EDL leader in lay-by attack

POLICE have launched an investigation after English Defence League leader Stephen Lennon was violently assaulted in a lay-by outside Luton.

Mr Lennon, who calls himself Tommy Robinson, says he was driving along the A6 at about 2am last Thursday (Dec 22) when he pulled over after another car, a black Vauxhall Zafira, flashed its lights at him.

When he got out of the car he was attacked by three men, with the beating only coming to an end when a ‘good Samaritan’ stopped at the scene, he said.

Mr Lennon, who runs a tanning salon in Luton, said:

“I was on my way back from Dunstable and near Streatley I noticed the car flashing me.

“I pulled over and got out. The car was being driven by a girl and three lads jumped out and I took a beating.

“As soon as I got out the passenger leapt out and I could tell straight away what was going to happen.

“I started fighting back and then the other two got out.

“The geezer that pulled over to help me said one of them had a pole but I didn’t see anything. But the hospital said the injuries looked like they’d been caused by a blunt object.”

Mr Lennon drove to Bedford Hospital where he was given a CT scan, which revealed bruising on his brain. He was released later the same day.

“I didn’t want to go to hospital but the guy that helped me kept insisting that I had to go,” he said. “They had knocked me out when he arrived – he said if he hadn’t pulled over they would probably have carried on.

“I’ve never had a kicking like it. I had to go home to my kids looking like that.”

Mr Lennon said claims on an anti-EDL website that the attack had been faked or had been carried out by football hooligans were “pathetic” and had been fabricated by people who had been kicked out of the EDL for being too right-wing.

He described his attackers as being of Asian appearance and said they were wearing jeans and bomber jackets, with one wearing a checked scarf.

A spokesman for Bedfordshire Police said it was as yet unclear what the motive for the attack was.

They appealed for any witnesses to come forward, including the good Samaritan, saying: “He was driving a silver Ford Mondeo and was called John or Jonathan.

“The officer investigating this case is Det Con Tom Hamm, contactable direct on 01582 473322. He would like to hear from John or anyone who knows who John is.

Luton Today

EDIT
I was going to write an article outlining the differences in the various statements that Lennon has put out but these following comments save me the job.

Anonymous said...

So many discrepancies

1) Where's the official statement about the knuckle dusters ? It seems they turned magically into a rod

2) Why didnt he mention this imaginary Samaritan when he initially made the bullshit statement to the EDL ?

3) Why no mention to the police of his vivid imagination thinking the girl in the car was his wife ?

4) The EDL and the BFP made a statement saying the police are treating it a racially motivated crime..... the police havent said anything of the sort

The liar lennon has cried wolf way to many times..... no one fooking believes him anymore.... not even his own ever shrinking flock

Thanks Anon.

Tommy Robinson gets punched

EDL founder Stephen Lennon fails in appeal over Luton brawl

The founder of the English Defence League has lost an appeal against his conviction for leading a brawl involving 100 football fans.

Stephen Lennon, 28, led Luton Town supporters as they clashed with Newport County fans in Luton, the town's crown court heard.

Lennon, from Luton, was convicted in July of using threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour in August 2010.

His claim that he was not in the group was dismissed by a High Court judge.

A confrontation began ahead of the evening game on 24 August when Newport supporters made a mass exodus from the Bedfordshire Yeoman pub just as 50 Luton fans approached.

The trouble involved chanting, missiles being thrown, assaults and damage to property, the court heard.

Lennon was at the front of the group, with others looking to him for leadership, and it is alleged he was chanting "E ...E...EDL" the court was told.

'Confusing scene'

Lennon told Mr Justice Saunders: "I was not with the group. There was a lot of shouting and screaming and some fighting but it looked more like 'handbags' to me."

He claimed it had all been about England and Wales and that, while he may have made "sheep" insults, he had never mentioned EDL.

"It is ridiculous to suggest that, it is just not relevant."

In dismissing the appeal Mr Justice Saunders said: "It must have been a very confusing scene and we are not making any detailed finding on exactly what happened and whether he was the leader of the group or not.

"We are not saying whether he was shouting about the EDL but on his own admission he was shouting something which was intended to be insulting to the Welsh and he was waving his arms about.

"It is impossible to accept any other intention than to provoke them into fighting.

"It must have been a frightening scene for anyone to observe."

Luton magistrates had sentenced Lennon to a 12-month community rehabilitation order, a three-year ban from football and ordered him to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.

Lennon is due to be sentenced in November for an assault on an EDL member at Blackburn, Lancashire, in April.

BBC News

Some strange returns and culinary confusion...

I’m sure by now everyone is aware of the disgraceful scenes played out by the EDL and their equally vile half cousins MAC (Muslims against crusades) while people were remembering the near 3,000 victims of the September 11th terror attacks on its 10th anniversary on Sunday.

In an equal display of disrespect a group of beer fuelled EDL supporters attempted to mount a counter protest, chanting racist songs as they normally do.

In this photo from the day we can see Paul Prodromou aka Paul Pitt the Essex organiser laughing at the whole shameful affair. But who is the bald chap admiringly looking into Paul’s eyes?

Why it’s none other than hard-line neo-Nazi Eddie Stamton.

Stamton, who has also gone by the name of Stampton and Stanton during a long and positively criminal lifetime, has been involved with far right politics since he was a teenager. As well as the hard-line, Hitler worshipping British Movement and the now geriatric Combat 18, Eddie was also once the National Activities Organiser and London organiser with the miniscule British Peoples Party (BPP) which turned out a plethora of paedophiles and wanna be terrorists when they were not updating their pathetic “Redwatch” website.

Now that Eddie has surfaced with the apparent non-Nazi, Israel loving EDL I guess we’ll no longer be seeing him down Brick Lane in east London with a swastika flag like he did in the good old days?

The EDL's other serious 'non-Nazi', their leader and former BNP member Stephen Yaxley has apparently returned to Luton after his bout at Her Majesty's pleasure and a dubious hunger strike.

