The leader of far right group the English Defence League has pledged to return to the East London Mosque once bail conditions preventing him from entering Tower Hamlets are lifted.

Tommy Robinson – whose real name is Stephen Lennon – was arrested along with fellow EDL leader Kevin Carroll at Aldgate in June during what they say was a charity walk following the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich. He was bailed to return to an east London police station in August, with conditions imposed preventing him from entering Tower Hamlets.

But on Friday he used social networking site Twitter to say: “I can’t wait till my bail conditions are gone so I can enter Tower Hamlets! I’m going straight to the East London Mosque #fact.” The EDL has already announced plans to march through the borough in September. And the group clashed with police during a demonstration in Aldgate in 2011.

A spokesman for the East London Mosque, based in Whitechapel Road, said the organisation was working with authorities to prevent far right protests in the borough. The diversity and cohesion of Tower Hamlets should be celebrated, he added.

East London Advertiser, 30 July 2013

Cf. “Multiculturalism made easy”, The Big Issue, 30 July 2013