English Defence League and the hooligans spreading hate on the High Street

Masked menace: The EDL now has almost 40,000
supporters on its Facebook page. A year ago, it had just 1,500

They call themselves ‘patriots’ and wear masks emblazoned with the red cross of the Knights Templar.

But behind the inflammatory propaganda and war paint of the English Defence League (EDL) — the ­far-Right ‘anti-Islamic extremism’ group that is fast becoming an even more pernicious influence than the BNP — we find such men as Jeff Marsh.

Like all the other EDL ‘patriots’, Marsh — or ‘Marshy’ as he prefers to be known — insists he is not racist. And he is absolutely true to his word in one respect: he was happy to stab or stamp on anyone, black or white, during his career as a football hooligan. ‘Marshy’ wasn’t bothered about colour; violence was the thing. To him, ‘it was better than sex’. So proud is he of his exploits during his heyday in the Seventies and Eighties with the Cardiff City Soul Crew that he has published his ‘memoirs’ on the internet. It would be hard to imagine a more disturbing glorification of sadistic brutality.

‘As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a hooligan,’ he recalls. First match: Millwall. Mass fights. ‘I actually loved it. I was hooked. I’d never been interested in football and I wasn’t interested now, but I could see that football was an opportunity to involve myself in the ultimate gang war. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.’

He describes ‘systematically picking off Gooners’ (Arsenal fans), and ‘Stanleys [knives] glittering in the moonlight’ as they ‘slaughtered’ drunken Geordies. His trademark was ‘a stab wound or two in the leg, and I was famous for it’.

Just posturing? No doubt there’s some of that. But Marsh, now 44 and a father-of-four, has served three jail terms for violence, including a two-year sentence in 1989 for stabbing two Manchester United fans. But now Marshy’s back, and his pernicious influence is being felt — not on the football terraces, but on the streets of towns across Britain.

Marsh, it can be revealed, is not just a rank-and-file member of the EDL. He is one of the key figures in the organisation which has invited anti-Muslim preacher Terry Jones to address a demonstration in Luton early in February. The U.S. pastor caused outrage with plans to burn copies of the Koran at this year’s anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Though the Home Office has indicated that it’s unlikely Jones will be allowed to enter Britain, the news of his proposed visit comes as Adrian Tudway, the head of the police intelligence unit on domestic extremism, revealed that the EDL and related splinter groups have become his biggest concern. He says: ‘We look at the extreme Right and Left, but currently our biggest single area of business is the various groups which call themselves defence leagues.’

Certainly, no one should doubt the group’s intention to bring race conflict on to the streets. The last time the EDL marched through Luton, 250 of them went on the rampage in an Asian area of the town. Shop windows were smashed, cars overturned and a number of people were attacked.

The EDL — and sister groups such as the Welsh Defence League — have been stirring up trouble for the past 18 months by exploiting legitimate concerns over Islamic extremism. At the weekend, it was Peterborough’s turn to experience the face of prejudice when an EDL protest ended in a string of arrests for alleged public order offences, affray and possession of offensive weapons. In October, it was Leicester. Before that, Blackburn, Dudley in the West Midlands, Bolton, Stoke and Nottingham. In all, the EDL has held around 16 marches since being formed in 2009 — and the majority have ended in violence and invariably incur huge policing costs.

Some 1,000 officers from 18 forces were called in to police last Saturday’s Peterborough protests, which Cambridgeshire Constabulary said involved about 500 EDL members.

The aim of the EDL — to counter what it perceives as the Islamification of Britain — is just a cover. The members can’t fight in football stadiums any more because of increased security, so they have united and taken the fight somewhere else and found a new, convenient enemy. Of course, Britain already has one neo-fascist organisation in the BNP. But alarmingly, the EDL believes the BNP doesn’t go far enough. And this rhetoric is underpinned by a disturbing statistic: support for the EDL is increasing.

Though the organisation has no formal membership, it now has almost 40,000 ­supporters on its Facebook page. A year ago, it had just 1,500. It is also developing regional ‘divisions’.

Birmingham, the scene of previous EDL violence, is listed as a ‘division’ of the EDL along with Portsmouth, Nottingham, Manchester, Leeds and so on. Each ‘division’ is represented by the badge or emblem of the local football club. Next to the Millwall division, for example, is the club’s lion crest. Thugs and former thugs, then, under one EDL banner — if anyone can really tell the difference between the past and the present in men such as Jeff Marsh. So who are the other leaders of the English Defence League?

One leading light is Stephen Lennon, 27, a carpenter from Luton. Father-of-two Lennon was jailed for a year for actual bodily harm after punching and kicking an off-duty policeman during a domestic incident in 2004. Lennon is understood to have been one of the founders of the EDL.

