Following the attack on soldier Drummer Lee Rigby outside the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich on Wednesday, new YouGov research finds the British public resolute in their perceptions of the terrorist threat level and in their attitudes towards the Muslim community.
The English Defence League marched through Newcastle today. The local paper, the Evening Chronicle, reported that around 1,500 EDL members participated in the protest, with up to 1,000 joining the counter-demonstration by Newcastle Unites. (See also ITV News and Sky Tyne and Wear reports.)
Chanting their usual slogans of “I’m English till I die” and “Whose streets? Our streets”, the EDL threw firecrackers, bottles and cans, attacked photographers and clashed with police.
Four people have been arrested amid protests in Portsmouth, including two outside Southsea’s Jami Mosque.
Officers from Hampshire Constabulary stood guard outside the mosque, in Victoria Road North, this evening after small pockets of people expressed an intention to protest. The force says it has extra officers out on the streets to ensure protests remain peaceful and prevent disorder.
The daughter of a man killed on his way home from a mosque says she believes his death was racially-motivated. Mohammed Saleem, 75, was stabbed after leaving the Green Lane Mosque in Small Heath, Birmingham, on 29 April.
His daughter, Shazia Khan, said police were not listening to her family and her brother was threatened, apparently by the English Defence League, prior to their father’s death. West Midlands Police said it would work “tirelessly to find the killer” of Mr Saleem.
Nearly two-thirds of people believe there will be a ‘clash of civilisations’ between British Muslims and white Britons in the wake of the murder of a British soldier in Woolwich, a new poll shows. The number of those who believe such a clash is inevitable has increased by 9% from last year.
There has also been a small increase in the proportion of people who believe British Muslims pose a serious threat to democracy, up to 34% on Thursday and Friday from 30% in November 2012, according to the YouGov survey of 1,839 adults.
However the YouGov poll provides evidence that Britain does remain a tolerant country and that the far-right support remains at the margins of society. Nearly two-thirds (63%) believe the vast majority of Muslims are good British citizens, up by 1% from last November.
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.
More than 1,200 additional police officers took to the streets last night amid heightened fears of further violence targeted at the Muslim community by far-Right groups.
Officers were guarding “key locations” in London, including religious venues and transport hubs, Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Mark Rowley said.
Leave for officers has been cancelled following ugly scenes in Woolwich involving the English Defence League and a spate of attacks on mosques elsewhere in England on Wednesday night.
Members of the English Defence League will march through Newcastle tomorrow, with police promising extra patrols to reassure communities.
Evening Chronicle, 24 May 2013
A 43-year-old man from Essex has been charged with two counts of possession of offensive weapons and affray over an attack on an Islamic centre. Geoffrey Ryan, from Brick Kiln Way, Braintree, is due to appear before Colchester Magistrates’ Court later.
He was arrested in possession of a knife outside the building in Silks Way, Braintree on Wednesday evening. A smoke device was thrown into the premises but no one was injured. He was remanded in police custody to appear before magistrates on Friday.