vandals – praag.org

Anti-gay business targeted by vandals

A Michigan business owner in the US who sparked controversy by posting opinions on Facebook about refusing to serve certain groups, including gay customers, has been the target of vandalism.

Last week, Dieseltec owner Brian Klawiter made headlines when he posted that he would refuse to provide service to openly gay customers.

“I would not hesitate to refuse service to an openly gay person or persons. Homosexuality is wrong, period. If you want to argue this fact with me then I will put your vehicle together with all bolts and no nuts and you can see how that works,” he wrote on Facebook on April 14.

Klawiter posted photos on his business Facebook page showing a red pick-up truck with the words “bash back” sprayed on the windshield and a garage door. Other photos showed a rock thrown through a window.

“We’re not intimidated by it,” said Klawiter on Tuesday. “I think it’s childish behavior. I think for a community of people that want to display tolerance, I don’t think that’s the right way to do it.”

Earlier in the day, he posted this on Facebook:

“Well, folks, as we predicted, it didn’t take long for the ugly face of the homosexual movement to present itself. What started out with ‘mere’ death threats against myself and my family and homosexuals spamming my Facebook page with gay porn shots, has escalated to physical violence. See the pics below. We called police to file a report this morning, and City of Grandville Officer John Davis responded. The officer arrived, looked around, took a few notes, chuckled, and said ‘turn it in to the insurance company.’ He gave us a Police Report number 15-2779, but did not take the rock which has a fingerprint on it. The homosexual agenda is evil, and is prepared to destroy anyone who gets in its way, or who calls homosexuality a sin. Today it’s us; tomorrow, it could be you.”

“What this is, is a Christian business owner standing on principles. Nothing has changed from my original statement. I still won’t tolerate certain behavior in my shop. And that’s never going to change.”

On Saturday, around 100 protesters gathered outside Dieseltec to peacefully oppose Klawiter’s comments.

The Rev. Robert Teszlewics, who lead the weekend protest, urged everyone involved on both sides to express their opinions and beliefs in a respectful manner.

Klawiter said he feels he should be able to run his automotive diesel engine repair shop how he’d like to, and that includes running it under his religious beliefs.

Source: USA Today

Mandela’s daughter shares property with vandals, squatters, rats

The late Nelson Mandela’s daughter, Zindzi, who owns a R2 million house in Houghton, shares her property with vandals, squatters and rats.

Mandela’s family has been at war, bickering between themselves over his many millions. It is feared that his surviving family will be plunged in to deep rifts over who stands to gain his fortune.

Mandela was married three times and fathered six children – only three of whom, his daughters Makaziwe, Zenani and Zindzi, are still alive.

Neighbours in the upmarket Joburg suburb are complaining bitterly that the house is drawing bad elements and crime into the area and that it is devaluing their own properties.

The complainants did not want to be named, but said the pavement outside Mandela’s house is filled with rubbish and “rats are running wild in the thick undergrowth”. People urinate and throw rubbish onto the pavement.

“We have complained, but nothing gets done because an influential family owns it,” said one neighbour.

The house, in Fifth Street, has been badly vandalised and has only a few walls and some roofing left. It has been stripped of all electrical fittings and plumbing pipes.

So desperate are the neighbours that they are now asking for permission to tear down the standing walls themselves in an effort to make sure that squatters can no longer live on the property.

“This property, worth a couple of million rand, belongs to a person who last year asked for legal aid in a case involving a burial dispute,” said another neighbour.

Title deeds for the property, seen by The Star, show the registered owner as the Zindzi Mandela Family Trust, and that it was bought for R2m.

The same address is given by Zindzi as her residential address on other legal documents.

Following complaints by neighbours, city councillor Marcelle Ravid called in the City of Joburg’s environmental health inspectors.

After an inspection was conducted on December 19, a notice was issued to the owners – again listed as the Zindzi Mandela Family Trust – instructing them to clean up the property.

Zindzi was given 21 days to clean up the property. However, the deadline has since expired, nothing has been done and the house remains in the same derelict condition.

Source: IOL

‘Extremist Jews’ vandalise Arab area in Jerusalem

In an unrelated incident, Israeli mounted police confront Palestinian protestors in Arab East Jerusalem (file photo)

Police say vandals have slashed car tires in an Arab neighborhood in Jerusalem, the latest in a series of similar incidents blamed on a fringe group of extremists.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said ten cars were damaged in the Arab neighborhood of Beit Safafa early Tuesday. The words “price tag” was sprayed on walls nearby. The phrase is used by a small group of Jewish extremists to protest what they perceive as the Israeli government’s pro-Palestinian policies.

The acts have been condemned by Israeli leaders across the political spectrum. Police said they are investigating.

Mosques, churches, dovish Israeli groups and even Israeli military bases have been targeted by the vandals in recent years. Two weeks ago a monastery near Jerusalem was defaced. – AP