Luton Borough Council has written to the home secretary asking her to ban a proposed march by the English Defence League (EDL) in the town next month. In a statement the council said there was a real risk of disorder. “We recognise that a banning order on the EDL and counter demonstrators would not prohibit them from holding a static demonstration,” the statement said. “However a march is, in our opinion, provocative and not conducive to the public good at this time and would risk serious disorder.”
The council said that any march proposed by the EDL would need to travel through residential areas from the railway station and other access points into the town. “The presence of high numbers of demonstrators supporting rival and diametrically opposing views is not conducive to the wellbeing of our community and has the potential to spark tensions and community impacts which as a council we have worked so hard to avoid in recent years,” the statement went on to say.