Police should stop the English Defence League from marching coachloads of supporters over Tower Bridge this weekend, the leader of Southwark Council has said.
Cllr Peter John said he was working to the wire to persuade senior officers at the Met to restrict the march to the north of the river. “We don’t want the EDL in Southwark, period, full stop,” he said. “What’s the EDL got to offer a diverse borough like ours? Nothing.”
The Government’s “go home” vans have been blamed for a racist attack on a Northamptonshire mosque by a local MP.
Labour MP for Corby Andy Sawford said he was “appalled” to see a mosque was targeted shortly after the Home Office’s controversial vans toured the country.
Mass demonstration against EDL this Saturday!
Thousands of people are expected to turn out in Tower Hamlets this Saturday to oppose the racist English Defence League (EDL). The EDL intends to march upon the East London Mosque. Muslim organisations and trade unions have especially increased publicity in the borough this week, calling upon residents to rally against all forms of racism, but especially Islamophobia.
The calls follow an apparent arson attack upon Harlow Islamic Centre in Essex, last Monday, 26 August. There have also been other attacks, in June, a Muswell Hill mosque and community centre was burnt to the ground and ‘EDL’ was found painted on the walls. In July, three mosques in the West Midlands were subjected to bomb attacks shortly before the fascists mobilised several hundred on a Birmingham demo.
A man repeatedly punched an anti-fascist protester in front of children during an EDL march in Hull, a court has heard.
John Claydon, 46, was pictured by the Mail being dragged away by police officers seconds after the attack. He was one of four men who appeared before city magistrates yesterday in connection with trouble at the August 17 march. Claydon, of Dronfield, Derbyshire, pleaded guilty to a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
English Defence League demonstrators halted by police at Aldgate in September 2011
BBC News reports on the Metropolitan Police’s plan for the proposed English Defence League demonstration in Tower Hamlets this Saturday:
“The Met said it will allow the march to go ahead but only between 12:00-15:00 BST, and it must only take place on this route: Queen Elizabeth Street, Tower Bridge Road, Tower Bridge Approach, The Minories and then into Aldgate High Street. It must not to go beyond the junction with Mansell Street. The route prevents the EDL from entering the heart of Tower Hamlets, residential areas and religious premises.”
Shaun Tuck, scorer of a decisive goal for Witton Albion on his return to action at the weekend, will not be sacked after spending part of the summer in prison.
The striker left jail in Merseyside a fortnight ago after serving half of a three-month sentence as punishment for writing malicious messages on the Internet in the hours following Drummer Lee Rigby’s murder in London. He has written an apology published today, Monday, and addressed to “everybody at the club”.
“It has always been up to Shaun to demonstrate he is truly sorry for his actions earlier in the summer and the shame this brought on himself, his family and the football club,” said chairman Mark Harris. “Witton Albion are giving him the chance to demonstrate that he has learned a tough lesson in life.”
A Christian with a history of mental health problems threatened to blow up a mosque as “a cry for help”. Peter Gill, made the threat to attack Shelton Mosque during a phone call to police, just hours after he had expressed suicidal thoughts to officers.
North Staffordshire Justice Centre was told the 51-year-old was not a racist and had no intention of carrying out a bombing at the Regent Road building. But District Judge Rachel Davies told Gill that in the current climate the police were bound to take his threat seriously. She sentenced him to two months imprisonment, suspended for two years.
The current issue of Searchlight magazine features an interesting study by Dr Paul Jackson of the “independent historian and writer” Bat Ye’or (Gisele Littman).
As the author of the Muslim-conspiracy “Eurabia” thesis, Littman has served as a major source of ideological inspiration to the “counterjihad” movement, not least to the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik.
You can subscribe to Searchlight here.
An innocent shopkeeper was branded a “Muslim terrorist” by a drunken Prestonpans man in an incident described as “appalling” by a sheriff.
Ricky McQue walked into the Princes takeaway in Prestonpans and began hurling racist insults towards Husein Oguz who was just opening up. When McQue (33) was asked to leave the premises he called Mr Oguz a “Muslim b*stard” and shouted he was a “terrorist” and a “paedophile”.
The abuse was so loud and prolonged a member of the public who was passing the shop became disturbed by McQue’s behaviour they called police. Haddington Sheriff Court heard on Wednesday last week that, when officers arrived at the Hawthorn Road shop, McQue was still shouting at a distressed Mr Oguz.
The English Defence League have announced their plans for a demonstration in Tower Hamlets next Saturday, 7 September. They propose to end the march with a rally at Altab Ali Park. Quite how they’re going to manage that is unclear, given that the Borough of Tower Hamlets has banned the EDL from using the park, as Mayor Lutfur Rahman made clear in a press release over a week ago.