“Man jailed for racist attack on Cheltenham mosque”

A man has been jailed after leaving a pigs head tied to the gates of Cheltenham Mosque and daubing racist graffiti, in an apparent ‘revenge attack’ against Muslims after seeing members of the extremist ‘Muslims Against Crusades’ burn poppies on remembrance day.

Simon Parkes

The incident happened on November 13th 2010, when him and an unknown accomplice arrived late at night, hooded and masked up. They left the pigs head tied to the gate, and painted ‘Rag Heads Out’ on a wall.

Simon Parkes, 45, of Crown Close, Bishop’s Cleeve, was charged with racially or religiously aggravated criminal damage and a public order offence on July 14, 2012. On August 9 he pleaded guilty at Cheltenham Magistrates and yesterday he was been sentenced to four months at Gloucester Crown Court.

– Whilst 3 Counties Anti-Fascists fully condemn the racist actions of Simon Parkes and his indiscriminate targeting of Muslims, we would also like to point out that we fully oppose the hate-filled ideology behind ‘Muslims Against Crusades.’ We believe that they and groups such as the EDL and BNP are different sides of the same coin – both standing in the way of working class unity , freedom and equality.