Mass Hindu Graves Linked to Rohingya Islamist Rebels

Mainstream media (MSM) seem very reluctant to investigate

and report on the jihad that was happening in Rakhine State,

Myanmar when the Burmese military began to drive Muslims out.

This is an important concept to grasp because it could happen in

any country with a significant Muslim population.

BY RACHEL AVRAHAM Clarion Project

Hindu women in Myanmar cry over the dead bodies of family members slaughtered by Rohingya Islamist rebels and buried in a mass grave. (Photo: STR/AFP/Getty Images)

As the international community continues to condemn the “textbook example of ethnic cleansing” implemented by the Myanmar army in retaliation for an uprising initiated by Rohingya insurgents, not enough attention is being paid to the atrocities implemented by the Rohingya rebels and their ties to radical Islamist groups which threaten world peace and security.

Recently, a mass grave of Rohingya Hindus was unearthed by the Myanmar army. Twenty-eight bodies of mostly women and children were found, brutally mutilated and slaughtered.

The Myanmar forces have identified the victims and said that another 100 victims are still missing.  This news comes in the midst of reports that Hindus are increasingly being victimized by Rohingya Islamist groups.

In fact, numerous Hindu refugees who have fled to Bangladesh have reported that it was these Islamist groups that attacked them and not the Myanmar army.

So who are these Rohingya rebels that are massacring the Hindu community as well as fighting against the Myanmar army? And who stands behind these rebels?

Rohingya Rebels Linked to International Terror Groups

According to Indian intelligence reports, the Rohingya rebels are linked to Al Qaeda, ISIS and Lashkar e-Toiba, the very same Pakistani terror group that was responsible for a series of terror attacks in Mumbai, India in 2008 that resulted in the massacre of 166 people.

Furthermore, the BBC reported that Bangladesh claims that the group is linked to Jamaat u-Mujadeen Bangladesh, which was held responsible for the terror attack in a Dhaka café in which 20 hostages were killed.

Rebels Reportedly Also Backed by Pakistan’s Intelligence Agency and Bangladesh Government

In addition, an article in the Dhaka Tribune backs up the Indian intelligence reports that the Rohingya insurgents are in fact linked to Lashkar e-Toiba and adds that they are also backed by the Pakistani ISI (Pakistan’s intelligence services).

According to Shipan Kumar Basu, the head of the Hindu Struggle Committee, the Rohingya insurgents have received the backing of not only the ISI but the ruling Awami League government in Bangladesh, whom he alleges uses the present situation in Myanmar in order to attack Hindus.

“Awami League MP Meher Afroj Chumki has recently said that she will kick out all the Hindus of Bangladesh as Myanmar has done to the Rohingya Muslims,” Basu said. “The Bangladeshi Awami League party is busy dividing the Hindus within the country.  They have been fueling and funding a new party with some Hindu puppets and are preparing to launch a new party that can be controlled by them.”

The Bangladeshi government confirmed that the ISI is backing the insurgency but does not mention their own involvement. As Bangladeshi political advisor Hossein Tofique Imam, who works for the Sheikh Hasina government, proclaimed, “ISI has backed Rohingya separatism since 1969 when I was a civil servant in undivided Pakistan and was serving in Chittagong and the hill tracts nearby.

“They are again playing the same tricks to create a new theatre of jihad in a strategic region wedged between South and Southeast Asia, so as to create a crisis on the Myanmar-Bangladesh border. ARSA … is part of an emerging jihadi alliance in our part of the world.”

Who Are the Leaders of the Muslim Insurgency in Myanmar?

ARSA, who is presently leading the Muslim insurgency in Myanmar, was initially known as Harakah al-Yaqin or “the faith movement.” The name of the insurgent group has clear religious connotations.

The name ARSA was only used starting last year in order to brand the group as an ethnic liberation organization rather than an Islamist terror group.   However, even though ARSA denies they are linked to both Al Qaeda and ISIS, experts interviewed by the Asia Times are not convinced.

