Hate mob attacks Galloway
Discussion
Another escalation in the protracted death throes of Albion...
Hate mob attacks Galloway
By Paul Waugh And Flora Stubbs, Evening Standard
20 April 2005
The bitter election battle in the East End has spilled into violence, with extremist Muslims and anti-war protesters targeting George Galloway and Oona King.
Anti-war campaigner Mr Galloway was forced to take refuge from Islamic militants who denounced him as a "false prophet".
The former Labour MP said "the police saved my life" after supporters of radical group Hizb-Ut-Tahrir clashed with members of his Respect party last night.
Labour's Ms King had her car tyres slashed and the vehicle was pelted with eggs by a gang of youths angry at her support for the Iraq war. Both incidents triggered fears for the safety of Mr Galloway and Ms King as they prepared for a stormy hustings meeting in Bethnal Green and Bow tonight.
Labour's 10,000 majority in the seat is under serious threat from Respect and the contest has been marked by some of the most vitriolic campaigning in the general election.
Mr Galloway was electioneering on the Osier council estate in Bethnal Green last night when a gang of 30 Muslim fundamentalists, who claim voting is un-Islamic, surrounded him and his supporters.
The men said they were angry at Mr Galloway's attempt to woo Muslim voters. They said they were "setting up the gallows" for him and warned any Muslim who voted for his anti-war Respect party that they faced a "sentence of death".
After a fight broke out between the two groups, police were called and Mr Galloway was forced to hide in his car in an alley until the violence calmed down. Two men were later arrested.
One resident said: "I heard shouting and looked out into the street to see a large group of Asian men. Many of them were fighting.
"There were punches and kicks thrown, then a large number of police arrived and broke up the riot."
Speaking to the Standard minutes after the attack, Mr Galloway said it was clear the men were worried that he could become MP for an area with a large Muslim population.
"I was meeting people who live in the flats. Hizb-ut-Tahrir suddenly filled the room and blocked the door. I tried speaking calmly. They then said I was parading as a false prophet and served a sentence of death on me. They were claiming I was representing myself as a false deity and for this apostasy I would be sentenced to the gallows," he said.
"They said they were setting up the gallows for me. Thank God my daughter was not with me. She was in the car outside. Otherwise there would have been nobody to call the police. The police saved my life." The former MP is challenging Labour's Oona King in the seat on 5 May, but Hizb-ut-Tahrir has declared that it will fight his bid.
Mr Galloway, who is due to share a platform with the leader of Hizb-ut-Tahrir on Saturday at a debate on Muslims and politics, said he was being targeted because he offered a democratic solution to Muslims. Hizb-ut-Tahrir is not illegal but it has been banned from university campuses for stirring trouble between Jewish and Muslim students. It supports Palestinian suicide bombers.
Last night's incident came hours after another group of Muslim men disrupted a general election media meeting of the Muslim Council of Britain. A group thought to be followers of cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed attacked the Council, claiming no one should vote in the election.
Ms King came under attack from Respect supporters at the weekend, it emerged today. One Labour activist, Mohamed Chowdhury, said: "We left the area to chants of "Oona get out' and 'get out of our estate' and were attacked with eggs again. However, when we returned to the car in Toynbee Street we found it covered in eggs. As we got in the car, more eggs were thrown".
Police are investigating. Witnesses claim the youths wore Respect badges, but there is no suggestion that Mr Galloway knew about or condoned the violence.
<a href="http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/18034715?source=Evening%20Standard">www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/18034715?source=Evening%20Standard</a>
Fanatics want to convert entire world
By Andrew Gilligan, Evening Standard
20 April 2005
Banned in Germany and across the Middle East, Hizb ut-Tahrir, the Party of Liberation, is one of the most controversial - and also the strongest - Islamic groups in Britain today.
Hizb rejects the "corrupt society" of Britain and the West and, as George Galloway learned last night, even the most impeccable anti-war credentials are not enough to win its approval.
Its central belief is for a single Islamic state - a caliphate - which should start by uniting all Muslim countries, then embrace the entire world, including non-Islamic parts.
As Hizb's own website says: "The work of Hizb ut-Tahrir is to ... change the situation of the corrupt society so that it is transformed into an Islamic society."
Hizb "aims to bring back the Islamic guidance for mankind and to lead the Ummah (the Muslim community) into a struggle with Kufr (non-believing), its systems and its thoughts so that Islam encapsulates the world."
