Netherlands: Police don’t intend to enforce burqa ban Via RNW : Once the burqa ban passed by the Dutch conservative coalition on Friday is approved by parliament, police will be obliged to enforce it, Security and Justice Minister Yvo Opstelten stresses. “The minister expects police to enforce the ban in accordance with the law”, Mr Opstelten’s spokesperson emphasised. The statement comes in response to criticism voiced by the National Police Union and the central works council of the national police force that is currently being set up

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France: New Report Accuses Police of Discrimination Via VoA : Human Rights Watch says police in France are singling out ethnic Arab and African youths for unwarranted and sometimes humiliating identity checks. The rights group says this apparent ethnic profiling is further exacerbating an already tense relationship between authorities and minority youths. A young man who recounted being stopped and questioned by French police thinks it’s because he’s Arab

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Bosnia: Police arrest Wahhabi leader Via B92 : Strong police forces arrested Nusret Imamović, his brother Eldin and one more person in the village of Gornja Maoča on Wednesday.

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Norway: Two Iranian converts attacked, called ‘kuffar’ Via Världen idag (Swedish): Two Iranians who converted from Islam to Christianity were stabbed by masked me in Haugesund last week. The attacker shouted ‘Kuffar’ (Arabic for non-believer) during the attack.

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Surrey: girl attacked for wearing headscarf Via the BBC (h/t Islamophobia Watch ): A race attack in Surrey on an 11-year-old girl will be the focus of community talks in Sunbury-on-Thames. The girl was attacked by older white girls who kicked her, pushed her to the ground and drew on her face. Surrey Police said it seemed the girl had been targeted on 11 January because she was wearing a headscarf.

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News catch up Various news stories I haven’t been able to get to recently: Sweden * Islam was dropped from the curriculum in the Sundsvall high school. The school inspection service says that such a decision to exclude the religion should be carefully considered. * Christmas morning Sweden Radio broadcast a rerun of a morning show where imam Abd al Haqq Kielan spoke about “Islam in Swedish”

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Malmö: Funeral march against growing violence ( clip of the funeral march ) Via the Local : The arresting image of the grieving father of 15-year-old Ardiwan Diaa Samir, attempting to climb down into his dead son’s grave at the funeral on Wednesday, was a sombre reminder of the consequences of the escalating violence in southern Sweden.

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Antwerp: Police detain Islamists over harassment Via AFP : Belgian police on Wednesday detained 15 members of a radical Islamic group after they harassed passers-by in the city of Antwerp and shouted anti-Western slogans, police said. The Sharia4Belgium militants distributed leaflets glorifying Islam and criticizing the Western way of life in a central street of the northern port city, Belga news agency quoted a police spokeswoman as saying

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Finland: Police called in to settle Islamic teaching dispute Via the Tundra Tabloids : The State Police (SUPO) was involved in a dispute during the autumn in a school in Tampere concerning a controversy which arose between the teacher and the parents of children over the Islamic religious education that they were receiving. The situation came to a head when according to Muslim representatives the teacher was not teaching their religion properly nor cared about the values​​ of the Koran. ( source )

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Amsterdam: Sharia4Belgium disrupts Islam debate (Via liesbethg ) Via RNW : Radical Belgian Muslims disrupted a debate on Wednesday evening about Islam which featured writer and Muslim activist Irshad Manji and Green Left Party MP Tofik Dibi. The Islamists threatened and spat on Ms Manji

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