Last weekend 2,000 supporters of the English Defence League (EDL) invaded Leicester. They claimed to stand up for Englishness against Islamic extremism, but in truth they came for trouble. Almost as soon as they arrived they began fighting with police, putting four in hospital, and in the process throwing army issue smoke grenades, fire crackers and ball bearings at police horses and dogs
During one charge, which resulted in a police officer being repeatedly stamped on, others in the crowd chanted "let him die". As the event finished hundreds of EDL supporters rampaged through local streets indiscriminately attacking local Asians. These were not acts of patriotism but the destructive efforts of racist thugs and football hooligans.
On October 24 the EDL plan to hold a solidarity demonstration outside the Israeli embassy to which they have invited a little-known American rabbi, in a cynical ploy aimed at cultivating hatred between Jews and Muslims.
While many in the Jewish community have understandable concerns about the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, it is important to remember that the EDL are not our friends. Searchlight has been running local campaigns against the EDL, in the same way that we work to defeat the politics of hate espoused by the BNP. We seek to mobilise communities to stand together around common values which unite us. In Leicester this meant over 6,000 local residents standing together against the hatred of the EDL. One Leicester, United Together. Next week it is the turn of the Jewish community to stand united against this hatred.
Extremism is extremism, whatever form it comes in, and the EDL is a genuine threat to social cohesion and peaceful communities. And extremism only breeds extremism. The EDL set out to whip up trouble and tensions, hoping to provoke a violent reaction from young Muslims. In the short term this divides communities, in the longer term it only pushes people to more extreme groups.
But with the threat comes an opportunity and we must use the concern over the EDL to bring people together. One of the most moving movements of our peace vigil in Leicester last weekend was when the leader of the Muslim community read out a message of support from the local Jewish community. "A rock thrown at a mosque is a rock thrown at a synagogue," the message read. This produced a massive cheer and highlights what is possible when we stand together against hatred.
Nick Lowles is editor of Searchlight magazine
Jewish Chronicle
October 16, 2010
October 15, 2010
BNP Fraudster Peter Mailer forged signature to help sell hotel
Peter MailerA FRAUDSTER is being held in custody after he was convicted of forging a signature to push through the sale of a Northumberland hotel.
Peter Mailer, who stood as a BNP candidate in Berwick in this year’s General Election, was remanded in custody and warned a prison sentence is likely after jurors found him guilty of forgery offences.
Mailer, 53, had used his former manager’s signature to push through the £245,000 sale of the Hen and Chickens Hotel, in Berwick.
Mailer had already been ordered to pay Trudy Waugh compensation after she won a tribunal case against him for unfair dismissal.
A county court “charge” was later put on the hotel Mailer owned when he failed to pay up in the years that followed, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
That meant the business in Berwick could not be sold while the “charge” was still in place. But Mailer, from Bricksheds, Belford, passed the hotel to his brother in August 2006 for £245,000, the court heard.
And when an accountant began to investigate the still outstanding compensation, it was discovered two key documents had been forged with Ms Waugh’s signature.
After he was convicted of forgery and using a false instrument by a majority verdict, Mailer bowed his head and appeared upset.
Judge Roger Thorn warned him: “This is a serious matter and there will almost certainly be a custodial sentence. I order pre-sentence reports and they will go to the length of the sentence.”
Mailer, 53, had denied charges of forgery and using a false instrument within intent between November 2004 and November 2006.
The first offence involves an allegation he produced a bogus written agreement between himself and Ms Waugh. The second relates to an official Land Registry form saying the county court “charge” had been removed, the court heard.
Mailer was arrested last November after the documents were passed to police. He will now face a proceeds-of-crime hearing in an effort to claw back some of his ill-gotten gains. He was remanded in custody until November 8.
That meant the business in Berwick could not be sold while the “charge” was still in place
Journal Live
Labels:
BNP,
British National Party,
forgery,
Northumberd,
prison
October 13, 2010
The EDL in Leicester
Meet Tommy Robinson leader of the English Defence League. Here he is being questioned by police after he and his friends jumped off a coach to during a confrontation with locals. He claims to lead a peaceful organisation but as you can see here the EDL is nothing of the sort.
