EDL protestors in Leicester, October 2010
Three men were sentenced yesterday for their part in the public disorder which accompanied the English Defence League protest in Leicester.
Two of the men, who denied having any official political affiliation with the EDL, were among a group hurling missiles at the international arts centre Fabrika, in Humberstone Gate.
Exposing the English Defence League reports on EDL leader Stephen Lennon’s latest attempt to damage community relations in Luton. He posted the following report on the EDL’s Facebook page yesterday:
“Last night in Luton a priest was battered coming out of Saturday mass, the word is it was Muslim youth! We are still waiting for this to be confirmed but EDL will be on standby for this sat as if it’s true thousands of Luton lads will be on the streets! THIS WILL BE THE FINAL STRAW!”
EDL supporters reacted as Lennon must have known they would. Some sample comments:
“fooking wankers. Lets batter then fucking scum. EDL till I die !!”
“If this is true the correct response should be violent retaliation….all this peaceful, non aggressive approach needs to go out the window..these bastards need a good hiding”
“Dirty bastards should be shot”
“These people need to be put down like the dogs they are ns”
“May God forgive them cos we fucking wont. Hang em ns.”
“time for action….. they must pay the price and I want to lick their blood off my face”
“TIME TO START WIPING OUT THIS PLAUGE BEFORE OUR COUNTRY IS OVER RUN BY DIRTY DRESS WEARING SCUM FUCKS. OUR WOMEN KIDS AND NOW OUR FAITH WILL NOT BE SAFE TILL ALL OF THESE FUCKERS ARE ALL WIPED OUT NS”
Observing “I’m prepared to bet my house to this story being completely untrue”, Darcy Jones of Exposing the EDL adds: “An identical post was made on Stephen’s personal FACEBOOK profile last night evoking similar reactions. Some deeply offensive racism and threats of arson were thrown in for good measure…. Both these posts have been forwarded to Bedfordshire police as we fear this fabricated incitement is genuinely dangerous to Stephen’s community.”
And this afternoon we find the following message from Lennon posted on the EDL’s Facebook page:
Last week, a man was hauled up before Doncaster Crown Court for using “offensive” language. As punishment, he was banned from attending or helping to organise any demonstration, meeting or gathering held by his political organisation or even visiting its website for 10 years. In addition, he was banned from travelling by train anywhere in the UK and from entering a mosque, meeting room, school or cultural centre….
So for unemployed 38-year-old Shane Overton, the UK has effectively become an open prison for the next 10 years, one in which he can no longer play any role in the (perfectly legal) activities he was previously engaged in with his political organisation, the English Defence League (EDL)….
On his way home following an EDL demo in Newcastle, he came across an Asian family at Doncaster rail station. Taking “exception to them speaking in Urdu”, he “used racist abuse and told them to ‘get out of our country'”. Overton certainly deserves to be challenged and chastised for his disgusting language and contemptible treatment of the family.
But while he reportedly scared the family’s children, there is no suggestion he used violence in the attack. He didn’t throw punches at these individuals; only words. If we hope to live in an open and free society, feeling free to say what we think – even if it causes offence to some – is of primary importance….
Of course, the fact we’re talking about “fascist” EDL members – as many leftie organisations will tell you – seems to mean that they shouldn’t be granted the democratic freedoms of right-thinking, middle-class liberals steeped in New Labour’s multiculturalist agenda. The members of this largely white working-class group are regarded as relics from a bygone era, Neanderthals needing to be re-educated or kept isolated from the rest of society, by force of law if necessary.
Despite the severe, illiberal punishment inflicted upon him by the courts, Shane Overton’s case has hardly registered as a blip on the radar of the national press. Perhaps if Overton had been a member of Unite Against Fascism, Hope Not Hate, or another such group there would have been outcry from people defending his civil liberties and trying to get his case noticed.
