Town Hall chiefs have expressed their disappointment after Home Secretary Alan Johnson said there was nothing he could do to stop the planned English Defence League rally in Bolton tomorrow.
Despite passionate pleas from the council and faith leaders, and face-to-face meetings with Mr Johnson and junior ministers, the current legislation gives no powers to ban an assembly unless it is on private property.
Civic leaders wanted to ban the protest because of the potential for violence to break out, as has happened at other EDL rallies across the country.
A letter from the Home Secretary states that the Government understands the concerns of the council, local communities and local businesses about the planned demonstration. In it, he explains that he has limited power to ban a march but not a static demonstration.
He says he is confident that the police will be able to use their range of powers to deal with anyone behaving in a violent, threatening or disorderly manner and condemns those who seek to divide and cause distrust between communities.
Council leader Cllr Cliff Morris said: “We and the faith leaders have done everything within our power to prevent this demonstration due to the risk of violence. We are disappointed that the Home Secretary has been unable to ban this demonstration; however we understand that under current law, his powers are extremely limited.
“In the anticipation that a ban was unlikely, we have been working for some time with the police and local communities. We are confident that our excellent community relationships will not be harmed by this proposed demonstration and we urge local people not to be provoked into taking part in any counter-demonstration against EDL, which could potentially increase the risk of violence.”
While going through the process of trying to get the protest banned, council and police chiefs have highlighted concerns over gaps in legislation which will allow people who are subject to football banning orders — and would otherwise be banned from the town centre on Bolton Wanderers matchdays — to attend the rally.
The Bolton News
March 19, 2010
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8 comments:
There has already been a knife attcak by EDL supporters outside a Bolton mosque.
Bolton mosque attacked
Racists have attacked a Bolton mosque on the eve of the mobilisation by the English Defence League in Bolton tomorrow.
Four people with knives jumped out of a car and attacked people coming out of Friday prayers at the Makka mosque in Grecian Crescent, near Bolton university.
They also targeted activists leafleting for the anti-fascist protest.
No one is believed to have been hurt and all four were arrested.
EIGHT MORE ARRESTS OF STOKE NAZIS: -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/8577037.stm
Beware the cowardly EDL thugs lurking on the fringes of the main EDL group.
One white supremacist KKK-style thug who is a doorman and a member of the Camberley Boxing Club in Surrey admits that he singles out people on the edges of antifascist demos to violently assault: -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsFbIfJplUY
Hopefully one day this violent EDL thug and cowardly racist scum like him will be serving long jail sentences behind bars.
VIOLENT RACIST ATTACK ON A MUSLIM SOMALIAN YOUNG MAN BY NAZIS IN SHEFFIELD WHERE THE EDL WILL SOON BE MEETING: -
http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/Teen-injured-in-attack-by.6157804.jp
I WAS A BNP BIGOT UNTIL I FELL FOR MY WORK COLLEAGUE: -
(INTERESTING STORY OF HOW PEOPLE CAN TURN AWAY FROM RACISM)
http://www.mirror.co.uk/life-style/real-life/2010/03/18/i-was-a-bnp-bigot-until-i-fell-for-my-jamaican-colleague-115875-22119250/
newshound it would be interesting if it were true ,but the identity magazine was first issued in 1999 so it would have been impossible for him to read it in 1986
http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/5074044.55_arrests_at_protests/?ref=rss
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