Hugh Muir speaks to Abdul Wahab of the Redbridge Islamic Centre following the recent attack.
Category Archives: English Defence League
Hit-and-run victim’s family condemn EDL’s use of her photo
The family of a grandmother killed in a hit-and-run have condemned the English Defence League for using her image on placards.
Freda Holt was one of several local faces used by 2,000 EDL protesters during Saturday’s town centre demonstration. The grandmother from Revidge Road, Blackburn, died after being knocked down by speeding unlicensed and uninsured driver Salim Chand last November. Chand, 27, was jailed for nine years. The EDL said it was highlighting “hit-and-runs by Muslims”.
But Freda’s husband Ray Holt, 72, said: “It would have been the very last thing Freda would have wanted. She was all about live and let live. She would have been absolutely horrified. As far as I am concerned he (Salim Chand) was an idiot driver. It’s got nothing to do with him being a Muslim.
“I had no knowledge of it and nobody had approached me to ask. I was in the town centre on Saturday but fortunately left before the protest because I don’t know what I would have done if I’d have seen her picture being used by the EDL.”
On Sunday, the family went to Mass and prayed for Freda and then put flowers on her grave at Pleasington Cemetery to mark what would have been her 71st birthday and Mother’s Day.
Eldest son Richard, 45, said he was shocked when he realised on Monday what had happened.
He said: “As a family all we wanted was justice for our mother regardless of race, colour or creed. The use of my mother’s picture was neither given permission for, or condoned, by us.
“My mother was a devout Catholic and would accept and help anyone, should they require it, which she had done countless times in her life. This is absolutely not what our mother stood for. As a family we do not wish to be linked in any way with EDL or any similar organisation.”
Freda’s daughter Rachel Harling, from Rishton, said she has seen the picture on an EDL website and felt “quite sick”. She said: “It was nothing to do with race or religion. It could have been anyone behind the wheel.”
Paul Houston, the father of 12-year-old Amy Houston, whose image was another of those used by the EDL, has also distanced himself from “extremism”.
Lancashire Telegraph, 6 April 2011
You really do wonder what the EDL leadership have in the place where most people have brains. How could they have failed to anticipate that using photos of road accident victims without permission would cause outrage to the victims’ families and backfire badly on the EDL? It is also difficult to see how this squares with the EDL’s claim that they are against Islam rather than Muslims. Is there perhaps a Qur’anic verse that authorises hit-and-run driving?
Update: Now the story has been taken up by the Daily Mail.
EDL tries to disrupt anti-fascist meeting in Brighton …. and fails miserably
About 30 EDL yobs attacked a Unite Against Fascism meeting at the Friends Meeting House on Tuesday evening, but they failed to even get past the front door.
The meeting was titled In Defence of Multiculturalism in the wake of Cameron’s disgraceful remarks a couple of months ago. Among the speakers were Martin Smith of the UAF Steering Committee and Chris Whitwell of Friends Families and Travellers.
Some good points were made – chiefly that Cameron made the remarks in a desperate attempt to divide communities and divert attention from his government’s slash and burn policies. Questions were asked about Cameron’s right to pronounce that “multiculturalism had failed” given his own monocultural upbringing (unless one includes the drinking culture of the Bullingdon Club!).
I spoke from the Stop the Cuts Coalition, and it was a positive move that the links were made by UAF between the crisis and the rise of far right politics.
The EDL thugs were seen off and the police arrived shortly after. Incredibly, their verdict was that we had provoked the trouble! Another bizarre interpretation of events by, arguably, Britain’s oddest police force.
We finished our meeting, so denying the EDL any claim to have broken it up, and then we left together.
People’s Republic of Hove, 6 April 2011
Via Socialist Unity
Update: See also “Violence at Brighton anti-fascist meeting”, The Argus, 7 April 2011
EDL member charged with arson attack on Stoke mosque was in army
A man charged after a fire at a Stoke-on-Trent mosque was a serving soldier in the Army at the time of the attack. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said Simon Beech served with 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment and was discharged from the Army in February.
Mr Beech, of Hartshill Road, Stoke-on-Trent, has been charged with arson with intent to endanger life. Gareth Foster, also of Hartshill Road, has been charged with the same offence. Both men have been granted conditional bail and have been due to appear at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on 10 June.
An MoD spokesman said Mr Beech was in “the early stages of his Army career”.
Why EDL’s Guramit Singh should be excommunicated
Pickled Politics has picked up on the ultimatum issued by the Sikh community to Guramit Singh of the English Defence League, warning that they will call for his excommunication unless he renounces the EDL. Jai writes:
“As confirmed by the extensive list of signatories involved, this action is endorsed by the British Sikh population, including numerous influential Sikh temples & organisations across the United Kingdom, particularly in London and Birmingham. This includes the two largest Sikh temples outside India….
“In complete violation of core Sikh tenets, Guramit Singh has been heavily involved in the EDL’s persecution of ordinary Muslims en masse whilst explicitly representing himself as a Sikh and claiming to be acting in the name of Sikhism, including deliberately modifying & grossly distorting sacred verses by the Sikh Gurus in order to ‘inspire’ EDL members present during his foul-mouthed public speeches demonising Muslims, Islam and the Prophet Mohammad.
“Guramit Singh’s excommunication would therefore be entirely in line with historical precedents during the time of the Sikh Gurus along with the temporal authority permanently bequeathed to the Khalsa by the 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh.”
EDL returns to Shotton
The Deeside division of the English Defence League have announced another demonstration against plans by the Flintshire Muslim Cultural Society for a mosque in Shotton, Flintshire. Have these ignorant bigots no sense of shame?