Hizb started on this mission in Britain with the Jews: it was accused of anti-semitism in its work in universities and has been banned from many university campuses after noisy campaigns in the Nineties.
It is not just the British election that the group rejects. In its East End heartland, it opposed the recent Brick Lane festival on the ground that it promoted "a culture of drinking alcohol, dancing and free-mixing" between the sexes.
It also advised Shabina Begum, the Luton girl who recently won a High Court ruling that she was entitled to wear a head-to-toe jilbab to school.
Hizb holds frequent conferences and speaker meetings, attracting numbers perhaps higher than any other Muslim group in Britain. Up to 8,000 people attended its last annual conference, although far from all of those were members.
It has a particular appeal for young middle-class Muslims, the same sort of people who so often make up the core of Islamic terror groups.
The actual membership may total less than 1,000. No one has proved a direct link between Hizb and terrorism, but the group's leaflet was found at the family home of Omar Sharif, the British man who launched a failed suicide attack in Tel Aviv.
Hizb's British founder, Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammed, left in 1996 to form an even more radical group, al-muhajiroun (The Emigrants). That organisation believes terrorism is a vital part of Islam, glorified the 9/11 highjackers for "the magnificent 19," and has earned itself a starring role in the tabloids.
The security serbutvices watched it but some described it as an example of "showbiz extremism" rather than a serious threat.
Last October, al muhajiroun announced it was shutting down and uniting with other groups, raising fears that it could be linking up with Hizb. Yesterday, former members of al-muhajiroun stormed the flagship Regent's Park mosque in an antielection protest, echoing the attacks on Mr Galloway and Oona King.
Hizb's British leader, a 28-year-old IT consultant called Jalaluddin Patel, insists the group is not violent and is no threat to the West. But he adds that we in Britain "need to understand what is really an inevitable matter, that Islam is coming back, the Islamic caliphate is going to be implemented in the world very soon".
www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/18034690
>>> Edited by Mon Ami Mate on Wednesday 20th April 16:46
>>> Edited by Mon Ami Mate on Wednesday 20th April 16:50
Hate mob attacks Galloway
By Paul Waugh And Flora Stubbs, Evening Standard
20 April 2005
The bitter election battle in the East End has spilled into violence, with extremist Muslims and anti-war protesters targeting George Galloway and Oona King.
Anti-war campaigner Mr Galloway was forced to take refuge from Islamic militants who denounced him as a "false prophet".
The former Labour MP said "the police saved my life" after supporters of radical group Hizb-Ut-Tahrir clashed with members of his Respect party last night.
Labour's Ms King had her car tyres slashed and the vehicle was pelted with eggs by a gang of youths angry at her support for the Iraq war. Both incidents triggered fears for the safety of Mr Galloway and Ms King as they prepared for a stormy hustings meeting in Bethnal Green and Bow tonight.
Labour's 10,000 majority in the seat is under serious threat from Respect and the contest has been marked by some of the most vitriolic campaigning in the general election.
Mr Galloway was electioneering on the Osier council estate in Bethnal Green last night when a gang of 30 Muslim fundamentalists, who claim voting is un-Islamic, surrounded him and his supporters.
The men said they were angry at Mr Galloway's attempt to woo Muslim voters. They said they were "setting up the gallows" for him and warned any Muslim who voted for his anti-war Respect party that they faced a "sentence of death".
After a fight broke out between the two groups, police were called and Mr Galloway was forced to hide in his car in an alley until the violence calmed down. Two men were later arrested.
One resident said: "I heard shouting and looked out into the street to see a large group of Asian men. Many of them were fighting.
"There were punches and kicks thrown, then a large number of police arrived and broke up the riot."
Speaking to the Standard minutes after the attack, Mr Galloway said it was clear the men were worried that he could become MP for an area with a large Muslim population.
"I was meeting people who live in the flats. Hizb-ut-Tahrir suddenly filled the room and blocked the door. I tried speaking calmly. They then said I was parading as a false prophet and served a sentence of death on me. They were claiming I was representing myself as a false deity and for this apostasy I would be sentenced to the gallows," he said.
