Wales: Five arrested for anti-Muslim Facebook comments
FIVE men have been arrested after a Facebook site was set up declaring “all Muslims should be thrown out of Wales”.
Around 150 people joined the group on the social networking site claiming they would march through the Rhondda Valleys to make their feelings known.
The proposed march has been described as “mindless bigotry” by racial equality groups.
But South Wales Police have now stepped in and arrested five men for religiously aggravated public order offences.
It is one of the first occasions people have been arrested over comments posted on Facebook.
The group has also been removed from the site.
Police now believe the march will not go ahead, but they will be on standby in case anyone turns up.
Members of the group, which was entitled Rhondda March, said they would walk from Treherbert down to Pontypridd on February 28.
And the organisers declared: “We Dont Want Musslims in our country move them out they are takeing over.”
(...)
Ian Titherington, secretary for anti- racist group Searchlight Cymru, said: “All this will do is cause trouble and give a bad name to the people of the Rhondda.
“The people in the group are just mindless bigots and it’s something the Rhondda could do without.
“Most of these people probably haven’t even met a Muslim.
“There aren’t many Muslims in the Rhondda but those who live there are very popular and work very hard doing hours that others won’t.
“And they are as Welsh as anybody else.
“You’ll probably find these people who have signed up going into a shop run by a Muslim and buying a pint of milk tomorrow.
“At the end of the day, these people are attacking their own community.
“It’s sad, pathetic and pointless. If this march goes ahead it will be very disappointing, the police have to make sure it doesn’t.”
(...)
A spokeswoman for South Wales Police said: “The public order offences relate to comments posted on the internet.
“An investigation is ongoing; however it appears that the views expressed on a social networking site at the centre of this enquiry have been made by a very small number of people and do not reflect the true community spirit and cohesion in the Rhondda Valley.”
(more)
Source: Wales Online
No comments:
Post a Comment