Mark Townsend reports from Braintree and Harlow, where Islamic centres have been subject to violent attacks post-Woolwich.
Category Archives: UK
South Shields: EDL try to attack anti-fascist counter-protestors
Trouble flared as an English Defence League (EDL) march was led through South Shields.
About 250 members of the right-group were protesting in the town today. A heavy police presence led the march from Mile End Road through Fowler Street to Beach Road and down Sea Road before being marshalled into an area outside South Marine Park.
When the march reached Pier parade it was met by a rally of about 100 anti-fascist protesters who had gathered at the junction of Ocean Road and Lawe Road. At least one person was arrested after emerging from the trees in North Marine Park and running towards the anti-fascist rally. The rest remained behind a police cordon at the Wouldhave Memorial.
Tower Hamlets: MPs call for ban on EDL march
MPs are demanding a ban on a march through one of London’s most multicultural areas by the far-right English Defence League.
In a letter to the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police, seen by Channel 4 News, both of the MPs representing the Tower Hamlets borough of east London called the anti-Muslim group’s march, which is planned for Saturday 7 September, a “deplorable hate preaching tactic which we have seen result in serious violence multiple times before”.
Writing to Police Minister Damian Green on 23 August, Rushanara Ali and Jim Fitzpatrick, Labour MPs for Bethnal Green and Bow and Poplar and Limehouse, added: “It is our firm belief that this march…[poses] a serious threat to both individuals and wider Tower Hamlets community cohesion.”
Local paper finds little support for today’s EDL march in South Shields
“Not in our backyard!” That was the overwhelming view of the people the Gazette questioned over today’s march through South Shields by right-wing extremists.
Members of North East Infidels (NEI) and the English Defence League (EDL) were parading from the town’s Fowler Street to Pier Parade, where a rally was being staged. They were to be met by representatives of the newly-formed South Tyneside Unites Against Fascism (STUAF), a group set up specifically in response to the rally.
Concerns have been raised that the rival demonstrations are a “recipe for trouble”. Last night Northumbria’s crime commissioner Vera Baird and town MP Emma Lewell-Buck were meeting members of the local community to allay fears.
Meanwhile, Chief Superintendent Ian Dawes, of South Shields police, has pledged that “public safety is our absolute priority”, adding: “Our aim at all times is to facilitate these events and ensure they pass off peacefully with the minimum of disruption.” The exact cost of policing the rally and counter-demo is not known – but it won’t come cheap.
Some believe that in a democracy everyone should have a right to express their views – no matter how disagreeable those opinions may be. But on the streets of King Street, South Shields, we found little support for that stance.
Legal threat by Tower Hamlets Mayor in bid to ban planned EDL march
Legal action has been threatened in a bid to challenge the Metropolitan Police’s failure to ban far right group the English Defence League (EDL) from marching through east London next weekend. Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman’s office tonight confirmed the last ditch attempt to stop the march from going ahead as planned next Saturday (September 7).
Mayor Lutfur Rahman said: “I’m deeply disappointed that the police and the home secretary have failed to act, despite my formally requesting them to do so. Clearly they are not on the same page as the scores of prominent national and local figures who joined me in calling for a ban. I call upon them to see sense, but in the absence of an adequate response I intend to take this matter to the High Court.”
SRtRC interviews Daniel Trilling
The anti-racist educational charity Show Racism the Red Card has interviewed Daniel Trilling, assistant editor of the New Statesman and author of Bloody Nasty People: The Rise of Britain’s Far Right.
The interview has been published in three parts (the first two can be read here and here) and in the third part (here) Trilling addresses the issue of Islamophobia:
Scotland Yard negotiating terms of planned EDL Tower Hamlets march
Scotland Yard is in negotiations with far right group the English Defence League (EDL) and opposition campaigners amid calls for a ban on next weekend’s planned demonstration. The Met said plans for how to police the march, due to take place next Saturday (September 7) are still in their “formative stages”.
Dozens of community leaders, MPs and faith groups signed a letter to home secretary Theresa May this month calling for a ban on the event. But a Scotland Yard spokesman said: “Some negotiations are ongoing with the organisers, and with those people opposed to it.” A final decision on the demonstration is due to be taken early next week, he added. If the Met decides to ban the march, Scotland Yard must apply to the Home Office for approval.
Cambridge Liberal Democrats reject accusations against leading Muslim member
A leading Liberal Democrat whose writings about a former Muslim are the subject of an online campaign has said he “totally refutes” the allegations against him.
Hundreds of people have signed an online petition condemning Salah Al Bander, who represented Trumpington on Cambridge City Council until 2011, following several posts on the Sudanese Online website about Nahla Mahmoud.
Ms Mahmoud, who like Dr Al Bander is of Sudanese heritage, is an atheist who criticised her upbringing under sharia law and became a leading figure in a group called the British Council of Ex-Muslims. She said she faced intimidation after she was criticised in posts by Dr Al Bander, which were picked up in media and mosques in Sudan. Afterwards, her brother was allegedly attacked.
But Dr Al Bander said he had been “utterly misrepresented”.
Another EDL supporter forgets he’s not supposed to be racist
Police have released CCTV images following a racist outburst in an Eltham petrol station where a man chanted “EDL” to a black couple.
The white suspect shouted at a black man and woman who were queuing at the BP petrol station in Crown Woods Way before demanding to know their nationality on May 27 around 10.50pm. The couple left the shop shortly afterwards but one of them returned to the garage to confront the suspect and a minor altercation took place.
Man questioned over Harlow Islamic centre arson
A 28-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of arson in connection with an attack on an Essex Islamic Centre. The man, from Harlow, is being questioned by police about the incident in the early hours of Monday 26 August.
Police said insulation foam was sprayed around the doors and windows at the Harlow Islamic Centre on Paringdon Road and then set on fire. The building suffered limited damage.
Police are looking for two men caught on CCTV security cameras. The men were filmed at 01:24 BST on Monday and anyone with information is asked to come forward.
Update: See “Man bailed after mosque arson”, ITV News, 30 August 2013