“According to intelligence analysts, its mentor is Abdus Qadoos Burmi.  He has appeared in videos spread on social media calling for jihad in Myanmar. Abdus Qadoos has well-documented links to Lashkar-Toiba,” the Asia Times reported.

“The group was founded in 1987 in Afghanistan with funding from now-deceased Al Qaeda founder Osama Bin Ladin. Abdus Qadoos even appeared in meetings together with Lashkar e-Toiba’s Hafiz Mohammed Syed,” they added.

Furthermore, the Japanese media documented that Ata Mullah — the man who stands behind the ARSA insurgency — received fighters, guns and training from other jihadist groups. Given this, the Islamist links to the Rohingya insurgency do indeed exist.

ISIS and Al Qaeda Taking Advantage in Asia

Indeed, following major ISIS losses in Iraq and Syria, the murderous terror group as well as Al Qaeda are increasingly looking to Asia in order to find a new safe haven for their terror activities. The Myanmar conflict provides the Islamist group with a useful opportunity in order to expand into Asia.

Already, ISIS has expanded into some countries like the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia.  But the war in Myanmar and the images of Muslims suffering in Rakhine state offer jihadist terror groups additional opportunities to radicalize the population and to make inroads further east.

ISIS is also recruiting Malaysians in order to wage a holy war in Rohingya and is utilizing the present crisis in Rohingya in order to recruit new members.

Al Qaeda has proclaimed, “We call upon all mujahid brothers in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and the Philippines to set out for Burma [Myanmar] to help our Muslim brothers, and to make the necessary preparations—training and the like—to resist the oppression.”

According to Basu, it is these jihadist groups together with the local Muslim insurgents who stand behind the wave of attacks upon the Hindu community in Myanmar.

“Day by day, the crisis is taking on enormous proportions,” he stated. “There have been recent reports of 10 Hindu Rohingya being kidnapped by Rohingya Muslims. The Rohingya Hindus that were kidnapped from the camps were found in the hospital and one Hindu body was mutilated. Eight relatives of one woman were killed, and she saved herself by saying she would embrace Islam. She was transferred to Bangladesh in traditional Muslim dress. Later, UN rescue workers saved her from the camp and transferred her to the Hindu camp again.”

“In addition, it was reported that a Rohingya Muslim refugee killed a Hindu refugee in Bangladesh over a loan dispute in Myanmar,” Basu noted. “Other Hindu refugees suffered from bruises and scars due to violence inflicted upon them by Rohingya Muslim refugees.  In some cases, Rohingya Muslims tried to forcefully marry Hindu women and girls.”

Basu’s organization recently sent $2,000 in donations to help the Hindu refugees from Myanmar who are presently residing in Bangladesh.  He calls upon the international community to stop treating these insurgents with kid gloves and to start exposing them for their crimes against the Hindu community as well as others in Myanmar.

Rakhine State, Myanmar

Burqa Ban Legislation Gains Enough Support to Pass in Denmark

Danish burqa ban: Which EU states is Denmark set to join with face veil restrictions?

© Global Look Press

The Danish ruling coalition parties have expressed their support for the full-face veil ban. As Denmark is set to ban the Muslim conservative garb, which EU countries will it join?

The liberal Venstre Party, the senior member of the ruling coalition, has announced its support for the ban on wearing full-face veils in public places following a party meeting dedicated to the issue Friday.

“The forthcoming ban on face covering will receive backing from Venstre,” the liberal party’s spokesman, Jakob Ellemann-Jensen, told the Danish broadcaster DR, adding that it will be “not a religiously defined ban but it will still obviously cover burqa and niqab.”

Earlier, some high-ranking members of the party, including its deputy leader, Kristian Jensen, and the Higher Education and Science Minister Soren Pind, opposed the measures but now Ellemann-Jensen said the party is “united” in its support for the move.

The stance of another coalition member, the libertarian Liberal Alliance (LA), has also drastically changed. The party that opposed the ban just last month, arguing that it might isolate Muslim women and prevent them from leaving their homes altogether, now also said it would back such an initiative.

