Category Archives: English Defence League

Mounted police among hundreds of extra officers being drafted into Exeter for EDL march

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Mounted police will take to the streets of Exeter this weekend as a major national demonstration is held by the far right group. Hundreds of extra officers from as far away as Birmingham and South Wales will be in city centre on Saturday for the English Defence League (EDL) march.

Demonstrators from across the country are expected to descend in for the march to protest against ‘militant Islam’. But Exeter Together, the group opposing the march, has signed up more than 800 people and organisations to condemn it.

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EDL supporters jailed for racist violence in Burnley

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Declan Clayton and Wayne LordTwo members of a gang who confronted a group of Asian men, racially abusing them, hurling sticks and shouting ‘EDL’ taunts, have been jailed.

Burnley Crown Court heard how in the early hours clash on Church Street in the town, bricks were wielded, a restaurant boss was attacked and a terrified girl was hit in the face and knocked to the ground by a missile thrown by one of her own group. The violence, on September 15, was captured on CCTV.

Two of those involved Wayne Lord, 20, and Declan Clayton,19, were both sent to detention. The trouble was said to have been led by a 16-year-old, who was earlier spared custody at the lower court.

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Anne Marie Waters and Dispatch International – one more time

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anne Marie Waters open letter to Miliband

The appalling Anne Marie Waters, who is a member of the National Secular Society council and spokesperson for the anti-sharia campaign One Law For All, has featured on Islamophobia Watch a number of times. (So many times, in fact, that even I’m getting bored with the subject – which is why it’s taken me a while to get round to writing this piece.)

In addition to whipping up fear and hatred of Islam through the NSS and OLFA, Waters also hoped to acquire a parliamentary platform for her views, via the Labour Party. Unfortunately for Waters, the latter ambition proved irreconcilable with her other activities. Her attempt earlier this year to win selection as the Labour candidate for the Brighton Pavilion constituency was defeated, thanks not least to Andy Newman’s admirable work (see here and here) in exposing her Islamophobic views.

Last month Waters resigned from the Labour Party, announcing her decision in an open letter to Ed Miliband that was published in the “counterjihad” newspaper Dispatch International, to which she is now a regular contributor. The reasons Waters gave for leaving the party were that she was opposed to Labour’s support for multiculturalism, to Ken Livingstone’s selection as Labour candidate in the 2012 London mayoral election, and to Labour’s “introduction of insidious hate speech laws”.

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Exeter: 800 against planned EDL march

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Momentum is gathering against a far right wing organisation’s plans to hold a march in Exeter.

The English Defence League (EDL) plans take to the city’s streets on Saturday, November 16. However a group opposing the bid, Exeter Together, has signed up more than 800 people and organisations to condemn it.

Spokeswoman Hannah Packham said they would be holding an inclusive family-friendly Celebration of Diversity – to celebrate the city’s rich cultural heritage. “Our event is being held away from the EDL march, and will be an opportunity for Exeter to come together to celebrate the multi-cultural, multi-race, multi-faith diversity of the city,” she said.

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One arrest at EDL protest in Shotton Collliery

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Shotton Colliery protest November 2013Police made one arrest this afternoon during a demonstration by the English Defence League (EDL) in Shotton Colliery, County Durham.

There was also a counter protest by the Tyne and Wear Anti-Fascist Association.

A spokeswoman for Durham Police said that some 200 people were involved in the demonstration, which took place in the centre of the village between 1.30 and 2.30pm this afternoon.

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EDL justifications for Exeter demo are paper thin!

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Exeter demo video Stand for PeaceExeter EDL News has an excellent piece demolishing the EDL’s justifications for their forthcoming protest in Exeter, as presented in their video promoting the event.

Exeter EDL News points out that most of the EDL’s accusations against the University of Exeter are lifted straight from a witch-hunting article posted on the website of Sam Westrop‘s misnamed organisation Stand for Peace.

Pat Robertson hails Stephen Lennon as a hero who is ‘fighting to save Britain’s future’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Stephen Lennon CBN reportFollowing the publication in Dispatch International of Ingrid Carlqvist and Lars Hedegaard’s interview with Stephen Lennon, CBN News has published an adulatory report on the former English Defence League leader, based on an interview apparently conducted shortly before his departure from the organisation. In the accompanying video, Lennon is hailed by right-wing televangelist Pat Robertson as a hero who is “fighting to save Britain’s future”.

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EDL member fined for drunken abuse during protest against grooming gangs … in Thatcham

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Brian BarnesA man was arrested at a Thatcham rally for the English Defence League, Newbury magistrates heard.

The trouble flared during the demonstration on October 5 this year, the court was told. In the dock on Thursday, October 24, was 38-year-old Brian Barnes [pictured], who had travelled from his home in Rectory Road, Hook in Hampshire, for the event.

Helen Waite, prosecuting, said: “The defendant was taking part in an EDL demonstration and was crossing Station Road in Thatcham.” She added that he was heard to shout abuse and swear at someone and that “there were three children nearby.”

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Opposing demonstrations over plans for Muslim education centre in Shotton Colliery

Posted on by Bob Pitt

County Durham Unites Against RacismA former pit village in east Durham will be the scene of opposing demonstrations over plans for a Muslim education centre at the weekend.

County Durham Unites Against Racism said it will hold a peaceful counter-demonstration in Shotton Colliery, near Peterlee, to protest against the English Defence League (EDL) and North East Infidels (NEI) demonstration on Saturday (November 9).

It is the second time the EDL and NEI have demonstrated in the village over plans to open a Muslim education centre. In December last year about 200 EDL supporters converged on Shotton Colliery to protest plans by local businessman, Kaiser Choudry’s to turn a former The Melrose Arms pub into a Muslim education centre.

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Dispatch International editors visit UK for a chat with Lennon

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Stephen Lennon with Hedegaard and Carlqvist
Dispatch International co-editors Lars Hedegaard and Ingrid Carlqvist in London with ex-EDL leader Stephen Lennon

Following the humiliating failure of their recent efforts to organise a Scandinavian speaking tour for the English Defence League leadership, Lars Hedegaard and Ingrid Carlqvist, co-editors of the notorious “counterjihad” publication Dispatch International, have travelled to the UK to talk to Stephen Lennon. The results of their discussions with the former head of the EDL can be found here and here.

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