EDL protestors confront police in Dudley, July 2010

Three men have been arrested this morning in connection with an English Defence League protest in Dudley Town Centre.

Police executed warrants across Dudley and Walsall as part of their ongoing investigation into criminal damage and disorder following the EDL protest and counter protest by the Dudley Interfaith Alliance on July 17.

The men, aged 18, 20 and 26, were arrested on suspicion of violent disorder. They were questioned by police before being released on bail pending further enquiries.

A number of criminal offences have been recorded to date from the protests, including criminal damage caused to cars and premises in the town including homes, businesses and the Hindu Temple.

Dudley News, 26 November 2010

A Muslim academy in Portsmouth has been the target of two hate crimes in the past fortnight, police have said. In the first incident, a brick with a racist message on it was thrown into the Portsmouth Muslim Academy, on Old Commercial Road, on 13 November. A beer bottle was then thrown through a window at the front of the building last Friday.

The city’s Jami Mosque was also targeted twice in two days on 12 and 13 November. The mosque was first attacked a day after an Islamic group, Muslims Against Crusades, burned remembrance poppies in London during a two-minute silence to mark the anniversary of Armistice Day. A poppy was subsequently painted on the front of the mosque, on Victoria Road North in Southsea, and 100 people staged a demonstration outside.

The mosque’s imam, Muhammad Muhi Uddin, said he had condemned the poppy burning and was mystified as to why the building had been targeted. One man was arrested on suspicion of a public order offence.

Police said they were treating the incidents of criminal damage at the Portsmouth Muslim Academy as hate crimes. Insp Fiona Quade, of Hampshire Constabulary, said: “My officers regularly conduct patrols in the area around Old Commercial Road, but if you saw what happened, could identify a suspect or know who did this, please get in touch. We’ve already got an investigation ongoing into the disorder at demonstrations outside the Jami Mosque.”

BBC News, 25 November 2010

Police patrols are to be stepped up around Preston’s mosques on Saturday as around 1,200 protesters head into the city to take part in two demonstrations.

Chief Supt Tim Jacques, head of Preston Police, revealed the plans ahead of the demonstration by the English Defence League and counter demonstration by Unite Against Facism and the Trade Union Council.

Police officers’ days off have been cancelled and specially trained public order officers are being drafted in from other parts of the county to support the policing operation, which will see the mounted branch, road police and other units taking to city centre streets.

Today Chief Supt Jacques said it would be one of the biggest police operations seen in Preston in recent years but insisted the city was “open for business as usual” on Saturday – the fourth week before Christmas and the first official Christmas shopping weekend.

He said: “We are working with the community and police officers are going to be in the areas where the mosques are on Saturday to reassure people. We have had lots of meetings with the mosques and are working with the demonstration organisers in terms of minimising the impact. There are no planned demonstrations outside any mosques but it is in our minds.”

Lancashire Evening Post, 23 November 2010

Details of the Unite Against Fascism protest can be found here.

Update:  It is good that the police appear to have accepted that the EDL represents a violent threat to the Muslim community in Preston – previously they argued that the EDL is a peaceful, non-racist organisation. This reluctance to recognise the real character of the EDL is unfortunately not restricted to the police in Lancashire. See also the Morning Star, which reports that the new head of police domestic extremist units, DCS Adrian Tudway, has claimed that the EDL is not a far-right group.

Masked men threw bottles of beer and urinated on a mosque following a march against Muslim extremism.

Bacon was also left on cars near Kingston Mosque during the attack by a group of 10-15 youths on Sunday.

Kingston Mosque claimed baseball bats were also used in the incident on East Road, but this was not confirmed by police. However officers did recover two pieces of wood near the scene.

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