“The EDL were formed in June 2009, after demonstrations by a group of radical Muslims, at the homecoming parade, in Luton, of some of our troops, the Royal Anglian Regiment, returning from a tour of duty in Iraq. It is a rapidly growing movement, whose main Facebook group has over 15,000 members to date. The EDL has tried to make clear that it is not opposed to Muslims, but to radical Islam, against which they hold protests all over Britain.”
Remember Douglas Story, the Virginia truck driver whose license plate – 14CV88 – was recalled following claims by the Council on American-Islamic Relations that that it contained a coded message expressing neo-Nazi views, an accusation that Story indignantly denied?
Violence broke out between anti-Islamist protesters from the English Defence League and riot police at a May Day march in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. Demonstrators hurled coins, glass bottles, plastic flag sticks and cans at officers after the event. Around 200 protesters burst through police lines and scuffled with officers armed with riot shields, batons and dogs. Onlookers said there were no apparent serious injuries.
Around 1,000 members of the far-right group had marched to the town’s Market Square, chanting and waving flags. One onlooker said: “As the protesters came to leave the square members of the EDL thought they weren’t been allowed out quickly enough and some began pushing and shoving. Soon missiles were been thrown and riot police had to be called in to calm the situation down.”
Local Area Commander Superintendent Richard List, of Thames Valley Police, strongly condemned the violence. He said: “It is disappointing that the EDL has not continued to protest in a peaceful manner.”
See also Socialist Worker, 1 May 2010
Schools Secretary Ed Balls received a frosty reception from voters as he went head to head with the British National Party in a soapbox debate in West Yorkshire today.
Mr Balls, who has a notional majority in the seat of Morley and Outwood, was jeered and booed by some members of the public in Morley town centre as he answered questions.
Four other candidates – Chris Beverley for the BNP, Anthony Calvert for the Conservatives, James Monaghan for the Liberal Democrats, and David Daniel for the UK Independence Party – joined Mr Balls as they mounted soapboxes to address voters directly. A microphone was passed round the crowd during the 40-minute event, organised by The Independent newspaper, and questions were asked on issues including schools, the economy, jobs and immigration.
A question posed from a male member of the crowd regarding Belgium’s decision to ban the burka led to one of the biggest responses from the audience. He asked the candidates: “They’re doing this (banning the burka) in the interest of women’s rights, social inclusion, anti-terrorism and security. What I want to know is which of the parties are going to have the gumption to take an issue like that and really address it?”
Mr Balls answered: “We have people here who are Christian and Muslim and Jewish, and I think British values of tolerance and fair play and mutual respect mean that you don’t say to people that because of their particular religion, or the colour of their skin that they are second class.”
Some members of the audience clapped and cheered in support of Mr Balls while others booed and held aloft BNP posters.
See also BBC News, 30 April 2010
The Labour Party (PvdA) is the most popular political organization in the Netherlands, according to a poll by Maurice de Hond. A prospective tally of seats shows that the PvdA would secure 33 seats in next month’s election to the Second Chamber.
The People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) is in second place with 30 seats, followed by the governing Christian-Democratic Appeal (CDA) with 27, the far-right Party for Freedom (PvdV) with 18 seats, and the Democrats 66 (D66) with 12. Support is lower for the Green Left (GL), the Socialist Party (SP), the Christian Union (CU), the Reformed Political Party (SGP), and the Party for the Animals (PvdD).
In June 2009, the PvdV – which has gained notoriety due to the stance on immigration of its leader, Geert Wilders – won four of the 25 Dutch seats in the European Parliament.
Douglas Story, a Chantilly dump truck driver for the Virginia Department of Transportation, says he wanted to grab people’s attention when he paid $224.90 to have a mural of the burning World Trade Center detailed onto the tailgate of his Ford F-150 along with a sticker that reads: “Everything I ever needed to know about Islam I learned on 9/11.”
But he got more than he bargained for when a photo of his pickup went viral on the Web last week. Motorists and Muslim groups complained that his Virginia vanity license plate – 14CV88 – was really code for neo-Nazi, white supremacist sentiments. The state Department of Motor Vehicles voted last week to recall Story’s plates and force him to buy new ones.
The national leader of the English Defence League yesterday warned that Saturday’s demonstration in Aylesbury could be the first of many after a bitter row erupted with police and council bosses.
