Third Night of Ramadan Rioting in Capital of Europe | The Brussels Journal

"Islam is a religion of peace!"

It looks as if immigrants youths want to turn nightly rioting during the Islamic holy month of ramadan into an annual tradition. Around 8:30pm last night violence erupted again in Brussels, the capital of Europe. The riots centered on the Brussels Marollen quarter and the area near the Midi Train Station, where the international trains from London and Paris arrive. Youths threw stones at passing people and cars, windows of parked cars were smashed, bus shelters were demolished, cars were set ablaze, a youth club was arsoned and a shop was looted. Two molotov cocktails were thrown into St.Peter’s hospital, one of the main hospitals of central Brussels. The fire brigade was able to extinguish the fires at the hospital, but youths managed to steal the keys of the fire engine.

During the month of ramadan Muslims are required to fast during the day and are only allowed to eat after sunset. As Esther pointed out “What should be noticed about the riots is that they start after sunset. Besides the fact that they start after dark, it also gives the rioters enough time to break their fast and enjoy the traditional family meal. Sunset is around 7:30pm.” Tuesday’s and Monday’s riots began around 8:30pm.

Last night the police arrested 45 rioters. One of them will be prosecuted for assaulting the owner of a shop. Philippe Close, the chef de cabinet of the Mayor of Brussels, Freddy Thielemans, said that the authorities would continue their efforts to defuse the situation in a peaceful manner, but he announced that the police will be less complacent in future, “since we cannot tolerate that this [Marollen] neighbourhood falls victim to a problem from outside the neighbourhood.”

Mozart Opera Canceled for Muhammad Scene

I don't know why the Germans don't just convert now and have it over with. Self-censoring like this is NOT going to work. All it's going to do is show weakness which will encourage even MORE "offenses" which will have to be self-censored as well.

I did find this line amusing though:

"Islamic law is interpreted to forbid any depiction of Muhammad for fear it could lead to idolatry."

Obviously they've never counted up the number of muslims who are named Muhammad. Believe me, they idolize him, therefore are idolators.

A leading opera house in Berlin, Germany canceled a 3-year-old production of Mozart's 'Idomeneo' that included a scene showing the severed head of the Prophet Muhammad, unleashing a furious debate over free speech.

In a statement late Monday, the Deutsche Oper said it decided 'with great regret' to cancel the production of the 225-year-old opera after Berlin security officials warned of an 'incalculable risk' stemming from the scene.

After its premiere in 2003, the production by Hans Neuenfels drew widespread criticism over the scene in which King Idomeneo presents the severed heads not only of the Greek god of the sea, Poseidon, but also of Muhammad, Jesus and Buddha.

'We know the consequences of the conflict over the (Muhammad) caricatures,' the statement said. 'We believe that needs to be taken very seriously and hope for your support.'

Kirsten Harms, director of the Deutsche Oper, told the Berliner Morgenpost on Tuesday that Berlin state police had warned of a possible - but not certain - threat, and she decided it would be in the best interest of the safety of the opera house, its employees and patrons to cancel the production.

Al-Qaida joins Algerians against France

Now, France may learn that all their anti-Americanism, posturing and appeasement of Islamics really hasn't bought them the safety that they'd hoped it would

They've pushed away their allies and encouraged their enemies. Now they're likely to learn just how large a problem they have with millions of Islamics in their country and millions more outside, who want nothing more than the death of France and as many frenchmen as they can possibly manage.

Those "Islamic enclaves" are no-go zones for the french authorities and nobody at all has ANY idea of what's in them. But we may find out sooner, rather than later.

PARIS - Al-Qaida has for the first time announced a union with an Algerian insurgent group that has designated France as an enemy, saying they will act together against French and American interests.

Current and former French officials specializing in terrorism said Thursday that an al-Qaida alliance with the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, known by its French initials GSPC, was cause for concern.

'We take these threats very seriously,' Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said, adding in an interview on France-2 television that the threat to France was 'high' and 'permanent,' and that 'absolute vigilance' was required.

Al-Qaida's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, announced the 'blessed union' in a video posted this week on the Internet to mark the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.

France's leader have repeatedly warned that the decision not to join the U.S.-led war in Iraq would not shield the country from Islamic terrorism. French participation in the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon could give extremists another reason to strike.

Minister Welcomes Sharia In Netherlands If Majority Wants It

What can one say about sentiments like this one. If he wants sharia so bad, why doesn't he go to a country that practices it? Why don't the muslims who moved to the Netherlands? Why import it?

This is why many American just shake their head in amazement at the downright stupid things that flow from politically correct Europe.

Mark Steyn said it best I think: Europe is sleepwalking its way to suicide.

THE HAGUE, 13/09/06 - Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner considers the Netherlands should give Muslims more freedoms to behave according to their traditions. Muslims refusing to shake hands is fine with him. And Sharia law could be introduced in the Netherlands democratically, in the minister's view.

