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Posts Tagged hate crime.

The Trump Effect: Number of anti-Muslim groups in US ‘triples in a year’ Middle East Eye

Number of anti-Muslim groups in US ‘triples in a year’

#Islamophobia

Hate crime monitor says sharp increase has been fuelled by Trump’s ‘incendiary rhetoric’ and resurgence of white nationalism

A security official investigates the aftermath of a fire at the Victoria Islamic Center mosque in Victoria, Texas on 29 January (Reuters)

The number of anti-Muslim groups in the US nearly tripled from 34 in 2015 to 101 last year, according to an annual census of hate and anti-foreigner groups compiled by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a leading hate crime monitor.

In a report published on Wednesday, the SPLC said Donald Trump’s successful campaign for the US presidency had energised the “radical right” and contributed to an overall net increase in the number of hate groups from 892 in 2015 to 917.

“2016 was an unprecedented year for hate,” said Mark Potok, senior fellow and editor of the SPLC’s Intelligence Report magazine, highlighting the rise to influence of “white nationalist” activists such as Steve Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist who formerly edited the far-right Breitbart News website.

Young white men are being radicalised. It’s time to talk about it.

“The country saw a resurgence of white nationalism that imperils the racial progress we’ve made, along with the rise of a president whose policies reflect the values of white nationalists. In Steve Bannon, these extremists think they finally have an ally who has the president’s ear.”

An online map showing anti-Muslim hate groups in the US (Southern Law Poverty Center)

The SPLC said the overall number of hate groups likely understated the real level of organised hate in the US, as growing numbers of extremists were operating online and not formally affiliated with hate groups.

But it did record a fall in the number of organised anti-government armed militia groups, which it suggested may be due to the mainstreaming of far-right political ideas and ideologies previously confined to the political fringes.

Incendiary rhetoric

The report said that the dramatic increase in groups with a specific anti-Muslim agenda had been “fuelled by Trump’s incendiary rhetoric, including his campaign pledge to bar Muslims from entering the United States, as well as anger over terrorist attacks such as the June massacre of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando”.

The magazine highlighted details of an alleged plot by three members of a group called the Kansas Security Force to blow up an apartment building housing more than 100 Somali-born Muslim immigrants and a mosque which was reported to have been planned for the day after last November’s election.

Asked by the New York Times about his support among far-right groups in November, Trump said: “I disavow and condemn them.”

The SPLC said that the growth had also been accompanied by an increase in hate crimes targeting Muslims. In a report in November, the SPLC said that nearly 900 incidents of hate and intolerance were recorded across the US in the days following Trump’s election.

It also cited an arson attack on a mosque in Victoria, Texas, just hours after Trump’s inauguration last month.

Trump’s presidency has sparked a wave of protests by civil liberties campaigners, with many taking to the streets to protest on the day of his inauguration and subsequently in opposition to a temporary ban on travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries entering the US.

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US authorities urged to investigate attack on Islamic Center of Fort Pierce during Muslim holiday as a hate crime

 

 

 
Florida mosque ‘attended by Orlando shooter’ set ablaze   during Eid al-Adha
Courtesy:
Al-Jazeera
 
US authorities urged to investigate attack on Islamic Center of Fort Pierce during
 Muslim holiday as a hate crime
 
A mosque in the US state of Florida has been set ablaze by an arsonist during the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, authorities have said, without ruling out that it was a hate crime.
Fire crews arrived at the scene in the early hours of Monday after receiving reports of flames coming out of the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce, located about 160km southeast of the city of Orlando.
No injuries were reported and the extent of the damage was not immediately clear.
Eid al-Adha, one of Islam’s holiest festivals, was being celebrated on Monday and also could have prompted the attack, Major David Thompson, of the St Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, said.
“We are not sure exactly whether this is a hate crime or just an arson, we do know that a crime has occurred and that it is arson,” he told reporters at a news conference.
Investigators were also considering a connection with the 15th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on Sunday, Thompson added.
At the news conference, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Florida said the blaze was an act of hate.
Ahmed Bedier, president of the civic group United Voices for America, also called for authorities to investigate it as a hate crime.
“For this to happen to us, on the morning of our biggest celebration of the year, was something horrific,” Hamaad Rahman, associate imam at the mosque, also told reporters.
The mosque temporarily relocated its morning prayers for Eid al-Adha, also known as the Feast of Sacrifice that marks the end of the annual Hajj pilgrimage.
Security video showed an individual approaching the northeast side of the building on a motorcycle around 11:38pm, a flash of light appearing and the individual then fleeing, the sheriff’s office said, identifying the suspect as a white or Hispanic male.
“In the video, it appears he is carrying paper and a bottle of some type of liquid,” it said in a statement.
Photographs posted on the sheriff department’s Facebook page showed fire engines parked in front of the building, which is a former church.
Authorities were working on enhancing the security video to help identify the perpetrator.
The FBI and other federal agencies are collaborating with the local sheriff’s office in the investigation.
There were reports that the mosque had been attended by Omar Mateen, the man who opened fire at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, killing 49 people and injuring 53 others on June 12.
Mateen, a New York-born resident of Florida, was killed by police.

Please click on the following video to find out more details about this gruesome crime against humanity on a sacred religious occasion and don’t forget to enlarge the picture to full screen:

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