Worried Muslims are expected to flee the village they have made their home when far-right extremists stage a protest tomorrow.

Members of the English Defence League (EDL) are due to hold a demonstration in Shotton Colliery tomorrow from 2pm.

The march is in protest at Durham County Council’s approval of local businessman Kaiser Choudry’s plans to turn the former Melrose Arms pub, in the village’s Front Street, into a Muslim education centre.

Mr Choudry’s nephew, Imran Nadeem, 38, who works in the village’s Milco Store, said: “We are very scared. There has been a Muslim presence in Shotton for at least the last 23 years, there are about five or six families, and we have been a very peaceful community. We will be leaving the area for our safety tomorrow and we are worried about our business.”

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English Defence League leader Stephen Lennon has been charged with mortgage fraud, Bedfordshire Police say.

He was among six people to be charged following a fraud investigation by the force.

Mr Lennon, 30, also known as Tommy Robinson, is currently on remand in Wandsworth Prison for a separate, unrelated offence.

A police spokesman said he had been charged with three counts of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation in relation to a mortgage application.

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An independent candidate in the Rotherham by-election is a member of the far-right English Defence League who has criminal convictions,The Star can reveal.

Clint Bristow, aged 39, of Cantley, Doncaster, is one of 11 people standing in tomorrow’s by-election caused by the resignation of Labour MP Denis MacShane over dishonest expenses claims.

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A man who was arrested during an English Defence League march in Norwich and charged with using threatening words or behaviour has been fined.

Matthew Berryman, 28, of Astell Road, Norwich, appeared at Norwich Magistrates’ Court yesterday where he pleaded guilty to the offence on November 10. He was ordered to pay a £150 fine, a £20 victim surcharge and £85 prosecution costs.

Norwich Evening News, 27 November 2012

The English Defence League had high expectations of their demonstration outside Wandworth prison in support of their jailed leader.

“We want to make it a big event,” the EDL wrote last week, “we want the authorities to sit up and take note. We want them to know that we know that Tommy’s arrest and remand is motivated not by a desire to uphold the law but for political reasons.”

Alas, the troops failed to rally to the cause. Hope Not Hate and EDL News report that a mere 100 protestors turned out in the rain.

Far-right extremists will descend on Shotton Colliery next month to protest over plans to turn a former pub into a Muslim education centre.

Members of the English Defence League (EDL) will hold what they say will be the “first of many” regional demonstrations in the village. It comes after, the EDL says, residents contacted the organisation after Durham County Council passed plans to turn the former Melrose Arms pub into a Muslim educational centre in May.

The EDL says it will be supported by other Defence Leagues and North East Infidels during the demonstration, on December 1.

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The English Defence League have posted the latest missive from their imprisoned leader Stephen Lennon. It concludes with the following message, which provides a good illustration of how the EDL’s initial claim to be protesting against “Islamic extremism” later evolved into the position that it is Islam as a whole that needs to be fought.

The leader of the English Defence League (EDL) in Bristol has been arrested in connection with graffiti sprayed on mosques and Sikh temples.

Mickey Bayliss, from Upton Cheyney near Bitton, was arrested on Wednesday, along with another man.

The two had their properties searched but were not charged and have been released on bail.

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