According to the local paper in Luton, Lennon headed straight for Nandos, the world famous up market chicken eatery. Lennon was reportedly very hungry having allegedly refused all food while being kept on remand for alleged bail breeches.

One of the reasons he gave for his supposed hunger strike was that some prisons serve Halal meat and Lennon, rather than allow himself a vegetarian diet decided to make a martyr of himself.

Well I am pleased to report that Nandos in Luton sells Halal chicken. And Halal chicken only: http://www.nandos.co.uk/restaurant/luton


Thanks to Nick Lowles at HOPE not Hate

EDL founder Stephen Lennon 'led fans' in fight in Luton

The founder of the English Defence League led a group of football fans into a street fight, a court has heard.

Stephen Lennon, 28, led Luton Town supporters and chanted "EDL" as they clashed with Newport County fans in Luton, it was alleged.

Luton Magistrates' Court heard that Lennon, of Luton, was "egging on" and "upping the ante" as the two sets of fans fought on 24 August last year.

Lennon denies using threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour.

The court was told he had been at the front of the group of Luton Town fans and gesticulated "come on then" at his opponents.

The case continues.

BBC News

Luton mosque attacked by vandals

A LUTON mosque had its windows smashed and graffiti sprayed on its walls by vandals in the early hours of this morning.

Police were called to a mosque in Oak Road, Bury Park, shortly before 5am following a report of criminal damage.

Scenes of Crime Officers have attended the building and house to house enquiries have been undertaken.

Police are continuing to investigate who was responsible for the criminal damage and why.

Anyone with information about this incident should contact officers, in confidence, on 01234 841212, send a text to 07786 200011 or telephone Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

Luton Today

EDIT - Socialist Worker have published an article about this which you can read here
Thanks to Newshound and others for the heads up.

EDL chief’s bank accounts frozen in cash inquiry

The bank accounts of the English Defence League’s leader have been frozen as part of a money laundering investigation.

EDL chief Tommy Robinson, 28, said he was last year arrested for ‘financial irregularities’ and was issued with a Luton Crown Court order on August 11 preventing him from making any withdrawals from or charging any purchases to his accounts.

In a YouTube video Mr Robinson, who has just moved home to an unknown location from Lower Stondon, said he is entitled to take out £250 each week to cover living expenses while the investigation is ongoing. But other than that he cannot touch the money, the amount of which is unknown, although Mr Robinson, who led the 1,500- strong EDL rally in Luton town centre on February 5, said the figure is £6,000.

He said in the online video: “The £250 comes out of my own bank account which has my money in it anyway. I have had to stop working because if I do work, and say I earn £600, next week it goes into a frozen account and I am allowed £250. My solicitor has told me these orders are called disruption tactics in order to disrupt my life, disrupt everything I am doing and pretty much stop what we are saying, put pressure on me – and of course it has put pressure on me.

“This doesn’t cover my living costs. It prohibits me from dealing with any finances at all and that’s all in order to stop the EDL and our goals and what we are doing. They have given me this because between the years 2007 and 2009 I had more money going through my bank accounts than I paid tax on. Whoopy doo. It wasn’t all my money anyway. I bought a couple of properties and I have got partners that I am 50 per cent with. This will all come out if they decide to charge me.

“They haven’t charged me so they slapped this restraining order on me. I’ve been on it for six months. My bail date was February. My solicitor said they would probably bail me for another six months and I’ve been bailed until July again. They are just keeping my money frozen for 24 months. I’ve only got that £6,000 in my account and that’s going to run out soon. I can’t work because I can’t take any credit card payments at my tanning shop and the business is struggling.”

A police spokeswoman said: “A person has been arrested in connection with money laundering but as the investigation is still ongoing it would be inappropriate to comment further.

By Sophie Scott of Luton on Sunday

Flirting with a bad agenda

The Munich address, in which British Prime Minister David Cameron set his face against ‘multi-culturalism’ and condemned aggressive separatism among British Muslims, was ringingly endorsed by the right-wing columnist Charles Moore. What people needed to grasp, Moore indicated in the Daily Telegraph, was that radical Islam is not just threatening to take control in Egypt. Portraying London as the world capital of Muslim agitators and propagandists, he impressed upon his readers that hegemonic Islamism is also a grave domestic issue.

Even as Moore and Cameron were thus expressing themselves, 3000 members of the far right English Defence League were demonstrating in Luton, the British town that has become identified with Muslim extremists since the occasion two years ago when a Muslim group publicly abused British soldiers who marched through the town following service in Afghanistan, and which more recently was in the news when it emerged that the Stockholm suicide bomber, Taimour Abdul Wahab, had lived there.

Both Moore and Cameron are Conservative Party products of Eton, the venerable educational bastion of the British elite. Last weekend, it seemed as if Eton was making common cause with the British street in a new crusade. Certainly, Cameron’s speech, given as it was at high profile conference on national security and coinciding with one of the biggest anti-Muslim demonstrations Britain has seen, could only lend weight to the EDL’s claim that Islam bothers the British way of life. EDL members are rejoicing that the British prime minister agrees with them. Cameron took care to stress that he was discussing twisted interpretations of Islam. Yet most British people will scarcely trouble themselves over the nuances of his remarks, any more than they will bother their heads with the complexities of the debate about culture and identity raging in the higher reaches of the British media. They will simply conclude it is now official that Britain recklessly allowed itself to become a breeding ground for Muslim fanatics.

Ever since the 7/11 London bombings of 2005, there has been a growing sense that Muslims are Britain’s ‘enemy within’. Cameron’s speech has hugely enhanced the credibility of popular perceptions that Britain is at the mercy of extremists who are determined to Islamise Britain and who are fundamentally hostile to women, gay people and Jews. It must be said that in sharp contrast to the traditional far right, the EDL claims to embrace representatives of all those groups, and there is no cause to doubt it.

In Munich, Cameron was speaking the same language as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has herself denounced multi-culturalism and who presides over a country where xenophobia is resurgent. He was also removing any lingering doubt that his government is soft on Islamism.

