Campaigners against the far-right English Defence League (EDL) defied a protest ban by marching through Walthamstow after scuffles with police this afternoon.
Officers struggled to contain a crowd of several hundred who broke away from a legal static protest outside the former EMD cinema in Hoe Street at around 1.30pm. Protesters pushed through a cordon and marched several hundred metres down to the junction with Selborne Road, where police reinforcements eventually stopped them.
Anti-racists demonstrate against Wilders in Malmö
While protesters outnumbered those attending a speech by controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders in Malmö in southern Sweden on Saturday, the event passed off without incident.
“Our intelligence told us that we should be prepared for trouble,” a Malmö police officer told The Local. But at the end of the event a colleague assured The Local that the day “had passed without incident with just minor disturbances”.
The frequent critic of Islam was a guest of the anti-Islam Swedish “Freedom of the Press Society” (Tryckfrihetssällskapet) and addressed an audience of approximately 100 people at a venue in Malmö’s western harbour. Outside a crowd of around 300 gathered to protest at the presence of the leader of the Dutch Party for Freedom.
A former hospital worker involved with a far-right political group used Facebook to encourage people to petrol bomb an Indian takeaway at the centre of a major child abuse probe.
Carlisle Crown Court heard how Alan Clarke’s reckless comments on the social networking site led to him being sacked by bosses at the city’s Cumberland Infirmary.
He admitted using Facebook to collude with others in a way that could have encouraged people to commit criminal damage – namely by attacking the Spice of India takeaway in Botchergate, Carlisle.
La Montagne reports that on Wednesday night three swastikas were painted on a disused building situated in the parking lot of the mosque at Thiers in central France. The graffiti was discovered by members of the Thiers Franco-Turkish association on Thursday morning shortly before Eid prayers. A complaint has been lodged with the police.
A man arrested in connection with an EDL protest against a newly-approved mosque has been fined after he admitted swearing at riot police.
Gary Donaldson, 32, had been drinking at the Chesters Pub in Chester Road in Sunderland, when he was confronted by officers with video cameras.
Sunderland Magistrates’ Court heard how Donaldson screamed expletives into the camera and became aggressive towards the officer holding the device. He was one of 13 people arrested during the protest on October 6, 2012.
The leader of the far-right English Defence League is set to spend Christmas in prison after a judge rejected an application for bail. Stephen Lennon, 29, who also uses the name Tommy Robinson, was arrested at Heathrow Airport on October 20 on suspicion of possessing a false passport. He tried to use a passport in the name of “Andrew McMaster” to enter the United States on September 10 this year, Southwark Crown Court heard.
Rotherham’s councillor responsible for community cohesion has written to Home Secretary Theresa May describing the impact of the far right English Defence League’s march in the town – and calling for membership of the group to be banned.
It has been reported that Muslims celebrating Eid-al-Adha at a mosque at Seynod in south-eastern France were subjected to racial abuse and threatened with a shotgun by a man who accused worshippers of occupying two parking spaces outside his business that were reserved for customers. Seynod’s Muslim community is currently using premises in an industrial estate while they wait for the construction of a purpose-built mosque, which has faced opposition from a residents’ association and local businesses.
The people of Walthamstow take to streets to defy the EDL in September
The police restriction preventing the EDL from entering Walthamstow is a major victory for our movement. The massive demonstrations planned by UAF, We Are Waltham Forest and Muslim communities, and pressure of our grass roots campaigning, helped to achieve this victory.
This has been acknowledged by many including London Assembly Member Jennette Arnold. The EDL is weak and isolated, while our movement grows stronger. This victory must be celebrated!
The Chronicle, the independent student daily of Duke University in North Carolina, reports on a lecture by King’s College London law professor Maleiha Malik on the misperceptions and prejudices toward Muslims in the western world.