The EDL in Leicester from HOPE not hate on Vimeo.
Labels:
EDL,
English Defence League,
Leicester,
Tommy Robinson
The BNP: Unbelievable Goings-On
Yesterday I had to go down to that London on for a business meeting. Being from Derbyshire, I duly marvelled at the sights (electric light, horseless carriages, etc), and, having time free before my train home, I called on an old friend for coffee and a chinwag.
She's a radio producer who once researched a documentary about the BNP, and conversation naturally turned to the state of the party...
I filled her in on the splits, the recriminations, the fraud and financial mismanagement, and much of it was news to her (since making the programme she has a passing interest, but she isn't obsessive about it).
Then I showed her a series of screen grabs of threads that have appeared in the last few days on one of the BNP talkboards where Griffin and Jim Dowson (as “the Bruce”) had (supposedly) made an appearance.
To say she was astonished doesn't quite do it justice. If it were a bad 1950's comedy, the poor woman would've done a double take, then looked, bemused, at her glass of wine and carried on to a triple take while clapping her hand to her forehead and shouting “Yikes!”.
“They actually carry on like this?” she laughed. “It's like a nursery!”
Perhaps a nursery for severely damaged adults who constantly threaten one another with psychotic violence, run by neo-Nazi rapists and thieves, I thought, but not any nursery I'd ever want to send my own kids to.
She suggested we go up to a different floor and see a Colleague of hers. I was surprised to see that he was completely up to speed with the current goings-on; he was perfectly au fait with all of the names and personalities involved.
His “special project” has, for some months now, been a documentary charting the last days of the BNP, from the Question Time fiasco to the (increasingly) bitter (and twisted) end. Other than that, he played his cards close to his chest. He claimed a “very senior” figure in the Party is prepared to go on the record, but wouldn't be drawn as to who it might be (Any ideas, Chums?).
He, too, was fascinated by “The Bruce” and his septic waffle. He said he'd even joined the forum in question, and had made contact, privately, with some of its inhabitants. He took a copy of the grabs and said he'd look into it further.
The problem with the BNP's recent travails getting the coverage they deserve from the media has, before now, been the insanely Kafkaesque nature of the saga. Sadly, the fact is that (even if you were to confine your programme to, say, just the Truth Truck scam or the Belfast story), the vast majority of the Audience would soon be lost in a morass of minutiae and bizarre characters. But quite apart from this, the whole sorry mess is simply too far-fetched for regular people in the Real World to believe.
Who, after all, could ever be reasonably expected to fall for the story of a National Political Party who manage to keep on finding excuses for not having their accounts in on time? (I'm still half expecting Cyclops to try using one involving Ledgers + Pet Dogs + Hunger.)
What Viewer in their right mind would believe the tales of self-styled clergyman, fantasy Loyalist and pretend “Industry Expert” Jim Dowson and his hold over the Party?
And just how out of whack with reality would anyone have to be to fall for the bizarre notion that the Leader of a National Political Party and an elected Member of the European Parliament would not only be reduced to endless, increasingly tacky, appeals for donations, but would routinely tell outrageous lies to his own Members, allow a fake “vicar” to hold “services” at official events, change his Party's constitution to ensure his own position to be practically unassailable and, by now a virtual dictator, round things off by using an elderly Welsh fantasist with drink issues and a somewhat unsavoury personal history as his mouthpiece and main cheerleader?
A few years ago, a friend wrote the screenplay for a war film – now considered a classic. Everything that happened in the movie was true. Nothing was invented for dramatic purposes. The problem was, that the acts of heroism shown were so extraordinary, so far removed from people's own reality that many critics simply didn't believe them.
I reckon people might have much the same reaction if they were told even a fraction of the zany carry on that is the Fall Of The Griffin Empire.
She's a radio producer who once researched a documentary about the BNP, and conversation naturally turned to the state of the party...
I filled her in on the splits, the recriminations, the fraud and financial mismanagement, and much of it was news to her (since making the programme she has a passing interest, but she isn't obsessive about it).
Then I showed her a series of screen grabs of threads that have appeared in the last few days on one of the BNP talkboards where Griffin and Jim Dowson (as “the Bruce”) had (supposedly) made an appearance.
