Inside the violent world of the EDL

EDL placards Dudley

MPs expressed concern last night after it emerged that far-right activists are planning to step up their provocative street campaignby targeting some of the UK’s highest-profile Muslim communities, raising fears of widespread unrest this summer.

Undercover footage shot by the Guardian reveals the English Defence League, which has staged a number of violent protests in towns and cities across the country this year, is planning to “hit” Bradford and the London borough of Tower Hamlets as it intensifies its street protests.

MPs said the group’s decision to target some of the UK’s most prominent Muslim communities was a blatant attempt to provoke mayhem and disorder. “This group has no positive agenda,” said the Bradford South MP, Gerry Sutcliffe. “It is an agenda of hate that is designed to divide people and communities. We support legitimate protest but this is not legitimate, it is designed to stir up trouble. The people of Bradford will want no part of it.”

The English Defence League, which started in Luton last year, has become the most significant far-right street movement in the UK since the National Front in the 1970s. A Guardian investigation has identified a number of known rightwing extremists who are taking an interest in the movement – from convicted football hooligans to members of violent rightwing splinter groups.

Thousands of people have attended its protests – many of which have descended into violence and racist and Islamophobic chanting. Supporters are split into “divisions” spread across the UK and as many as 3,000 people are attracted to its protests.

The group also appears to be drawing support from the armed forces. Its online armed forces division has 842 members and the EDL says many serving soldiers have attended its demonstrations.

In undercover footage shot by Guardian Films, EDL spokesman Guramit Singh says its Bradford demonstration “will be huge”. He adds: “The problem with Bradford is the security threat, it is a highly populated Muslim area. They are very militant as well. Bradford is a place that has got to be hit.” Singh, who was speaking during an EDL demonstration in Dudley in April, said the organisation would also be targeting Tower Hamlets.

A spokesman for the EDL confirmed it would hold a demonstration in Bradford on 28 August because the city was “on course to be one of the first places to become a no-go area for non-Muslims”. The EDL has already announced demonstrations in Cardiff and Dudley.

The EDL claims it is a peaceful and non-racist organisation only concerned with protesting against “militant Islam”. However, over the last four months the Guardian has attended its demonstrations and witnessed racism, violence and virulent Islamophobia.

Guardian, 29 May 2010

Youth supporter of EDL and BNP manufactured gunpowder and nail bomb

A boy with an “unhealthy interest” in explosives and right wing politics made gunpowder and nailbombs with chemicals bought from his mother’s eBay account.

Police found a pipe packed with nails and screws and charged with powder in the 16 year old’s bedroom, and a pipe with a firework inside hidden under a waste oil tank at a nearby petrol station.

The youngster also had literature from the right wing groups the British National Party and the English Defence League, together with Nazi emblems.

Officers were tipped off by the eBay seller who was concerned about the commodities being bought. The family’s house in Tamworth, Staffs, was immediately evacuated while explosives and firearms experts searched the property for three days.

Daily Telegraph, 28 June 2010

Update:  See also Tamworth Herald, 1 July 2010

London: thousands demonstrate against EDL in East End

East London demonstration against EDL

Around 5,000 people marched through the East End of London today in a huge show of unity and defiance against racism and fascism.

The demonstration organised by UAF and United East End was orginally called as a counter-protest against the racist English Defence League, which has links with the British National Party and other fascist groups – but the racists abandoned their plans to come to Tower Hamlets as the scale of opposition to them became clear.

There was a great turnout on today’s antiracist demo anyway, with marchers determined to show that racism and fascism are not welcome in the East End. Large numbers of local young people were joined by trade unionists and people from every part of the area’s diverse population in an exuberant demonstration.

UAF news report, 20 June 2010

See also Socialist Worker, 20 June 2010

Update:  Read Dave Hill’s take on the afternoon’s events at Dave Hill’s London Blog, 21 June 2010

Legal challenge to ban on Zakir Naik

An Indian Muslim preacher banned by the home secretary from entering the UK for his “unacceptable behaviour” is to challenge the ruling in the courts.

Zakir Naik, a 44-year-old television preacher, had been due to give lectures in Sheffield on 25 June and Wembley Arena the following day. Mr Naik is based in Mumbai, where he works for the Peace TV channel. The Islamic Research Foundation said in a statement:

“It is deeply regrettable the British Government has bowed to pressure from sectarian and Islamophobic pressure groups by preventing the entry of Dr Zakir Naik, who has been visiting and delivering talks in the United Kingdom for the past 15 years.

