A group of men linked to the English Defence League have been fined for chanting racially motivated abuse after attending a football match. The six, from south-west Durham, were found guilty of shouting highly inflammatory chants at Middlesbrough railway station.

Yesterday, more than 50 members of the far-right organisation gathered outside Teesside Magistrates’ Court to show their support, and anger flared when court officials would only allow five of them in the public gallery. There was a heavy police presence in the town after supporters met in a nearby pub before going to the court.

Continue reading →

Continue reading →

Police have spent £200,000 supervising protests against plans to turn a disused Scout hut into a community centre. The cost of the operation in Thurnby Lodge, Leicester, is rising daily as discussions continue to resolve the building’s future.

Officers from city stations and as far afield as Hinckley and Coalville have had to be redeployed from their normal duties to oversee regular protests – occasionally lasting late into the night – against a plan by the Muslim group As-Salaam Trust to convert the Nursery Road building into a community centre.

The protests, which began early last month, have taken place outside the nearby community centre in Thurncourt Road, where members of As-Salaam have been meeting for the past two-and-a-half years.

Leicester Mercury, 10 September 2012

For previous coverage see here, here and here.

A soldier who smashed up an anti-racism event with his English Defence League pals is set to be kicked out of the Army.

Cavan Langfield, 18, and a gang of mates stormed a Rock Against Racism gig in Leeds last year. They smashed windows and hurled bricks and bottles, knocking a teenager’s tooth out.

Langfield, from the Yorkshire Regiment, and eight other members of the gang were convicted at Leeds Crown Court last week.

A source at the Ministry of Defence said: “The wheels are in motion to get him thrown out. That’s a whole promising career up in flames.”

Continue reading →

A gang of English Defence League supporters caused terror when they attacked a pub as an anti-racism rock concert was being staged.

Nine members of the gang were handed community sentences yesterday (Sept 3) after a court heard how windows and doors were smashed as bricks and bottles were hurled at Joseph’s Well in Leeds city centre.

Leeds Crown Court heard the gang members turned up at the venue and tried to get into to the Rock Against Racism event.

Violence erupted when one member of the gang, Mark Johnson, 31, tried to push past door staff but was resisted and suffered an injury. A man who was at the event with his son was hit in the mouth with a missile thrown by a gang member and had a tooth knocked out.

Andrew Stranex, prosecuting, said members of the group were chanting “EDL” in reference to the far right group. Others were heard to say: “We are not racist, we just hate Muslims.”

Continue reading →