Category Archives: English Defence League

Blackburn unites to reject English Defence League

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Asian Image reports that in the run-up to the EDL protest in Blackburn on 2 April some of the town’s most prominent individuals and organisations have signed a joint statement highlighting community cohesion in the town and calling for support for the We Are Blackburn event celebrating multiculturalism. The statement reads:

Islamophobia is as unacceptable as any other form of racism. It divides and weakens our society by making scapegoats of one section of the community.

Since their inception, wherever the EDL have marched, their supporters have attempted verbal and physical abuse on Asian people, their friends and their property. This has no place in a civilised society and it has no place in Blackburn.

In difficult economic times, when jobs are being lost, services cut and communities as a whole suffering, racism only serves to undermine the basic solidarity we all need to have with one another.

There is also the cost of this march to the local council tax payer to be considered, both in terms of the massive police operation needed because the EDL have a well-earned reputation for thuggish behaviour, on similar marches in other parts of the country, and, the potential loss of trade for town centre businesses.

The cost to the town will be in the hundreds of thousands of pounds and Blackburn simply cannot afford this expense.

Our response therefore to the English Defence League presence in our town is to affirm our community values – based on mutual respect, tolerance and unity.

We do not wish to see our town become the venue for the latest display of EDL intimidation and violence, which is the hallmark of all of their public activity.

On Saturday April 2nd at 1:00pm on Sudell Cross Blackburn, people will to come together under the banner of Blackburn and Darwen United Against Racism.

Please come along and join in our Celebration. There is far more that unites us than divides us.

The following people have publicly stated their support for our Celebration of multiculturalism:

• The Bishop of Blackburn – Mr Nicholas Blackburn • Sir Bill Taylor • Michael Hindley former MEP Lancashire East; Leader of Hyndburn Council; Lancashire County Councillor • Kate Hollern Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council • Councillor Mohammed Khan • Councillor Tony Humphrys • Councillor Pat McFall • Councillor Dave Harling • Councillor Jim Shorrock • Peter Billington Lancashire TUC • Shaukat Hussain Labour Party Local Government Committee Chairman • Karen Narramore Secretary UNISON East Lancs Branch • Peter Dales UNISON East Lancashire Health Branch Chairman • Simon Jones Secretary Blackburn with Darwen National Union of Teachers • Paul Hogan Assistant Secretary Blackburn with Darwen National Union of Teachers • Liz Beaumont Natiuonal Union of Teachers • Cath Ford Independent local artist • Maurice Ffelan • Tom Howard • Anne Davies Hospital Volunteer • Anjum Anwar Director of Womens Voice • Phil Riley Secretary Blackburn Labour Party • Adil Babar UNISON • Dave Fleming • Tricia Gleave University & College Union Blackburn College Safety Rep • Colin Crabtree University & College Union Union Blackburn College Rep • Craig Hammond University & College Union Blackburn Branch Chairman • Ashley Whalley University & College Union Blackburn Branch Secretary • Alan McShane University & College Union Blackburn College Senior Safety Rep • John Murphy University & College Union Blackburn College Vice-Chairman • Councillor Salim Sidat • Councillor Andy Kay • Councillor Faryad Hussain • Councillor Abdul Samad Patel • Councillor Maureen Bateson • Councillor Eileen Entwistle • Councillor Naushad Surve • Councillor Mike Johnson • Hansa Canon UNISON Black Members Officer • Pat Maudsley Blackburn Labour Party • Frances Bradley Senior UNISON Steward • Dave Bradley UNISON Steward • Ian Gallagher Blackburn & District TUC • Gareth Roscoe BwDBC Local Government Branch Secretary • Dee Shuttleworth Unison Branch Administrator/Steward

EDL supporter who burnt stolen Qur’an and shouted anti-Muslim abuse was ‘protesting against Muslim extremists not Islam as a faith’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A Carlisle man who burnt the Koran in the city centre could be facing up to two years in jail. Andrew Ryan, who claims to be a member of the English Defence League, appeared at Carlisle Magistrates’ Court today. He pleaded guilty to religiously aggravated harassment and theft – of the Koran from Carlisle Library.

The court heard he had burnt the Koran on January 19 because for the Muslims, the book is their “Holiest of Holy”. He said he had been viewing internet clips of extremist Islamic preachers and protesters earlier in the day then “lost it”.

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‘Race hate has no place in Reading’ say political leaders

Posted on by Bob Pitt

PIC BY STEWART TURKINGTON www.stphotos.co.uk 07778 334771Three political leaders in Reading have united to condemn a march by the English Defence League (EDL) through the town centre.

About 200 supporters of the organisation took part in a demonstration against the “Islamification of England” on Saturday afternoon. Political leaders on Reading Borough Council have accused the group of trying to stoke up hatred and division.