“Dr Zakir Naik is undoubtedly an opponent of terrorism and as such has often spoken out against all acts of violence and violent extremism. He has emphatically and unequivocally condemned the killing of civilians and is one of the world’s regular noted orators on this topic.

“In the wake of the exclusion order and based on legal advice, Dr Zakir Naik intends to bring the matter before the High Court … and request a judicial review to have the exclusion order overturned.”

BBC News, 19 June 2010


Meanwhile, the English Defence League are celebrating having secured “another victory by getting hate preacher Zakir Naik banned from entering Britain”. They have announced that they are calling off their Wembley demonstration on 26 June and holding it in Barking instead.

Sectarian idiots attempt to undermine anti-fascist unity in Tower Hamlets

EDL Close East London Mosque

“As we confront the fascist thugs of EDL we in the Bengali and the Muslim community are being asked to stand side by side with Islamic Forum in Europe (IFE). This we refuse to do.”

As Tower Hamlets gears up for a united protest against the English Defence League, a motley collection of malicious, sectarian idiots has chosen this moment to mount a public attack on the IFE and the East London Mosque, bracketing them along with the EDL as fascists.

Note that many of the signatories to this ill-written diatribe aren’t even part of the Bengali and Muslim community anyway. They include the drunken thug Terry Fitzpatrick, currently on bail facing a charge of racially aggravated harassment following a complaint to the police by Simon Woolley of Operation Black Vote. Then there is Gita Sahgal, who broke with Amnesty over its links with Cageprisoners, and has headed a right-wing campaign against her former employers while promoting crackpot conspiracy theories to justify her participation in the witch-hunt.

And where would a statement like this be without the support of the contemptible Jim Fitzpatrick MP? This is the man who insulted the couple who invited him to their (gender-segregated) wedding at the London Muslim Centre by denouncing them to the press and whose most recent contribution to community harmony has been to condemn the organisers of Sunday’s protest for “stirring up fear and anger”.

True, this disgraceful statement has been signed by some members of the Bengali community in East London – indeed, it was organised on behalf of the laughably misnamed Unity Platform Against Racism and Fascism from the Bangladesh Welfare Association off Brick Lane.

One such signatory is Ansar Ahmed Ullah, who worked with Andrew Gilligan on “Britain’s Islamic Republic“, the Channel 4 documentary that provoked the EDL’s threat to demonstrate in the East End in the first place. And, after the programme was condemned in a letter to the Guardian by a wide range of progressive figures, Ullah collected signatures for a letter defending Gilligan’s witch-hunt. Last year he collaborated with Observer journalist Nick Cohen in another attack on the East London Mosque, complaining bitterly about the government’s willingness to consult its leading figures. “They never want to talk to people like me,” he whinged. Well, perhaps that’s because the East London Mosque is attended by some 10,000 people a week and represents serious forces within the community – whereas Ullah represents, shall we say, rather less.

Other signatories are associated with the Awami League, currently the governing party in Bangladesh. As the statement makes clear, their primary interest is in settling scores over disputes within Bangladeshi politics, going back to the liberation war nearly four decades ago, without any concern for the impact their actions have on politics in East London today.

This is not only unprincipled but monumentally stupid. By breaking the united front against the far Right, these self-proclaimed “secular” forces within the Bangladeshi community are playing with fire. The Brick Lane Mosque, with which the Bangladesh Welfare Association is connected, has itself been witch-hunted by Islamophobes over its recently-built “minaret”. What will they do if the EDL turns its attention to them? Blinded by their hatred of Jamaat-e-Islami, they fail to see – or do not care – that their sectarian actions will stoke the fires of Islamophobia and that, whatever short-term advantages they may gain over their rivals in the IFE, in the long term all sections of the Bengali Muslim community will pay the price.

The IFE’s response to the Unity Platform Against Racism and Fascism statement can be read here.

Update:  Over at The Spittoon, the Unity Platform statement is hailed as “An amazing show of grassroots unity in Tower Hamlets against the forces of fascism that seek to dominate it – be it the EDL, UAF or the IFE.” So, according to Faizal Gazi and his mates, not only IFE but also UAF are among the “forces of fascism”! Attempting to discredit the proponents of this sort of irrational nonsense would be entirely superfluous. They accomplish that task themselves without any help from us.

