Bottles were hurled at police by the mob of EDL supporters gathered at the Eureka car park.
Shouting anti-Islamic chants and “Let’s go mental”, they decided to crowd against the line of officers standing across the car park entrance. Police had to ask them to move back to avoid protesters at the front from getting crushed.
Members of the English Defence League (EDL) made a failed bid to target a Cambridge mosque after they marched through the city.
The incident came after a relatively peaceful march by the EDL through the city centre in which scuffles with police broke out along with bottle-throwing. Officers threw up a cordon around the mosque in Mawson Road and managed to quell the troublemakers.
Officers quelled some of the flashpoints sparked as around 200 EDL marchers were taunted by a small number of counter-protesters from an earlier 1,500 strong demonstration by Unite Against Fascism.
But members of the EDL, who arrived in coaches from across the country to Queens’ Green, also began fighting amongst themselves.
The English Defence League (EDL) is to march against against Islam today in four towns and cities.
Anti-fascists will put on counter-protests against what they have described as a “summer of hate” by the EDL. Hundreds of police are expected to be on duty to prevent a repeat of violent scenes at previous events.
In Cambridge, EDL supporters will march in opposition to plans to build a mosque in the Mill Road area. A rival demonstration by Unite Against Fascism (UAF) will also be staged as thousands of families are expected to attend the city’s Big Weekend celebrations of live music.
Both sides will also be taking to the streets in Plymouth. The EDL has been distributing leaflets in the city centre with pamphlets saying “defend our culture”.
A planned EDL march in Derby was called off although opponents will still hold a Love Music Hate Racism festival at different venues in the city.
EDL will be staging its first demonstration in Middlesbrough, again over plans to build a mosque.
More than 400 officers took to the streets of Plymouth city centre to police two opposing marches – which numbered around about 300 people in total. Senior officers have defended the large deployment of officers, some of whom were drafted in from Avon and Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire forces, claiming it was necessary to “lessen the impact of the marches”.
While the far-right English Defence League (EDL) set off from the Wild Coyote public house in Exeter Street at 1pm on Saturday, a counter-rally, organised by unionists and the Unite Against Fascism group, set off from the Jigsaw Gardens in Cornwall Street. Both groups, which held around 100 to 150 marchers each, were accompanied on their separate routes through the city by a sizeable number of officers, some wearing protective gear and carrying riot helmets.
Labour councillors Chaz Singh (Drake) and Philippa Davey (Stoke) were joined by Plymouth Moor View MP Alison Seabeck at the Jigsaw gardens.
Ms Davey said: “We want to highlight the tactics of the EDL, where they claim they’re not racists and it’s only about extremist Muslims. We also want to show that despite their best attempts to show antifascist groups as anarchists, we are the peaceful ones and we will not rise to their intimidation.”
Mr Singh said: “We want to show that the true representation of diversity is here. We’re not here to exacerbate the problem, we’re here to show that we are the real people of Plymouth”.
One of the organisers of the EDL march – Hayley also known as Princess Angel – said their protest was to “wake people up to the lies of Islam”. She claimed a mosque was being build in Beaumont Road, Greenbank – which is described as an Islamic cultural centre by its owners the Plymouth Islamic Education Trust (Piety) – and that the “religion was full of hate and not peaceful at all.”
She said: “We’re not a racist organisation. We’re only against Muslim extremists. We’re not racists – we do have coloured members. There’s a non-white person here [today].”
Police said the day passed without major incident and only six arrests – a 28-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon at the Jigsaw gardens, a 45-year-old man on suspicion of breach of the peace in Notte Street and a 25-year-old man for assault occasioning actual bodily harm and possession of cannabis in Armada Way. Police say three more men were arrested during the marches for breach of the peace.
Police later charged the 28-year-old man and he is expected to appear before Plymouth magistrates on July 20 charged with possession of an offensive weapon. The remaining five arrested were later released on police bail.
Following the march, the EDL held speeches opposite the Holiday Inn by Citadel Road, while the opposing marchers carried out their shorter speeches close to the sundial in Armada Way. Both groups were then escorted back to the starting points by police.
Protesters are preparing to march against the English Defence League and Islamophobia following the beating of two Asian men during a far right demonstration.
The Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK (MPACUK) has called for a demonstration after the men were caught up in violence during an EDL protest against against plans to turn a disused butcher’s shop into an Islamic prayer centre in Green Lane, Dagenham, three weeks ago.
Tomorrow’s protest, which is also directed at the police response to the incident, is expected to leave the Becontree Heath Islamic Society in Green Lane, Dagenham, at 11.30am.
Protesters will then proceed to Chadwell Heath Police Station, where they will hand in a petition “from all the local residents to say that we want EDL off our streets and for an end to Islamophobia” according to the MPACUK Facebook page.