Reading Council for Racial Equality (RCRE) sent member George Mathew to observe the demonstration after police advised them not to demonstrate themselves. Mr Mathew said:

“We went there with the assumption there would be between 30 and 50 people so we were really shocked by the sheer number of them. It was really scary and there were people around who were trying to do their normal shopping who were shocked by it. For me, the most disappointing, or scary, thing was that there were people who were not part of the demo who came from the crowd and joined them. That was unexpected and it made us feel very uneasy.”

Conservative Reading Borough Council leader Andrew Cumpsty said the town has excellent relations between its varied communities. He said: “Hatred and division have no place in civilised political debate and I condemn the activities of this small minority.” Deputy council leader Cllr Kirsten Bayes said: “The antics of a marginalised, discredited group such as this have no relevance to Reading. They should go home.”

And Labour group leader Cllr Jo Lovelock said: “People who come to Reading with the sole intention of stirring up racial hatred and driving a wedge between different communities must be given a clear message that they are not welcome and their hateful approach will be rejected by all who value tolerance and diversity.”

Reading Post, 23 March 2011

EDL thug admits to stupidity

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A man who smashed a window during the English Defence League protest in Leicester has admitted causing criminal damage worth £1,500. Gareth Mooney (29) of Sandown Court, Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, broke the shop window of Big John’s Takeaway, in Humberstone Road on October 9 last year.

Liz Dodds, prosecuting, told Leicester magistrates that Mooney was one of about 200 protesters who broke through a police cordon in Queens Street at about 4pm to challenge a group of Asian youths. The trouble then spilled into Humberstone Road, where up to 20 members of the public had sought refuge in the takeaway.

She said: “Mr Mooney was caught on CCTV giving a forceful kick to the window, causing it to shatter in a spider effect. His behaviour instigated the subsequent attack on the building which caused a total of £5,000 damage.”

Mooney said: “I’m very sorry for the trouble I’ve caused. It was down to stupidity.” He was bailed to appear at North Tyneside Magistrates Court on April 12.

Leicester Mercury, 23 March 2011

EDL and ENA clash over Dagenham anti-mosque protest

Posted on by Bob Pitt

ENA in DagenhamFar-right activists turned against one another as they protested against a mosque in Dagenham on Saturday.

Protesters believed to back the English Defence League (EDL) confronted the English Nationalist Alliance (ENA), which staged its latest protest against the Muslim place and worship and community centre in Green Lane.

Both groups say they want to fund a judicial review in the High Court to try to overturn a council decision which gave the centre the go-ahead despite more than 1,300 objections in January.

Protesters were segregated on either side of Green Lane as police supervised the demonstrations.

The ENA said it had cancelled a meeting about the judicial review, due to take place tonight, because of Saturday’s confrontation.

An EDL spokesman said the counter demonstration was not organised centrally, adding the organisation did not oppose the ENA but merely did not want to be associated with its members.

Barking & Dagenham Post, 21 March 2011

Aussie TV documentary provides EDL’s Stephen Lennon with platform for anti-Muslim raving

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Great Divide

The EDL were eagerly anticipating the broadcast of an Australian TV documentary on multiculturalism (entitled The Great Divide) in which their leader Stephen Lennon (“Tommy Robinson”) was given a starring role. Overall, they must be pleased with the results. At any rate, they’ve posted the documentary on their website.

True, the EDL is described as “a far-right organisation” in the film (perhaps this was what prompted yesterday’s laughable EDL press release) and we are told that “Robinson has been condemned by many as a racist and a thug”. But that is the limit of the documentary’s criticisms of this gang of racists and their leader. Otherwise Lennon is allowed to perform his usual act – of indulging in foam-flecked right-wing rants about Islam while maintaining the pretence of being a normal working-class bloke – without the slightest challenge.

The voiceover announces: “Tommy dares to shout what others fear to say out loud – that multiculturalism has provided the perfect cover for Islamic extremists to infiltrate Britain and plot their deadly attacks against democracy.” And “Tommy” assures viewers: “We’re telling you what’s happening to our country. We’re living side by side with terrorists, Islamists, people who want to completely obliterate our way of life and our culture and convert this country into an Islamic state. They’re here.”

Accompanying the Australian film crew on a drive round a Muslim neighbourhood (or “Islamic ghetto”, as he describes it) in his home town of Luton, Lennon tells them: “This is a terrorist area. This is the hotbed, this is the heart of militant Islam. This is where the 7/7 bombers, they boarded a train in Luton.” And this entirely irrelevant point is repeated in the commentary. The reality of course is that not one of the 7/7 bombers came from Luton, and the town’s railway station simply provided a geographically convenient place for them to meet and park their cars before completing the final stage of their journey to London by train.

Prompted to express his opinion on “extreme Islam”, Lennon replies: “It is a cancer and it is embedded in every single Islamic community in this country. Every one of them, no matter what one you go to, there’s a percentage of that community who wish for sharia law, who are homophobic, who are anti-democratic, who are causing mayhem. All across the country.”