To say she was astonished doesn't quite do it justice. If it were a bad 1950's comedy, the poor woman would've done a double take, then looked, bemused, at her glass of wine and carried on to a triple take while clapping her hand to her forehead and shouting “Yikes!”.
“They actually carry on like this?” she laughed. “It's like a nursery!”
Perhaps a nursery for severely damaged adults who constantly threaten one another with psychotic violence, run by neo-Nazi rapists and thieves, I thought, but not any nursery I'd ever want to send my own kids to.
She suggested we go up to a different floor and see a Colleague of hers. I was surprised to see that he was completely up to speed with the current goings-on; he was perfectly au fait with all of the names and personalities involved.
His “special project” has, for some months now, been a documentary charting the last days of the BNP, from the Question Time fiasco to the (increasingly) bitter (and twisted) end. Other than that, he played his cards close to his chest. He claimed a “very senior” figure in the Party is prepared to go on the record, but wouldn't be drawn as to who it might be (Any ideas, Chums?).
He, too, was fascinated by “The Bruce” and his septic waffle. He said he'd even joined the forum in question, and had made contact, privately, with some of its inhabitants. He took a copy of the grabs and said he'd look into it further.
The problem with the BNP's recent travails getting the coverage they deserve from the media has, before now, been the insanely Kafkaesque nature of the saga. Sadly, the fact is that (even if you were to confine your programme to, say, just the Truth Truck scam or the Belfast story), the vast majority of the Audience would soon be lost in a morass of minutiae and bizarre characters. But quite apart from this, the whole sorry mess is simply too far-fetched for regular people in the Real World to believe.
Who, after all, could ever be reasonably expected to fall for the story of a National Political Party who manage to keep on finding excuses for not having their accounts in on time? (I'm still half expecting Cyclops to try using one involving Ledgers + Pet Dogs + Hunger.)
What Viewer in their right mind would believe the tales of self-styled clergyman, fantasy Loyalist and pretend “Industry Expert” Jim Dowson and his hold over the Party?
And just how out of whack with reality would anyone have to be to fall for the bizarre notion that the Leader of a National Political Party and an elected Member of the European Parliament would not only be reduced to endless, increasingly tacky, appeals for donations, but would routinely tell outrageous lies to his own Members, allow a fake “vicar” to hold “services” at official events, change his Party's constitution to ensure his own position to be practically unassailable and, by now a virtual dictator, round things off by using an elderly Welsh fantasist with drink issues and a somewhat unsavoury personal history as his mouthpiece and main cheerleader?
A few years ago, a friend wrote the screenplay for a war film – now considered a classic. Everything that happened in the movie was true. Nothing was invented for dramatic purposes. The problem was, that the acts of heroism shown were so extraordinary, so far removed from people's own reality that many critics simply didn't believe them.
I reckon people might have much the same reaction if they were told even a fraction of the zany carry on that is the Fall Of The Griffin Empire.
Labels:
BNP accounts,
Jim Dowson,
Nick Griffin
October 12, 2010
Former Legionnaire leads BNP in Northern Ireland
When the BNP quietly announced it had appointed a new regional organiser for Northern Ireland it was clearly looking forward to an upsurge in its embarrassingly low membership in the province.The previous organiser, Kieran Devlin, who used the alias Kieran Dinsmore, was a painfully camera-shy club doorman who organised party meetings in such secrecy that few of the region’s 50-odd members were told of them. Terrified of being caught up in the continuing media exposure of the BNP’s activities in the province, Devlin earned the nickname “Twitcher” from staff at the party’s Belfast call centre after the panicked telephone calls he made to them from behind the curtains of his Clandeboye Road, Bangor home, complaining that journalists were stalking him at his front gate.
One of the main reasons for the BNP’s recruitment problems is its lack of understanding of the political and religious geography of Northern Ireland. One of Devlin’s biggest stumbling blocks was his apparently Irish Catholic name, despite his English parents and military background.
Devlin is said to have complained about the lack of support for the local party from call centre staff. Very few of the people entrusted with running the party office in the six counties are local and those who are refuse to be associated with the party publicly. The staff who moved to Northern Ireland to work behind the now notorious steel shutters in Dundonald seem unwilling to leave the seclusion of the villages of Ballygowan or Comber, let alone venture into downtown Belfast, for fear of bumping into Republicans.
