no question that ideas and language of division and hate have existed for decades, but their form of distribution, the tools of organisation, they are new.

“We cannot simply sit back and accept that these platforms just exist and that what is said on them is not the responsibility of the place where they are published.

“They are the publisher, not just the postman. There cannot be a case of all profit, no responsibility.”

In the UK, Home Secretary Sajid Javid told social media companies “enough is enough” in the wake of last Friday’s shootings.

Reacting to a tweet from YouTube claiming that the video-sharing service was working to remove the footage, he said: “You really need to do more @YouTube @Google @facebook @Twitter to stop violent extremism being promoted on your platforms. Take some ownership. Enough is enough.”

Damian Collins, Tory chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, called for a review into how the footage was shared and “why more effective action wasn’t taken to remove them”.

And Downing Street said social media companies needed to act “more quickly” to remove terrorist content.

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Categories: Jacinda Ardern, Livestream, New Zealand, News, Sajid Javid

Roman Kneblewski – An Ultra-Nationalist, Anti-Migrant and anti-LGBT Activist in Finchley

March 13, 2019 Article

The Polish Catholic Parish in Finchley has just announced on it’s website that this year it’s Lent Retreat – (17 to 20 March) – will be led by Roman Kneblewski, a radical priest from Poland known for his ultra-nationalist, anti-immigrant and anti-LGBT messages:

Kneblewski repeatedly praised ONR (‘Obóz Narodowo-Radykalny’ or ‘National-Radical Camp’), a Polish Fascist youth movement.

He is on record as saying:

“I wouldn’t condemn Fascism. If by Fascism we mean Francoism for example, which saved Catholic Spain from communist criminals, then I’m all for it.”

He also expressed full support for Jacek Międlar, an extremist former priest who is banned from entering the U.K. Kneblewski stated that Międlar’s anti-Semitic and hateful rhetoric is in fact a “language of love”. He also called Międlar “a good Catholic and a good Pole”.

Photo of Kneblewski and Międlar together

In a sermon, Kneblewski repeatedly called refugees heading for Europe an “invasion of Islamists”, adding that should they come to Poland, they would “slit throats, rape women and force children to become Muslims”.

In the same sermon he stated:

“Those invaders come here and they want benefits which they see as a tribute owed to them by us, infidel dogs” and: “Whoever encourages to accept those invaders is a sinner”.

On his Facebook profile, he wrote: “The Qur’an should be burned! Burn it, nothing else!”

He also approved of burying pig carcasses on mosque construction sites as a possible method of preventing mosques from being built.

Kneblewski is also known for his hostility to LGBT communities. In an online sermon he called homosexuality a “heinous perversion”.

Speaking about Anna Grodzka, the first Polish transgendered politician, Kneblewski stated:

“Some individuals shouldn’t even see a psychiatrist but a vet. And I will have to see a gastro-enterologist as I’m getting a gag reflex”.

Kneblewski also hosted a lecture by Paul Cameron, an American anti-LGBT pseudo-scientist, in his parish in Poland. The lecture was titled “The Myths of Homo-Propaganda”.

Considering there are thousands of Catholic priests in Poland, most of whom preach a message of love, peace and respect, one has to ask why would the Polish Parish in Finchley choose such an individual to lead their faithful during a Lent Retreat? It is a legitimate question and we will be letting the relevant authorities know.

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Categories: Jacek Miedlar, LGBT hate, News, Polish Catholic Parish, Roman Knebleswki