You may recall that the EDL staged a demonstration in January against proposals to convert the disused Shotton Lane Social Club into an Islamic cultural centre. The protest was poorly attended, with a mere 100 people participating, most of them from outside north Wales.
But the EDL’s efforts weren’t entirely wasted. Just over a week later the social club was burned to the ground in what was not unreasonably suspected to be an arson attack, and the building has since been demolished.
But evidently that isn’t good enough for the EDL. Last week Mohammed Munchab Ali, chairman of the Flintshire Muslim Cultural Society, was reported as saying that plans to establish a centre with a mosque in Flintshire remain in place despite the destruction of Shotton Lane Social Club.
So the EDL will be returning to Shotton on 21 May. Or as the EDL Deeside Demonstration Facebook page puts it: “Round 2, Flintshire Muslim Cultural Society get ready for EDL but this time BIGGER & BETTER than before.”
Of course, with the building that would have housed the Islamic centre now reduced to charred rubble, the EDL are deprived of a concrete object on which to unleash their hate. Still, they can no doubt hope that their next public demonstration of Islamophobic hysteria in Shotton will inspire some sort of violent attack on the Muslim community of north Wales.
Update: The Facebook page “EDL Deeside Demonstration” has now been amended to “(UNOFFICIAL AT THE MOMENT) EDL Deeside Demonstration”.
Could the EDL leadership have concluded that a protest against an Islamic centre that has already been the object of an arson attack might be seen by the public as just a tad tasteless? More likely they have taken fright at the prospect of the North West Infidels muscling in on the event.
It was reportedly the NWI’s activists (along with their co-thinkers in the North East Infidels) who clashed with supporters of the EDL leadership at the Blackburn demonstration on Saturday, and their presence at the Shotton protest would very likely lead to another punch-up.
Further update: See “English Defence League supporters plan second Deeside demonstration”, Flintshire Chronicle, 7 April 2011
Police march EDL racists out of Halifax
Far-right demonstrators were marched out of Halifax by police after racist abuse was shouted at town-centre traders.
Scores of officers and dog handlers were deployed to Wards End and Horton Street on Saturday at around 5pm to deal with a mob of English Defence League (EDL) supporters on their way back from a rally in Blackburn. Protestors from factions in Halifax, Hull, Huddersfield, Dewsbury and Leeds gathered at The Courtyard pub on Wards End, hanging an EDL flag outside.
A worker at the nearby Chicken Grill House takeaway said three men had shouted racist abuse and staff at some shops were so worried they closed up. Assistants at Hot 4 U takeaway on Wards End said a fight started in the street and eight men had tried to get into their shop but police had marched them away.
How ‘political policing’ discriminates against the EDL’s opponents
An article in today’s Observer, which deals primarily with accusations of political policing in relation to UK Uncut protests, also refers to concerns about the response of the police to the English Defence League protest in Leicester in October 2010:
Blackburn: EDL supporters end up fighting each other
Protests by the English Defence League and opposing groups in Blackburn led to 12 arrests in a major police operation.
About 2,000 EDL supporters gathered for their protest near King George’s Hall on Northgate, according to police. Opposing protesters, who were kept about 150m (490ft) away, said their gathering was a celebration of multi-culturalism.
The 12 arrests made during the day included a 48-year-old man, from Blackburn, who was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer. Others were arrested on suspicion of offences including breach of the peace, affray, being drunk and disorderly and using threatening words or behaviour.
Skirmishes broke out among supporters during the EDL rally, despite an appeal for a peaceful event from the organisers. One man was punched to the floor, while coins and a pint glass were thrown. EDL spokesman Tony Curtis blamed the fracas on a more extreme splinter group. A small group of EDL supporters also broke away from the main demonstration area and were quickly brought under control by police, the force said.
Update: See Unite Against Fascism, 2 April 2011
Six due in court today over Redbridge mosque attack
A wedge will not be driven between Redbridge’s diverse communities, a mosque chairman has insisted, after a gang attacked his imam and worshippers.
Frightened men and women ducked for cover and the imam of Redbridge Islamic Centre (RIC), Eastern Avenue, Redbridge, was injured during last week’s attack before the final prayer of the day. Racist and islamophobic abuse was allegedly hurled as the gang smashed windows and tried to get into the main prayer hall.
But RIC chairman Abul Khayer Ali said this week he will not allow the attack to create divisions. He said:
“Redbridge is a strong and cohesive community with a long standing record of unity. We will not allow such callous attacks to create a wedge in the community. Rather, this will inspire the RIC to work harder to engage and work closely to reduce stigma and discrimination towards Muslims.”
Neighbouring homes and cars were also damaged during the incident, which happened at about 7.45pm.
Cllr Sohaib Patel, cabinet member for environment and community safety, said:
“Redbridge has a very successful diverse, multicultural and cohesive society where residents are able to live in harmony, respecting each other’s faiths and values. As the cabinet member for environment and community safety in Redbridge, I assure you that the council and its partners, including the police, will not stand by and let this incident change the very nature of these successes.”
He also praised the community safety partnership team for their work in the borough.
• Six people appeared at Redbridge Court on Saturday charged with violent disorder. Matthew Stephenson, 19, of no fixed address, Daniel Leal, 19, of no fixed address, Rockylee Beale, 19, of Wood Green, Essex and a 15-year-old boy have been bailed. Elliot Jones, 19, of no fixed address and Ryan Jones, 22, of Ilford, have been remanded in custody. They will all appear again at Redbridge Magistrates’ Court this morning.