Lincolnshire Police are investigating claims that a supporter of the English Defence League (EDL) vandalised the site of a proposed mosque with offensive posters.

At 9:03pm on March 17, Paul Whiteside uploaded an image to his Facebook outside of the proposed site. Two of the posters made reference to child sexual exploitation in Rotherham. The other poster read ‘No More Mosques’. Whiteside captioned the photo ‘Licolnite mosque lol’.

One poster parodied the Daily Mirror’s front page headlined ‘Horrific betrayal of 1,400 children,’ published on August 27, 2014. The crude edits morphed the front page into the ‘Daily EDL’. Its subheading read ‘Don’t let it happen in Lincoln’.

DAILY MIRROR FRONT PAGE: “Horrific betrayal of 1,400 children” #skypapers pic.twitter.com/4VXWuqKZ67

— Sky News (@SkyNews) August 26, 2014

The front page gave weight to the idea of a culture of ‘political correctness’ shielding criminals. This, however, did not tell the whole story.

For people like Paul Whiteside, these complexities do not matter. He’s already found the justification in his own beliefs. Whiteside posted, “The reason behind the posters on the gates of the mosque is a protest against all the mosques being built in britain”.

He went on to claim that, “Grooming gangs like Rotherham all stem from mosques, are you telling me that the information about the girls wasn’t passed around at the mosque but no-one at the mosque was willing to notify the police”.

Whiteside told the Lincolnite that: “The media aren’t telling you what’s really going off, grooming gangs all over the UK, terrorists storing weapons in mosques all over Europe.”

On Facebook, he speculates that the ‘influx of Muslim refugees’ will create more problems. He offers no evidence for it. But that’s not the point. He has his own online echo chamber – which contains conspiracy and hate websites. This crossover of conspiracy theory and hate sites fits Barkun’s theory of ‘stigmatized knowledge‘. In short, ‘stigmatized knowledge’ allows individuals to present information that mainstream institutions have not validated as ‘true’.

A self-confessed Trump supporter, he rejects political correctness and admires Nick Griffin. Anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist Pamela Geller also appears in his Facebook ‘likes’.

A hatred of refugees and Muslims underpins much of his online rhetoric. In response to an article on Syrian refugees he wrote, “You are wanting to flood England with muslims and their ideology that as no place in the west,do you really want our beautiful home to end up like Sweden”.

Whiteside had attended a far-right demonstration in Dover on January 30. An event which brought together the National Front, North West Infidels, National Action, Misanthropic Division, British Movement and Scottish Defence League.

Tanweer Ahmed, the chairman of the Islamic Association, praised community cohesion at the expense of division.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call 101 or contact Inspector Suzanne Davies, Community Policing Inspector for Lincoln South West Policing area directly.

The post Police probe far-right vandalism at proposed mosque in Lincoln appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Lincolnshire Police are investigating claims that a supporter of the English Defence League (EDL) vandalised the site of a proposed mosque with offensive posters.

At 9:03pm on March 17, Paul Whiteside uploaded an image to his Facebook outside of the proposed site. Two of the posters made reference to child sexual exploitation in Rotherham. The other poster read ‘No More Mosques’. Whiteside captioned the photo ‘Licolnite mosque lol’.

One poster parodied the Daily Mirror’s front page headlined ‘Horrific betrayal of 1,400 children,’ published on August 27, 2014. The crude edits morphed the front page into the ‘Daily EDL’. Its subheading read ‘Don’t let it happen in Lincoln’.

DAILY MIRROR FRONT PAGE: "Horrific betrayal of 1,400 children" #skypapers pic.twitter.com/4VXWuqKZ67

— Sky News (@SkyNews) August 26, 2014

The front page gave weight to the idea of a culture of ‘political correctness’ shielding criminals. This, however, did not tell the whole story.

For people like Paul Whiteside, these complexities do not matter. He’s already found the justification in his own beliefs. Whiteside posted, “The reason behind the posters on the gates of the mosque is a protest against all the mosques being built in britain”.

He went on to claim that, “Grooming gangs like Rotherham all stem from mosques, are you telling me that the information about the girls wasn’t passed around at the mosque but no-one at the mosque was willing to notify the police”.

Whiteside told the Lincolnite that: “The media aren’t telling you what’s really going off, grooming gangs all over the UK, terrorists storing weapons in mosques all over Europe.”

On Facebook, he speculates that the ‘influx of Muslim refugees’ will create more problems. He offers no evidence for it. But that’s not the point. He has his own online echo chamber – which contains conspiracy and hate websites. This crossover of conspiracy theory and hate sites fits Barkun’s theory of ‘stigmatized knowledge‘. In short, ‘stigmatized knowledge’ allows individuals to present information that mainstream institutions have not validated as ‘true’.

A self-confessed Trump supporter, he rejects political correctness and admires Nick Griffin. Anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist Pamela Geller also appears in his Facebook ‘likes’.

A hatred of refugees and Muslims underpins much of his online rhetoric. In response to an article on Syrian refugees he wrote, “You are wanting to flood England with muslims and their ideology that as no place in the west,do you really want our beautiful home to end up like Sweden”.

Whiteside had attended a far-right demonstration in Dover on January 30. An event which brought together the National Front, North West Infidels, National Action, Misanthropic Division, British Movement and Scottish Defence League.

Tanweer Ahmed, the chairman of the Islamic Association, praised community cohesion at the expense of division.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call 101 or contact Inspector Suzanne Davies, Community Policing Inspector for Lincoln South West Policing area directly.

