The EDL goes on the rampage - againA further three people were arrested today on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon. Two of them were also arrested for possessing a Class A drug. These all seem to have been EDL.
As the coaches arrived at Dudley and the EDL group swelled to around a thousand, there were chants of 'Who the fuck is Allah?' - pretty well giving the lie (again) to the EDL's oft-repeated statement that they are not anti-Islam. Just to continue the same point, it's reported that the EDL was energised by songs such as 'England Belongs to Me'.
It didn't take long for violence to erupt, with the EDL throwing bottles and coins at photographers, then breaking down police barriers to change the announced 'static' demo into a march. As the EDL was kept well away from the anti-EDL protestors, the EDL started to fight itself and the police, with sporadic fights breaking out at the head of the march between the EDL crowd and its own stewards. If they weren't such a bunch of violent thugs, you'd have to laugh.
The anti-EDL rally started the day peacefully, with music and rousing speeches from various anti-fascist campaigners, trade unionists and leaders of faith groups, among them David Walker, Bishop of Dudley, Khushid Ahmed, chair of Dudley Muslim Association, Steve Bell, Communication Workers Union, Weyman Bennett, Unite Against Fascism, Sheera Johal, Indian Workers Association and Jim Warner, Dudley Trades Council.
Towards the end of the day, some EDL members managed to break away from the main demo and made their way towards the anti-EDL rally, pausing only to throw the odd missile at the police. Order was just about maintained, though a fair number of thugs managed to duck out and into the city centre, presumably in need of more booze at Wetherspoons (who seem to be sponsoring the EDL's demonstrations/piss-ups around the country).
Local reporters estimated the anti-EDL rally as around a thousand strong - not too shabby for a Bank Holiday weekend.
As is usual when the EDL comes to visit, the main sufferers are the people of the home town. Dudley was variously described as deserted, boarded-up and 'a ghost town' for the day - the residents presumably mindful of the damage inflicted by the thugs of the EDL in other towns, and staying away on what should have been one of the busier shopping days of the year.
Quite why these hooligans and thugs are allowed to destroy business and create havoc by descending on random towns every other Saturday is beyond me but things could have been worse. At least nobody was stabbed by the EDL (as far as we know) this time.
16 comments:
It is strange that so few of these thugs were arrested, which does suggest a deal was done. It it had been the UAF, they would have arrested sixty people or more and bashed antiracist protestors into a bloody pulp with their batons.
Wetherspoons.
The fuckin; liars. They had said they wouldn't allow the EDL to drink in their premises.
There is a saying: 'bad management always comes from the top' and the person on whom the blame lies for te events of Dudley, bolton etc. is not any of the EDL's hierarchic nazi junta, rather the Labour Home Secretary, Mr. Alan Johnson.
His inaccuracies in perception of the EDL (not to mention his gullibility) as the rest of Britain learns of the true violent and racist nature of the League, Johnson is only too happy to sit back and watch a load of criminal drunken racist louts DESTROY town centres, attempt to BLATANTLY INCITE racial hatred KILL off local trade during our worst ever recession and (this is the worst) ALLOW these animals to take our beloved Cross of Saint George and Union Flag and subsequently drag it through the shit.
David Blunkett, in his time as Home Secretary banned many an attempted NF march in Erdington and Stockland Green in the run up to Saint Georges Day and otherwise. Why doesn't Johnson actually learn from his predecessors instead of believing the sweet talk of the likes of Robinson and Kelway??
Johnson is a bloody disgrace and his wishy washy stance on the issue of racism is another reason why Labour deserve to lose this election.
Great report for those of us who were unable to go, thanks.
Good article and an excellent comment re Alan Johnson who should be bloody ashamed of himself for what he's allowing to be done to the town centres of this country by these racist thugs.
Does nobody here get it at all! Johnson doesn't want these ugly bastards rampaging anywhere either. It's clearly a 'stress valve' to keep the lid on any real political tensions. Classic role of fascism/ loyalism. Stop calling for them to be banned! If they carry on like this, they will be anyway....
EDL storm the barriers in Dudley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf_ttJjxtL0
'EDL storm the barriers in Dudley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf_ttJjxtL0'
Excellent, thank you. Film changed.
Johnson may be setting a trap for the EDL to walk into. GIve 'em enough rope and all that. He's hardly liberal on any other issue. And as for "our beloved Cross of Saint George and Union Flag", the fash can have them. The red flag is the only flag worth having.
Wetherspoon's was closed and boarded up, as was most of the town centre. The two events were around half a mile apart, yet the EDL managed to break out of their cordon in sufficient numbers to get past the police and within 100 yards of the UAF event before being stopped. That, and the fact that no UAF participants moved so much as an inch towards the EDL mob (a word I choose advisedly) even though they were visible from the area when the UAF event was being held says everything about who the real aggressors were - despite what the media might say about 'both sides' being involved.
And as for the police saying it was "quickly contained" - the EDL were still being held on Stafford Street an hour after they broke out.
The Sunday Mercury are describing the EDL fascist rally as being "trouble free?"
http://www.sundaymercury.net/news/midlands-news/2010/04/04/dudley-edl-and-uaf-rallies-in-stark-contrast-to-birmingham-clash-66331-26170549/
"....with sporadic fights breaking out at the head of the march between the EDL crowd and its own stewards"
Shock horror! Football thugs fight each other!
Hopefully the reason they keep putting em up in wetherspoons is due to all their pubs having cctv. Wetherspoons must have enough footage to indentify a large proportion of these drunken nazi thugs and hooligans.
" Stop calling for them to be banned"
State bans on fascists are as rare as hen's teeth! Combat 18 were never banned so it's a bit to much to expect the State to ban the EDL.
Dudley Central Mosque was attacked by EDL racists!
Is there any bilingual readers of this blog who can translate from chav to english? I recieved this message from an EDL member on facebook today after making a comment on a UAF post:
"man wake up the EDL are not BNP nazis...we dont want people like my friends roger commit and raffa,ye black and brown and very good friens out that is the nazi bnp we wont to stop islamic terorists being trained in britaian to stop them calling our soldiers and your babby killers what goes on in some of theses mosques....there are some bad apples in every meeting both sides...WAKE UP DUDE."
I have added total disrespect of our beautiful english language to the list of reasons i dispise the EDL.
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