“Everyone agrees that the burqa is an expression of extreme oppression of women,” the party leader, Anders Samuelsen, wrote Friday in a Facebook post. He went on to say that his party is “in favor” of the ban, if the Danish authorities could impose it “without harming ourselves and our values.”

By expressing their support for the ban, the Liberals and the LA join the Conservatives and the right-wing populist Danish People’s Party who already back it, thus securing a parliamentary majority and opening the way for Denmark to become the latest European country to introduce such a ban.

A recent poll commissioned by DR in late September showed that 62 percent of the Danish population are in favor of such a ban, while fewer than one in four oppose it.

In the meantime, half a dozen EU states have already introduced similar nationwide bans, while in some other countries restrictions on wearing face-covering veils exist at a regional level.

Which EU states have nationwide bans?

Austria has so far become the latest European country to ban wearing full-face veils in public places as the law called the ‘Anti-Face-Veiling Act’ came into force in the Alpine country on October 1. Those found in violation of the legislation could face a fine of €150 ($175).

The law defined by the authorities as “religiously neutral” and also banning people from wearing balaclavas, covering their faces with scarves or even wearing medical masks without sufficient reasons still provoked an angry reaction from the local Muslims.

The first country to introduce the ban, which is still often deemed to be controversial, was France that barred Muslim women from wearing full-face veils in public as early as in 2011. Belgium almost immediately followed suit and introduced a similar ban later the same year.

Both countries, however, eventually landed in court over the controversial move. In both cases, Muslim women challenged the bans in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). However, the judicial body upheld France’s burqa ban in 2014, ruling that the preservation of an idea of social cohesion was a “legitimate aim" of the French authorities.

In 2017, the court also ruled in favor of Belgian authorities in a similar case by saying that the ban “doesn’t violate European human rights law.” In the meantime, opponents of the ban also found more ingenious ways to express their discontent with it. 

A French businessman of Algerian origin, Rachid Nekkaz, has long been calling on Muslim women to defy the face veil bans introduced in European countries. He also offered to pay their fines and even established a special fund to deal with the issue.

According to Nekkaz, he already pays fines for Muslim women wearing face veils in public places in defiance of the ban in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. In his latest move, he also vowed to do the same for women in Austria.

Dutch lawmakers approved a ban on wearing face veils and other face-covering garments in certain public places such as schools, hospitals or government buildings in November 2016. The ban, however, does not cover such situations as wearing burqas on the street, but applies only to specific situations, in which face recognition and proper communication are “essential.”

Bulgaria outlawed “wearing in public clothing that partially or completely covers the face” in public places just months before the Netherlands, in September 2016, citing security concerns. Those found in defiance of the ban in Bulgaria could face fines of up to 1,500 leva (about $860) and be stripped of social benefits.

According to some reports, Latvia also failed to overcome temptation to ban the controversial peace of closing even though only three women reportedly wear the garment in the entire Baltic state. This fact, however, did not stop the Latvian lawmakers from claiming that burqa poses a “serious” security risk for Latvia and undermines its culture. 

Germany is likely to follow soon.

US Justice Dept Repeals Transgender Workers’ Protections

Reversing political correctness?

© David Bro / Global Look Press

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions has issued a memo reversing protections for transgender workers previously expanded under the Civil Rights Act. Under the revision, Sessions said discrimination only applies to men and women.

“Title VII’s prohibition on sex discrimination encompasses discrimination between men and women but does not encompass discrimination based on gender identity per se, including transgender status,” Attorney General Sessions wrote in the memo issued Wednesday. “This is a conclusion of law, not policy.”

Title VII makes it unlawful for employers to discriminate in the employment of an individual “because of such individual’s...sex,” and Sessions argued “Sex” is ordinarily defined to mean biologically male or female,” and cited legal precedent.

The memo reverses an Obama administration interpretation that expanded Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to protect transgender workers under “sex-based considerations.”