The EDL’s spokesman is Trevor Kelway, of Portsmouth. They say you can judge a man by the company he keeps. If so, Kelway’s Facebook page is particularly revealing. Among his friends, until recently, was someone who uses the emblem of the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich as his screen avatar. The unit became infamous for its massacre of a French village in the aftermath of D-Day, when 642 men, women and children were shot or burned to death in Oradour-sur-Glane, Limousin.

Among Kelway’s other ‘friends’ is someone with a Sunderland ‘Vote BNP’ symbol prominently displayed. Another man in the set-up who has a BNP link is shaven-headed Chris Renton, 31. Curious how all ‘patriots’ seem to have shaven heads. Renton works in the construction industry and lives with his Spanish girlfriend in a flat in a Victorian house with views over the Severn Estuary.

He declined to comment when approached by the Mail. But he had plenty to say during a recent demonstration in Birmingham. Renton was pictured confronting black and Asian protesters, his face contorted in visceral rage, having been corralled on to a bus by anti-riot police. He later gave a two-fingered salute from the window.

Before being put on the bus, he was standing next to an EDL banner which advertised the group’s claim of being neither racist nor affiliated to the BNP. Yet when the BNP’s membership list was recently leaked, it showed Renton had been a BNP activist since 2002. (The group claims that he has now been forced to relinquish his membership.) And Renton is not just a rank-and-file member of the EDL. Internet registration forms reveal this is the same Chris Renton who set up the EDL’s website.

But not all members of the English Defence League are men. There is a small group of women, such as 42-year-old Leisha Brookes. Brookes, who has tattoos and works in ‘security and promotions’, lives in an ex-council block in Southend. She was not in when we paid her a visit.

But at the Birmingham riot, she told reporters: ‘If an English person went to an Arab country they would be expected to dress appropriately, and all we are asking is for them to do the same. We are protesting against Sharia law and the acceptance of our government of Muslim extremists.’

Few people would disagree with this. But less appealing was her Facebook profile, where Brookes — a Tottenham Hotspur fan — had posted a link to the author of a book called Life As A Chelsea Headhunter: It’s Only A Game. The Headhunters are the hooligans who associated with the National Front and its ultra-violent Combat 18 offshoot. Leisha Brookes has also been an administrator on the EDL website. But it is Jeff Marsh who is perhaps the most astonishing figure.

Marsh claims he is not — and never has been — an organiser of the EDL. Until recently, however, he was listed as the ‘global moderator’ of the EDL’s website — the gatekeeper, if you like — controlling access to its ‘inner circle’ forum, where members, vetted by a moderator, are trusted with details about meeting points before demonstrations.

After one such demo in Birmingham last year, which resulted in 90 arrests, one posting warned: ‘Next time we will be bigger. We’ll arrive unannounced and neither the police or the scum will know any details.’

In July, Marsh was also named as one of the leaders of the organisation in an EDL statement. Marshy is also frequently referred to in communications between EDL members.

Before a recent demonstration in Blackpool, this message appeared on the internet: ‘Me and 10 boys comin from wolves [Wolverhampton]. Day out then a protest before we go clubbing and strip clubs. what a f****** crackin day this will be. when will information on meetin times go out? Me and Marshy been speaking with Old Bill final details should go out tomorrow probably.’

All anyone really needs to know about Marshy, though, is contained in his online ‘biography’. One passage reads: ‘To a lot of us, putting a knife in your back pocket was as much a part of getting dressed as gelling your hair. You couldn’t leave the house without one. This was designer violence.’

Designer violence of the kind that, many would argue, is now infecting any town or city where the EDL rolls in. As Marsh said in one rallying cry on the internet: ‘The most ruthless street army in the ­country is arising and uniting in solidarity in the face of a threat that is now posed to the future of our Nation. Did people think that “Casuals” [slang for football fan or hooligan] would stay silent whilst their families, friends and the neighbours’ lives were endangered?

‘This coming football season will see the “truce” work itself out, and the brothers and sisters throughout the land unite in their common cause, against their common enemies, foreign and domestic. What has started cannot be stopped now. It has begun ...’

In other words, mindless terrace violence by any other name.

Except this time there is a different ‘enemy’ — one chosen by these Right-wing yobs specifically to­provoke far more damaging and troublesome consequences.

Daily Mail

Welsh Defence League links with neo-Nazis are unmasked

Former football hooligan Jeff Marsh set up the Welsh Defence League

An undercover investigation by BBC Wales into a group campaigning against Muslim extremists has found links with neo-Nazi supporters.

Secretly-filmed footage in Monday's Week In Week Out programme also exposes criminal activity among some Welsh Defence League (WDL) supporters. Publicly, the WDL says it is a non-racist organisation. A judge who has examined the evidence in the programme said some were acting to "inflame racial hatred".