Only a month ago, the chairperson of the Conservative Party, the Muslim lawyer Sayeeda Warsi, made a speech warning about the violence that could flow from the rising respectability of Islamophobia in Britain. Warsi’s speech is certain have irked ministerial colleagues of Cameron’s such as Michael Gove, the neo-conservative ideologue who obsesses about the threat posed by radical Islam to Western democracy in general and to Israel in particular. Though Warsi has felt obliged to defend Cameron’s speech, it is hard to believe she is not privately dismayed by it. The fact is that it has utterly eclipsed her message, while leaving Muslims feeling more acutely than ever that they are seen by the rest of Britain as a security problem, guilty until proved innocent.

In many ways, David Cameron was simply reiterating the views of Tony Blair, the British leader who led Britain into two wars against Muslim countries and who has for years wasted no opportunity to denounce radical Islam as the greatest challenge that Britain faces. None of this is to say that extremists are not a genuine cause for alarm in Britain - or that criticism of multi-culturalism is entirely gratuitous.

Yet it is equally cause for concern that the British government has exploited radical Islam for its own cynical purposes. The evidence is overwhelming that, in order to win public support for attacking Iraq, the Blair government gave credence to a mendacious story that Algerian Islamists in north London were manufacturing weapons of mass destruction. In the days before Cameron’s speech, the Guardian published letters wondering if the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War was going to raise questions about the 2003 ‘ricin plot’ 
that never was.

The spectre of Muslims as the ‘enemy within’ has proved a great asset to Britain’s rulers. It has helped to distract attention from the way Israel and its supporters have been indulged by British governments and from unconditional British support of a US foreign policy that is meant to enhance British security yet which has in reality undermined it.

As Cameron assailed multi-culturalism, people all over Britain were protesting against the prospective wholesale closure of public libraries. For Cameron and the free marketeers who dominate his Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Government, libraries — along with many other public services — appear eminently expendable. Cameron’s talk of creating a ‘Big Society’, with everybody an active citizen, is coming to be regarded as a mask for an austerity programme far more stringent than Britain’s public finances, however straightened, really justify. As his government decimates state provision, Cameron, for all his trumpeted concern with social cohesion, is in the process of turning Britain into an even more fragmented country than it already is.

Britain’s Muslims are being targeted as scapegoats for the social disarray precipitated by an old Etonian with a suave manner and a hidden agenda.

Neil Berry is a London-based commentator

Khaleej Times

Thanks to NewsHound for the heads-up

Luton: The day extremism lost

Police contain the EDL thugs

Now the dust has settled it is perhaps a good time to reflect on the weekend’s events in Luton. Despite the huge media coverage the day was a failure for both the English Defence League and the Islamist extremists of Anjem Choudary’s Islam4UK.

The EDL must have been disappointed with their numbers. At its height there were somewhere between 2,500 and 3,000 EDL supporters on the march, far fewer than everyone had expected. The EDL had been telling journalists that they were hoping for up to 8,000 to be there. Police briefings in the days running up to the march suggested 5,000 to 7,000. I put the figure at 4,000 to 5,000. We were all wrong.

EDL supporters came from across the country. There appeared to be almost 50 coaches, though many were far from full. Hundreds more made their way on trains and in cars. What was clear, however, was the lack of Lutonians there. Despite the bravado of claiming mass local support the vast majority of local people shunned the demonstrations. The profile of the EDL demo was the same as for previous events. It was largely made up of white men, aged between 20 and 45, many either former or current football hooligans.

There was a splattering of women and older people and literally a handful of non-whites, but to all intents and purposes the composition of the demo was the same as it has always been.

The day passed off relatively peacefully, with just seven arrests. Despite some provocation and the now customary fire crackers thrown at police horses, the police did a good job in containing the EDL and keeping them away from the general public. The authorities were helped by the absence of Islam4UK as we believe it would have only taken a handful of these extremists to parade around with their provocative placards for serious disorder to break out. While I had been critical of the approach taken by the police in the run-up to the demonstration they did a good job on the day.

The fact that there was no violence was largely down to the excellent work of the local Muslim community who self-organised, debunked rumours and calmed tensions. There were over 300 stewards on hand and several mediation teams who were used to intervene when tensions rose. At one point during the afternoon over 1,000 Muslim youths began gathering on the Dunstable Road following rumours that a mosque had been attacked. The mediation teams and stewards went in and the group soon dispersed.

Across the city, the council's cohesion team, faith and community groups did an excellent job in reassuring local people and showing solidarity to one another.

We were happy with our intervention in the overall campaign. Once again we avoided counter-demonstrating on the day, preferring a strategy of constructive community engagement which sought to educate people about the EDL, provide experience and good practice from previous EDL demonstrations and reassure local communities. In the run-up to the day there was considerable tension between the police and the council and the police and the local Muslim community. Given the lack of trust, particularly from many in the Muslim community towards the police approach, we played a vital role in supporting key community leaders and activists. Because of our relationship building, the information/background we were able to provide via the magazine, briefings and one to one meetings, coupled with our sympathetic stance on building community, we were a trusted source of information on the day. The community mediation teams in the Muslim community found it useful to speak to our team on the ground and share information on how events were unfolding direct from the scene. They wanted to know about numbers of EDL, the mood, what was being done by the EDL etc. As rumours flew around about Qur’an burning by the EDL (for example) we were able to scotch those rumours instantly as a trusted and 'on side' source. This helped the community mediators calm young people down and counteract the rising tensions.

Also losers were the Islamist extremists. They boasted of making an appearance on the day but in the end they were nowhere to be seen. They had claimed that only they could defend the Muslim community but in their absence local people were able to cope just fine.

It is unclear where the EDL will go from here. Given Luton’s importance, both as a birthplace of the EDL and the link with Islamic terrorism, its relatively small numbers will be a major disappointment to its organisers. Future street mobilisations will only be smaller. There are some inside the EDL who are pushing for a more political approach in preference to street actions but this will alienate many of its current supporters. With the obvious thuggery of the EDL a political path looks slim.