Officers were hoping to keep EDL members on the outskirts of town before a rally in Market Square, to prevent skirmishes with counter demonstrators. But yesterday Tommy Robinson – not his real name – said EDL protestors are now planning to evade police and instead gather in Vale Park – where an anti-EDL demonstration is due to be held.
He said: “If our demonstration doesn’t go how we want it to go, we’ll come back in six weeks. No other place has tried to block us like this one has.”
The EDL fell foul of police and council chiefs after trying to put up a stage and use loudspeakers – which they need a licence for. At a tense meeting on Monday, they were also told that they were not allowed to carry wooden framed banners. Coachloads of EDL members would have been met by police and escorted to Market Square, where they would have been contained inside solid barriers.
Robinson said ominously: “We don’t think they’re doing well if they want it to go peacefully.”
Left-wing party Respect called for a ban on demonstrations by the far-right English Defence League, as it launched its election manifesto.
Birmingham candidate Salma Yaqoob, the party’s leader, joined high-profile candidate George Galloway in London to launch the manifesto, which also includes plans for an annual anti-racism concert in every major city.
Respect says it is hoping to gain seats in Birmingham Hall Green, where Ms Yaqoob is standing, and in Poplar and Limehouse, London, where Mr Galloway is the party’s candidate.
Measures in the manifesto include a ban on demonstrations by the English Defence League (EDL), which held a protest in Dudley earlier this month that put the town into lockdown.
The EDL, which has also held demonstrations in Birmingham which descended into violence, says it is opposed to Islamic extremism. Critics accuse it of having links to the far-right and claim it is simply opposed to Islam and Muslims in general.
The Respect manifesto also includes plans for annual anti-racism concerts in every major city in the country, based on London’s annual Rise anti-racism festival, which ran from 1996 to 2008.
Birmingham Post, 27 April 2010
See also Respect news release, 26 April 2010
Protesters are to gather outside BBC headquarters on Monday as the British National Party’s election broadcast is aired. The BBC is accused by campaign group Unite Against Fascism (UAF) of giving “unwarranted and uncritical coverage” of the BNP during the run-up to the election.
UAF’s protest at Broadcasting House in central London will be supported by the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union (Bectu), as well as the Muslim Council of Britain and Jewish Council for Racial Equality.
UAF joint secretary Sabby Dhalu said: “The BBC has given unwarranted and uncritical coverage of the BNP during this election campaign, particularly on TV news and Radio 4, which has failed to challenge its racist scapegoating of immigrants and Islamophobia.
“The BBC’s justification for giving the BNP more coverage is the election of two BNP MEPs last year. This is misguided. Giving the BNP a platform and failing to expose and challenge it gives the BNP a veneer of legitimacy.
“The BNP is a fascist organisation, not a normal political party, and the public does not pay its licence fee to see fascists broadcast their politics of hate.”
Press Association, 26 April 2010
See also UAF press release, 25 April 2010
Extreme right supporters are part of an internet group opposing plans for a new mosque in Barton Hill. More than 700 people have joined a Facebook group against a planning application to convert a disused building in Aiken Street into a place of worship and community centre.
Many of the messages on “No we do not want a mosque in Barton Hill” are from white people who claim they are being “pushed out” of their community. Some are too offensive to be printed in a family newspaper, with claims that mosques are “breeding grounds for terrorists” and calls to vote BNP.
A number of messages of support are given by the far-right English Defence League, whose members were removed from Harbourside by police in riot gear shortly before the political leader’s debate last week. Comments on the website have been branded as racist by other people who have posted in response to their views.
One referred to the commentators as “racist uneducated idiots”, while another said “What’s wrong with you lot? The world is changing, why can’t you see that? People like you just make the English look like horrible people”.
The proposal to convert the former Weston White factory into a mosque has been submitted to the council by Khalif Abdirahman, a parent governor at Barton Hill Primary School. He hoped the mosque would help bring the community together and argued many of the messages from the site are from people outside of the area.
One post that supports his theory reads: “Even though I don’t live in Somerset anymore, I don’t want this! This is England! I have sent this to friends in the US too, invited 110 people and filled in the petition form to Bristol City Council.”
Other comments included: “Why is there such a high demand for mosques? Because in there [sic] twisted religion they believe all of the Earth is Allah’s and they plan to dominate, no thanks **** off to the Middle East or some other Muslim hole.”
Another said: “What can we do to stop this I live 2 mins away from it I don’t want to walk up the street and fill [sic] like I am out numbered in my own country bring on the BNP.”