But there has been no outcry. Because left-leaning groups disagree with what Overton said, then not a word is spoken in his defence. Working-class “thugs”, it seems, don’t deserve a right to free speech. Indeed the “anti-Fascist” publication Searchlight has (ironically) shown just what an authoritarian bent it has, by claiming that it will snitch to the state if it sees him breach his ASBO: “Searchlight will be watching closely to make sure Overton stays away from future EDL events.”
Patrick Hayes at Spiked, 14 March 2011
Over at the EDL’s Facebook page its members have warmly welcomed Spiked’s support.
Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders’ lawyer asked judges on Monday to throw out his client’s hate speech trial arguing that neither they nor the prosecution had jurisdiction in the case. “I ask you to declare the prosecution not competent,” defence lawyer Bram Moszkowicz told the Amsterdam district court in a hearing the public broadcaster streamed live on the Internet.
Next month’s East End Gay Pride should be cancelled because it will cause “community tension”, it has been claimed. Some local gay campaigners say the march, in east London, will cause tensions between gay people and Muslims.
The march, to be held on April 2nd, has been organised by six friends as a response to anti-gay stickers plastered around the East End. But opponents say it is an “emotional reaction” which “risks antagonising and scapegoating” Muslims.
They have also accused organisers of having “close links” to the English Defence League because some have Facebook friends who appear to be involved in the far-right group.
Although the parade has been backed by local police and Tower Hamlets council, some local campaigners are calling for it to be cancelled.
An open letter signed by Out East chair Thierry Schaffauser and Terry Stewart of the Hackney Community Engagement Board claims that the Pride march may “divide our communities” or be used “to oppress other marginalised groups”.
Out East organises Hackney Pride and the letter has also been signed by Denis Fernando of Unite Against Fascism and the Greater London Association of Trade Union Councils.
It says: “We believe that the most appropriate response to the stickers is to liaise with Muslim communities and others to create bridges and communicate with each other.
“We want both homophobia and Islamophobia addressed as a collective problem and not feed one against the other, we do not recognise these as distinct categories.
“We will refuse any attempt to divide our communities or take the risk that an LGBTQ event is used to oppress other marginalised groups, in particular LGBTQ Muslims who will be the most affected by this rising antagonism.”
In response, the organisers of East End Gay Pride said in a statement: “This is wholly a non-political demonstration and purely a high visibility demonstration of the East End gay community. This is not an anti-Muslim march. This is not an anti-anything march. We have stated this over and over again, here and on our website. We simply want to say: ‘Hang on. You’re wrong. The East End is NOT a gay-free zone’.”
East End Pride has also received support from the organisers of Pride London. In an opinion for PinkNews.co.uk today, chair Paul Birrell wrote: “The organisers of the event should be applauded for this fun and timely reminder of the East End’s LGBT community, not showered with abuse for simply wanting to show, well, a bit of Pride.
“The idea that being out and proud is somehow an assault on someone else’s views is used time and again by hostile governments to ban Pride.
“That some within London’s own LGBT community should use this argument – in what looks suspiciously like a case of sour grapes at not having thought of the idea first – is a source of shame.”
For some useful background from the Latte Labour blog on the organisers of “East End Gay Pride”, see here and here.
Up to 130 supporters of the anti-Muslim English Defence League (EDL) descended on Green Lane in Dagenham on Saturday. They came from as far as Southend and Kent to protest against a disused butchers being converted into a Muslim centre.
Under police supervision the EDL met at a local pub from 10am onwards before assembling at nearby Chadwell Heath train station at around 12.30 to lay flowers for one of their supporters who was killed by a train after a previous protest in the area.
The EDL then noisily marched to Green Lane only to find they were penned in behind metal barriers and not able to protest outside the butchers shop as they had intended. Behind the barriers the EDL chanted anti-Muslim slogans such as “Allah is a Paedo” and “Burn a poppy – burn a Mosque” as self-appointed EDL leader and co-founder Kevin Carrol threatened to “Bring the whole country to Dagenham” if the council did not reverse its decision on plans for the butchers shop.