Luton survived the EDL demo and it appears that the vast majority of local people – of all races and religions – shunned the extremists. The job now is to build on this by actually bringing people together in a town where fear has for too long reigned over hope.

Hope not hate

Calls for Cameron to ban EDL as they announce Birmingham protest

The English Defence League (EDL) has announced a demonstration in the city next month – prompting a city councillor to call on the Prime Minister to ban the group.

Coun Tariq Khan (Lib Dem, Washwood Heath) said Mr Cameron should target all forms of extremism including the EDL.

Following a protest in Luton on Saturday, the group announced on its Facebook page a demonstration in Birmingham on March 19. Its last demo in the city in August 2009 erupted into violence as members clashed with those from anti-fascist groups.

Coun Khan said the police, local authorities and the government should put a stop to the movement once and for all for the sake of community cohesion. He said: “The authorities need to put their foot down and say enough is enough. They (the EDL) are a bunch of trouble makers who have nothing better to do.’’

Mr Cameron caused controversy on Saturday when he criticised state multiculturalism and signalled a tough stance on Islamic extremism. Coun Kan said: ‘‘David Cameron said it’s time to clamp down on Islamic extremism. I say, clamp down on the EDL. Let’s have some consistency.’’

Mr Cameron’s comments came as the EDL held a major demonstration in Luton, prompting accusations that he was playing into the hands of the far-right by targetting Islamic extremists.

Birmingham Mail

The faltering light of Little England

EDL supporters listen to founder Tommy Robinson speaking. Photograph: Getty Images

On Saturday, the British lion roared. The roar of monoculturalism

By train, coach and car, they came. To Luton, birthplace of the English Defence League. A journey home.

As they travelled, they were buoyed by words of acclamation from none other than their own Prime Minister. Speaking in Germany, a nation historically renowned for its unique take on muscular liberalism, David Cameron reached out. "Passive tolerance" had created a monster. Islamic extremism. Terrorism. An alien disregard for democracy, equal rights and freedom of speech.

The EDL leader, a good English Tommy (though his real name is Steven), could not contain his delight: "He's now saying what we're saying. He knows his base."

That base was now encamped in Luton town centre. Here the flower of English youth, or rather, the bramble bush of English middle age, fanned the debate on multiculturalism the country has been denied for so long: "We've fucked all of Allah's wives," they sang with gusto. Strangely, the people of Luton did not seem overly keen to participate in this dialogue, voting with their feet, and in many instances with plyboard and hammers, as the city-centre shops lay shuttered and deserted.

Others wouldn't have missed it for the world. The Swedish Defence League had arrived the night before, slumming it in the nearby Hilton. Muttering darkly about "revenge" for the actions of the Stockholm suicide bomber Taimur Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, they were on what appeared to be a sort of extremist's busman's holiday.

The German Hanover Division, by contrast, acted like typical tourists, posing happily for photographs while watching with a connoisseur's disdain the half-hearted attempts by local EDL activists to sieg heil. They were certainly happier than the coachload of Polish pensioners who were mistakenly pulled off the motorway by the police and forced to form part of an EDL convoy.

Back in the town centre, tempers began to fray as members of the Scottish Defence League – who, in solidarity with their German brothers, like to refer to themselves as the SS-DL – began taunting their English counterparts. Then, just as it seemed that British monoculturalism was facing its first schism, a frisson of excitement ran through the crowd.

Two of the "star guests" had arrived: Rabbi Nachum Shifren, the self-styled "surfing rabbi", from California, with links to Sarah Palin's Tea Party movement; and Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, an Austrian political activist currently facing prosecution under "hate speech" laws. Within the admittedly niche circle of international Islamophobe speakers, these constituted A-list arrivals.

Then the march was under way, stuttering, jostling and meandering its way towards the reclamation of a nation and its identity. There were a couple of minor interruptions, the first when Rabbi Shifren suffered a panic attack, the second caused by an attempt at reorganisation so that the women, of whom there were a handful, were strategically positioned at the front. According to the EDL, this was to demonstrate the "peaceful" nature of the march, though the gesture was slightly undermined by the fact that your average EDL woman appears far tougher and more aggressive than her male counterpart.

On they marched, generating if not a carnival atmosphere, certainly a vociferous one. Many of those in attendance were clearly on their first demonstration, hence the confusion over the relatively novel chant "No surrender to the Taliban", and its rapid replacement with the reassuringly familiar "No surrender to the IRA". To the untrained ear, this created the spectacle of burly, tattooed men pledging with their dying breath never to surrender their tiaras.

Meanwhile, the police maintained a keen but restrained vigil, clearly relieved to be facing a crowd of hardened anti-Islamic extremists, rather than Oxbridge undergraduates.

Then suddenly, they were at the square, surging, pouring triumphantly forward. For an instant it seemed a Burberry bomb had exploded in the centre of Luton. One man rushed ahead, gesticulating exultantly, challenging someone to "come on, have a go!". But it was fake bravado. He was talking to the wall of an adjacent shopping centre. A second sprinted to the front, unfurling a giant banner of St George. Sadly, it was too large for even this son of Albion – he tripped, tumbled and lay prone for several seconds, wrapped literally in the flag, like a fallen sailor awaiting burial at sea.

There were speeches. Tommy Robinson, an EDL founder, insisted bellicosely that "there are no racial divisions in Luton", while Sabaditsch-Wolff – slightly misjudging her audience – chose to recite Tennyson. They were met with cheers, and chants of "E-E-EDL!". But I recognised those cheers. They were like the first 15 minutes that follows another English defeat on penalties. The voice of the defiant, rather than the victorious.

And then they were gone. The surfing rabbi and the Viennese aristocracy, the Hanoverians, the Polish tourists, Swedish busman and Scottish Nazis were no more. Like a surreal, anti-Islamist Carry On film, the march on Luton was over.

Only Tommy Robinson, and the small band of his followers who actually live in the town, remained. They retreated to a local pub to regroup and relive the day. They had made their point. Though what that point was, only they really knew. Maybe they felt had simply stood tall, raged against the dying of the light.

The faint, faltering light of Little England.