The revisions could now open up people to discrimination in the workplace due to their gender identity.

Under most state and federal laws, trans people are not explicitly protected from discrimination in the workplace, housing, public accommodation and schools. This means a person can be fired from a job, evicted from a home or kicked out of a business because an employer or landlord or business owner doesn’t approve of the person’s gender identity.

LGBT advocates argue that federal civil rights law should already shield trans people from discrimination, based on their broader interpretation of the legal protections provided by a ban on sex discrimination.

Civil rights advocates have argued the law that bans sex discrimination in the workplace includes transgender people because discrimination against someone based on their gender identity is fundamentally rooted in sex-based discrimination. The Obama administration embraced this view of the federal law, as did the Equal Opportunity Commission, which often takes up workplace discrimination complaints.

Under Trump, the Justice Department in July filed a friend-of-the-court brief arguing against an LGBTQ-inclusive interpretation of Title VII. The filing comes in the a discrimination case before the United States Court of Appeals in New York involving Donald Zarda, a skydiving instructor, who lost his job after telling a customer he was gay, and subsequently sued the company under Title VII.

Brazilian Olympic Chief Arrested in Rio de Janeiro for Corruption

Corruption - Possibly Brazil's biggest industry

By Sara Shayanian  

President of the Brazilian Olympic Committee Carlos Nuzman (R) was arrested in Rio de Janeiro Thursday, suspected of using bribes to secure the 2016 Summer Olympics. 

Photo by Antonio Lacerda/EPA

UPI -- Brazilian police on Thursday arrested the president of the country's Olympic committee -- as part of an investigation into a purported conspiracy to land last year's Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Carlos A. Nuzman has been under investigation as part of a probe into bribery allegations that surfaced after Brazil landed the 2016 games. The corruption investigation is known as "Operation Unfair Play."

Nuzman -- the chief of the Brazilian Olympic Committee, or Comitê Olímpico do Brasil -- is suspected of bribing international Olympic officials in exchange for votes to secure Rio's 2016 games.

A source is in possession of emails that could corroborate the accusations, according to Brazilian justice officials.

Leonardo Gryner, the former chief operating officer for the Rio 2016 committee, was also arrested.

Others suspected of being involved in the bribery scheme include former governor Sérgio Cabral, and officials say funding was provided by Brazilian businessman Arthur Cesar Soares de Menezes Filho.

According to officials, Nuzman was arrested for attempting to hide property last month after police executed a search warrant at his Brazil home.

Holocaust Memorial Fails to Mention Jews as Trudeau Faces Criticism

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau © Mark Blinch / Reuters

The Canadian government has removed a plaque from a Holocaust memorial after it was found to be missing any reference to Jewish people.

The plaque, revealed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the opening of the National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa last week, will be replaced with another that more accurately reflects “the horrors experienced by the Jewish people,” according to Heritage Minister Melanie Joly.

The omission escaped Trudeau, who was joined by Holocaust survivors as he toured the CA$8.95 million (US$7 million) memorial last Wednesday, but was picked up on by Conservative MP David Sweet.

Last year, the Toronto Sun, along with some right-wing US news sites, hit out at the politician for not mentioning the Jewish people in his statement to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

A later tweet did mention the need to fight anti-Semitism, however.

The pattern is obvious! Trudeau and MP Joly have an aversion to saying the word 'Jewish', or 'Jews' and will try to avoid doing so unless or until they are caught-out, whereupon they quickly 'fix' the 'inadvertent' omittal.

Liberals, like Trudeau and Joly are far more sensitive to the perceived attitudes of Muslims than Jews. They know, or think they know, that Muslims don't like it when attention is drawn to the victimization of Jews. Victimization belongs to Muslims even if they are mostly victimized by other Muslims.

But Trudeau and Joly would be surprised to find that most Muslims actually are not anti-Semitic. That's hard for some to believe but polls in Britain have verified that. So, the Liberal sensitivities are directed at the more virulent Muslims, those who sympathize with jihadists, those who are vulnerable to radicalization, those who promote Sharia and dislike Canadian values. Is it any wonder right-wing extremism is gaining ground in Canada?