Devlin’s replacement is Steven Moore (pictured), an all-things-military-obsessed former French Legionnaire with a penchant for red wine and Liverpool football club. Moore was appointed after the party held an internal enquiry into how, in an area so wracked with racist violence and paramilitary history and tensions, it has failed to convert complimentary support into membership. Moore put himself forward for the job as some kind of “super-Prod”, claiming he could reach into loyalist communities and organisations and even stop the constant Searchlight exposés of the BNP in Northern Ireland by speaking to a “number of community groups”. This is common vernacular for paramilitaries.
Devlin’s departure was welcomed by local BNP members, not least because of his Catholic-sounding name. When the Sunday World with the help of Searchlight exposed Moore as the new leader of “Ulster BNP” and wrote a rather derisory epitaph for Devlin/Dinsmore in June, even the local BNP’s own blog joined in. “His [the Sunday World’s journalist] attack centred on the outgoing Organiser and to a certain extent i [sic] agreed with him,” wrote the blogger responsible for promoting the BNP in Northern Ireland.
Moore may claim to have all the Protestant credentials needed to run the BNP in Northern Ireland, but he also comes with the usual embarrassment of sectarian hatreds and relaxed attitude towards rape and violence.
In April, Moore joked how he had been arrested after raping a female work colleague for an April Fool’s joke and made unsavoury comments about the blind.
Moore gets a nod of approval from Devlin for his description of the pogrom against Roma families in south Belfast two years ago as an act against people who are “inherently criminal” and “Stinking Gypsy bastards”.
When Moore isn’t posting videos by white power bands such as Skrewdriver on Facebook, he reveals his fancy for all things “Third Reich” by sharing videos of Adolf Hitler with his online friends. One apparent favourite is entitled: “Why the world cannot forget Adolf Hitler”. He also has a penchant for songs and videos of the German Wehrmacht.
Elsewhere, Moore has thrown his energies into trying to stop a mosque allegedly being built in Ballymena, the heartland of Paisleyism. Like most BNP members, Moore calls Muslims “ragheads” and Catholics “taigs”.
What with BNP leader Nick Griffin’s daughter Jenny now beating the drum for hardline Protestants, perhaps “super-Prod” Moore will win the sort of support that eluded Devlin.
Searchlight
BNP pamphlets 'not welcomed' at Oval
Glentoran Football Club says it is saddened that BNP members handed out pamphlets at the Oval before their home game with Glenavon on Saturday.
Supporters of the party were seen carrying placards and handing out pamphlets as part of a protest campaign against the war in Afghanistan. The east Belfast club said it did not welcome "these types of groups" outside the Oval.
"Glentoran Football Club has a strong tradition of being an inclusive football club that appeals to a broad range of supporters and players from across all communities in Northern Ireland", the club said in a statement.
"Our strong cross community ethos does not align itself with any political party and we are saddened that such an incident has happened. We do not welcome these types of groups outside of our football club as we continue to provide an inclusive and welcoming atmosphere at the Oval for local football supporters."
DUP East Belfast MLA Robin Newton said he received calls from members of the public complaining about the presence of BNP members outside the football ground last weekend. Mr Newton described their presence at the match as "uninvited and unwelcome".
"A number of constituents have contacted me to express their disgust at the presence of the BNP outside their local club," he said. "They go to the Oval to support the Glens and enjoy a game of football; they don't want to be faced with BNP messages of hate. I presume this BNP presence is some sort of campaign to raise their nauseous profile, and I appeal for everyone to stand as one to reject their message.
"The BNP should pack up their messages of hate and disappear. They have been rejected time and time again, they represent no-one, and we don't want them in our midst."
Alliance councillor Mervyn Jones says the group "has no place" at the sports ground.
"I am disgusted that the BNP would try to take advantage of a football match to try and canvass support for their sickening views," Mr Jones said. "I am glad that Glentoran fans have given this group the red card as this type of activity has no place anywhere near our sports grounds. As a Glentoran supporter, I strongly resent any attempt to link Glentoran Football Club to the BNP.