The WDL - aligned to the English Defence League - was set up last year by an ex-soccer hooligan and author Jeff Marsh in response to Muslim extremists abusing troops returning from Afghanistan. It has attracted hundreds of followers and held demonstrations in Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham.

Posing as a new member of the group, an undercover journalist accompanied a number of Welsh supporters to a protest. Some were caught on camera and online, making racist comments about Muslims. Two admitted involvement in racist violence at demonstrations organised by the defence leagues in other parts of the country. One invited other WDL followers to join him in burning a Koran and joked online about how best to kill black people. Another talks about driving Muslims out of the south Wales valleys.

Examining the evidence in the special programme, Judge Mark Powell QC said: "It's mindless, it's racist, the purpose of what they are doing is to inflame racial hatred. I think from what you have shown me it is criminal behaviour and no doubt something that the police would want to look at."

Shadow Welsh secretary Peter Hain, who has campaigned for years against racist groups, said: "I think every mainstream politician in Wales, wherever they are based, should make it a priority to talk to young people to explain the WDL is in a long line that goes back through the Nazis. And I don't say that lightly because, that is the exact political situation in which Hitler was able to come into power because mainstream politicians did not deal with the grievances in Germany.

"Now I'm not suggesting the WDL is anything like as powerful as Hitler's Nazi party became, the WDL is a tiny marginalised [group], but once you allow these groups to gain credibility that's where you could end up."

Jeff Marsh, who uses a variety of aliases and wears a balaclava to broadcast online, says he has disbanded the WDL because of the racist element. He has set up another organisation against Muslim extremists called The Welsh Casuals. He insisted that the group is non-racist.

Another group calling itself the Cymru Defence League has emerged out of the WDL. The English Defence League now has around 60,000 followers on the social networking site Facebook and thousands have attended protests around Britain.

Saleem Kidwai of the Muslim Council for Wales said most people were opposed to extremists.

"We have extremist groups and they are as ignorant as the Welsh Defence League, or the English Defence League," he said. "We can condemn them as much as anyone else. They are misguided youngsters being misinformed and used by extremist ideologues who want to use religion for their own political motives.

The programme also highlights the potential cost as police forces are called to marshall demonstrations, both by the WDL and the counter-demonstrations they could spark. It is estimated the bill to the taxpayer could be as much as £500,000.

Det Ch Supt Adrian Tudway, national co-ordinator for domestic extremism, advises local forces on the threat posed by the various defence leagues.

"I think it's a very significant threat," he said. "It's one I know the police service are taking very seriously, together with the Home Office and local authorities."

"Unmasked: Welsh Defence League" is on BBC One Wales at 2030 GMT on Monday 6 December.

BBC

The EDL - One Year On

One year older so what's going on with those cheeky monkeys in the EDL?

The English Defence League is now a year old. Happy birthday. And it has been a colourful (but mainly white) year of various embarrassments, schisms, riots, accusations and speculations. The EDL formed in May 2009 when the ‘United People of Luton’ counter demonstrated against ‘Islamic radicals’ at the homecoming parade of the Royal Anglian Regiment. Around the EDL circulate various grupuscules such as the SDL, WDL, Casuals United and the Stop Islamification Of Europe, all of whom are seemingly interchangeable and ‘anti-Islamic Extremism.’ The EDL also have clearly documented links with the BNP, BPP, RVF, ‘Aryan Strike Force’ and other far right fantasists despite their by now laughable claims be neither racist nor violent.

The Year So Far

The EDL have had some interesting demonstrations over the last year in various towns and cities. What they actually achieved, beyond ego-boosting publicity, has also been varied. To recap: the Luton incident galvanised the EDL and they followed this up with a series of small fiascos in London and Birmingham, the latter which the EDL admitted was poor. Result: 35 arrests. They followed this one up with another Brum protest in September. Result: 90 arrests. Their Manchester debut saw a massive police presence, large counter-demonstration and much publicity. The result: £800,000 policing bill, 10 injuries and 44 arrests. At Leeds, there was a huge police presence costing £375,000 and 8 arrests. At the same time their ‘southern divisions’ planned a counter-demonstration in London against a radical Islamic faction which ended in a pub fight with Combat 18. Result: serious schisms between the EDL and the porcine vanguard of the far right. In November, the Welsh Defence League (comprising mainly of Bolton Wanderers fans it seems) organised a 40 strong fiasco in Wrexham. Result: 4 arrests and many perplexed locals. Their previous Welsh adventure was similarly farcical and disrupted by Nazis. North of the border has proved equally maladroit. In Glasgow their “ big success” was actually only 120 lads. According to Casuals United many supporters from England were stopped by cops en route. To add to their woes, some of the ‘leadership’ were arrested and had their homes searched and computers seized. This is all very well but the EDL do not necessarily need them: the members can simply announce a date on the website and RV point and take it from there. The EDL is more autonomous and fragmented than the police think and many ignore the ‘leaderships’ pleas.