And who did the Australian film makers find to illustrate Lennon’s fantasy about “extreme Islam” sweeping the UK? Yes, you guessed it, the man they chose to interview was rent-a-moron Anjem Choudary. The disproportionate attention given elsewhere in the documentary to another unrepresentative nutter, one Ibrahim Siddiq Conlon of Islam4Australia, is at least counterbalanced by an interview with a more typical Australian Muslim who repudiates his views. But the sole British Muslim the documentary makers bothered to talk to was Choudary.

The Choudary interview is immediately followed by a characteristically paranoid declaration from the EDL leader – “it is a ticking time bomb” – and in response to a leading question from the Aussie TV reporter a pop-eyed Lennon claims: “There’s going to be a hundred thousand Anjem Choudarys.” Yeah right. This is the same Anjem Choudary who has difficulty mobilising more than a few dozen supporters to attend his stupid and provocative protests. Needless to say, the Australian documentary makers don’t think it relevant to mention that fact.

Just in case you might be inclined to dismiss Lennon’s views as the ravings of an ignorant and uneducated racist, the documentary introduces a “journalist and columnist who has long criticised British multicultural policy which allows half a million immigrants into the country every year”. Step forward Leo McKinstry of the Daily Express, who announces: “There’s been an evaporation of our national identity, social cohesion has broken down and there’s parts of Britain that just don’t feel like England any more.” (That would presumably include Scotland and Wales.)

If McKinstry had been used to illustrate how a hardline right-wing section of the British press feeds the EDL their line, that would be fair enough. But his role in this documentary is in fact to provide the EDL’s anti-Muslim racism with the appearance of legitimacy by showing that their views are not restricted to the far right.

So McKinstry’s attack on multiculturalism – “we can’t go on with this policy of saying you can come and live here but you can cling completely to your own culture and the world you came from, you can treat women badly, you can have sharia law” – is followed by Lennon warning that “if nothing changes, you’re probably five years away from English lads wanting to blow themselves up, because people are so angry about what’s going on – so angry and so feel under threat and complete oppression to do with Islam”.

The documentary further assists the EDL’s efforts at legitimisation by joining a select group of their members at a pub in central London, where Lennon announces that “we need middle England to listen, to hear our voices, to help us”.

While the voiceover intones “we discover that they’re not just ranting football hooligans – the country’s comfortable middle class are signing up”, a picture of EDL joint leader and BNP candidate manqué Kevin Carroll appears on the screen. Another individual introduced as a representative of middle England is Roberta Moore, who was only recently brought back into the fold by the EDL leadership after being threatened with expulsion because of her links with a convicted terrorist. Of course, the documentary makers saw no need to check the backgrounds of these supposed paragons of middle-class respectability.

The basic aim of the The Great Divide is to present multiculturalism in Australia as generally a success while warning against the supposed nightmare of failed multiculturalism in the UK. The documentary makers presumably thought this made for good TV and presented a “balanced” view of the advantages and potential dangers of multiculturalism. But the result, through a combination of ignorance and irresponsibility, was that they swallowed the EDL’s own lying propaganda and provided a free platform for a repulsive gang of anti-Muslim racists.

EDL interviewed by Australian TV 2
“Tommy” introduces the EDL’s respectable, middle-class members – “And on the right, that’s our favourite Muslim-hating, terrorist-supporting Kahanist, Roberta Moore”

EDL stages anti-mosque protest in Reading

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL ReadingAround 200 members of the English Defence League came from across the country to demonstrate in Reading today (Saturday).

Members of the controversial group, which claims to oppose Muslim extremism, chanted and waved flags as they marched from the Three Guineas by Reading Station to Market Place, flanked by a heavy police presence.

They were greeted outside the Town Hall by around 50 demonstrators, who said the EDL were divisive, dangerous and not welcome in a multi-cultural, tolerant and united Reading. Edward Willis, 25, from Oxford Road, added: “We don’t tolerate or want them in our town, they are Nazis and fascists.”

Some EDL members said they were protesting against the building of the Oxford Road mosque and proposed east Reading mosque but others pointed to wider reasons, such as the building of mosques elsewhere in Britain, and called for more to be done to tackle Muslim extremism.

Among the EDL supporters was founder Tommy Robinson, from Luton, and a 38-year-old builder, from Oxford Road, who did not want to give his name but said he helped organise the protest. He described the Oxford Road mosque as an “absolute eyesore” and added: “We don’t want another one being built in east Reading.”

Reading Borough Council has released a statement condemning the “racist demonstration”. Council leader, Andrew Cumpsty, said: “We in Reading have excellent relations between our varied and vibrant communities. Hatred and division have no place in civilised political debate and I condemn the activities of this small minority. In Reading we celebrate all the varied parts of our town, as all together we are stronger and richer because of our diversity.”

Reading Chronicle, 19 March 2011

Update:  See also BBC News, 20 March 2011