"Inside the ground I spoke to a number of people and everyone I spoke to was opposed the presence of the BNP, which might be considered the only positive thing to come from this disgusting episode."
In a statement, the BNP said it was seeking "an end to the illegal and immoral war in Afghanistan."
The party said it took to "the streets of Belfast in a peaceful and democratic manner to collect signatures for a petition to be handed in to the government calling for the immediate withdrawal of all British troops from that conflict."
"For the DUP, and Robin Newton in particular, to attack the BNP for this pro-peace message is an example of the most extreme hypocrisy yet seen in Northern Ireland", the statement added.
UTV News
Supporters of the party were seen carrying placards and handing out pamphlets as part of a protest campaign against the war in Afghanistan. The east Belfast club said it did not welcome "these types of groups" outside the Oval.
"Glentoran Football Club has a strong tradition of being an inclusive football club that appeals to a broad range of supporters and players from across all communities in Northern Ireland", the club said in a statement.
"Our strong cross community ethos does not align itself with any political party and we are saddened that such an incident has happened. We do not welcome these types of groups outside of our football club as we continue to provide an inclusive and welcoming atmosphere at the Oval for local football supporters."
DUP East Belfast MLA Robin Newton said he received calls from members of the public complaining about the presence of BNP members outside the football ground last weekend. Mr Newton described their presence at the match as "uninvited and unwelcome".
"A number of constituents have contacted me to express their disgust at the presence of the BNP outside their local club," he said. "They go to the Oval to support the Glens and enjoy a game of football; they don't want to be faced with BNP messages of hate. I presume this BNP presence is some sort of campaign to raise their nauseous profile, and I appeal for everyone to stand as one to reject their message.
"The BNP should pack up their messages of hate and disappear. They have been rejected time and time again, they represent no-one, and we don't want them in our midst."
Alliance councillor Mervyn Jones says the group "has no place" at the sports ground.
"I am disgusted that the BNP would try to take advantage of a football match to try and canvass support for their sickening views," Mr Jones said. "I am glad that Glentoran fans have given this group the red card as this type of activity has no place anywhere near our sports grounds. As a Glentoran supporter, I strongly resent any attempt to link Glentoran Football Club to the BNP.
"Inside the ground I spoke to a number of people and everyone I spoke to was opposed the presence of the BNP, which might be considered the only positive thing to come from this disgusting episode."
In a statement, the BNP said it was seeking "an end to the illegal and immoral war in Afghanistan."
The party said it took to "the streets of Belfast in a peaceful and democratic manner to collect signatures for a petition to be handed in to the government calling for the immediate withdrawal of all British troops from that conflict."
"For the DUP, and Robin Newton in particular, to attack the BNP for this pro-peace message is an example of the most extreme hypocrisy yet seen in Northern Ireland", the statement added.
UTV News
October 11, 2010
Green Arrow Bites Off More Than He Can Chew (Again)
Oh dear. Paul “Green Arrow” Morris has done it again.
Just as he's started a shiny new blog (“The British Resistance”), because his last one had become such a laughing stock and the target of so many attacks from his own side, Captain Hogwash has kicked things off all over again by attacking the BNP's resident sacred cow, Andrew (I-Used-To-Be-A-Nazi-But-That-Was-Just-Youthful-Hi-Jinks) Brons.
Generally regarded (by his supporters) as a decent cove and a credit to nationalism (although, next to the competition, Vlad the Impaler might seem a genial old sort), MEP Brons has kept his head down in Brussels, occasionally appearing over the parapet to deliver interminable speeches from the floor on various esoteric subjects to a largely uninterested world.
In a post entitled “So What Will Andrew Brons BNP MEP Do?”, Hogwash addresses the Nation on the pressing matter of Brons' not yet publicly abasing himself before the altar of Griffin, in his customary style that swings between a Uriah Heep-ish, “Ever so 'umble” wheedling and the pompous, “I-Am-The-True-Voice-Of-The-BNP-And-Anyone-Who-Dares-Disagree-With-Me-Is-A-Filthy-Traitor” style that we on the opposition have come to know and enjoy (but never, strangely enough, to fear).
