Police have arrested three people ahead of an EDL protest for allegedly making racist tweets.
Northumbria Police said two people from Gateshead and a third from Stockton, Teesside, were held earlier. The EDL has planned their demonstration for months, but the horrific murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich on Wednesday has heightened tensions in the local community.
A counter demonstration by opponents of the EDL has been planned.
Dozens of English Defence League supporters – including the group’s main leader – temporarily blocked a busy main road through Wolverhampton in an impromptu protest against the Woolwich terror attack, last night.
Around 60 people walked into the middle of Birmingham New Road, at its junction with Spring Road and Rookery Road, in Lanesfield at around 7.40pm.
The murder of soldier Lee Rigby has provoked a backlash of anger across the UK, including the attacking of mosques, racial abuse and comments made on social media.
A London man will appear before Brighton Magistrates’ Court this morning (May 25) charged with causing to be sent by a publication communication network an offensive, indecent, obscene, or menacing message.
Adam Rogers, 28, unemployed, of Kingsman Street, Woolwich, was arrested in Hastings on Friday having been identified from a Facebook entry made while he was in the town. The entry was allegedly in connection to the incident in Woolwich on Wednesday in which a serving soldier was attacked and killed.
Community leaders have condemned an attack on a Grimsby mosque in the wake of the murder of a soldier in London.
In a united front against apparently racially-motivated vandals, church leaders, police chiefs and council leaders today said the behaviour of a gang of drunken youths was “disgusting and unacceptable”.
Muslim leaders were less than a metre away from where bricks landed inside their mosque – which had been lobbed by teenagers at the windows of the building, at the junction of Weelsby Road and Legsby Avenue, shortly after 11pm on Thursday. It is believed that an end-of-term house party escalated into a backlash against the murder of drummer Lee Rigby, in Woolwich.
Cars were also damaged and bins were overturned, and Humberside Police arrested 11 teenagers, aged between 16 and 17.
A Bolton man has been arrested on suspicion of posting offensive comments on Facebook about the horrific death of the soldier killed in a terror attack in London.
It comes as police patrols have been stepped up around mosques in Bolton following the brutal killing of Drummer Lee Rigby, who was attacked in Woolwich on Wednesday by a terrorist. A mosque in Bolton was daubed with racist graffiti within hours of the killing in London.
A police spokesman said a 33-year-old man from Morris Green was arrested after posting offensive comments on Facebook about the murder. Officers from Bolton South’s neighbourhood team arrested him on suspicion of inciting racial hatred. He has been bailed until June 20, pending further inquiries.
A Muslim family are in shock after their fried chicken shop was viciously attacked last night by vengeful thugs following the murder of a soldier in Woolwich.
Two men entered Dixy Chicken on Green Street, Upton Park at 9.30pm where staff claim they banged on the serving counter, shouting, “You killed one of our soldiers, we’ll kill you” before vandalising the shop.
Shabbir, who helps run the family business after his father Gulam died in March, said they did their best to patch the shop up and opened for business again today because they couldn’t afford not to.
An 85-year-old woman has this afternoon been arrested after abuse was hurled at Muslims outside Gillingham Mosque. The pensioner was handcuffed and taken away in a van by officers attending the Canterbury Street mosque for Friday prayers.
BNP leader Nick Griffin has laid flowers at the site where soldier Lee Rigby was murdered in Woolwich, amid fears of a surge in Islamophobic abuse. Following his visit to the scene in which he read messages left by members of the public, Griffin said the “mainstream media” had turned “the religion to blame into the victim”.
Police have charged a 22-year-old Lincoln man in relation to comments posted on the social media website Facebook.
Officers said Benjamin Flatters, of no fixed abode, had been charged with “an offence of malicious communications” in relation to “alleged racist Facebook comments”. He was arrested last night and has been remanded in custody. He will appear at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court tomorrow.
Lincolnshire Echo, 24 May 2013
Update: See “Lincolnshire man appears in court over Woolwich attack Facebook comments”, Lincolnshire Echo, 15 May 2013
Update 2: See “Man accused of malicious Facebook comments remanded in custody while clarification sought over child sex offences”, Skegness Standard, 29 May 2013