Unity statement against EDL protest in Wembley

Local trade unionists, faith group leaders and councillors in Brent have backed a unity statement against plans by the racist English Defence League to “protest” at an event held by a Muslim charity in Wembley.

The statement says:

The racist, Islamophobic English Defence League is threatening to demonstrate in Wembley on Saturday 26 June against a peace conference, organised by a Muslim charitable foundation and aimed at building understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims.

The EDL is an organisation of violent, bigoted thugs with proven links to the Nazi British National Party. They should be condemned everywhere, but will be particularly unwelcome if they come to Wembley, part of this country’s most diverse borough.

We are proud of our diversity. In the London Borough of Brent, people live and work together, children study, play and grow up together in peace and mutual respect, regardless of faith or skin colour.

As residents and workers in this borough, we will not tolerate attempts to divide us or stir up hatred. We stood united to show that there was no place for racism or Islamophobia in the neighbouring borough of Harrow. We stand prepared to do the same in Brent.

Signed by:

Pete Firmin president, Brent Trades Union Council,Benjamin Rickman, secretary Brent TUC and Hendon and Wembley Unite, all 40 councillors in Brent Council’s Labour Group, Pete BroadbentBishop of Willesden, Felicity Scroggie area dean of Brent, Peter Murry Brent Green Party and secretary, Green Party trade union group, Navin Shah London Assembly Member for Brent & Harrow,Fr David Neno rector, Christchurch with St Lawrence, Brondesbury, Harrow College UCU branch, Alf Filer Harrow College UCU, Nick GrantNational Union of Teachers national executive, An-Nisa Society, Nisar & Rashida Dean, Tala and Thomas Birch, Jane Morris St Gabriels Church, Jo Lang president, Harrow Teachers Association (NUT),Jon Gamble secretary, Watford Trades Union Council, Nikita Joshi secretary, LGBT committee and student governor, Harrow College NUS, Joshua McKenzie vice-president, Harrow College NUS and NUS executive, Clive Morton vicar, Holy Innocents Church, Kingsbury

Demonstrate against the EDL

Brent and Harrow UAF have also called a counter-demonstration against the EDL on Saturday 26 June, 1.30pm to 6pm, outside Wembley Arena, Engineers Way, London HA9 0DH (Wembley Park or Wembley Central tube).

>> Get a leaflet for the demo here

East End protest against EDL on Sunday

Racist EDL: Not Welcome in East London

Demo Sunday 20 June

Assemble 12.30pm Stepney Green Park

March to Altab Ali Park

Confirmed speakers so far include:

Christine Blower, general secretary, National Union of Teachers
Matt Wrack, general secretary, Fire Brigades Union
Hugh Lanning, deputy general secretary, PCS union
Cllr Helal Abbas, leader of Tower Hamlets Council
John Biggs, London Assembly Member
Anas Altikriti, British Muslim Initiative
Laura Maxwell, Jewish Council for Racial Equality
Rev Alan Green, Dean of Tower Hamlets and chair of the Interfaith Forum
Representatives from the London Muslim Centre, the Council of Mosques and Islamic Forum Europe
Speakers from other faith communities
Tower Hamlets councillors Lutfur Rahman, Abdul Ullah andOliur Rahman

Download leaflet here

Jim Fitzpatrick attacks anti-EDL demonstration

Former Labour Government minister Jim Fitzpatrick is accusing anti-fascist campaigners of stirring up fear in London’s East End over an aborted march that was planned by the English Defence League this Sunday.

The EDL march was called off after an Islamic conference at Stepney’s Troxy venue was cancelled. But Unite Against Fascism is urging supporters to turn up anyway at Stepney Green Park this coming Sunday for a rally.

That infuriated Mr Fitzpatrick, who told the East London Advertiser this morning: “The EDL are not coming to the East End any more. So much effort was put in by the police and local authority which got the Troxy event pulled. Yet ‘Unite Against Fascism’ is going ahead with its march that will do nothing for the community.

“At best it is causing concern in the community and at worst stirring up fear and anger. Why are they not trying to reassure the community? It is dangerous for them to use EDL as a stick to stir up the community.”

The Poplar & Limehouse MP is accusing the organisers of using the EDL for their own propaganda when the danger has passed.