But anti-Semitism is certainly increasing in Canada and elsewhere in the world and there is a correlation with the spectacular spread of Islam into western countries. That percentage (whatever it is) of virulent Muslims tend to become powerful and outspoken, and are very organized,  especially in universities around the world. They have lots of money coming from the Gulf States and they greatly influence student politics and have for many years. Anti-Semitism is the main plank in their platform.

One-third of British Jews consider emigrating

amid growing anti-semitism - poll

A third of British Jews have considered emigrating in the past two years due to

recent shifts in the political climate and a perceived disinterest in tackling

anti-semitic hate crime.

A Holocaust Cabaret

A controversial theater sign “A Holocaust Cabaret” announcing a new play staged in the Ukrainian capital has provoked a storm of criticism from the local Jewish community and social media users.

The new play in a Kiev theater is based on Canadian Jonathan Garfinkel’s “The Trials of John Demjanjuk: A Holocaust Cabaret.” The play tells the story of John Demjanjuk, the bloodthirsty Nazi extermination camp Treblinka guard, who was brought to trial in Jerusalem in 1987.

The play managed to stir controversy even before the first night after Ukraine’s chief rabbi brought the provocative "Holocaust Cabaret" sign to the public's attention.

The timing of the event added fuel to the fire as the sign appeared on the theater's facade on April, 24 – Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day, which commemorates the nearly six million Jews killed in the Holocaust.

“This horrible thing (I can’t find any other words) was installed in central Kiev yesterday, on the Holocaust Remembrance Day, in the city where Babi Yar is located [a site of massacres carried out by Nazis], right in front of the central synagogue.

It's not the content of the play but the dropping of the first half of the title which makes the sign appear extremely provocative and, quite possibly, a trigger for PTSD sufferers still alive after surviving that most evil of times. The sign was eventually removed.

"How could the prime minister permit such a glaring omission of reference to anti-Semitism and the fact that the millions of men, women and children who were murdered were overwhelmingly Jewish?" said the opposition MP, as cited by CJN. "If we're going to stamp out hatred towards Jews, it's important to get history right."

Six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust, by far the largest group to be persecuted by the Nazis.

A picture of the plaque was tweeted by Conservative Senator Linda Frum Tuesday.  

‘Nobody is Safe’: French Parliament Backs Controversial Anti-Terrorism Law

The New Normal - en Francais

© Charles Platiau / Reuters

The French parliament has approved a new anti-terrorist bill, criticized by human rights activists as restrictive of civil liberties. Ahead of the vote, France’s interior minister Gerard Collomb said that “nobody is safe” in the country as “it is still in a state of war.”

The parliament's lower house, the National Assembly, passed the new legislation in the first reading.

The new bill, which seeks to increase law enforcement powers in the fight against terrorism, was supported by 415 lawmakers, with 127 voting against it.

It extends the powers of the Interior Ministry, which will be able to set up security zones without the approval of a judge.

Inside the zones, the movement of people and vehicles can be restricted and searches can be conducted. Police will also be given wider powers to raid private property with judicial approval.

Electronic surveillance tags might be imposed on those regarded as a threat to national security, while officials will also have more power to close down places of worship deemed by intelligence agencies as inciting violence or justifying terrorism.

The new bill is regarded by many as a conversion into common law of emergency measures, which have been in place in France since late 2015. The state of emergency, introduced following the Paris attacks in November that year, is set to be lifted on November 9.

In other words, these are not new measures, but simply the entrenchment of emergency measures into every-day law - the New Normal!

"The level of threat in France is extremely high," Collomb said earlier in the day, adding that the country remains "in a state of war."

"Those who thought... that we should loosen the capacity of our services to gather information, were mistaken because yes we are still in a state of war even if Daesh have experienced military defeats," Collomb said in an interview with France Inter radio.