Dan Hodges at the New Statesman

Thanks to NewsHound for the heads-up

Sikhs prove EDL wrong

A delegation of Sikhs marched proudly joining a big rally against the English Defence League (EDL) held in Luton.

They played the Dhol, a Punjabi war drum, as they entered the rally carrying a banner that read ‘Sikhs Against the English Defence League – Fighting Intolerance since 1699’, a reference to the establishment of martial Sikhism by the 10th Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh Ji. They were greeted with cheers by more than two thousand demonstrators gathered in the Park Square, in the centre of Luton, who gave the marching Sikhs a great applause.

This comes as a great blow to the English Defence League (EDL) as they had claimed that they are getting support from many Sikhs. The demonstration by ‘Sikhs Against the EDL’ shows otherwise.

The Sikh protesters shouted slogans against Guramit Singh, one of the self-styled EDL leaders from Sikh background and called him a traitor. They claimed that he had brought shame to the Sikh community and should be locked up due to some of his recent speeches.

Varinder Singh spoke on behalf of the Sikh delegation and pointed out that the Sikh community has a proud tradition of fighting Fascism in the Second World War. He asked, “Given our proud history, how can Sikhs not oppose the racism and Fascism espoused by EDL?”

Varinder Singh went on to condemn Guramit Singh (ethnic spokesperson for the EDL) and other racist traitors of Sikh origin joining EDL and expressed that these individuals should be held accountable.

Balwindar Singh Rana, also from a Sikh background said, “The Sikhs Against the EDL have launched a ‘Joint Statement’ which has already gained support from some of the major Sikh and Hindu organisations, including many Sikh Student Societies, as well as many prominent individuals in this country. People are waking up to the dangers of the racist poison that is being spread by the EDL and they will no longer fall for their ‘divide & rule’ tactics.”

He added:”In the ‘70s and ‘80s, whether we were Sikhs, Hindus or Muslim, we were all united against the racists and fascists of the National Front and the BNP. We now have to show the same unity again if we are going to halt this tide of racist hatred by the EDL.”

Salvinder Singh Dhillon from the Indian Workers Association pointed out that the rally was being attended by all communities was a proof that they all stand shoulder to shoulder against promotion of racism and fascism.

He said, “The poison of racism serves to divide people and weaken their common struggles against the attacks by the state on their livelihood, against imposition of tuition fees, and the pending massive spending cuts in social services, health and education.”

The rally was organized by Unite Against Fascism(UAF), a broad based organisation supported by numerous individuals and organizations including trade unions and members of parliament. Various speakers expressed their opposition to EDL and the racist British National Party( BNP). There was also a further protest in the Bury Park, near the Mosque, organized by the Muslim community and attended by nearly two thousand people.

Hillingdon Times

Homes attacked in Luton after racist EDL march

Windows broken, door sprayed with graffiti. One of two houses
attacked in Luton in the aftermath of the EDL's march on Saturday of last week.

Two homes in Luton were attacked late last night – their windows smashed and the word EDL painted on the front door – just hours after the English Defence League’s (EDL) racist protest through Luton town centre. The houses are on the edge of Bury Park – where many Asian people live.

Mr Iqbal lives with his mother, brother and sister in one of the houses. He told Socialist Worker, “It happened at around 11.40pm. I was awake but about to go to sleep. I heard a crash and ran to the front of the house to find a brick had been thrown through a window. When I opened the front door, I saw someone had painted EDL on it. I couldn’t sleep – I thought they may come back.”

Mr Iqbal is a Muslim. The other house that was attacked belonged to a neighbour a few doors away – who is a Christian. There is a crucifix on the front of the house, which the bigots of the EDL seemed to miss. The residents stayed up all night, fearful of further attacks.

It is not the first time that EDL supporters have been violent. In Stoke, Asian and white people faced EDL thugs on the rampage during an EDL protest last year.

Dave Barnes, a local Unite Against Fascism (UAF) organiser, said, "Everyone in Luton needs to unite with Muslims against racist attacks, and drive the EDL and racism out of the town. The attacks show why it was absolutely correct to protest against the EDL in Luton on Saturday."

Socialist Worker

Anti-fascists slam English Defence League

David Cameron boards the EDL bandwagon

Bungling David Cameron was last night accused of “stoking the fires” of race hate just hours before a thuggish far right march.

The Prime Minister pledged to make Britain “a lot less” tolerant towards Islamic extremists who whip up hatred against the West. But the Tory leader was slammed by religious leaders for “vilifying” Muslims and boosting support for the far-right English Defence League who saw thousands of supporters gather for a hate-filled rally yesterday in Luton, Beds.

Tensions simmered as around 3,000 EDL members marched through the town, which was largely boarded up and ­barricaded by police for the event. Around 1,000 officers from 14 different forces monitored the protest in an operation that cost more than £800,000. There were skirmishes during the march, 19 people were treated for injuries and police said eight people werearrested, “mostly for possession of offensive weapons and assault”.

EDL leader Stephen Lennon, 26, told the Daily Star Sunday: “It is no coincidence Cameron made this speech the day the EDL held its biggest-ever march. We are a phenomenon and we have support in every town and city. For the past two years we have been highlighting the evils of militant Islam and the effect it has on our country. And we are getting more support. Cameron’s seen this tide turning against these extremists living in our towns and has jumped on the bandwagon. But he’s a politician and is all talk. He doesn’t care. And he is wrong. Multi- culturalism does work in this country. Christians, blacks, Polish, Jews, Sikhs, and people from every other background in the world live in harmony here. It’s those who follow militant Islam that cannot live side by side with us.”

Later Sabby Dhalu, from Muslim pressure group One Society Many Cultures, slammed Mr Cameron saying: “Vilifying Muslim communities on the day when they are being targeted by the EDL in Luton could not be more grotesque.”

Among the crowd, chants of: “We want our country back”, “Muslim bombers off our streets” and “No surrender to the Taliban” rang out along the parade route. One protester calling himself Dave, from Wolverhampton, said: “We want these Islam ­extremists and terrorists out. You can take your mosques and f**k off.”

