Jailed mosque blaze pair ‘went on marches with EDL’

TWO men who set fire to a mosque met at Hester’s Way Library in Cheltenham and went on English Defence League marches together, a court was told.

Clive Ceronne, 37, and Ashley Juggins, 21, were former members of the controversial group before starting the blaze at Masjid-E-Noor in Ryecroft Street, Gloucester.

Gloucester Crown Court was told yesterday the pair had been driving around and shouting abuse at Muslims on the evening before the arson.

Ceronne was jailed for four-and-a-half years and Juggins for three-and-a-half after the pair pleaded guilty to arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered.

Juggins, of Brooklyn Road, in Cheltenham, poured petrol on the mosque’s steps before sparking a rag and setting it alight, causing £3,200 damage.

CCTV stills from the attack

The blaze came 27 days after the death of Drummer Lee Rigby, who was killed in Woolwich.

Prosecutor Peter Coombes said: “Ceronne used to work for P&L Security and was posted to Hester’s Way Library where they met.

“His previous employer said Juggins told people that Ceronne had taken him to an EDL rally and had expressed anti-Muslim views to his boss, but also said he had changed his views now.”

In mitigation, Dermot Clarke said Juggins was first introduced to the EDL marches four years ago, but had since stopped taking part.

Mr Clarke said: “He left after two years because, in his own words, he describes the meetings as degenerating into no more than throwing things at the police, however he remained in contact with Ceronne.

“I would be doing him a disservice if I did not mention the influence. He was unemployed, lacking sophistication and befriended by an older man that perhaps had an agenda.”

Since being remanded in prison, Juggins was said to have attended church three times a week.

The court was told Ceronne of Redwood Close in Gloucester had been the county’s divisional officer of the New British Union.

The group is said to be styled on Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists, which was banned in the 1940s, after it aligned itself with Nazi Germany.

On its website, Ceronne claimed to have been involved in “far right cults, including the EDL”.

Joe Maloney, for Ceronne, said: “He has had time to reflect on his beliefs, which is not to say he will change his beliefs, drastically over- night.”

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Gloucester mosque arson attack: Two men jailed

Two men have been jailed for an arson attack on a mosque in Gloucester.

Masjid-E-Noor mosque, Gloucester

Petrol was poured around the door of the Masjid-E-Noor mosque on Ryecroft Street and set on fire in June.

Ashley Juggins, 20, and Clive Ceronne, 37, previously admitted arson with reckless endangerment to life.

Ceronne and Juggins

Juggins, of Brooklyn Road, Cheltenham was sentenced to 42 months in prison, while Ceronne, of Gloucester was jailed for 54 months at Gloucester Crown Court.

The court was told the damage to the mosque had been minimal but that was due “more [to] luck than judgement”.

The attack happened days after an open day was held at the mosque to welcome local people.

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Black Country mosque bomber Pavlo Lapshyn jailed for life

A racist terrorist who planted bombs at three mosques in the Black Country and murdered a man was today jailed for life.

Pavlo Lapshyn will spend a minimum of 40 years behind bars after mounting his campaign of terror across the West Midlands.

His sentencing was delayed after a suspect package was found in the court sparking an evacuation of the Old Bailey.

Staff and members of the public were told to leave the building shortly after 1pm while investigations were carried out.

After the unnamed item was checked thought officials said it was not a danger to the public.

No –one was detained in relation to the drama.

Jailing Lapshyn at the Old Bailey today, Judge Nigel Sweeney said: “You clearly hold extreme right wing, white supremacist views.

“Such views, hatred and motivation, are abhorrent to all right thinking people and have no place whatsoever in our multi faith, multi-cultural society.

“You were intent on finding a Muslim to murder, it seems to me you acted alone and were motivated by your extreme, appalling prejudices.”

West Midlands Police footage of the interview with jailed terrorist Pavlo Lapshyn.

The 25-year-old Ukranian had wanted to start a race war and told police he targeted his victims simply because they were not white.

But today Lapshyn, who was described by police as ‘extremely dangerous’, was handed the lengthy prison term.

The nail bomber’s 90-day campaign of terror began just five days after he entered the country.

He stabbed Mohammed Saleem three times in the back, killing the 82-year-old as he walked home from evening prayers in Birmingham on April 29.

On June 21, he targeted Walsall’s Aisha Mosque in Rutter Street, Caldmore, when he planted explosive devices in a child’s lunch box at the mosque gates.

Then seven days later he placed a bomb on a roundabout near Wolverhampton Central Mosque.