"They said they were setting up the gallows for me. Thank God my daughter was not with me. She was in the car outside. Otherwise there would have been nobody to call the police. The police saved my life." The former MP is challenging Labour's Oona King in the seat on 5 May, but Hizb-ut-Tahrir has declared that it will fight his bid.
Mr Galloway, who is due to share a platform with the leader of Hizb-ut-Tahrir on Saturday at a debate on Muslims and politics, said he was being targeted because he offered a democratic solution to Muslims. Hizb-ut-Tahrir is not illegal but it has been banned from university campuses for stirring trouble between Jewish and Muslim students. It supports Palestinian suicide bombers.
Last night's incident came hours after another group of Muslim men disrupted a general election media meeting of the Muslim Council of Britain. A group thought to be followers of cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed attacked the Council, claiming no one should vote in the election.
Ms King came under attack from Respect supporters at the weekend, it emerged today. One Labour activist, Mohamed Chowdhury, said: "We left the area to chants of "Oona get out' and 'get out of our estate' and were attacked with eggs again. However, when we returned to the car in Toynbee Street we found it covered in eggs. As we got in the car, more eggs were thrown".
Police are investigating. Witnesses claim the youths wore Respect badges, but there is no suggestion that Mr Galloway knew about or condoned the violence.
<a href="http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/18034715?source=Evening%20Standard">www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/18034715?source=Evening%20Standard</a>
Fanatics want to convert entire world
By Andrew Gilligan, Evening Standard
20 April 2005
Banned in Germany and across the Middle East, Hizb ut-Tahrir, the Party of Liberation, is one of the most controversial - and also the strongest - Islamic groups in Britain today.
Hizb rejects the "corrupt society" of Britain and the West and, as George Galloway learned last night, even the most impeccable anti-war credentials are not enough to win its approval.
Its central belief is for a single Islamic state - a caliphate - which should start by uniting all Muslim countries, then embrace the entire world, including non-Islamic parts.
As Hizb's own website says: "The work of Hizb ut-Tahrir is to ... change the situation of the corrupt society so that it is transformed into an Islamic society."
Hizb "aims to bring back the Islamic guidance for mankind and to lead the Ummah (the Muslim community) into a struggle with Kufr (non-believing), its systems and its thoughts so that Islam encapsulates the world."
Hizb started on this mission in Britain with the Jews: it was accused of anti-semitism in its work in universities and has been banned from many university campuses after noisy campaigns in the Nineties.
It is not just the British election that the group rejects. In its East End heartland, it opposed the recent Brick Lane festival on the ground that it promoted "a culture of drinking alcohol, dancing and free-mixing" between the sexes.
It also advised Shabina Begum, the Luton girl who recently won a High Court ruling that she was entitled to wear a head-to-toe jilbab to school.
Hizb holds frequent conferences and speaker meetings, attracting numbers perhaps higher than any other Muslim group in Britain. Up to 8,000 people attended its last annual conference, although far from all of those were members.
It has a particular appeal for young middle-class Muslims, the same sort of people who so often make up the core of Islamic terror groups.
The actual membership may total less than 1,000. No one has proved a direct link between Hizb and terrorism, but the group's leaflet was found at the family home of Omar Sharif, the British man who launched a failed suicide attack in Tel Aviv.
Hizb's British founder, Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammed, left in 1996 to form an even more radical group, al-muhajiroun (The Emigrants). That organisation believes terrorism is a vital part of Islam, glorified the 9/11 highjackers for "the magnificent 19," and has earned itself a starring role in the tabloids.
The security serbutvices watched it but some described it as an example of "showbiz extremism" rather than a serious threat.
Last October, al muhajiroun announced it was shutting down and uniting with other groups, raising fears that it could be linking up with Hizb. Yesterday, former members of al-muhajiroun stormed the flagship Regent's Park mosque in an antielection protest, echoing the attacks on Mr Galloway and Oona King.
Hizb's British leader, a 28-year-old IT consultant called Jalaluddin Patel, insists the group is not violent and is no threat to the West. But he adds that we in Britain "need to understand what is really an inevitable matter, that Islam is coming back, the Islamic caliphate is going to be implemented in the world very soon".
www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/18034690
>>> Edited by Mon Ami Mate on Wednesday 20th April 16:46
>>> Edited by Mon Ami Mate on Wednesday 20th April 16:50
anonymous said:
[redacted]
The respective websites certainly make for some interesting reading...
www.hizb-ut-tahrir.org/english/english.html
www.respectcoalition.org/
simpo two said:
haha - Galloway beaten up by Muslims. So now he has -er - no friends anywhere. Serves the jerk right; shoudl have stayed on his own side and not dabbled in things he doesn't understand.