“Now Andrew,” he says at one point – just to show that he's evidently on first name terms with all the Top Brass; “I must confess to being very disappointed in your lack of obvious support for the Chairman over the last few months. I know the history but it was your duty to stand by him and in my opinion you let him down. Make up for it now.”
The real issues for Morris, it seems, are the continued employment in Brons' EU operation of Chris Beverly and Eddy Butler, and the presence on the recent jolly to Brussels of “Self-centred egotist Mick Barnbrook” and Shelly Rose. Shelley Rose is, of course, the young woman allegedly sexually assaulted by Jim Dowson. Any real political party might actually think such allegations worth investigating – even to the extent of inviting the Police to take a look – rather than immediately closing ranks and subjecting the woman to a campaign of poisonous vilification. By the way, that's the same “Mick” Barnbrook of whom a very silly old Welshman once wrote “I honestly did not realise what a trooper he really is. A credit to Bexley and a credit to our Party. I hope one day that Michael becomes our Justice Minister”.
Excuse me. I just did a little bit of sick in my mouth.
The Brussels trip doesn't, to be fair, sound like many people's idea of a good time. A coach and ferry trip to attend a talk on the Battle of Waterloo (presumably delivered in Butler's nasal, Estuarine monotone), followed by a visit to the Parliament with Brons and dinner in a Napoleon theme restaurant.
Hold me back.
But in attacking the trip, Chris Beverley (“get rid of Chris Beverly (sic) – the one who pulls the puppet Butlers (sic) strings.”) and Brons in particular, Morris has, yet again, annoyed the hell out of just about everyone on his own side.
The following day, and a promised article on Chris Beverley (trailed with the sepulchral announcement “More about him in tomorrow's article...”) has failed to appear. Cold feet? Or a swift telling off from Brons to stop being so bloody spiteful and childish?
Indeed; the article that did appear (“Andrew Brons – Caught Between a Rock And A Hard Place”) is so creepily obsequious (“I personally have great admiration for Andrew Brons. The man has courage, style, charm, intelligence...”) that, when the BNP finally goes tits-up, Morris should easily be able to find gainful employment knocking out press releases for Kim Jong Il (or “Un”. Whoever's turn it happens to be in a few week's time...)
Of course, only a cynic would suggest that a large part of Hogwash's ire is down to the fact that he didn't get to go on the junket. Certainly, some of his commentators seem to be upset by this: “It is very disappointing to see reformists reaping benefits when true BNP people are left at home” says Maria Riley-Ward (or “shaydee_lady” as she's known when cutting and pasting her curious EDL / Daily Mail fansite known as the “Derby Patriot”).
Imagine the stuff he'd have come out with if he had been invited.
On second thoughts, don't bother: You might do a little bit of sick in your mouth.
Just as he's started a shiny new blog (“The British Resistance”), because his last one had become such a laughing stock and the target of so many attacks from his own side, Captain Hogwash has kicked things off all over again by attacking the BNP's resident sacred cow, Andrew (I-Used-To-Be-A-Nazi-But-That-Was-Just-Youthful-Hi-Jinks) Brons.
Generally regarded (by his supporters) as a decent cove and a credit to nationalism (although, next to the competition, Vlad the Impaler might seem a genial old sort), MEP Brons has kept his head down in Brussels, occasionally appearing over the parapet to deliver interminable speeches from the floor on various esoteric subjects to a largely uninterested world.
In a post entitled “So What Will Andrew Brons BNP MEP Do?”, Hogwash addresses the Nation on the pressing matter of Brons' not yet publicly abasing himself before the altar of Griffin, in his customary style that swings between a Uriah Heep-ish, “Ever so 'umble” wheedling and the pompous, “I-Am-The-True-Voice-Of-The-BNP-And-Anyone-Who-Dares-Disagree-With-Me-Is-A-Filthy-Traitor” style that we on the opposition have come to know and enjoy (but never, strangely enough, to fear).
“Now Andrew,” he says at one point – just to show that he's evidently on first name terms with all the Top Brass; “I must confess to being very disappointed in your lack of obvious support for the Chairman over the last few months. I know the history but it was your duty to stand by him and in my opinion you let him down. Make up for it now.”