France's new anti-terrorism bill expanding police powers has been criticized by human rights groups as restrictive of certain civil liberties. The minister argued "nobody is safe" in France, also referring to a recent incident in which a number of people were arrested in what appeared to be a failed bombing attempt in central Paris.

Police have revealed that over the weekend a resident of an apartment building in the affluent 16th arrondissement had alerted authorities to suspicious activity. What appeared to be a ready-to-detonate bomb was discovered, while a person who had been under government surveillance for radicalism was confirmed to be among the detained suspects.

“Planning to blow up a building in a chic district of Paris – is this not a sign that nobody is safe? This [shows] it can happen anywhere in France,” the interior minister said.

Collomb also criticized other countries lacking surveillance systems “like the one in France” and called for wider information exchange and cooperation within Europe to reinforce anti-terrorism measures.

“A number of countries do not have the systems and the level of surveillance that we know in France. We believe it is us who have made Europe a strong Europe on its borders, while a number of [other European] countries do not have that kind of organization,” the French minister claimed.

France has seen some of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Europe in the past years. Over 200 people have been killed since early 2015 by assailants having pledged allegiance to or been inspired by the Islamic State terrorist group. In a series of coordinated attacks in Paris on November 13, 2015 alone, 130 people were killed by IS terrorists. On Bastille Day in 2016, a truck was driven into crowds of people celebrating in Nice, killing 86 and injuring over 450.

16th Arrondissement, Paris

Terrorism, or The Fear of Terrorism is The New Normal for The West

France

2 Women murdered, terrorist shot dead

French soldiers shoot dead knife attacker who, shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’, killed 2 in Marseille

Two people have been killed during a knife attack at a Marseille train station, according to police. The assailant, who was reportedly shouting ‘Allahu Akbar,’ was shot dead by an army patrol at the scene.

The incident took place at the Saint-Charles train station in Marseille on Sunday, when a man attacked passers-by with a knife. One person was killed by the assailant at the scene, while another succumbed a short while after, according to police chief Olivier de Mazières.

The attacker, who was reportedly shouting “Allahu Akbar,” was shot dead by an army patrol. At least two shots were fired, local media reported, citing witnesses. The attacker is described as a man in his late twenties, who was not carrying any ID. The investigation team is currently running his fingerprints through their databases. The initial findings indicate that the attacker was known to the police as a common criminal, local media report citing police sources.

Both of the attacker’s victims were women, the French interior ministry said.  One of the victims had her throat slit, while the other was stabbed in her stomach, French media report, citing police sources. The victims were 17 and 20-years-old, according to media reports.

The incident is being treated as a “terrorist act” and anti-terror prosecutors have launched an investigation, BFM TV reports, citing the prosecutor’s office.

The authorities have praised the soldiers who killed the assailant for their swift actions which prevented more casualties.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron has denounced the “barbarous” attack, sending his condolences to the relatives of the two victims. “Deeply upset by this barbarous act, I share the pain of the families and relatives of the victims of Marseille,” Macron tweeted. “I salute the soldiers of Sentinel and the police officers who reacted with composure and efficiency.”

“We have generally avoided these sort of attacks in Marseille,” regional president Renaud Muselier told BFM TV at the site of the attack. “I think the security services responded extremely quickly. It's difficult to do more because when you see the distance between the two bodies and the attacker it's only 10 meters, so they intervened quickly.”

"If the military had not been there, we would have had a lot more deaths," lawmaker for the Marseille region Samia Ghali told France Bleu Province radio.

The army patrol which shot the knife-wielding attacker is a part of Operation Sentinel, aimed to bolster country’s security. The operation was launched amid a national state of emergency, which was declared following the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris. The events were the deadliest terrorist acts in country’s history, and left over 130 people dead.

There has been lately a surge in the so-called “lone-wolf” attacks, similar to the today’s incident in Marseille. The Sentinel patrols themselves have also been targeted by terrorists, as at least seven attacks on patrolling soldiers have taken place.