In contrast, around 40 Unite Against Fascism supporters had been on Green Lane from early morning leafleting with a petition and talking to local people. One UAF campaigner told me – “Yes, there is some support for the anti-Muslim racism of the EDL, but the majority of those we have spoken to feel intimidated and disgusted by it. They don’t want their (EDL) race hate here, or that of the BNP.”
At the same time, from across the road, I could hear the EDL chanting “Scum, scum, scum” and pointing in the direction of the UAF campaigners. By the end of the respective protests the atmosphere was very tense with the local bus boarded by the UAF being boarded by the police and the EDL given a police escort back to Chadwell Heath train station.
See also “Accused extremists face court over affray”, Newcastle Evening Chronicle, 11 March 2011
Members of the British Sikh community say they are disappointed that Guramit Singh, one of the self-styled leaders of the English Defence League (EDL), will now not face charges on suspicion of causing religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress.
His arrest related to the speech that he made at the EDL protest in Peterborough. The video of his speech is freely available on the internet.
The police decision not to proceed further with his case comes only days after the uproar in the media when Emadur Choudhury, an Islamist extremist, was fined only £50 after burning poppies during Remembrance Day last year.
Balwinder Singh Rana from Sikhs Against the EDL said, “This smacks of ‘double standards’. While the media was right to protest against the lenient treatment given to Choudhury for causing an offence to the memory of the fallen soldiers, I think now they should show the same vigour in demanding that Singh should not be allowed to get away for insulting a whole community.
“Guramit Singh, by fronting the EDL, has only brought shame and embarrassment to the Sikh community, but most of the community is united in condemning his actions.”
Varinder Singh, organiser of the Sikhs Against the EDL, said, “At the Luton demonstration against the EDL there was a very strong message sent from the Sikh community that he (Guramit Singh) is an embarrassment. I feel immensely proud seeing the Sikh community unite against the EDL and hold individuals such as Guramit accountable for their actions.”
See also Turban Campaign, 10 March 2011
The charred remains of the old Shotton Lane Social Club building has now been demolished – one month after it was torched by arsonists.
The community building had been earmarked to become an Islamic cultural centre under plans put forward by Flintshire Muslim Cultural Society (FMCS).
But before a buyout could take place the building was destroyed in an arson attack in the early hours of February 4, and about 100 nearby residents had to be evacuated from their homes.
A Lincolnshire man whose racist abuse caused two children to “cling to their parents in fear” has been banned from attending any public meeting organised by right-wing group the EDL, police have said.
Shane Overton, 38, of Parker Avenue, Lincoln, was given a 10-year Criminal Anti-Social Behaviour Order (Crasbo) at Doncaster Crown Court on Wednesday. Lincolnshire Police said he was issued with the order after attending an EDL demonstration in Newcastle last year.
One of the leaders of the English Defence League (EDL) will face no further police action after being arrested following their controversial march in Peterborough.
Guramit Singh (28), from Nottingham, was arrested on December 21 on suspicion of causing religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress.
The arrest came after a member of the public complained about the content of Mr Singh’s speech delivered outside Peterborough Magistrates’ Court during the EDL protest on December 11. Mr Singh’s speech was heard by around 1,000 EDL supporters, who took part in the protest, as well as hundreds of shoppers.
A spokesman for Cambridgeshire Police said: “Following a detailed police investigation and advice from the Crown Prosecution Service, he has been released with no further action.”
Mr Singh was not available for comment but fellow EDL leader Tommy Robinson said: “We are pleased the charges were dropped – there was nothing in them.”
Peterborough Evening Telegraph, 8 March 2011
The content of Singh’s Peterborough speech can be sampled here.
So, while Emdadur Choudhury, an idiot follower of Anjem Choudary, can be prosecuted and fined under the Public Order Act for burning poppies on Remembrance Day, it appears that a leader of the racist EDL can engage in foul-mouthed abuse of British Muslims without any legal sanction at all.
ENGAGE has commented on the double standards of the right-wing press who expressed outrage that Emdadur Choudhury was fined a mere £50. Can we now perhaps expect those same newspapers to condemn the failure of the police and CPS to take action against Guramit Singh?