The real issues for Morris, it seems, are the continued employment in Brons' EU operation of Chris Beverly and Eddy Butler, and the presence on the recent jolly to Brussels of “Self-centred egotist Mick Barnbrook” and Shelly Rose. Shelley Rose is, of course, the young woman allegedly sexually assaulted by Jim Dowson. Any real political party might actually think such allegations worth investigating – even to the extent of inviting the Police to take a look – rather than immediately closing ranks and subjecting the woman to a campaign of poisonous vilification. By the way, that's the same “Mick” Barnbrook of whom a very silly old Welshman once wrote “I honestly did not realise what a trooper he really is. A credit to Bexley and a credit to our Party. I hope one day that Michael becomes our Justice Minister”.
Excuse me. I just did a little bit of sick in my mouth.
The Brussels trip doesn't, to be fair, sound like many people's idea of a good time. A coach and ferry trip to attend a talk on the Battle of Waterloo (presumably delivered in Butler's nasal, Estuarine monotone), followed by a visit to the Parliament with Brons and dinner in a Napoleon theme restaurant.
Hold me back.
But in attacking the trip, Chris Beverley (“get rid of Chris Beverly (sic) – the one who pulls the puppet Butlers (sic) strings.”) and Brons in particular, Morris has, yet again, annoyed the hell out of just about everyone on his own side.
The following day, and a promised article on Chris Beverley (trailed with the sepulchral announcement “More about him in tomorrow's article...”) has failed to appear. Cold feet? Or a swift telling off from Brons to stop being so bloody spiteful and childish?
Indeed; the article that did appear (“Andrew Brons – Caught Between a Rock And A Hard Place”) is so creepily obsequious (“I personally have great admiration for Andrew Brons. The man has courage, style, charm, intelligence...”) that, when the BNP finally goes tits-up, Morris should easily be able to find gainful employment knocking out press releases for Kim Jong Il (or “Un”. Whoever's turn it happens to be in a few week's time...)
Of course, only a cynic would suggest that a large part of Hogwash's ire is down to the fact that he didn't get to go on the junket. Certainly, some of his commentators seem to be upset by this: “It is very disappointing to see reformists reaping benefits when true BNP people are left at home” says Maria Riley-Ward (or “shaydee_lady” as she's known when cutting and pasting her curious EDL / Daily Mail fansite known as the “Derby Patriot”).
Imagine the stuff he'd have come out with if he had been invited.
On second thoughts, don't bother: You might do a little bit of sick in your mouth.
Labels:
Andrew Brons,
Chris Beverley,
Eddy Butler,
Green Arrow,
Paul Morris,
Shelley Rose
The BNP since May...not performing well!
This article was submitted by one of our readers, Iliacus. We welcome any contributions from our supporters (as long as those contributions conform to the law and are in reasonably good taste). Please send your articles to us via email.
There have been 65 local council byelections since the May General Election.
Courtesy of a posting on the excellent Vote-2007 website I can offer a breakdown of the BNP's vote share in those byelections, on a region by region basis. The table below lists the region; the number of byelections held in that area since May; and the BNP's vote share overall in that region.
It makes grim reading for the BNP - and happy reading for sane human beings!
East Midlands 6 - 1%
Eastern 6 - 1%
London 7 - 1%
North East 7 - 2%
North West 11 - 1%
Scotland 1 - 0
South East 11 - 0
South West 4 - 1%
Wales 5 - 0
West Midlands 5 - 2%
Yorkshire 2 - 2%
The dreadful performance of the BNP reflects two elements - the fact that they are failing to field many candidates, and that the candidates who do manage to stand are polling very poor results.
Enjoy!
There have been 65 local council byelections since the May General Election.
Courtesy of a posting on the excellent Vote-2007 website I can offer a breakdown of the BNP's vote share in those byelections, on a region by region basis. The table below lists the region; the number of byelections held in that area since May; and the BNP's vote share overall in that region.
It makes grim reading for the BNP - and happy reading for sane human beings!
East Midlands 6 - 1%
Eastern 6 - 1%
London 7 - 1%
North East 7 - 2%
North West 11 - 1%
Scotland 1 - 0
South East 11 - 0
South West 4 - 1%
Wales 5 - 0
West Midlands 5 - 2%
Yorkshire 2 - 2%
The dreadful performance of the BNP reflects two elements - the fact that they are failing to field many candidates, and that the candidates who do manage to stand are polling very poor results.
