Hundreds of police officers wait for the EDL as they arrive outside Dewsbury railway StationThe leader of the far-right English Defence League has vowed to stage a large national protest in Dewsbury after complaining that supporters were treated like “caged animals” at a demonstration in the town on Saturday.
A protest by 400 EDL supporters passed off without serious incident but leader Tommy Robinson was angered that the protesters were contained within high steel barriers. He said the EDL should have been allowed to protest at Dewsbury Town Hall, rather than a tightly cordoned area of the railway station car park.
Mr Robinson said Saturday’s protest was a regional demonstration but the next one in would be national and “the EDL bandwagon will be coming back to Dewsbury in our thousands.”
Many of the EDL protesters were from outside West Yorkshire, including members from Merseyside, Teeside, Burnley, Bolton, Leicester and Mansfield. A nearby counter-protest by Unite Against Fascism attracted about 50 people at its height. A large police operation ensured that the day passed off relatively peacefully, although traders in the town said they were thousands of pounds out of pocket because many shoppers stayed away.
Kirklees Divisional Commander Chief Superintendent John Robins said: “On duty in West Yorkshire in relation to this operation there has been around 700 police officers in total but I stress they have not all been at Dewsbury. They have been around West Yorkshire in support of this operation.”
Six men were arrested by West Yorkshire Police and British Transport Police. They were: A 31-year-old from Batley, for possessing an offensive weapon; a 44-year-old from Barnsley, a 39-year-old from Merseyside and a 41-year-old from Cleckheaton, all for public order offences; a 16-year-old from Bradford for criminal damage; and an 18-year-old from Preston for trespass on railway property.
5 comments:
I have it on good authority that Ex-BNP Councillor Kevin Edwards has been warned by the police for harrassement.
These people are not defending my englishness and should go away. I'm proud to be british and english. I believe I come from a polite, civilised, considerate nation who is tolerant and respectful. These people are none of those things. they are not the english defence league, they are the eejits drinking lager.
Oh dear, old Cack me pants lennon really does fancy himself as some kind of general..... they spoil his party and stop them from getting pissed up and harrassing a few innocent (probably asian) bystanders and he is going to 'rally his army' to take on all and sundry... what a poor deluded fool.
edl think eventually they will get their way by causing our country's taxpayers to keep footing bill in regards to policing their crusade.TO DATE APPROX just 11,000max have attended their DEMONstrations/pantomime's throughout the uk.AS WE ALL KNOW THEIR JUST HAVING A PUB CRAWL.i'm enjoying how their members are wasting their money,but at the same time their keeping beer companies happy with their alcohol intake.HAHA.seriously we've got to laugh at their antics becuse of austerity measures we need a laugh.9XZULUG
Not bad report from the Post, but they must have left the Uaf rally early as when i got there, about 1pm, there were a good couple of hundred,
bolstered by a number of Dewsbury locals. The edl slumped by later onbefore the Uaf demo ended, looking mighty cheesed off, you could tell they had had a bad day. Those Facebook Warriors bit off more than they could chew.
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