Far-right groups tried and failed to exploit the Woolwich murder. But why are police arresting protesters trying to stop them? Daniel Trilling poses the question.
Category Archives: UK
Sunderland mosque protest a damp squib
A demonstration against the building of a mosque in Sunderland turned out to be a damp squib. Just 10 people, saying they were from the Northern Patriotic Front, stood opposite the site – a former council vehicle depot in St Mark’s Road, Millfield – on Saturday.
Huntingdon mosque attack: Man charged
A 45-year-old man has been charged with racial or religiously aggravated criminal damage over an attack on a mosque in Cambridgeshire.
The man was arrested on Thursday at the Islamic Education and Prayer Centre on Coneygear Road, Huntingdon.
Police in Huntingdon said they were working with the mosque and the local community to provide reassurance following the attack.
The man is due before Huntingdon Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
Britain unites to warn racist thugs ‘you can’t cash in on Lee Rigby’s murder’
A far right bid to exploit soldier Lee Rigby’s murder failed today as people across Britain turned their backs on racism, the Sunday People reports.
Demos by the British National Party and English Defence League flopped – and a march in London was even outnumbered by a nearby protest against badger culling.
The scenes took place as suspect Michael Adebolajo, 28, was charged with Drummer Rigby’s murder. Michael Adebowale, 22, has already been charged.
Bigots using the atrocity to push a right-wing agenda faced a united front from people shouting slogans like “Fascist scum off our streets” and “we’re black and white and Asian and we’re Jews.”
At one rally not a single EDL supporter turned up.
BNP met by hundreds of anti-fascists at Westminster
Hundreds of anti-fascist campaigners have descended on Westminster today in protest at a planned march by the British National Party following the death of Lee Rigby.
Around 50 BNP members and supporters turned out for a march and motorcade outside the Houses of Parliament at 1pm after police stepped in to halt initial plans for a demonstration in Woolwich amid fears of it igniting community tensions.
Local opposition to Lincoln mosque protest
Local residents are opposing a planned protest against the mosque set to be built in Lincoln on the former site of the Boultham dairy, along with a supermarket and housing development.
As previously reported, the demo is organised via Facebook by a group called East Anglian Patriots, possibly an off-shoot of the English Defence League (EDL). The event is planned for 1pm on June 8 at the site of the former Boultham Dairy, where the new mosque and a supermarket were approved back in November 2012.
EDL graffiti on Muslim prayer hall in Blackburn cemetery
Police are investigating after graffiti was painted on to the wall of a Muslim prayer hall at a cemetery in Lancashire. The writing was discovered in the Pleasington cemetery on Tower Road, Blackburn earlier.
Ch Supt Bob Eastwood said: “It is unacceptable for anyone to commit crimes like this, especially at places of worship.” He appealed for anyone with information to contact Lancashire Police.
See also Asian Image, 31 May 2013
Anti-Muslim hate crimes soar since Woolwich attack
Lee Rigby’s family say he would not want people to use his name as an excuse to attacks others. But figures show that violence against Muslim targets has increased fivefold since his murder.
Channel 4 News has obtained figures from the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), which emerged as Drummer Lee Rigby’s family appealed for calm following his killing on 22 May.
136 complaints of anti-Muslim incidents were reported online to police in the week following the killing – that included violence and internet material. The number is five times the number recorded in the preceding week, although the numbers hit a peak the day after the murder.
Lewisham Muslims welcome BNP march restrictions
Lewisham’s Islamic Centre has expressed its relief at the “welcome news” that far-right group, the British National Party, will be barred from marching in the southeast London’s borough’s streets.
BNP leader Nick Griffin had planned out a route from Woolwich Barracks, near to the scene where soldier Lee Rigby was murdered, to the centre only a few miles away, which was scheduled to go ahead tomorrow (June 1).
However, police intervened in the BNP’s plans, citing potential for serious violence and damage to neighbourhoods.
Conservative MP denounces anti-Muslim bigots as ‘bloody fools’
One of Hampshire’s top politicians has criticised the “crazy fools” insulting Muslims following the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby. New Forest West MP Desmond Swayne has condemned the current wave of anti-Muslim incidents, including attacks on mosques, which began shortly after the young soldier was killed in Woolwich.
Writing in his weekly blog Mr Swayne says: “I have regular correspondents on the subject of Islam. Some are Internet ‘trolls’ who send me e-mails filled with complete drivel that they have picked up from nasty right-wing websites…. Then there are a few ‘churchy’ folk who send me considered but equally misguided stuff peppered with quotes taken out of context from the Koran and enclosing articles from evangelical publications.”