Muslims have the right to experience their religion in ways that diverge from Dutch social codes, accordign to the Christian democrat (CDA) minister. He thinks Queen Beatrix was very wise not to insist on a Muslim leader shaking hands with her when she visited his mosque in The Hague earlier this year.

Integration Minister Verdonk did previously scold an imam who would not shake her hand. Without directly referring to this incident, Donner considers 'a tone that I do not like has crept into the political debate. A tone of: 'Thou shalt assimilate. Thou shalt adopt our values in public. Be reasonable, do it our way'. That is not my approach'.

Donner strongly disagrees with a recent plea by CDA parliamentary leader Maxime Verhagen for a ban on parties seeking to launch Sharia (Islamic law) in the Netherlands. 'For me it is clear: if two-thirds of the Dutch population should want to introduce the Sharia tomorrow, then the possibility should exist,' according to Donner. 'It would be a disgrace to say: 'That is not allowed!'.'

Donner makes his remarks in an interview in a book entitled, 'The country of hate and anger' (Het land van haat en nijd). The book was written by journalists Margalith Kleijwegt and Max van Weezel of weekly magazine Vrij Nederland. Minister Verdonk will be presented with the first copy today.

Tortured screams ring out as Iraqis take over Abu Ghraib

"'Please help us, we want the human rights officers, we want the Americans to come back'"

This is off topic, but as a Yank, I just couldn't resist it.

Apparently, American "torture" at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq wasn't THAT bad.

After all, panties on the head and being posed for a photo-op aren't THAT bad compared to REAL torture that Arabs can come up with.

It reminds me of a piece written by a chaplain in Guantanamo Bay. They spent 9 hours talking a prisoner who was being shipped back home out of a tree because he preferred Gitmo's prison to what he faced when he went back home.

I'm sure this headline will be splashed all over the NY Times for months as well, just like the original Abu Ghraib pictures were. NOT!

British anti-terror police probing 'thousands' of suspects

Fri Sep 1, 11:09 PM ET

LONDON (AFP) - British police are currently trying to monitor 'thousands' of potential security suspects, the head of the anti-terrorism unit at London's Metropolitan Police said in an interview to be broadcast Sunday.

In an interview recorded in July, before the arrest of more than two dozen people on suspicion of an alleged plot to blow up US-bound aircraft, Peter Clarke said Britain was facing an increasing threat from homegrown extremists.

He refused to give an exact figure about how many people he said were either directly or indirectly involved in plotting atrocities on British soil but said the number ran into four figures.

'I don't want to go down the numbers game, I don't think it's helpful,' he told a BBC television programme entitled 'Al-Qaida -- Time to Talk?'

'All I can say is that our knowledge is increasing and certainly in terms of broad description, the numbers of people who we have to be interested in are into the thousands.'

He added: 'That includes a whole range of people, not just terrorists, not just attackers, but people who might be tempted to support or encourage or to assist.'

Clarke highlighted the potential for home-grown terrorism in Britain since the September 2001 attacks on the United States, implicitly citing the July 2005 London bombings carried out by four British Muslim suicide bombers.

'What we've learnt since 9/11 is that the threat is not something that's simply coming from overseas into the United Kingdom. What we've learnt, and what we've seen all too graphically and all too murderously, is that we have a threat which is being generated here within the United Kingdom.'

BBC investigators uncovered a route for suicide bombers from Britain to
Iraq by following a French Algerian jihadist who lived in the northern English city of Manchester and is thought to have died in a suicid"

Islamic conversions gain ground in Britain- The Times of India

Islamic conversions gain ground in Britain- The Times of India: "LONDON: Shoe-bomber Richard Reid; 7/7 bomber Germaine Lindsay; August 10’s Trans-Atlantic airline alleged conspirators Don Stewart-Whyte, Oliver Savant and Brian Young. All would fail the racial profiling test to screen potential terrorists; all are converts to Islam. So, is the new face of Islam in the UK increasingly white or at least non-Asian and non-typical?

'Yes and no,' says Batool-al Toma, head of the New Muslim Project, set up 12 years ago in the English Midlands city of Leicester as Britain’s first organised one-stop shop for new converts to Islam.

Al-Toma, formerly Mary Geraghty, is a white Irishwoman who converted to Islam 25 years ago. She admits to TOI that 'the numbers of white converts have been steadily rising, my work has increased and the sheer volume of people coming to me every week has risen in the last 12 years'.

But she disputes the easy media shorthand that sees British Islam as increasingly white and dangerously reflected in Reid, Lindsay, Stewart-Whyte, Savant and Young. 'Reid and Lindsay were not of a white background,' she points out, 'and the others are not typical of the white people who convert to Islam.' More crucially, says al-Toma, the New Muslim Project is now busy creating a separate programme of induction for Hindu and Sikh converts to Islam.

'Till now, Hindu and Sikh converts mostly turned to the British Pakistani community but I now realise they have specific issues to do with family and we need to support them.'