Despite the state of emergency, which has been renewed six times so far, the country still experiences frequent terrorism-related incidents. The latest extension was in July and is expected to last until November 1.

And, almost certainly will be extended again and again. This is the New Normal for France.

Canada

Five hurt as Edmonton attacks spark terror investigation

By Madison Park, CNN

(CNN)Canadian authorities say two incidents in Edmonton are being investigated as acts of terrorism after a man struck a police officer with a car before stabbing him and later plowed a truck into pedestrians on a busy street, injuring at least four people.

A suspect, who has not been identified, is in custody, said Chief Rod Knecht of the Edmonton Police Service in an early Sunday news conference.

Knecht said authorities believe the man acted alone, but haven't ruled out the possibility that others might be involved.

The first incident happened Saturday at 8:15 p.m. (10:15 p.m. ET) when the driver of a white Chevrolet Malibu drove it into a traffic barricade. Police had set up the roadblock near Commonwealth Stadium for an Edmonton Eskimos football game.

A man drove the car at high speed, striking the police officer who had been standing between a traffic barricade and his cruiser.

"The vehicle struck the police officer, sending him flying into the air 15 feet, before colliding with the police officer's cruiser again at a high rate of speed," Knecht said.

The driver jumped out of the vehicle, attacked and stabbed the officer several times with a knife and fled on foot, Knecht said.

There was an ISIS flag in the car, which has been seized as evidence, the police chief said.

The wounded officer was taken to a hospital. His injuries are not critical, Knecht said.

After that incident, police broadcast the name of the Chevrolet's registered owner to patrol officers in the city.

Just before midnight, a police officer stopped a U-Haul truck at a checkpoint and recognized the driver's name as similar to that of the Chevrolet's registered owner. The U-Haul truck then sped off towards downtown Edmonton with police chasing it.

The U-Haul traveled on busy Jasper Avenue, which late Saturday night and early Sunday morning was full of football fans and bargoers, reported CNN partner CBC. During the chase, the truck deliberately attempted to hit pedestrians in crosswalks and alleys in two areas along Jasper Avenue," Knecht said.

At least four pedestrians were injured. Their conditions were not immediately known, the police chief said.

The truck eventually flipped, ending the chase. Pictures in the Canadian media showed the U-Haul on its side with the front window shattered. Police are expected to hold a news conference at 3 p.m. Sunday.

This is not common in Canada, however, it is becoming more so and will continue to get worse. This affects all Canadians. Last night, someone very close to me was on Jasper Ave., when the incident occurred. Fortunately, she was not near the calamity.

Switzerland

Crackdown on Swiss mosques: Safety strategy, discrimination or waste of tax money? 

A general view shows the Mahmud Mosque in Zurich © Arnd Wiegmann / Reuters

Why does the Swiss government want to enforce strict rules and regulations in mosques? Will it have any positive effects on safety in Switzerland? Or does the new bill discriminate against Muslims?

Nils Fiechter, co-president of the youth wing of the Swiss People's Party (SVP) and Ajmal Masroor, imam, broadcaster and politician unpack these contentious issues after the Swiss lower house of the Federal Assembly voted in favor of new legislation, prohibiting all mosques to receive foreign funding or preaching in Arabic.

If it becomes law, mosques will have to declare where they get their money from and report how they use it, along with conducting all prayers in one of the country’s four official national languages.

“What we do need to have is of course a measure of responsibility, and this should be self-regulated,” Masroor said. “Government doesn’t need to enforce any rules and regulations, when it comes to speeches, sermons. We don’t do that with churches, we don’t do that with any other faith leaders or institutions. The clerics should be free to speak their mind.”

Masroor believes forcing imams to preach only in local languages is discriminatory and will be a “waste of taxpayers’ money and government’s own time.” He criticized a series of Swiss “draconian anti-muslim laws,” including the ban on the construction of new minarets and ban on the full-face veils.

