"A heroes’ parade was no place for EDL"

"Having attended the homecoming parade for the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, it was good to see so many people at the event.

Some of us may not agree with the wars but I guess there is a time and a place for making your point. But, as well as things went, you have to say those ‘representatives’ from the English Defence League kind of spoiled things a bit for the rest of the people there. They became an embarrassment to a lot of the onlookers. Some people were even apologetic for having to stand anywhere near this bunch of clowns.

I understand it is difficult to really stop people attending a public event. You can’t really say who is going to be there and who isn’t. But I would say there are a fair few people who would have been intimidated with some of the outright racist comments being made on the day.

For me it seemed liked being back at a football match in the mid-80s. But, hey, even those guys would give you an almighty hug the minute a goal was scored!

Some passers-by said they would have liked to join the crowds but didn’t like how the EDL seemed to have hijacked what was essentially a family and community day. Most people were confused as to what these guys aimed to achieve by being there. It seemed to me to be a pointless exercise like the gathering in Preston over the weekend.

However, I think the point was made by one lady standing next to me who simply stated to a couple of these people in no uncertain terms how she felt. She said: “Just behave the lot of you. If you think you are so brave why aren’t you the ones out there on the parade rather than standing here?”

If there was ever one woman who could shut up a group of grown men in balaclavas then this had to be it."

Lancashire Telegraph blog