Polish MEP Arrested for Shouting 'Heil Hitler' at Airport

Jacek Protasiewicz was detained and handcuffed by police
at Frankfurt airport

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Politican was reportedly drunk when he told customs officer he should 'go to Auschwitz'

A “drunk” Polish MEP was detained and handcuffed by police at Frankfurt airport after allegedly shouting “Heil Hitler” at a customs officer and telling him he "should go to Auschwitz”.

The incident occurred as Jacek Protasiewicz, a politician from Poland’s Civic Platform party, passed through customs control at Germany’s biggest airports, and was reported by the German newspaper Bild as a “Nazi Scandal”.

Eye-witnesses quoted in paper said he appeared “very drunk” and had also snatched a luggage trolley from a fellow passenger before getting into the altercation with customs staff. The MEP, allegedly, called an officer “Hitler” and a “Nazi”, after being stopped in the green customs channel. Police then arrived and the politician was handcuffed and led away. » | Matthew Day, Warsaw | Thursday, February 27, 2014

British Politician Wants UK Muslims to Denounce Parts of Quran

AL ARABIYA: A far-right UK Independence Party (UKIP) politician reiterated on Tuesday his belief that a declaration denouncing specific parts of the Quran must be signed by Muslims living in Britain.

Gerard Batten, an MEP, renewed his suggestion first proposed in 2006 while speaking to the British daily news website the Guardian, adding that Europe made a huge mistake by allowing “an explosion of mosques across their land.”

“If that represents the thinking of modern people, there's something wrong, in which case maybe they need to revise their thinking,” Batten said.

“If they say they can't revise their thinking on those issues, then who's got the problem – us or them?” he added.

During the interview, Batten said: “I would expect the fundamentalists to agree with me that democracy is incompatible with fundamentalist Islam. Moderate Muslims have to decide which side of the argument they are on.”

"Muslims need to sign the charter and accept to “re-examine and address the meaning and application of certain Islamic texts and doctrines,” Batten said in a statement released on Ukip’s official website.

Batten said he stood by the 2006 “charter of Muslim understanding.”

In the charter, Muslims are requested to reject parts of the Quran which promote that “violent physical Jihad” should be regarded as “inapplicable, invalid and non-Islamic,” a move Batten said would not be an issue for “any reasonable, normal person.” » | Eman El-Shenawi | Al Arabiya News – Dubai | Wednesday, February 05, 2014

Related »

Tory MP Says Ukip Politician's Call for Muslim Code of Conduct Is Frightening

Gerard Batten, UKIP MEP

THE GUARDIAN: Robert Halfon compares Ukip MEP Gerard Batten's position to asking members of religion to wear yellow star

Gerard Batten, the senior Ukip politician who called for Muslims to sign a code of conduct, has been accused of taking an "unbelievably sinister" position that is comparable to asking members of the faith to wear a yellow star.

Robert Halfon, a Conservative MP, called on the Ukip leader, Nigel Farage, to sack Batten for his comments, after it emerged the Ukip MEP had helped write a "charter of Muslim understanding". The document calls on Muslims to sign a declaration rejecting violence and accepting the need to modify the Qur'an.

Halfon, who is Jewish and has spoken out repeatedly against Islamic extremism, told the Guardian he considered Batten's views "unbelievably sinister" and "frightening".

He tweeted: "Big difference btwn lawful Muslims & extreme Islamists. UKIP MEP Batten's statement a 1st step to wearing a Yellow Star."

Sarah Ludford, a Liberal Democrat MEP for London, also criticised the comments, saying they "rip apart Ukip's pretence" that it treats everybody equally.

"His offensive blanket stereotyping of Muslims speaks volumes about Ukip's extremism and should warn voters that voting Ukip means associating with hatred and Islamophobia," she said.

Two prominent Muslim MPs, Sadiq Khan and Rehman Chishti, have also condemned the "offensive" idea of a charter for Muslims. Chishti said Batten, who is Ukip's immigration spokesman, should not be allowed to stand again as an MEP. » | Rowena Mason, political correspondent | Wednesday, February 05, 2014

Related »

Ukip MEP Says British Muslims Should sign Charter Rejecting Violence

THE GUARDIAN: Gerard Batten, Ukip's immigration spokesman, proposed ban on new European mosques and says Qur'an needs updating


A Ukip MEP believes that British Muslims should sign a special code of conduct and warns that it was a big mistake for Europe to allow "an explosion of mosques across their land".

Gerard Batten, who represents London and is member of the party's executive, told the Guardian on Tuesdaythat he stood by a "charter of Muslim understanding", which he commissioned in 2006.

The document asks Muslims to sign a declaration rejecting violence and says parts of the Qur'an that promote "violent physical Jihad" should be regarded as "inapplicable, invalid and non-Islamic".

Critics said his comments represent the "ugliest side of Ukip" and "overlap with the far-right", in spite of the efforts of party leader Nigel Farage to create a disciplined election machine ahead of the European elections. » | Rowena Mason, political correspondent | Tuesday, February 04, 2014

UAF Violence: Nick Griffin MEP Interview

The fact that I bring this video to you should in no way be construed as an endorsement of the BNP or its policies. However, I do feel that in a democracy, everybody’s views should be heard, however distasteful we might find them. There appears to be a concerted effort on the part of the establishment in general, and the media in particular, to silence Nick Griffin and his followers. If this is the objective, then there is a better way forward. Nick Griffin and his followers’ ideas should be challenged in debate, head on. This is the correct and civilized way to deal with this matter. Throwing eggs at him is immature and unworthy; it also endears him to many potential followers. – ©Mark

MEP Nick Griffin

THE TELEGRAPH: Anger as BNP Wins Two European Seats

MEP Dan Hannan's 'Brezhnev Apparatchik' Attack on Gordon Brown Is a YouTube Hit
THE TELEGRAPH: An MEP's withering attack on Gordon Brown in which he likens him to a "Brezhnev era apparatchik" has become a surprise hit on the internet.

Daniel Hannan challenges Godon Brown
Daniel Hannan, the Conservative MEP for South East England, publicly lambasted the Prime Minister over his economic record after he addressed the European Parliament on the global financial crisis on Tuesday.

With Mr Brown looking on, he told fellow MEPs that Britain was entering the recession in a "dilapidated condition", with an "almost unbelievable" deficit.

In a blistering riposte to the Premier's calls for a concerted international effort to tackle the crisis, he accused the former Chancellor of trying to "spread the blame" and called him a "devalued Prime Minister".

The three-and-a-half minute speech, which drew cheers and laughter from fellow MEPs in Strasbourg, was not covered on mainstream broadcasts.

But it was posted on the video sharing website YouTube shortly after the sitting and attracted 90,000 viewers within 24 hours after being picked up by US news outlets and political blogs.

In the most critical passage, he told the Prime Minister: “When you repeat, in that wooden and perfunctory way, that our situation is better than others, that we are well placed to weather the storm, I have to tell you, you sound like a Brezhnev-era apparatchik giving the party line.

"You know and we know, and you know that we know, that it's nonsense."

Accusing Mr Brown of losing his moral authority by failing to live up to his own rhetoric, he said that 11 years of his stewardship had left the entire country in "negative equity".

Every British child is now born owing around £20,000,” he said.

“Servicing the interest on that debt is going to cost more than educating the child.”

He added that Mr Brown, who hopes to strike a "global new deal" at the summit of G20 leaders in London next month, was “pathologically incapable” of taking responsibility. >>> By John Bingham | Wednesday, March 25, 2009