Unite Against Fascism’s website this-morning says its rally at Stepney Green Park and march to Whitechapel is still going ahead on Sunday “to hammer home the message that the EDL are not welcome in Tower Hamlets.

East London Advertiser, 16 June 2011

Welsh Assembly Member criticises police response to Cardiff EDL demonstration

EDL Cardiff 2Police have come under attack from an Assembly Member for the way they handled a controversial protest march in Cardiff.

Leanne Wood told the National Assembly she had been “sickened” by the decision to allow members of the Welsh and English Defence League to rally in Cardiff.

The Plaid Cymru AM for South Wales Central addressed a counter demonstration by Unite Against Fascism on June 5. But she said she was “appalled” that South Wales Police had spent money “building a steel fence and kettling in the anti-racist protesters, while the English Defence League were escorted to a pub and then escorted on a march around the city centre”.

Ms Wood has asked the Assembly Government to examine what happened and report back “to make sure that a situation that happened in Cardiff a week last Saturday can never happen again”. She has also written to Chief Constable Peter Vaughan expressing her concerns.

A South Wales Police spokeswoman said they had not yet received Ms Wood’s letter. But Assistant Chief Constable Nick Croft has already responded to a letter from Ross Saunders, of the Cardiff Communities Against Racism group.

In his reply Mr Croft explained that the Welsh and English Defence League protest had been allowed to go ahead because it was lawful, even if the views expressed were “unpopular or disturbing”.

South Wales Echo, 17 June 2010


Cf. Nick Lowles’ recent article condemning “the complete failure of the authorities to address the growing EDL threat. Over the past few years hundreds of millions of pounds have been ploughed into community cohesion and other such initiatives but then we are told that groups that are deliberately setting out to whip up tension and violence cannot be stopped”.

He continues: “The problem appears to stem from the Public Order Unit at the Home Office, who have taken it upon themselves to act as the champions of free speech in advising successive Ministers that EDL protests should be allowed to happen…. They currently hide behind the legal opinion that static protests cannot be prevented but their real reason is far more ideological and short-sighted.”

Police escort EDL supporters out of Whitechapel

Police chiefs in London’s East End are today calling for calm in the community after minor clashes in Whitechapel last night believed to involve members of the English Defence League.

Tension has been high since the EDL planned to march next Sunday to Stepney’s Troxy venue where an Islamic conference was due to take place. The EDL called off its march, claiming “victory” after the Troxy cancelled the conference. But some of its supporters were alleged to have turned up at Whitechapel last night.

Tower Hamlets deputy Police Commander Colin Morgan said in a statement: “There are rumours of anti-Muslim activity. But there is a big difference between what is actually happening and what people say is happening. I would ask community leaders to do all they can to call for calm and for people not to believe rumours which have no basis in fact.”

Organisers of a counter anti-fascist rally at Stepney Green Park are going ahead on Sunday claiming the EDL is still a threat in the East End. About 20 EDL supporters were reported to have arrived at Whitechapel Underground station last night looking for a pub, but were spotted by market traders and Asian youths.

Eye-witness Glyn Robbins, one of the rally organisers, told the East London Advertiser: “This group can’t control its membership. They came to the East End to prove their prowess, which vindicates our position. Sunday’s rally must go ahead.”

Police turned up and escorted the men inside the pub back to the Underground station.

Deputy police commander Morgan’s statement continued: “Tensions were running high between 50 youths outside the pub and a group inside who they believed to be members of the English Defence League. Officers escorted the group back to Whitechapel station to prevent disorder.”

Police were called again at 8pm to reports of EDL supporters outside the East London Mosque in Whitechapel, but found no sign of them. Instead, there was a crowd of up to 700 people. One youth was arrested for possessing a hammer, Scotland Yard later confirmed.

East London Advertiser, 15 June 2010


Meanwhile, Jim Fitzpatrick MP has denounced Unite Against Fascism for going ahead with an anti-EDL demonstration on Sunday, accusing UAF of accusing the organisers of using the EDL for their own propaganda when the danger has passed. Fitzpatrick told the East London Advertiser:

“The EDL are not coming to the East End any more…. Yet ‘Unite Against Fascism’ is going ahead with its march that will do nothing for the community. At best it is causing concern in the community and at worst stirring up fear and anger. Why are they not trying to reassure the community? It is dangerous for them to use EDL as a stick to stir up the community.”