The Nottingham demonstration proved to be costly and eventful with the EDL kettled in a pub and then by the castle. Result: £1/2 million police bill, 11 arrests and many photographs of patriots urinating on a national monument. The Stoke demo showed the EDL in their true colours (sort of pasty, pale and lager flecked): it ended with supporters fighting the cops and then rampaging through an Asian area. This caused much consternation on the EDL forum with members slamming those who rioted and seig-heiled in a beer induced frenzy. In March the EDL caused a major disruption in Bolton with about 2,000 attending. Result: heavy policing and lots of anti-fascists nicked. Although 2,000 is a serious number, their successive demos have never increased beyond this. There was also a small EDL demo outside parliament which faced militant opposition. An April demo in Aylesbury – ‘the first of many’ – saw around 2,000 again, 12 arrests and not much else. 2 of the EDL also ‘occupied’ the proposed site of a mega-mosque which was almost completely ignored by the national media and proved to be a wash out. The EDL were to hold a demo in Walsall in June but they have apparently called it off. The recent demo in Newcastle saw about 600 EDL confronted by a much larger counter-demo and they were well contained. The EDL intend to demonstrate in Bradford soon which will no doubt cause trouble: Muslim youth are bound to react to this blatant provocation. Which is the intention. Why the cops are allowing this when Bradford youth have a proven track record of militancy is only 1 question.

The State & The EDL

Many are the claims on the various left and far-right websites that the EDL are ‘state’ designed to draw in and contain violent racists and discredit the far right in general. Wherever the EDL gather they are heavily monitored by the cops, often filmed individually during dispersals, and it is no surprise that the pubs they meet in for their ‘static protest’ are Wetherspoons which are all equipped with CCTV. It is not unlikely that the cops seize any footage taken. It also requires no stretch of the imagination to believe that the state have their informants and infiltrators, as they have had in the BNP for many years, and know what is going on. Bully for the state. There is also the Sheffield question. Although these are only unsubstantiated rumours several commentators are asking what happened in Sheffield between the cops and the EDL? The ‘leadership’ were arrested and taken to Sheffield police station no doubt by Special Branch/MI5 rather than uniform. Was there a deal? We’ll go easy on the ‘moderate’ EDL you if you give us info on the serious hooligans, or even better Nazis who the ‘leadership’ want shut of anyway. Any information gratefully received.

Nazis?

Are the EDL just another violent Nazi outfit like Combat 18? No. Despite the far-right’s usual antipathy to plurality and multi-culturalism, the EDL is quite a mixed bunch and not a unified organisation in the least. The EDL is a broad alliance of football hooligans who cannot fight at matches anymore, fascists and angry but directionless youths. Inter-firm rivalries have so far been contained, as they are at most England games, but whether this will continue we shall see. The presence of the EDL youth leader and the Sikh bloke is not unanimously approved of and not everyone who goes on the demos are ‘members’ but casual racists out simply to get pissed and have a ruck. It is these ‘fringe’ elements that ignore the EDL ‘leaderships’ protestations over non-violence and Plod co-operation: once the lager is in full flow they can’t help throwing out the Nazi salutes, having a confab with the cops and breaking out of the kettles and cordons to put a few windows in. The EDL ‘leadership’, media savvy as they are, get into a flap about this and keep reiterating that they are ‘not racist.’ Which we all believe.

The BNP have proscribed the EDL but there is firm evidence of BNP members attending demos. Combat 18, after the central London fracas are not speaking to the EDL until they say sorry. The microscopic BPP, who are centred round Yorkshire will no doubt be putting their gluebags down and hobbling along to the forthcoming Bradford venture. The Aryan Strike Force is still reeling from the prison sentences handed down to the Newcastle father and son terror-clown act and the likes of Wigan Mike, who has attended many of the EDL demos, is no doubt worried over his oncoming court case in connection with their website.

The EDL & The Nazis

Opinion on the various far right forums is divided. The eager ones, hankering after the ‘glory days’ of the BM and the NF, are up for street level confrontation; the older ones are either jealous of the EDL’s numbers, claim state interference or are horrified by the Israeli flag waving and the even more blatant demo at the Israeli embassy this week. The Israeli flag is used to wind up Muslims but some far-righters claim that there is a larger Zionist conspiracy afoot involving Alan Lake who bankrolls the EDL. But there again, they say that about everyone including Nick Griffin so we shall see.

The Opposition

The counter-demonstrations have met with various success. That there are schisms on the left is no surprise: we have the respectable and controllable UAF, community groups and the more militant anti-fascists amongst others. Due to the EDL’s political naivety they see all opposition groups as ‘commies’ and Muslim community leaders, Weyman Bennett, SWP and anarchists as one and the same. They do not see that there is as broad a spectrum on the left as there is in their own ranks. This often embarrassing naivety of the EDL also construes that those who oppose them are therefore pro-Muslim which is clearly not the case: what many anti-fascists object to are pissed up gangs of racists coming into their communities to cause trouble.

The Future?

The EDL love the ego-boosting publicity (and we are aware that this article will be read by them): many football hooligans keep scrapbooks of ‘victories’ and ‘taking liberties’ and they will no doubt be pleased by the recent BBC3 documentary painting them out to be a significant political force. Although we must not discount the threat, the demos for many are simply the chance to drink, fight and cause a bit of mayhem to enhance their reputations amongst peers. If Bradford goes ahead there will no doubt be serious violence as well as publicity, heavy manners policing and a large bill for the community to cover. Which is exactly what the EDL want. More little pictures for their scrapbooks, more coverage on TV and more war stories to boast about in the pub. Anti-fascists! Organise!

Malatesta at Indymedia

Hain appeals for huge turnout to oppose ‘fascist’ weekend march

Fascism must be opposed in Wales this weekend when the Welsh Defence League (WDL) descends on the capital, according to anti-apartheid veteran and Labour MP Peter Hain

The former Welsh Secretary and Neath MP insists that the league, which plans to demonstrate in Cardiff on Saturday, is a racist organisation. The league claims it is a “peaceful protest group” but Wales Unite Against Fascism will stage a rival march in the city. Mr Hain, who is honorary president of the anti-fascist organisation, said the WDL would be “strutting its poison in an anti-Muslim demonstration”.

A peace vigil supported by Archbishop of Wales Barry Morgan and the Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Wales, Saleem Kidwai, will be held at the Senedd in Cardiff Bay tomorrow evening. The two men have described the league’s protests as “crude, dangerous and unhelpful”. The Senedd event is organised by the Interfaith Council for Wales and will celebrate the different cultures in Cardiff.

Mr Hain called for a “big turnout of people” to join the anti-fascist march on Saturday. A Facebook group organised by anti-racist Cardiff City supporters, Bluebirds vs the Nazis, yesterday had 122 members. Mr Hain believes Wales must be vigilant against fascism at a time of economic difficulty.

“After the BNP’s utter failure to make electoral headway in the General Election, racists and fascists are increasingly resorting to their age-old tactic of violence they deployed during the 1930s when Mosley’s Blackshirts attacked Jews, and again in the 1970s and 1980s when the National Front went on the rampage against black Britons. Now they are focusing on their latest scapegoat: Muslims.”

He continued: “And this is a fertile period for scapegoat extremism, with all the classic hallmarks for racism and fascism: the aftermath of an economic recession and a new government bent upon big cuts in jobs and public services. In the 1930s Welsh miners and others volunteered to fight fascism in the Spanish Civil War.

“In the 1970s and 1980s the Welsh anti-apartheid movement mobilised a broad section of Welsh society, and in the same period the Anti-Nazi League took on and destroyed the BNP’s predecessor, the National Front.”

Describing a recent EDL event in Stoke-on-Trent in January, he said: “Hooligans rampaged through the streets. Prominent British National Party activists, and an assorted bunch of racists and fascists, joined them. Marauding thugs tried to attack a counter-protest called by Unite Against Fascism, smashing their way through two police lines, overturning riot vans, but were blocked by a third police line. They then directed their anger on the Asian community, smashing up shops and attacking Asian people and a local mosque. Much the same happened in Dudley last month.”

At the age of 19, Mr Hain became the chairman of Stop the 70 protest group which aimed to prevent the 1969-70 South African rugby and cricket tours of the UK. Saturday’s marches coincide with South Africa’s match with Wales at the Millennium Stadium.

He said: “If it were not so sinister it would be ironic.”

South Wales Police officers have attended EDL marches in Newcastle and Aylesbury to prepare for Saturday. Extra police will be on patrol but the force anticipates a peaceful day. It has contacted people involved on both sides and wants to see a “family-friendly event”.

Mr Hain said: “It is vital that the decent progressive majority in Wales rejects the poison of the Welsh Defence League which does not speak for, let alone defend, Wales.”

The Unite Against Fascism march will start at 11am at Roald Dahl Plass in Cardiff Bay and is supported by leading trade unions including Unite and the CWU.

The emergence of the English, Welsh and Scottish defence leagues has fascinated and appalled opponents of fascism who fear that an alliance of football hooligans and supporters of far-right politics could be about to bring violence and intolerance to British streets. However, the English Defence League insists that people of all races and religions are welcome in its ranks and it is only opposed to militant forms of Islam. The EDL’s website refers to our “Christian, Jewish, Sikh, and Hindu friends”.

It blames violence at marches on “self-proclaimed yet clearly misguided anti-fascists and gangs of Muslim youth”.

The sight of street protests descending into violence has alarmed observers who fear there is the potential for confrontations on a scale not seen since the days when the National Front clashed with the Anti-Nazi League. Reports of former Welsh football hooligans joining a “ready-made army” in opposition to Islamist ideology will send a shiver down the spine of anyone who fears for social cohesion.

Anti-asylum badges are for sale on the Welsh Defence League website. Its Facebook page has a logo: “No More Mosques in Wales”. These groups have harnessed the internet to communicate. The question is whether a group with bigger political ambitions will harness this growing number of people who feel their society is under threat.

Wales Online

Thanks to NewsHound for the heads-up

Meet Arrylad...

Meet 'Arrylad' - because nothing says 'patriotism' like using the St George’s Flag for a tablecloth and plonking a can of cheap lager on it, right?

'Arrylad' is apparently a spokesman for the Welsh and English Defence Leagues. He has an entertaining YouTube channel here - although he may sound like some new comic character created by Ricky Gervais, he is in fact for real. A taster:



Bart's Notes

Thanks to PMcC for the heads-up :-)

Punk star’s anger at rally claim

Undertones star Feargal Sharkey has asked Facebook to remove profiles claiming he was supporting a protest by a far-right political group taking place in Cardiff later this year.

A page on the site advertising the Welsh Defence League’s ‘No Sharia’ demonstration contained a profile, claiming to be the Teenage Kicks singer, saying he would be at the event offering his support. But when Wales on Sunday contacted Sharkey, now chief executive of UK Music, an organisation that protects the rights of the commercial music industry, he said was unaware of it and he supported anti-racism projects.

Just three weeks ago the singer spoke at the annual Hope, Not Hate rally in County Durham which celebrated multiculturalism. He said: “Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I’m now in the process of contacting Facebook and getting a number of bogus addresses removed.”

The ‘static demo’ is due to go ahead in June outside Cardiff Central railway station. The online description of the march states: “It will be a peaceful event to show our displeasure at the increasing influence of medieval Sharia Law in this country.”

A spokeswoman for South Wales Police said that they were aware of the planned demonstration.

Wales Online

Nazi Protestors are definitely EDL

The EDL Welsh division - the Welsh Defence League - was founded by convicted knife criminal and Cardiff City hooligan Jeff Marsh (who was jailed for stabbing 2 Manchester United fans and recently banned from football grounds for 5 years). Jeff Marsh helps organise EDL protests through a hooligan group called Casuals United.

When the EDL and WDL marched together in Swansea on 17 Oct 2009, they chanted "BNP BNP BNP", gave Nazi salutes and burned an Anti-Nazi flag. So, realising the EDL's credibility as an allegedly non-racist group was totally blown, the EDL pretended their Swansea march had been "hijacked" by infiltrators from the Nazi group Combat 18. However (in an act of awesome political stupidity) on 7 March 2010 Casuals United published a photo on their own blog of the WDL which proves that the Nazis who'd protested in Swansea definitely were members of the WDL (see video)... talk about an own flippin' goal!

Since then Jeff Marsh published a video of the EDL chanting "BNP BNP BNP" in Stoke (1) and EDL co-founder Paul Ray admitted that BNP activist Chris Renton is now (quote) "de-facto Commander of the EDL" (2)

There's some debate about whether the EDL are real Nazis or whether they're "just" Loyalists. The truth is that to varying extents BOTH statements are true. However, even then, those EDL Loyalists who genuinely aren't Nazis are still prepared to collaborate with Nazis, so arguably they're even worse than the hard-core Nazis, because they knowingly create a Trojan Horse through which Nazis try to sneak their ideas into society.

(1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9lmFqYNOo4
(2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm8lTdh_bwk

Thanks to bnpinfo for the heads-up

Police probe anti-Muslim website attacking Wrexham Mosque plan

Police are investigating a sick anti-Muslim website set up on Facebook to stir up tensions over fake claims a ‘super-mosque’ was being built in Wrexham.

The site “No to the super mosque in Wrexham” on the social network site wrongly claims permission has been given for a mosque at the Miners Institute in North Wales’s largest town. And the website, which bears the Welsh Defence League logo, is also filled with hateful messages against Muslims, which North Wales Police are now investigating.

The web group has more than 2,800 members and this follows a march by the Welsh Defence League designed to stir up tensions in the town. A counter group “Yes to the Super Mosque in Wrexham” has also been set up on Facebook.

The Wrexham Muslim Association (WMA) has denied there are any plans to convert the town’s Miners Institute building into a mosque but said there were plans to lease a small building in the town for worship. A spokesman for the WMA said: “There is nothing in this rumour we are setting up a mosque at the Miners Institute. We simply do not have enough money to do anything like that. But we are hopeful of leasing a place from the council next to St James’ Church in Wrexham.”

Commenting on the anti-Muslim remarks on the webpage on Facebook the spokesman added: “They are upsetting and annoying and I don’t want to pay any attention to such remarks.”

Ian Tetherington, secretary for anti-fascist group Searchlight Cymru, said: “A mosque is not something to be scared of, it would be something to be proud of. Wrexham has a history of tolerance and should be proud of that. These people are Welsh, they just happen to be Muslims, instead of Christians or Hindus, but they are still Welsh and just want somewhere to worship like other faiths.

“I don’t see why anyone would have a problem with them worshipping in a safe, dry place. The idea this is a ‘super-mosque’ is a complete fabrication made up to stir things up and create tension. There are a few hundred Muslims in Wrexham so why would they want a huge place of worship, this is simply not the case. Like other faiths in the town they just want somewhere to meet rather than the temporary building where they are currently having to meet. I live close to a mosque myself in Cardiff and do not understand why people would have an issue with it.”

A North Wales Police spokesman said: “We are aware of the site and are investigating. We are also liaising with members of the local community.”

Daily Post

Plan for anti-Muslim march blasted

Five men have been arrested after a Facebook site was set up declaring “all Muslims should be thrown out of Wales”.

Around 150 people joined the group on the social networking site claiming they would march through the Rhondda Valleys to make their feelings known. The proposed march has been described as “mindless bigotry” by racial equality groups. But South Wales Police have now stepped in and arrested five men for religiously aggravated public order offences.

It is one of the first occasions people have been arrested over comments posted on Facebook. The group has also been removed from the site.

Police now believe the march will not go ahead, but they will be on standby in case anyone turns up. Members of the group, which was entitled Rhondda March, said they would walk from Treherbert down to Pontypridd on February 28. And the organisers declared: “We Dont Want Musslims in our country move them out they are takeing over.”

The site said the march was planned to start in Treherbert at 10am. The group’s message board was inundated with comments including “ai im in, gona put sum nails in a stick 4 the f******” and “Got my steel toe caps ready, wot a craking idea”. Another reads: “send the f****** bk. Join us u now u want 2 stand up tall”. A further message said: “Move these musslims back home”. And another read: “yeah support our local buissnes not forgin ones. Im in”.

But the comments were labelled pathetic and ignorant by equality campaigners who are demanding that the march doesn’t go ahead. Ian Titherington, secretary for anti- racist group Searchlight Cymru, said: “All this will do is cause trouble and give a bad name to the people of the Rhondda. The people in the group are just mindless bigots and it’s something the Rhondda could do without. Most of these people probably haven’t even met a Muslim.

“There aren’t many Muslims in the Rhondda but those who live there are very popular and work very hard doing hours that others won’t. And they are as Welsh as anybody else. You’ll probably find these people who have signed up going into a shop run by a Muslim and buying a pint of milk tomorrow. At the end of the day, these people are attacking their own community. It’s sad, pathetic and pointless. If this march goes ahead it will be very disappointing, the police have to make sure it doesn’t.”

Naz Malik, chief executive of AWEMA, the All Wales Ethnic Minority Association, added: “These people are just simply plain wrong and ignorant because they don’t know or understand Islam. They don’t understand that the majority of Muslims in this country are peaceful, law-abiding people who are fully integrated in British culture. If they took the time to learn about their culture they would realise there’s nothing to fear. But what they are doing is spreading the word of hate. They are just a bunch of misguided people.”

Former MP Ron Davies, who is now director for the Valleys Regional Equality Council (Valrec), is confident the march won’t go ahead. But he added that if it did, the reputation of others in the Rhondda would be tarnished

Mr Davies said: “There are one or two groups in the Rhondda which are extreme right wing, but I don’t think what has been proposed here has any serious basis. In this case, my own view is that this group of individuals are trying to talk up their own self-importance by proving they have the capacity to arrange a march. If it went ahead it would cause great effects to the people in the Rhondda who understand modern day society. But I don’t think the threat can be treated as a serious one.”

Police arrested the men, aged 27, 30, 31, 32, and 36, on Thursday. The 31-year-old was also arrested on suspicion of possessing drugs with intent to supply. The men are all from the Pentre, Ton Pentre and Gelli area of the Rhondda. They have been bailed pending further inquiries.

A spokeswoman for South Wales Police said: “The public order offences relate to comments posted on the internet. An investigation is ongoing; however it appears that the views expressed on a social networking site at the centre of this enquiry have been made by a very small number of people and do not reflect the true community spirit and cohesion in the Rhondda Valley.”

Wales Online

Four arrests after Wrexham protest

Four people were arrested as Welsh Defence League (WDL) protestors were met with a strong police presence in Wrexham yesterday.

Around 50 members of the anti-Islam group gathered in the Wetherspoon’s pub in the town centre from 11am. The WDL said they were protesting against the proposed new mosque in Wrexham and Muslim extremists.

Regent Street was closed by police as they dealt with the protestors who left the pub. Police said the day passed without “significant incident” thanks to the large-scale force presence. Temporary Deputy Chief Constable Ian Shannon, said: “I am pleased with the success of the police operation.

Jeff Hurford, of Unite Against Fascism who held a counter protest, said: “People from Wrexham were very supportive of us and it was good that so many people turned out to show the WDL they are not welcome.”

Wales Online

Griffin’s words bring an echo of Mosley’s claims

Oswald Mosley with members of the British Union of Fascists

It's a pub now. On the corner of Wood Street and St Mary Street. On its walls, photographs and posters to remind us that once this was the Prince of Wales Theatre, that some of the country’s greatest actors strutted its stage.

But nothing to tell us that 75 years ago, the man who saw himself as Britain’s saviour stood upon that stage to bring his message to Cardiff. Dictators were on the rise in Europe – and Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley hoped to join them.

His followers shared his dream, and took to the streets. Nothing new then when members of the self-styled Welsh Defence League marched through Swansea last month giving Nazi salutes as they protested about “Muslim extremism”. This and growing BNP recruitment put that word “fascism” back into the headlines, though now Muslims and asylum seekers are used to stoke the fires of hatred.

Today’s “saviour” Nick Griffin is no Oswald Mosley. Here was an electrifying orator who had been a member of both Conservative and Labour parties, his admirers claiming he could have become leader of either, maybe Prime Minister, such was his magnetism.

But he was flawed. And impatient. In 1931, he formed the New Party and Nye Bevan was among his admirers. But Nye warned Mosley that it could end up as a fascist party and he was right. In 1932, it became the British Union of Fascists, the Blackshirts, branches opening up in Cardiff and Newport, Swansea and the Valleys. Then on a night in 1934, Mosley himself came to Cardiff, to tell 1,000 citizens in what was then The Playhouse who the enemy was.

He looked down at his audience. There should be more of them, he said, “but Jewish interests in Cardiff are allied against the fascists and prevented us obtaining a big hall”. Blackshirts patrolled the theatre as Mosley claimed that his was a movement “of great spiritual appeal, so the Welsh character can express itself through fascism”.

He was not anti-semitic “but we will not allow a minority to organise against the state. I advise the Jews not to organise as they are doing today”. Then a warning so eerily reminiscent of Griffin’s approach to the minorities of today: “They should choose between Britain and Jewry.”

More than 3,000 heard those same words in Swansea where Mosley assured them that “Government by fascism would mean a dictatorship in the modern sense of the word – control by a government which has been given the power to overcome problems, but not a dictatorship meaning tyranny”. The Daily Mail agreed, trumpeting “Hurrah For The Blackshirts”.

Hitler had not yet unleashed the horrors that would bring the Holocaust. But then came another reminder of Mosley’s real target: “No Jew need fear anything from Fascism – if he puts the interests of Great Britain first.” Remind you of Nick Griffin? Only the targets have changed.

Hundreds protested in the streets around Swansea’s Grand Theatre and there were some scuffles, but the huge police presence swiftly controlled them, bringing the Echo headline “Tactful Police Restore Order in Street”.

In 1934, there was 60% unemployment in the Rhondda, two million jobless in Britain, fertile ground thought Mosley for recruits. Merthyr supplied him with some, ex-communists who turned to fascism as the only solution.

“We looked at Italy,” said one, “and felt that Mussolini was doing a good job. He made fascism very attractive.”

Even Winston Churchill spoke admiringly of Il Duce. Some Blackshirts went to a “school for speakers” in London then returned to spread the message. Among the instructors, William Joyce, later known as Lord Haw Haw, who came to Cardiff to rally the troops.

Mosley used to stay at the Queen’s Hotel – now just a pub on Westgate Street – where he would sit, recalled one old Blackshirt, “smoking a penny pipe”. He seemed, he added, “a nice bloke, not a Man of Destiny”.

Years later, Annie Powell, who would become Britain’s first communist mayor, spoke of the fascists coming to her beloved Rhondda in 1936. “We swore that not even one Welsh sheep would hear Mosley’s message,” she said. They didn’t. When Mosley’s men set up stage on a patch of grass just off Pandy Square, they were driven away by hundreds of miners, Tonypandy and the Rhondda from then on a no-go area for Mosley’s men.

The Spanish Civil war began that year. Some of those miners went off to fight fascism in Spain, and never came back.

With news of Hitler’s persecution of Germany’s Jews, support for the man who targeted our own Jews dwindled. In 1939, he was interned but was back after the war with his Union Movement. Though rejected again by the British people, he waited, an exile in France until his death in 1980, for the Call. It never came.

Now another generation of Fascists waits...

Wales Online