Marseille: Court authorizes Le Pen anti-Islamism posters See also here . A court in Marseille authorized campaign posters of the political party of Jean Marie Le Pen, National Front (FN) in the south of France, which undermine Islam and Muslims and incites hatred of Algeria and the Algerians. The verdict was rendered yesterday in favor of Le Pen in the lawsuit filed by the International League against Racism and Antisemitism.
Belgium: Police suspect PKK ran training camps Twenty two people were detained in the Belgian raids. 14 have seen been freed, and the eight remaining put under arrest
Paris: 'Baghdad ring' on trial A group of 28 suspected members of one of Europe's biggest people-smuggling rings went on trial today in Paris where they risk jail sentences of up to ten years. The “Baghdad ring” of smugglers charged between 10,000 euros and 15,000 euros (14,000 and 20,000 dollars) to migrants seeking passage to Britain, Ireland, Sweden and Norway, according to French prosecutors. The migrants were mostly Kurds from northern Iraq but some also came from Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and China, reaching France after a long dangerous journey through Turkey, Greece and Italy
Europe: 50-70% support burka ban In a couple of related stories: 1. The Swiss government confirmed it does not intend to impose a ban on burkas, as few women actually wear the burka, and it would be difficult to enforce ( EN ) 2. In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders said a ban on headscarves for all public institutions in Almere and the Hague would be central to having the PVV join the municipal coalition. Wilders stressed this ban will not affect crosses or Jewish skull caps because those are 'symbols of religions which belong to our own culture, are not, like the headscarves, a symbol of an oppressive totalitarian ideology”.
French-Turks more integrated than German/Dutch Turks Turkish immigrants and their children in the Netherlands are less fluent in the language of the country in which they live then those in France. They also use it relatively less often
France: ‘Day Without Immigrants’ In a subversive attempt to demonstrate the importance of immigrants to the French economy, rights groups are advocating a “no work, no consumption day” on March 1. The message is being spread on the Web, but will it work
France: Town sues restaurant for serving halal I reported about this more than a month ago . A couple of months ago the Quick fast food chain decided to serve only halal food at eight of its branches for a test-run period. For some reason, it's now hit the news again, apparently due to the upcoming local elections. From Quick's point of view, the move was made for purely commercial reasons, and it seems to be having the desired effects (ie, more money for Quick). How does 'discrimination' figure in here? Don't businesses have a right to sell whatever they want to
France: Youth vandalize mosque crescent Young assailants twisted the metal crescent atop a mosque in eastern France, the local gendarmerie said on Saturday, adding it had launched an investigation.
France: Headscarf wearing Muslim on Communist party list France is in an uproar after the extreme-leftist and anti-religious party NPA put a Muslim women with a headscarf on its list.
Netherlands: Geert Wilders trial As a reader pointed out, I’ve been remiss in not covering the trial of Geert Wilders. I had collected stories, but I felt I was going into data overload with it all. I will try to keep up in the future