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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/10/anti-muslim-rallies-across-us-denounced-by-civil-rights-groups

Anti-Muslim rallies across US denounced by civil rights groups
So-called ‘anti-Sharia’ rallies across almost 30 US cities come as hate crimes on the rise, prompting criticism and counter-protests
A memorial for two men fatally stabbed on a light rail train in Portland, Oregon, last week, as police said they defended a woman from an anti-Muslim tirade.
A memorial for two men fatally stabbed on a light rail train in Portland, Oregon, last week, as police said they defended a woman from an anti-Muslim tirade. Photograph: Don Ryan/AP
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Sabrina Siddiqui in Washington
@SabrinaSiddiqui
Saturday 10 June 2017 23.48 AEST Last modified on Sunday 11 June 2017 02.15 AEST

A wave of anti-Muslim rallies will sweep nearly 30 cities across America on Saturday, in a move by far-right activists that has drawn sharp criticism from civil rights groups and inspired counter-protests nationwide.

The so-called “anti-Sharia” rallies have been organized by Act For America, which claims to be protesting about human rights violations but has been deemed an anti-Muslim hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The planned demonstrations prompted security fears at mosques across the country and come at a time when hate crimes against Muslims are on the rise.


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A coalition of 129 national and local organizations amplified concerns on Friday in a letter urging mayors to denounce the marches, which also coincide with Ramadan, the holy month in which Muslims fast during the daylight hours. At least one planned rally was canceled in Portland, Oregon, where two men were fatally stabbed last month while defending two Muslim women from a man who taunted them with racial slurs.

“We are deeply concerned about the type of message that these protests send to the American public and to the good people in your city – that it is acceptable to vilify people simply because of their faith,” the groups wrote in their letter to 29 mayors.

“We, the undersigned national and local civil rights, faith-based, and community organizations, ask that you use your voice as an elected representative of your city to reject bigotry.”

At least some elected officials condemned the rallies, which they argued would promote fear and hatred under the guise of free speech.

“We need to remember that we’re strong when we’re united,” said the US representative Debbie Dingell, a Democrat who hails from Dearborn, Michigan, where roughly 40% of the residents are Muslim.

“They will not win, they will not divide this country and they will be total failures on Saturday,” Dingell said Thursday on Capitol Hill, “because we will be united against that hatred.”


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Concerns within the Muslim American community have risen since the election of Donald Trump, whose campaign routinely drew upon Islamophobic comments. The president pledged to ban Muslims from entering the US, falsely claimed Muslims celebrated on the roofs of New Jersey on 9/11 and suggested Barack Obama sympathized with extremists.

The FBI has documented a surge in anti-Muslim hate crimes in recent years, reporting a 67% spike between 2014 and 2015 of incidents motivated by bias against Muslims, Arabs, South Asian and other immigrant communities.

In some cities, hundreds of protesters will take to the streets to counteract the anti-Muslim marches. One such event is the Fasting 5K, a marathon to take place in 10 major US cities and Toronto.

The grassroots event, which raises money for charity targeting civic engagement among Muslim youth, was not initially planned in response to the anti-Muslim rallies. But it has taken on new meaning to its participants, according to the group’s founder, Farhaan Razi.

“While this Islamophobia is going on around the country, we can highlight the positive side of how Muslim Americans are supporting and being active members of their communities to counter that narrative,” Razi said.

“We looked at it as an opportunity.”

It's a shame that all these protests are headed by racist nazis. Why are the only major groups against Islam always racist nazis?

I want to find a group that's against Islam AND Racist Nazis!!!!

WITH ALL THE BOMBING AND TERRORISM, I DON'T BLAME THEM.

GloriaNinja:
WITH ALL THE BOMBING AND TERRORISM, I DON'T BLAME THEM.

But you see, these people are no better than the terrorists. Did you look at the pictures on the article? They are waving Swastikas and Nazi flags, and many of them have attacked Muslims that have nothing to do with ISIS or Al-Quaeda or anything.

In fact they don't even attack Muslims, they attack people who look brown or Arab. Trust me just because one group is bad does not mean that all groups against them are saints. It is human instinct to shuttle and take sides blindly like this, and only reason and intelligence can defeat instinct!

Ioseph:
But you see, these people are no better than the terrorists. Did you look at the pictures on the article? They are waving Swastikas and Nazi flags, and many of them have attacked Muslims that have nothing to do with ISIS or Al-Quaeda or anything.

In fact they don't even attack Muslims, they attack people who look brown or Arab. Trust me just because one group is bad does not mean that all groups against them are saints. It is human instinct to shuttle and take sides blindly like this, and only reason and intelligence can defeat instinct!

The same hate you are celebrating when the North threatened the Igbos to leave North or be killed.

Why are AFONJA Muslims hypocrites?

NATIONALPASTOR:
The same hate you are celebrating when the North threatened the Igbos to leave North or be killed.

Why are AFONJA Muslims hypocrites?

The Northerners of Naija are a whole different bag of worms to the western muslims on the streets of New York my friend. Both the skinheads of US and the Islamists of the North are equally bad, but they try and fear people of the other so people will scare and join their flock.

Please call me not an afonja. I am not a muslim and I know that Igbos are persecuted daily in the North states, it is sad that the government does so little about it and the people who call for Biafra are not coming from nowhere.