He makes that whiner Tam Dalyell look like Churchill.
I'm quite keen on the idea of Galloway getting a good thrashing. In fact, I think he's a traitor and should be beheaded in the tower.
However, I'm also very certain that we should follow Germany's example and ban Hizb-Ut-Tahrir.
Please take a moment and ponder this from the RESPECT Manifesto linked by by Mon Ami Mate(not saying he endorses it, just pointed it out) - my replies in brackets:
End the occupation of Iraq
End privatisation – bring public services back into public ownership [so they can run less efficently]
End the attacks on civil liberties; no identity cards [so criminals can move about freely]
Comprehensive education; an equal chance to every
child and young person
A publicly owned, democratically controlled and fully funded NHS [because you don't pay enough now]
Link pensions to average earnings [?? no rewards for earning more, only for earning less]
Scrap student tuition fees
Raise the minimum wage to the European Decency Threshold of £7.40
Oppose all forms of discrimination, defend refugees and asylum seekers [defend them against what? The law?]
Repeal the anti-union laws [do those really exist?]
Tough action to control climate change
Tax big business and the wealthy to fund public expenditure [this is the one that gets me. why do those who worked to become successful get penalized? This would be an obvious incentive for everyone to sit on their a$$]
summary:
What happens when there are no more evil wealthy people to tax??? Who will pay for Public services then?? Wake up dumbass, the profit-makers you so despise are the very funders of your "manifesto". Here is a simple visual for you: Picture yourself reaching from a second story window and pulling bricks from the first floor to build a third floor....you guessed it, the structure will collapse upon its own weight.....enough said.
>> Edited by jimbeaux on Wednesday 20th April 18:38
End the occupation of Iraq
End privatisation – bring public services back into public ownership [so they can run less efficently]
End the attacks on civil liberties; no identity cards [so criminals can move about freely]
Comprehensive education; an equal chance to every
child and young person
A publicly owned, democratically controlled and fully funded NHS [because you don't pay enough now]
Link pensions to average earnings [?? no rewards for earning more, only for earning less]
Scrap student tuition fees
Raise the minimum wage to the European Decency Threshold of £7.40
Oppose all forms of discrimination, defend refugees and asylum seekers [defend them against what? The law?]
Repeal the anti-union laws [do those really exist?]
Tough action to control climate change
Tax big business and the wealthy to fund public expenditure [this is the one that gets me. why do those who worked to become successful get penalized? This would be an obvious incentive for everyone to sit on their a$$]
summary:
What happens when there are no more evil wealthy people to tax??? Who will pay for Public services then?? Wake up dumbass, the profit-makers you so despise are the very funders of your "manifesto". Here is a simple visual for you: Picture yourself reaching from a second story window and pulling bricks from the first floor to build a third floor....you guessed it, the structure will collapse upon its own weight.....enough said.
>> Edited by jimbeaux on Wednesday 20th April 18:38
simpo two said:
Ah, those were the days - good old fashioned unelectable socialism! It's when they started wearing ties and learning PR that they got dangerous.
It was when people people spent more time laughing at them and writing them off as 'unelectable', than actually opposing them at every opportunity. With president Bliar and his acolytes came the unseen flotsam and jetsum that he owed so much to down the years. It's payback time, with your pay, your back, their knife.
jimbeaux said:
What happens when there are no more evil wealthy people to tax??? Who will pay for Public services then?? Wake up dumbass, the profit-makers you so despise are the very funders of your "manifesto". Here is a simple visual for you: Picture yourself reaching from a second story window and pulling bricks from the first floor to build a third floor....you guessed it, the structure will collapse upon its own weight.....enough said.
Their utopia is Afghanistan on a global scale, how that appeals defeats me so I can only conclude it's based on hatred and jealousy of the west
Galloway told to avoid his home
Respect candidate George Galloway has been advised to stay away from his home after receiving a death threat.
At a hustings meeting on Wednesday Mr Galloway and his Labour opponent Oona King stood together to plead for less negative campaigning.
Both candidates, contesting the Bethnal Green and Bow constituency, have required police protection.