The parade was led by 30 women EDL members in a bid to show people the group is not just made up of thugs.

Just 200 yards away from the EDL protests, local Muslims demonstrated against the far-right group. Imran Khan, 26, said: “If police weren’t here and the EDL came on to our streets we’d join together and fight them. And EDL blood will be spilled.”

Hundreds of United Against Fascism members also staged a protest. Sadiq Khan, 40, Shadow Justice Secretary, said ahead of the Prime Minister’s speech in Munich that he was “writing propaganda for the EDL”.

But Conservative Party chairman Baroness Warsi, 39, hit back and said: “For Sadiq Khan to smear the Prime Minister as a right-wing extremist is outrageous and irresponsible.”

Sunday Star

Caption Competition: Who ate all the pies?

Apparently, this is a picture of Kevin Smith, whose crowning achievement to date is putting a pigs head on Dudley Mosque. Captions please (and thank you to Searchlight for such a delightful image).

News from the frontline - Luton...

And on that happy note, thank you to everyone who texted to let me know what was going on, and thank you to all those who left comments. Apart from a few arrests, the whole thing seems to have gone off reasonably well (for us) and everyone seems safe. If the police do their jobs and kick the EDL out of town sharpish, Luton can relax and get on with being a happily multi-cultural town, despite any crap that David Cameron might want to spout. Thanks, all.

16.11: A fascist is forcibly removed from our side.

16.04: Speaker announces that EDL wanted 8000 but got 2500 [or less]. Hails this as possibly the beginning of the end for the EDL. Also, praises multi-culturalism and condemns Cameron for his comments yesterday. It is suggested that we should take our inspiration from Egypt.

15.59: Everyone being herded back into square by police.

Hope not hate reports, 'I'm really pleased to report that it seems that today has passed off peacefully. The people of Luton have rejected the provocation of the EDL. One of the main reasons for this was the great work done in the Muslim community to keep their youth off the streets. Hundreds of stewards and dozens of mediation teams were out to reduce tensions and refute the rumours that were circulating. Community elders stood hand in hand to calm youngsters down and encourage people not to rise to the EDL's bait. Across the town, faith leaders from the Christian churches in Luton were on the ground to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Muslim community'.

Socialist Worker reports, 'A delegation from UAF has entered Bury Park to cheers, applause and chants. Earlier in the day they had been blocked by police from entering the area. There is an electric atmosphere at both key points on the anti-fascist side. In Park Square, protesters have pushed the police back a number of times'.

15.40: EDL fighting each other. No damage to town immediately obvious.

15.33: A few of ours were arrested when a large group pushed through police lines. No numbers yet.

15.27: Large number of anti-fascists marching through Muslim area.

15.19: It has just been announced that the mosque attack rumour is untrue and that the Muslim area is quiet. There were 1500 EDL and they are now dispersing.

15.17: Some of our side have broken through police lines.

Nick Lowles at Hope not hate reports, 'There are plenty of rumours flying around. First there was a story that a Koran was burnt up on the Farley Hill estate now there's a rumour that a mosque has been attacked in Bury Park. Neither are true'.

15.14: Just heard that EDL threw firecrackers at police horses during their march.

15.05: We are hearing that a mosque has been attacked. More on that as we get it...

14.58: Park Square rally outnumbering second rally point. A large group of anti-EDL protestors have just moved off to one side of the square to see off some fash.

14.25: Things have calmed down a lot and people are listening to the music.

Richard Howitt, Labour MEP for Luton said: “I am deeply proud that Luton is at the forefront of the fight against the EDL who have manipulated publicity about the march and falsely portrayed themselves. They are an ultra-nationalist far right group with Nazi connections. They are Nazis and we say ‘never again’. They attack all Muslims who tell us they feel villified and attacked by the EDL. The EDL lies about the number of its supporters. I was in the operations room at the Town Hall an hour ago and just four coaches had arrived at that time. We will not fall for their propaganda about numbers. The police have stopped a minibus on the motorway and one person was found to be carrying a club. Why would he want to bring a club to Luton today?”

14.08: A Luton football supporter has just spoken, saying that not all supporters are EDL.

14.06: Someone with a Tony Blair mask has a placard, 'War Criminals say They Shall Not Pass'.

14.03: One of the Sikhs has a placard, 'Guramit Singh, lock him up!' There is now a speaker from a local mosque.

13.53: A stand-off with mounted police. No dogs (yet).

13.51: Attempt to march to the EDL blocked by police.

13.50: A lot of our people have moved up to the police lines.

13.48: Vibrant demo against racist and fascist EDL. Bands good, lots of speakers and stalls. The police have kept us apart from the EDL. They rate us the same as the EDL. We are not!

13.46: Speaker describes EDL as Evil Defence League.

13.42: More speakers; MP and Trades Council speaker (Asian guy who remembers opposing the NF).

13.35: Guys in turbans holding banner, 'Sikhs against the English Defence League. Fighting intolerance since 1699'.

13.33: Group tried to get to Bury Park but were stopped by police and returned to Park Square. There are apparently around 1000 at Bury Park.

13.32: 1000 now at anti-EDL rally.

13.28: EDL march has started. Held up by them fighting with their own stewards, throwing bottles and trying to push through the lines. They are chanting 'Muslim bombers off our streets'.

13.24: 200 more just arriving at rally.

13.20: Large anti-fascist march entering rally square to cheers all round.

13.19: 1000 protecting Asian area, 500 UAF at rally itself. EDL not allowed in yet by police.

13.11: Speakers in support of Muslims fighting in Egypt, condemnation of BBC for promoting EDL and of Cameron for his attack on multi-culturalism. Police keeping some EDL at station - not allowing them into centre.

13.08: Great turnout for the demo. The EDL are in a different square. Police helicopter directly above us.

13.00: Good speeches, many attacking David Cameron for his tirade against multi-culturalism.

12.26: Helicopter overshead. An MEP (not Nick Griffin) is speaking to anti-EDL protestors.