“In a multicultural pluralistic democracy, such as Switzerland, this to me sound like and appear as secular fundamentalism, if nothing else, overly and extremely discriminatory towards Muslims,” he said.

Nils Fiechter in his turn argued that “this new bill here in Switzerland is not against Muslims – it is against radical Islamic terrorists...”

“In Europe and also in Switzerland we have got a massive problem with radical Islamists – and you have to name that term, ‘radical Islamic terrorism.’ We want that our policemen and our investigators have the possibility to understand what those imams are preaching. If they don’t have the possibility, if they only hear Arabic words, or words they don’t understand, then there is big safety problem for Switzerland.”

Masroor argued that Swiss police in the streets also don’t understand what regular Arab tourists are talking about in the streets, emphasizing that such limitations will be a step towards “criminalizing the Arabic language.”

Nils parried, saying that Switzerland is not part of the EU and has its own independent “safety strategy,” which has so far proved to be quite effective.

“Switzerland until now is one country in Europe that didn’t have a terrorist attack, and we want to keep that situation,” he stated. “Our target is to punish those who don’t accept our law and our order. We are a state, which wants to have strict laws. We don’t want to have radical Islamists get control above those imams, over mosques here in Switzerland."

This 'crackdown' should be the New Normal for all of Europe, but most EU countries don't have the stomach for such common sense measures.

Austria

Austrian burqa ban takes effect ahead of general election

Austria could see an anti-immigration government take form

Women in Burkas, Vienna, Austria. © Education Images / Getty Images

Austria’s controversial ban on the wearing of Islamic face veils in public places came into effect Sunday. Those found in breach of the ‘Anti-Face-Veiling Act’ will be subject to fines of €150.

The country approved the ban on face veils back in May as part of a wider ‘integration law’ which, according to officials, is aimed at encouraging people to assimilate into Austrian culture.

The country joins France and Belgium in banning the burqa, with a similar measure going through the motions in the Dutch parliament. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has also called for a similar ban "wherever legally possible.”

"Acceptance and respect of Austrian values are basic conditions for successful cohabitation between the majority Austrian population and people from third countries living in Austria," the government has stated, according to AFP.

Authorities claim the act is “religiously neutral,” with other forms of face covering also prohibited. People caught wearing off-slope ski masks, surgical masks outside hospitals and party masks/make-up could also be subjected to a fine.

The law does exempt people who cover their faces for medical or safety reasons, including hazardous weather conditions such as smog. Participants of street carnivals and other “artistic, cultural or traditional events” are also exempt, along with athletes requiring face-covering gear.

"Whoever wears [a] niqab or burqa in Austria has to deal with the consequence," said Austria's Foreign Minister, Sebastian Kurz, who was instrumental in drafting the law, as cited by Reuters.

The Austrian Islamic Religious Community (AIRC) has said they are “strongly opposed” to the ban and that it is not conducive to integration, reports RTL.

“This open society is, in a hypocritical way, endangering its own values,” Carla Amina Bhagajati of the AIRC said, adding that in Vienna only a “handful” of women will be affected. Those that are, she said, are now “criminalized and... restricted to their homes,” according to AP.

French-Algerian businessman, Rachid Nekkaz, has promised to pay any fines incurred by Muslim women choosing to wear the veil. Nekkaz already pays fines for Muslim women wearing face veils in other European countries. He even established a special organization called “Touche pas à ma constitution” (Do not touch my constitution) that settles these bills.

Other facets of the integration law include immigrants signing an “integration contract” and taking compulsory courses in German language and “values.”

With an election in Austria scheduled for October 15, immigration is an important topic for leading parties. The anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPÖ) are expected to place second or third, potentially forming a government with the conservative Austrian People's Party (OVP), ousting the Social Democratic Party, the current leading coalition partner.

OVP, headed up by Kurz, has drawn voters from the FPÖ with his anti-immigration rhetoric.

"The immigration seen in recent years is changing our country not in a positive but in a negative way," Kurz told German television earlier this week, according to AFP.