Mr Galloway was allegedly "threatened with death" by Islamist extremists at a meeting on Tuesday evening.
The 40-strong mob apparently locked the door and denounced him as a "false prophet" and declared the sentence for this was "death".
Mr Galloway said: "It was a very frightening incident caused by a tiny, unrepresentative group of very extreme fundamentalists who believe that elections are a crime against Islam."
On Wednesday Miss King, who has been criticised for supporting the Iraq war, required police protection to separate her from opponents.
Her car tyres were slashed and she was pelted with eggs last weekend.
And last week eggs and vegetables were thrown at her when she attended a memorial to Jewish war dead.
'Extremism breeds'
Miss King said: "I utterly condemn any attacks on George Galloway, or any other politician, and indeed just the general atmosphere of intimidation.
"I have to say it has not been helped by some of the language used by Respect. Extremism breeds extremism."
Mr Galloway and Miss King appeared together amid tight security at a meeting at the University of London on Wednesday evening.
Miss King told the audience that Mr Galloway had agreed to a meeting with election organisers and other candidates to try to "take some of the heat and vitriol out of this campaign".
Mr Galloway said: "Can I take this opportunity to express to Oona King how sorry I am for what has happened to her in this campaign and to welcome her call this evening for all the parties to talk with the police about how we can take some of the negative atmosphere out of this campaign and how we can see democracy prevail."
Respect is a coalition that grew out of socialist and trade union opposition to the Iraq war.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/frontpage/4467147.stm
Respect candidate George Galloway has been advised to stay away from his home after receiving a death threat.
At a hustings meeting on Wednesday Mr Galloway and his Labour opponent Oona King stood together to plead for less negative campaigning.
Both candidates, contesting the Bethnal Green and Bow constituency, have required police protection.
Mr Galloway was allegedly "threatened with death" by Islamist extremists at a meeting on Tuesday evening.
The 40-strong mob apparently locked the door and denounced him as a "false prophet" and declared the sentence for this was "death".
Mr Galloway said: "It was a very frightening incident caused by a tiny, unrepresentative group of very extreme fundamentalists who believe that elections are a crime against Islam."
On Wednesday Miss King, who has been criticised for supporting the Iraq war, required police protection to separate her from opponents.
Her car tyres were slashed and she was pelted with eggs last weekend.
And last week eggs and vegetables were thrown at her when she attended a memorial to Jewish war dead.
'Extremism breeds'
Miss King said: "I utterly condemn any attacks on George Galloway, or any other politician, and indeed just the general atmosphere of intimidation.
"I have to say it has not been helped by some of the language used by Respect. Extremism breeds extremism."
Mr Galloway and Miss King appeared together amid tight security at a meeting at the University of London on Wednesday evening.
Miss King told the audience that Mr Galloway had agreed to a meeting with election organisers and other candidates to try to "take some of the heat and vitriol out of this campaign".
Mr Galloway said: "Can I take this opportunity to express to Oona King how sorry I am for what has happened to her in this campaign and to welcome her call this evening for all the parties to talk with the police about how we can take some of the negative atmosphere out of this campaign and how we can see democracy prevail."
Respect is a coalition that grew out of socialist and trade union opposition to the Iraq war.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/frontpage/4467147.stm
I am suprised by the reactions on here...
There is no excuse for this kind of behaviour, and as far as i am concerned the whole bunch should be thrown in jail or deported for trying to put our political system in jeapordy or something.
These people view our method of Politics and Law as an insult to them and they think it is perfectly reasonable to threaten to kill us because they don't like what we may have to say in our own country.
I am amazed a lot of you appear to agree with them.
If they were attacking Blair, I would be on his side, if thats any indication of how i feel about it!
>> Edited by hedders on Friday 22 April 07:10
There is no excuse for this kind of behaviour, and as far as i am concerned the whole bunch should be thrown in jail or deported for trying to put our political system in jeapordy or something.
These people view our method of Politics and Law as an insult to them and they think it is perfectly reasonable to threaten to kill us because they don't like what we may have to say in our own country.
I am amazed a lot of you appear to agree with them.
If they were attacking Blair, I would be on his side, if thats any indication of how i feel about it!
>> Edited by hedders on Friday 22 April 07:10
Gassing Station | The Pie & Piston Archive | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff