The violent intimidation of anti-jihadists that I just saw in Stuttgart is coming to America. Authorities should act quickly and decisively to defend the freedom of speech, or it will most assuredly soon be gone. As Pamela Geller notes, these stories involve “two Christian groups, both under attack in a no-go zone zone in Dearborn, Michigan, in an increasingly sharia compliant America. Dearborn, the same city that refused to run my bus ads offering help to apostates (despite our win in the courts). On Friday, two separate groups were threatened and attacked because they came to Dearborn to stand for their beliefs. Whether you like their presentation or not is irrelevant. It’s free speech. Period.””Pastor Terry Jones Rallies in Dearborn, Skips Arab Festival,” by Amy Lange forWJBK/myFOXDetroit.com, June 17 (thanks to Pamela Geller):
There was a hostile welcome Friday afternoon in Dearborn for controversial Florida Pastor Terry Jones. You could say he was pushed to his brink.
Jones led a rally against radical Islam at city hall before trying to continue his protest at the nearby Arab International Festival, but he never made it there.
Protesters got physical with Jones as he tried to head for the festival. He barely made it off the corner of Michigan and Schaefer.
Dearborn police made several arrests after urging the pastor to take a car instead of trying to walk the two miles to the festival.
People in the crowd yelled back and then they pushed back, prompting police to put Jones in a police car for his own safety. The pastor decided not to go to the festival after all.
Tensions were high after a highly inflammatory rally during which Jones and fellow speakers sometimes insulted the crowd and Islam, at times holding up the Koran for emphasis.
“I actually expected them to let us walk along the sidewalk and just continue to yell. I did not expect for them to actually get physical,” Jones told reporters….
“Tensions high as protestors arrive at Dearborn Arab International Festival,” by Julie Banovic for WXYC, June 17 (thanks again to Pamela Geller):
DEARBORN, Mich. (WXYZ) – The Arab International Festival attracts more than 300,000 people to Dearborn every year. This is the 16th year for the event that turned rowdy and at times dangerous when religious beliefs and protesters clashed.
The protesters waved signs plastered with sayings like ‘Islam is a religion of blood and murder’, many at the Arab International Festival saw hate.
“Talking dirty about the Koran. Dirty about Muslims,” said Mustafa Kahwaji.
Geller addresses this deftly: “Indeed. But bus ads and billboards that myriad Muslim groups ran claiming that Abraham, Issac, Jacob and Moses were Muslims were deeply offensive and ‘dirty’ to non-Muslims. Nobody was attacked.”
They call themselves the bible believers—men and women assembled from all over the country.
Their posters and shouting caused the 16th annual festival to come to a standstill around 5:30 Friday night. Their organizer Ruben Israel comes from California.
“We’re here in Dearborn because they have issues with free speech,” said Ruben Israel.
You can say that again.
He says the group was enraged about the four missionaries arrested last July at the Arab American Festival, for their shouting their own religious message. It was a protest that officials deemed disorderly.
“When you arrest men for passing out literature, you’re going to get guys like us,” said Israel.
Tensions mounted and people in the crowd of 40-50 thousand started throwing things.
I myself was hit during my live shot when a full water bottle whipped from the crowd. It was an angry message meant for a protester.
No one was arrested, but police removed disorderly people from the crowd and asked them to leave the festival.
“Why are you going to come to our city and disrespect us like that,” said on angry onlooker.
Barricades were provided in an effort to separate protesters from furious festival goers. But after three hours, organizers were ready to take them down.
“If this is how they are going to behave, then his has gone beyond free speech at this point,” said Ahmad Chebbani, Chairman of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce.
“Things are going to get real pushy on the sidewalk. And whatever happens, blood is on his shoulder,” said Israel….
Indeed.
ROBERT SPENCER is the director of Jihad Watch, a program of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and the author of ten books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Truth About Muhammad and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) (both Regnery). He is coauthor, with Pamela Geller, of The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration’s War On America (Threshold Editions/Simon & Schuster). His next book, Did Muhammad Exist?, is scheduled to be published by the ISI Books in Spring 2012.