But his most serious attack was at Kanz-ul-Iman mosque in Tipton, where he packed hundreds of nails in a bomb on a railway embankment next to the mosque’s car park.

Pavlo Lapshyn is seen blowing up a tree believed to be in Ukraine in footage released by West Midlands Police.

Worshippers were only saved from serious harm as Friday afternoon prayers were being held an hour later than usual on the first Friday of Ramadan.

Lapshyn said he had planted the bombs because he wanted to ‘increase racial hatred’.

On Monday Lapshyn admitted murdering Mr Saleem, causing an explosion on July 12 and engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts between April 24 and July 18.

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Anti-fascists gather around the UK to oppose EDL/BNP/Infidels

Fascists hiding behind the murder of Lee Rigby gathered in a number of locations throughout the UK today in an attempt to stir up racial hatred amongst communities and fight with the *’commies’ (*anyone that disagrees with them) whilst pretending to lay wreaths for the murdered soldier.

Fascists were thin on the ground in a lot of areas by all accounts.

Antifascists had the numbers.

Anti-fascists out in Leeds

Anti-fascists marching through Parliament Sq, London

Anti-Fascists out in Sheffield

BNP muppet from Croydon got into difficulties in London

Poor turnout of BNP scum in London

Golden dawn fans the ‘Infidels‘ inside pen in Manchester (vid-click pic to view)

Manchester: Anti-Fascists (right) neo-nazi Infidels (left)

The far right just can’t help dropping themselves in it, every time

London: BNP top pic – Anti-Fascists bottom pic

London: “Anti-badger-cull folks burning effigy. Anti-fascists joining badger-killer chant”

Colchester: Anti-Fascists (left) Fascists (right)

Small antifascist presence in Bristol, EDL never turned up at the cenotaph @ 1pm

Anti-Fascist presence in Northampton

Belfast: Anti-Fascists out against the ulster defence league

Police snatch squads protecting BNP scum, arresting Anti-Fascists in London (58 A-F arrested)

London: Anti-Badger cull protesters unite with Anti-Fascists against the BNP

Above: EDL’s (cough) “Dignified silence” for Lee Rigby in Sheffield

Edinburgh: Scottish defence league/ EDL pull nazi salutes in “honour” of Lee Rigby

Colchester: EDL perform nazi salutes infront of the war memorial in “honour” of Lee Rigby

The Cardiff four out to (cough) ‘lay a wreath’. One of the (cough) ‘mourners’ looks strikingly like well known Welsh nazi Luke Pippen, with freshly shaven head. Why would a bonafide nazi be “honouring” Lee Rigby? Pippen blatantly supports those that sent british soldiers to their graves during ww2.

Brighton’s war memorial, seems Anti-Fascists got there first!

Update: “Police seize computer and search home of UKIP’s Eric Kitson”

UKIP’s Eric Kitson

“POLICE have raided the house of a UKIP politician embroiled in a race hate storm – as he confirmed his formal resignation as a councillor is taking place today.

Officers from West Mercia Police have searched the Stourport-based home of Eric Kitson and seized his computer to gather evidence for a possible prosecution.

The 59-year-old has not been arrested, but has been voluntarily interviewed about the saga of his anti-Muslim, anti-Jewish Facebook rants.

He will formally resign as a councillor at 4pm today – despite only winning a seat at Worcestershire County Council 13 days ago.

It means his spell at County Hall is the shortest of any elected politician in the authority’s history, and will trigger a by-election.

A statement released on his behalf by UKIP said: “It is with sadness that I am announcing my resignation as a councillor.

“I am extremely sorry to have let down my friends, the people in the hardworking UKIP team that got me elected, the people of Stourport, and of course my family.

“Like many people who are not professional politicians I used my Facebook page a general post board.

“That was foolish – I am no racist, but I can understand why people could think so.”

 The UK Independence Party say a meeting is due in the coming days of its decision-making National Executive Committee, which is almost certain to revoke his membership too.

He was outed over the weekend for filling his now-deleted Facebook page with a host of racist images and cartoons.

Among the most shocking was a cartoon of a Muslim being spit-roasted on a fire fuelled by copies of the Koran.

He also made comments referring to Muslim women, saying “hang um first then ask questions later” and called for the repatriation of “six million migrants and refugees”.

West Mercia Police had received complaints from the public over the saga, and acted by searching his home last night.

A spokesman said: “Eric Kitson, from Stourport, was voluntarily interviewed by officers from West Mercia Police over concerns raised by the public about allegedly offensive and racist comments made on social media.

“A computer was seized and a property in Stourport searched by police for evidence gathering purposes.

“A file has been submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service for their consideration.”

Police have also taken a statement from Mumshad Ahmed, a Muslim former county councillor, who wants him prosecuted for inciting racial hatred.”

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Further reading: “More Ukip horror as investigation exposes racist abuse”

Latest (mainstream): 12.06.13:  Support for UKIP plummets by A THIRD – leaving them tied with the Lib Dems, poll reveals

Update on Kitson: Defeated councillor John Thomas wins Stourport by-election

Refugees welcome; Racists can fuck off

“Yesterday (16/06/12) , a solidarity demo with refugees facing eviction, destitution and deportation was held in Glasgow.

The last twelve years have seen a massive shift in Glasgow’s demographic since the first asylum seekers were transported up here, shoved onto buses not knowing where they were going and dumped in condemned tower blocks.  3,500 refugees appeared in Glasgow overnight with little support, away from their friends, families and communities.

Such a massive influx of new-comers with little explanation or support given to the local community saw hostility and resentment against asylum seekers rise, culminating in a murder of a young Kurdish man, Firstat Dag in 2001.  A murder which shocked and horrified the indigenous and the incoming community alike.

Since that terrible event, the refugee community in Glasgow has become a valued and important part of our city, enriching our communities with new foods, new culture, new languages and new ideas.  In the mid 2000s, Glasgow saw dawn raids on families living in our communities, with the UK Borders Agency kicking in doors, using metal battering rams to seize men, women, children, toddlers and babies from their beds, shoving them into darkened vans and taking them to be locked up in Dungavel.

The horror of what was being done to our new citizens saw a rise in asylum seeker support.  Lively and active campaigns to end these barbaric dawn raids were taken up by politicians, journalists, political activists and teenagers.  The Glasgow Girls was established by a group of teenage activists in Drumchapel  who saw their school friends disappear with no warning and no explanation.  Fearing that they would be the next to be “disappeared”, they established a lively and vibrant campaign to protect children from being imprisoned, while adult asylum seekers established UNITY to provide practical, legal and emotional support to asylum seekers.

Tracking them when signing at the Home Office (to make sure that they come out again after several were detained and imprisoned after attending for their weekly sign-in), alerting friends, families, neighbours and supporters when someone has been detained, running a night-shelter and soup kitchen for destitute asylum seekers, providing clothing, bedding and toys to those in need they campaigned for the rights of refugees to stay in Glasgow, and the right of Glasgow to keep our refugees.

For a while, it seemed like our efforts were paying off. The frequency of dawn raids declined, Y-people, the charity with the contract to house asylum seekers agreed to continue to house refugees through periods where their funding was cut, as they negotiated the legal maze they were caught up in and in 2010 the Scottish Government announced that it would end the policy of imprisoning children in Dungaval.  The latter proved to be a phyrric victory, as babies were snatched from their homes, shoved into vans and driven for nine hours to Yarls Wood detention centre in England.

Earlier this year, Y-People a supposedly Christian charity, announced that they would no longer house asylum seekers who had been refused Section 4 funding.  Far be it from me, a heathen, to lecture Christians on their religion, but it is worth drawing attention to Matthew 35-40.

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,  I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?  And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’  And the King will answer them,‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

How can they call themselves Christians, while so blatantly disregarding the guidance of their Bible in how strangers should be treated?

Y-people have justified this by the loss of their contract to house asylum seekers in March, which sees the transfer of the responsibility for housing Glasgow asylum seekers given to SERCO.   SERCO, a multinational corporation which boasts among its portfolio contracts for running detention centres and prisons (along with military provision and nuclear weapons handling) joins G4S and Reliance Security Task Management in housing some of the UK’s most vulnerable citizens.  All three of these companies boast “security” as a major part of their corporate services.  It does not take a genius to work out that the award of this contract is less about providing needy people with homes, than with ensuring that “undesirables” are kept in pre-detention housing ran by companies with experience and capacity to effect imprisonment.

And this is the context that yesterday’s demo was called in: dawn raids and detentions again increasing; some new Scots being snatched by the UK Borders Agency and taken to England while others, many with young children, emotional and physical health issues and recovering from the traumatic experiences that led them to flee their homelands in the first place are papped out onto the streets while anxiously awaiting the transfer of the housing contract to a company which specialises in imprisonment.