The post Police probe far-right vandalism at proposed mosque in Lincoln appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Letters have been sent by West Yorkshire Police to mosques and community centres highlighting the march of the far right extremist group, the English Defence League, in Bradford on Saturday the 14th of November 2015. As the extremist group plan to march in West Yorkshire, we highlight the impacts of their sympathisers and their activists on members of the public who happen to be Muslim. Remember, such groups couch their hatred by suggesting that they are marching against ‘Muslim extremists’, though their actions show a different picture with Muslims going about their everyday business, targeted, vilified and abused.

This is the story of Khadija. Whilst we have altered her name and identifying details, the rest of her testimony to Tell MAMA is outlined below. This is the real impact of the activities of these extremist groups who are a burden and nuisance to all of our communities and to the safety of our country.

Khadija’s Story

Khadija is in her 30’s and does not wear the Hijab (a religious headscarf), the Niqab (a face veil) or the Abaya (the body covering which is usually in black).

Khadija was verbally and physically assaulted in April 2015 by individuals sympathetic to the English Defence League and who were carrying EDL flags and identifying material. The perpetrators were white males.

Khadija was at an arcade at a seaside resort and she was with her children and her husband. They had come out for a family day and wanting to smoke, she exited the arcade and noticed that there were men and women holding flags which she could not initially make out, though they were chanting in support of the English Defence League.

Individuals in the EDL demonstration noticed Khadija as she stood by the entrance to the arcade and in a few seconds, she had a group of males around her saying, “we will burn your f****** Qur’an” and “we will pi** on Mohammed”. Scared and shaken she started to move away though at some point as she walked backwards, she felt that she was punched given the sudden pain she felt in her head. In a daze, she glanced and caught site of a female joining in on the assault and at some point, a male pulled off the female perpetrator and in doing so, said the following to Khadija; “you know why the lady was hitting you, because she got raped by a Paki, that’s why”. Completing the sentence, the male perpetrator spat in the face of Khadija.

Khadija eventually was taken to a police station where she made a statement. The actions of the English Defence League’s sympathisers show the brutal reality of its sympathisers who peddle nothing but hate and who use demonstrations in order to target citizens. They continue to be a menace to all of us and our collective safety and security.

This incident also shows how the EDL target anyone who is non-white. They could not have known that Khadija was Muslim – she wore no clothes that were attributable to being a Muslim. They picked on her simply because she was Asian and the attack also was anti-Muslim in nature.

So, next time you hear an EDL sympathiser saying that the EDL are not racist, take a few deep breaths and notice the pig flying behind them. No doubt, they will be telling porkies!

The post As the EDL Plan to March in Bradford, We Provide Testimony About Their Hatred appeared first on TELL MAMA.

In Walsall, the various parts of our diverse community live together in harmony. We have a strong tradition of mutual respect and get along fine.

It’s important that we keep this tradition, resisting any attempts to divide us. On Saturday 15th August the group calling itself the ‘English Defence League’ plans to come to Walsall again. On the last occasion they were here, their violent racism resulted in dozens of them being arrested and
sent to prison for a total of over 50 years.

Their aim is to ferment hatred and division in our community. Whatever they claim, the EDL’s anti-Muslim and racist slogans along with their Hitler salutes tell us who they really are.

Their poisonous message of hate must not be allowed to go unchallenged. With music, song and the spoken word, come and join this peaceful and inclusive multicultural event celebrating unity in our community.

The post We are Walsall – Together We Can Overcome Hate appeared first on TELL MAMA.

This leaflet was circulated today on social media by an anti-fascist campaigner who suggested that these leaflets are being circulated in the North Shields area of Newcastle.

The text reads – “Muslim paedophile gangs operate in this area. Are your children safe.”

This abhorrent leaflet is meant to stir up hatred and intimidate communities, whilst trying to drive a wedge between communities. This leaflet shows the nature of the vile English Defence League which seems to push against legal boundaries with no care about communities and the cohesion or future stability of our country. A parent who received that leaflet would no doubt be alarmed and worried and the last thing any parent should do is to contact this vile group.

We have seen how CSE (Child Sexual Exploitation) is used by extremist far right groups to whip up tensions and hatred. We have previously highlighted this in posts (see below) where far right groups use the revulsion that we all feel and attempt to tap into it and manipulate it in order to gain support for their vile extremist set-ups.

This was a previous posting from another far right extremist group – Liberty GB. Once again, the Rotherham grooming scandal is used though what is interesting are the anti-establishment and anti-police messages. They characterise the extremist far mentality of fear of existing Government structures, yet they promote the twisted narrative that they have solutions to tackle CSE. They simply do not. All they do is to try to light the fire of conflict.

The post ‘Grooming’ Leaflets Targeted at Stirring Community Divisions Circulated in North Shields, Newcastle appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The English Defence League: Challenging Our Country and Our Values of Social Inclusion, Fairness and Equality. A detailed report on key leaders within the English Defence League, their funders and those that formulate its strategy. This report is a damning insight into a group that promotes a non-racist image, yet those aligned and linked to it hold views that are openly discriminatory against all Muslims and some speak the same language of the British National Party – the language of exclusionism, of non-equal human rights and of the need to ‘send people back.’ These values go contrary to what our country stands for and what we as a nation are about. We are about Fairness, Freedom, Hard Work, Equality and Social Inclusion. We are a modern Britain and a modern nation born from hard work and fairness!

Please Note:
We would like to clarify that Mark Israel, described in paragraph 4.9. of our report on the English Defence League as “a former volunteer with the Board of Deputies’ Community Security Trust (CST)”, has not been a CST volunteer for many years; and that CST (a separate organisation from the Board of Deputies) has repeatedly condemned the EDL, for example in the following posts on the CST Blog:

• https://thecst.org.uk/blog/?p=555
• https://thecst.org.uk/blog/?p=686
• https://thecst.org.uk/blog/?p=963
• https://thecst.org.uk/blog/?p=1602
• https://thecst.org.uk/blog/?p=1956