CI John Davison said: “It is the police’s duty to facilitate peaceful protest and I am confident that we can police this event in an appropriate and orderly manner.”
A police spokeswoman said: “The march/protest will be policed by one police inspector, three police sergeants and 18 police constables. Further police resources are available should they be required. However, at this time, police anticipate a peaceful protest. PS Gary Buttercase will be present to accept a petition from the demonstrators.”
See also MPACUK press release, 6 July 2011
Peter Tatchell has announced that he will be joining a demonstration against Hizb ut-Tahrir’s International Khilafah Conference at the Water Lily Centre in Tower Hamlets on Saturday.
The demonstration has been organised by a new group called the Anti-Extremism Alliance, which has already issued an Open letter to Tower Hamlets Council and East London Advertiser demanding that the Water Lily cancel the booking.
You might wonder how an avowed defender of free expression like Tatchell got involved in this. As we have previously pointed out, he holds the formal position that “freedom of speech is so precious that it must be defended, even when we disagree with the sentiments expressed” and “should be limited only in exceptional circumstances – when it slips into inciting violence and murder”. And nobody supposes that Hizb ut-Tahrir will be using Saturday’s conference to advocate violence or murder. We can only conclude that Tatchell’s absolute commitment to free speech ceases to apply when the people expressing the disagreeable sentiments are Muslims.
See “English Defence League stage demonstration in Brierfield – four arrests”, Burnley Express, 5 July 2011
And “Six arrested as English Defence League protests in Huddersfield town centre”, Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 5 July 2011
Meanwhile, EDL leader “Tommy Robinson” has been indignantly denying that the EDL’s demonstration in Cambridge on Saturday poses any kind of threat to public order:
“We are not racist thugs. Which was the last town centre we rampaged through? We have gone from possibly being a rampaging mess to a structured, organised, peaceful protest movement party.”
ENGAGE draws our attention to yet another article in the right-wing press boosting the profile of Anjem Choudary and his tiny gang of provocateurs.
Under the headline “Dewsbury, Bradford and Tower Hamlets … where Islamic extremists want to establish independent states with sharia law”, the Daily Mail reports that Muslims Against Crusades (MAC) have called for “Islamic emirates” to be established in areas of the UK with large Muslim populations. The fact that there isn’t the remotest possibility of MAC achieving that objective is of course of no interest to the Mail.
As has repeatedly been pointed out, Choudary and the right-wing press enjoy a symbiotic relationship. Papers like the Mail, the Express and the Star attract readers by feeding them paranoid fantasies about the “Islamification” of the UK, while Choudary happily provides these papers with the material they need to promote their racist myths, in exchange for which they offer him and his irrelevant group of misfits free publicity.
The victims are of course the British Muslim community who have to suffer the consequences of this irresponsible journalism – not least the assistance it gives to the far right.
A protest will be staged by controversial group the English Defence League outside a Blackpool mosque they claim is illegal. The right-wing group has already launched a campaign on social networking website Facebook which claims the Noor A Madina Mosque on Waterloo Road, South Shore, contravenes planning regulation.
Members of the cultural centre are desperate to reassure the public they want to include people of all faiths in a bid to promote community cohesion, after super glue was poured into the locks of the mosque on Friday, June 24. Police have taken action to install CCTV cameras outside the building to ensure the safety of the family with children who live above.
Support has come from all quarters for a celebration of unity in defiance of a right wing march in Cambridge.
A host of councillors, community leaders, musicians and local people have thrown their weight behind a city centre march and “celebration of unity and diversity”, organised by Unite Against Fascism, in opposition to the English Defence League’s plans to make their presence felt on Saturday, July 9.
Richard Howitt MEP, members of Cambridge Muslim Council, local Trade Unionists, Kevin Courtney – deputy general secretary of the NUT – and members of Cambridge Fans United have all added their names to a statement entitled “We Are Cambridge”. Cambridge Ethnic Community Forum have also joined in.
A spokesman said: “We are proud of Cambridge’s history of welcoming those who have had to flee persecution and intolerance from around the world. The Cambridge Ethnic Community Forum is committed against all forms of prejudice, intolerance and hate.”
A public meeting will be held tonight (July 4) in the Unitarian Church Hall, Emmanuel Street, from 7.30pm featuring speakers such as Lewis Herbert, leader of the Labour group on Cambridge City Council, who plans to reveal a statement signed by Labour and Green councillors opposing the EDL and supporting the peaceful counter protest.
Also speaking will be Mirza Baig, vice chair of Cambridge Muslim Council. He recently told Unite Against Fascism members: “Thank you for raising your voice against messages of hate. You have our full support, and our committee will be participating in your demonstration.”
The counter march will take place on Saturday in Market Square from 11am.