12.16: Some guy in a kilt is doing Irish dancing in the square.

12.12: A bunch of our people just moved off with police going after them.

12.03: We are in a square with music and lots of banners.

11.51am: 14 EDL already arrested for drugs and weapons.

11.47am: Plenty of Asian youth out.

11.25am: Police have been telling shopkeepers their property is endangered by Asian youth, not by the EDL.

11.21am: Centre of Luton is full of police with dogs.

11.17am: The proper story is not that the train was prevented from setting off but that UAF protestors have blockaded Luton Station and prevented the EDL from leaving the platform. Police are trying to get them out.

11.09am: Have heard that UAF demonstrators stopped an EDL train from leaving London

The EDL marches in Luton today. Hold your breath

Today's EDL march in Luton has put the interests of a few extremists above the wishes of the majority

Several thousand supporters of the English Defence League are marching in Luton today in protest against Islam. What began as a street movement to oppose Islamic fundamentalism has broadened its target to the religion itself. A few hundred metres away, Unite Against Fascism has arranged a counter-demonstration and, separately, a group of local Muslims will be meeting in a park to act as a buttress between the EDL and their neighbourhood. The town centre will be in lockdown, with most roads closed and 2,000 police on duty. For most local people, of all races and religions, today is viewed with dread and fear. Tensions have been building over the last week, and there is a real fear of disorder on the streets.

For the EDL, the march is being billed as coming "back where it began". The group was formed in the town in the summer of 2009 as a response to a handful of Islamic extremists who protested against an army homecoming parade. The EDL considers Luton to be the frontline. It is home to al-Muhajiroun, now known as Islam4UK, and there has been a Luton link to many recent terror plots in Britain.

Since then the EDL has gone national, with 80,000 supporters on Facebook and local groups across the country. It has held over 30 demonstrations and protests across the country, many ending in violence. The police hope they have the resources to ensure a peaceful day. I certainly hope they are right, but I also have reason to be fearful. The whole policing operation has been dogged by inconsistent mixed messages, confusion, and divisions between the police and the local council. They appear to have accepted the EDL line that by allowing the march they are reducing the risk of trouble. The residents of High Town, the mixed area of Luton where the EDL march is due to starts, were only informed of this last Sunday. No wonder the EDL themselves are openly and publicly bragging that the "tide has turned" and the police are on their its side.

The apparent willingness of the police to accommodate the EDL has had an adverse affect on many locals, including the Muslim community. Many do not trust the police to protect them, and this has bolstered calls to mobilise to defend their neighbourhoods. Compare this with the police in Bradford and Leicester, who restricted EDL demands and went out of their way to reassure target communities – and as a result reduced tensions.

I am not advocating a ban on all marches, but with freedom of speech comes responsibility. The rights of one group have to be put against the affect it has on others. Whatever the outcome, Luton is a more divided town than it was a fortnight ago. The EDL is already feeling confident enough to demand a local shopping centre withdraw plans for a multifaith prayer room or face an EDL response. The march, and the police's acceptance of the EDL's wish to gather at a pub in one of the outlying estates, further reinforces the perception that certain areas of the town belong to the EDL.

More worryingly, the EDL protest is likely to further alienate the Muslim community. Many Muslims will be more nervous; others are likely to be attracted by the extremist message peddled by Anjem Choudary and his Islam4UK group.

Shortly before Christmas, the head of the West Midlands counter-terrorism unit claimed that EDL activities pushed young Muslims into the arms of extremist groups. I have argued this for a long time. There is a symbiotic relationship between the EDL and the very groups they claim to oppose. Each needs the other to justify their own existence, and their respective memberships are boosted by the activity of the other.

Bedfordshire police are following the line set down by the government and police chiefs at the Home Office. They do not consider the EDL to be an extreme rightwing group and they view the march as simply a law-and-order issue. It is the events on the day that matter, rather than the longer-term consequences of their actions. With cuts of up to 50% in the Department for Communities and Local Government, and the closing of its tension-monitoring groups, no one in the government is willing to look at the wider implications of EDL activities.

Only yesterday a building that had been earmarked for a Muslim cultural centre in north Wales was set alight, two weeks after an EDL protest was held there. Mosques in Kingston upon Thames and Stoke-on-Trent have been attacked following EDL protests. A Hindu temple was obviously mistaken for a mosque during an attack in Dudley on the day of an EDL protest.Everyone will be holding their breath that today passes off peacefully; but it seems strange that, at a time when the government advocates localism, the interests of an extremist few are put above the wishes of the majority.

Nick Lowles at Comment is free

EDL protest attracts European far-right activists

English Defence League protests are attracting an increasing number of young people.
Photograph: KeystoneUSA-Zuma/Rex Features

Up to 7,000 due in Luton for English Defence League rally, as anti-racist and Muslim groups prepare counter-demonstrations

Far-right activists from across Europe will join thousands of English Defence League supporters tomorrow for the biggest rally in the group's 20-month history. Police expect up to 7,000 demonstrators will descend on Luton, the Bedfordshire town where the EDL started in spring 2009, amid evidence of the group's growing influence among young people. The organisation has staged more than 30 protests since it was formed, many of which have been marred by Islamophobia, racism and violence.

This rally will see more than more than 25 coaches transport members to Luton from across the UK, with thousands more activists due to make their way by car or train. One EDL activist said 800 far-right supporters would be meeting at Kings Cross train station in London before travelling north. UK-based members will be joined by activists from recently formed copycat "defence leagues" in Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands – as well as supporters of more established far-right groups from France, Germany and Denmark.

Nick Lowles, from the anti-racist campaign group Hope not Hate, said the presence of these groups underlined the EDL's growing international links.

"The significance of the EDL marching in Luton extends way beyond our shores," said Lowles. "Across Europe and in North America anti-Islamic groups are watching the EDL with interest, increasingly copying their tactics, even replicating their name. The attendance of so many international supporters is testament to the EDL's role in the international anti-Islam movement."

There is widespread fear of disorder during the rally and the Bedfordshire police force is planning its biggest operation, with 2,000 officers on duty and hundreds more on standby. It is expected to cost more than £800,000.

