Far-right activists from across Europe will join thousands of English Defence League supporters tomorrow for the biggest rally in the group’s 20-month history.

Police expect up to 7,000 demonstrators will descend on Luton, the Bedfordshire town where the EDL started in spring 2009, amid evidence of the group’s growing influence among young people.

The organisation has staged more than 30 protests since it was formed, many of which have been marred by Islamophobia, racism and violence.

This rally will see more than more than 25 coaches transport members to Luton from across the UK, with thousands more activists due to make their way by car or train. One EDL activist said 800 far-right supporters would be meeting at Kings Cross train station in London before travelling north.

UK-based members will be joined by activists from recently formed copycat “defence leagues” in Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands – as well as supporters of more established far-right groups from France, Germany and Denmark.

Nick Lowles, from the anti-racist campaign group Hope not Hate, said the presence of these groups underlined the EDL’s growing international links.

“The significance of the EDL marching in Luton extends way beyond our shores,” said Lowles. “Across Europe and in North America anti-Islamic groups are watching the EDL with interest, increasingly copying their tactics, even replicating their name. The attendance of so many international supporters is testament to the EDL’s role in the international anti-Islam movement.”

Guardian, 4 February 2011

Details of the Unite Against Fascism counter-demonstration can be found here.

An historic Flintshire institution has condemned protests against plans to build an Islamic cultural centre in Deeside.

Gladstone’s Library in Hawarden has voiced its support for the Flintshire Muslim Cultural Society’s plans to set up the centre at the former Shotton Lane Social Club, which has been empty since it closed in August.

The proposals have been strongly opposed in some quarters, and more than 100 activists from far-right group the English Defence League marched through Shotton last month to protest against the plans. The British National Party is also against the proposed facility, which the FMCS says will benefit the whole Deeside community.

Gladstone’s Library warden the Reverend Peter Francis condemned the protests. “This was an invasion of a few political extremists,” he told the Chronicle. “Provoking community tensions in Shotton is an ugly smear on the reputation for warmth and hospitality that the Welsh deserve.”

The Rev Francis remains hopeful people will show support for the plan. He said: “It will take more than this to cause real division, and I am confident that local people will stand up in support of their Muslim neighbours.”

The Rev Francis said the library has recently launched its “Islamic Faith & Culture Project” to promote Christian-Muslim understanding. “It is precisely events such as this protest that prove the need for inter-faith and inter-community projects,” he said.

The Rev Francis added: “This library was set up by William Gladstone as a resource for those who value knowledge and understanding over ignorance and victimisation. And we embrace unreservedly the meeting of faiths and cultures both within our walls, and within the wider community.”

Flintshire Chronicle, 3 February 2011