The demo itself was excellent.  Despite many asylum seekers being too frightened to turn up, in case UK Border Agency officials attended the demo and tried to seize them, around 400 asylum seekers and their supporters marched through Glasgow demanding an end to the raids, detentions and deportations.  We had also gained information that the North West Infidels, a bunch of knuckle dragging English racists, had threatened the demo.

While the speeches following the demo continued, Strathclyde police moved in, instructing people to move off the Square threatening to use the Public Order Act to move people if they refused to leave.  With vulnerable asylum seekers and a number of children in the area, there was little choice but to comply, and people moved on, concluding the rally early.  An elderly man, who didn’t move fast enough for the police’s liking was arrested for breach of the peace as he stood in the middle of Glasgow’s main public square.  And why were they so keen to clear the square?  So that it could be given over to racists and fascists.

Within minutes of moving off refugees and their supporters from the square, police marched in a group of 25-30 white men holding up banners, which in and of themselves constituted incitement to racial hatred, to shout their racist hate.  A few police dotted around the group, while the majority of police encircled the square, insisting that people must not enter.  A young Asian woman who attempted to enter the square was shouted at and manhandled by police who threatened her with arrest, before moving a group of Asian youth, not just off the square, not just off the pavement surrounding the square, but down into side roads well away from the centre of Glasgow, while the supporters of refugees were held in a tight kettle in a corner on the edge of the square.

After 15-20 minutes, the racists then left the square, accompanied by the police who then left them free to roam the streets of Glasgow in the full knowledge that only 30 minutes before there had been a gathering of asylum seekers in the very same area, while keeping anti-fascists and refugee supporters kettled at the other end.  When the kettle was finally ended, the police then stopped people moving off towards the main shopping area, continually telling them that they were free to leave, while instructing them repeatedly that they could not go that way, nor that way, nor that way either, threatening arrest under Section 17 of the Police Act (Scotland), if people did not comply with their directions.  It was at this point that a second activist got arrested when he asserted his right to walk along a main street in Glasgow.

Meanwhile, the racists had regrouped in Buchanan Street between the Palestine Human Rights Campaign Stall, which they had previously attacked in November last year, and the Communist Party stall which they had attacked in January.   Knowing that the Palestine stall had been a prior target, a small number of anti-fascists who had managed to avoid the kettle had made their way there to protect it, as others finally managing to escape from the repressive policing also made their way down.

A lone policeman on a bike had been stationed there, despite the prior violent attacks from the group that had just been let loose to roam the streets causing mayhem.  As tensions became heated between the racists and the anti-fascists, the police appeared en masse and re-kettled the racists in a side street, eventually parading them down Buchanan Street.  Allowing them to spew their bile all the way down one of Glasgow’s main shopping streets, all the while telling people that countering them was “making their job harder” and “was not helpful“.  Two more refugee supporters were arrested just after the racists were moved off, under a Breach of the Peace charge, for shouting at the scum.

Serious questions must be asked in the light of the events of yesterday.  Political policing in Glasgow is totally out of control.  We are seeing continual arrests under broad ranging legislation for nothing more serious than shouting, refusing to move from a public square when ordered to do so, and attempting to walk down a public street.  On a number of occasions people were told that they were being moved on, or prevented from walking where they wished “for their own safety“.  If the streets and public squares of Glasgow are unsafe for people to enter, then it is the job of the police to make those streets safe, not to prevent people entering them on threat of arrest.

Political activists in Glasgow are seeing increasing harassment at the hands of Strathclyde police.  Arrests made on dubious grounds; police turning up at people’s doors to instruct them where they may and may not go; stop and searches being conducted as a means of intimidation and harassment of peaceful protesters.  The Glasgow Defence Campaign has been logging just some of these incidents.

We have a live situation in Glasgow with over 150 asylum seekers about to be made homeless, while others are being dragged down to England, imprisoned and shoved on planes.  It is outrageous that the UK state can snatch our new citizens and take them to another country.  We need Scottish independence so that no longer can new Scots be snatched in this manner.   We need a compassionate and understanding system of asylum so that new Scots do not have to live in fear of facing further trauma at the hands of the UK state compounding the torture from which they have fled.  We need policing which protects our citizens, rather than protecting those who seek to abuse and harass.

Refugees should always be welcome in Scotland – over the centuries Scotland has played a horrible part in the British Empire which has in no small measure contributed to the reasons why many people flee.  We need to end our involvement in the British State.  Only when we have control over our borders can we ensure that they are open to those who seek safety from persecution and injustice, yet closed to those who come to drag them from their homes to subject them to more.”

Source: Second Council House of Virgo (http://s.tt/1ePlc)