The demonstration comes amid concern that the EDL is attracting young people into extreme racist, nationalist and Islamophobic politics. The group now has 70,000 followers on its Facebook site.

Luton youth worker Mohsin Malik, who works with young people up to the age of 18, said he could detect the group's influence in the town.

"No one comes out and says 'I'm an EDL member' but the telltale signs are there," he said. "It comes out in the arguments that they make – the idea that social minorities get priority in social housing, that the police are scared to stop and search Asians."

Malik said the group was specifically targeting teenagers and young people.

"For some of the young people I work with the EDL are very appealing – people like street cred. When you're young you want people to respect you and this is one way of gaining respect. There are some kids who are being manipulated – they think they're the big guns."

Sam Adofo, the director of the Salmon youth centre in Southwark, south London, echoed this view.

"People who say the EDL are stupid are naive ... The way they are targeting youth now is extremely strategic, and it's working for them. They've tried to be inclusive and add young people to the whole idea of what it is … The techniques they are using are the basics – interacting with the working class, meeting in the pub, watching the games. It gives young people a sense of belonging that is key."

Keith Vaz, chair of the home affairs select committee, called on politicians to take the EDL threat seriously.

"The government really needs to find out why young people in particular are turning to the far right for answers," he said. "Whether it is because of the recession and unemployment, social problems within their community or a general disillusionment with politics, we cannot afford to lose people to a group that is so prejudiced against the idea of a multicultural Britain."

Anti-racism campaigners are holding a counter-demonstration in a separate part of Luton. Unite Against Fascism, which is organising the event, says it expects thousands of supporters to travel from across the country. A separate event is being organised by sections of Luton's Muslim community.

The town has had links to Muslim extremism in the past. In December, it emerged that Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, an Iraqi-born Swede who set off a car bomb in Stockholm before killing himself with a second device, had spent time in the town. But community leaders claim it is being unfairly stigmatised and warn that the EDL is increasing tensions in the town.

"This group is having a severe impact on the people of Luton," said Fiyaz Mughal, the director of Faith Matters who co-authored a report on the EDL last year. "The tensions between communities are rising and fractures are starting to appear. The Muslim community is under real pressure and feels it is being persecuted and becoming the main target for the EDL."

The far-right group was formed after a small number of protesters from an extremist Muslim group held up placards at the homecoming of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment in Luton, reading "Butchers of Basra" and "Anglian soldiers go to hell". At a subsequent protest scores of EDL supporters attacked Asian businesses, smashed cars and threatened passersby.

The group has "divisions" across the country and its leadership insists it is not violent or racist, opposed only to what it describes as radical or militant Islam. However, many of its demonstrations have descended into violence and racist chanting. Some of its supporters are extreme far-right activists and football hooligans.

The Guardian

Luton gears up for far-right weekend march

Police from all over the country will be drafted into the multicultural town of Luton on Saturday amid fears of clashes between a far-right group and anti-fascist supporters.

Bedfordshire Police is mounting one of its biggest ever operations in a bid to prevent violence when the English Defence League (EDL), which protests against "radical Islam," stages a march through the town, home to a large Muslim community.

Previous EDL demonstrations have led to violence and Saturday's demonstration will see it bringing in supporters from across Britain while members of anti-jihad groups from Holland, Norway, France and Sweden are also due to attend. Some 2,000 officers will be on duty and transport police will be out in force on rail routes into the town, about 35 miles north of London.

"Luton will look very different to normal," said Chief Superintendent Mike Colbourne, Luton's police commander, who said the operation would cost the force some 800,000 pounds. "But the officers, their dogs and horses are all there with the same purpose -- to look after the town."

Luton has particular resonance for the EDL. The organisation was formed after a group of radical Muslims shouted slogans at British soldiers, calling for them to "burn in Hell," during a homecoming parade in the town in 2009.

The Islamist suicide bombers responsible for the deadly 2005 attacks on London met at the town's rail station beforehand, and locals have been involved in a number of counter-terrorism investigations. Taymour Abdulwahab, who carried out a suicide attack in Stockholm in December, had studied at the local university.

"We're fed up, we are the people living in these towns and cities," said the EDL's founder and leader 26-year-old Steven Lennon, who goes by the name of "Tommy Robinson" after a infamous football hooligan. "We are the people crossing paths with terrorists, we are the people who have to live next door to them, our kids have to go to school with them," he told Reuters.

"We ... are trying to get the politicians to listen to us, because at the minute they are just bowing to Islam and appeasing Islam, everywhere, all over, they are too scared to even talk about Islam."

In the town's high street, where "Luton in Harmony" banners fly, locals are worried. A counter-demonstration by the Unite Against Fascism group, which is also bringing in supporters, will be staged on Saturday at the opposite end of the street and police fear there may also be unofficial protests by local Muslims.

"Sometimes it goes beyond the limit. Some people take it to the next level, so yeah, it does make me worried. Big time," said young mother Afiah Husnain as she pushed her baby around the predominantly Muslim area of Bury Park.

About a sixth of Luton's 185,000 population is Muslim and the Imam of the Central Luton Mosque, Syed Gulzar Bukhari, has been handing out leaflets advising his community not to react.

"The EDL can not be defeated if a few Muslim hot-heads are allowed to represent the whole Muslim community," it reads.

It's not just Muslims who are worried.

"We don't want them, we don't want them here. I mean they might have something they believe in but I don't think we need it. Luton's getting a bad image," said one elderly woman who did not want to be identified.

Hazel Simmons, leader of Luton Council, said the protests would effectively shut down the town.

"It's going top be a challenging day and I'm sure that many people, including myself, would rather this event was not coming to Luton," she said.

Whatever the outcome on Saturday, the EDL are promising more demonstrations and the evolution of an anti-Islamist political force.

"People say we are football hooligans. No, we are not football hooligans, but we are not backing down at the same time," Lennon said. "You are not beating us into submission, you are not beating us into silence, we will keep on coming."

Reuters