Enjoy!
Stirring Tales Of The British Resistance! Another installment of our thrilling new serial!
Chapter Two: The Deadly Dead Letter Drop
Agent Arrow - the craggy, wordly-wise leader of the Resistance - lit a precious cornflake, coffee ground and catlitter cigarette and nervously opened the door of the safehouse.
This was the first time he had left the shed in six months, and his sharply honed undercover senses told him it was a risky venture. He knew the agents of the Searchlight-controlled State were everywhere: The old lady at the bus stop, the seemingly friendly policeman on his bicycle, the young children playing in the park – any one of them could, even now, be reporting his movements directly to Chairman Gable himself; sitting in his plush Whitehall lair smoking a fine Romeo y Julieta and flicking idly through his ermine-bound copy of “What Moustache”.
Arrow knew he must take care, but the stakes were too high to remain underground now. “Bertie” Berk, his faithful batman and fellow operative, had received a message from their Control – the Resistance Leader known only as Agent Cyclops. There was a top secret communiqué to pick up from the Nantyglo dead letter drop, and it must be done immediately.
As Arrow walked nervously along the road, staying close to the hedgerows in the knowledge that he may need to dive for cover at any moment, he remembered with a swell of pride his earlier undercover service in Northern Ireland.
In those far-off days, fighting the Fenian menace, Arrow was famed among his comrades for adopting a disguise so cunning, so effortlessly convincing, that anyone would have assumed he was Belfast born and bred. The orange woollen wig and beard, the bright green jacket and matching top hat set off with a large, felt shamrock. The whole finished with a corncob pipe and a nuanced accent perfected only after carefully studying “The Quiet Man” a dozen times or more...
Thanks to this impenetrable disguise, he had felt safe. Whenever he greeted a suspected terrorist with the words “Top o' the mornin' and beggorah! T'will be a foyne day fer plantin' a bomb of good auld Oirish gelignoyte under the bedevilled English, so it will!”, he had known that he went entirely unsuspected; instantly accepted by one and all as a fellow Papist.
Here, today, it was different. Although he had improvised a disguise to pass himself off as one of Gable's UAF henchmen, the safety pin through his septum was beginning to sting and the threadbare tee shirt (bearing the legend “I Luv Alvin Stardust” – Agent Arrow knew full well how influenced were young Marxists by their incomprehensible adherence to punk rock) was cold in the brisk Welsh air, even when worn over several stout layers of potato sacking.
More unsettling than his discomfort, however, was the feeling of being so totally alone: Unable, in some cases, to trust even fellow Resistance fighters. Barnbrook of the Yard – the sterling detective with a nose for trouble; “Honest” Eddy Butler – stalwart of the London Resistance; both had been unmasked in recent months by Agent Cyclops as slavering Marxist traitors, bought and paid for by the state in return for Tesco Vouchers beyond the dreams of avarice. Lately, Arrow had even begun to suspect that their man in Belgium, the Agent known only by the codename “Ex-Nazi”, had been turned.
These were dark days indeed.
So far as Agent Arrow was concerned, there were only a handful of true Resistance Fighters left. Agent Cyclops, of course, and dear old bumbling, well-meaning Agent Berk. These and a mere handful of others were the last survivors of the Resistance.
Arriving at the Ffoesmaen Inn, Arrow approached the door with understandable trepidation, tapping the accepted code – three short taps and a long scrape – on the side window.
No reply.
He tried again, with greater insistence. Still, there was silence.
Furtively checking that no-one could see, Agent Arrow bent down to the letterbox and shouted the Special Emergency Code Phrase inside.
“John has a long moustache!”
Still there came no reply.
Gingerly, his hand tight on the trusty .177 Gat Gun in his pocket, Agent Arrow entered the Public Bar. The landlord seemed nonplussed to see him. “A cunning ruse. The poor man's terrified we're being watched by Agents of the State”, thought Arrow.
“What can I get you, Sir?” asked the Landlord.
Clearly this was another code, thought Agent Arrow. “It's. A. Very. Nice. Day. Today.” he replied, slowly and deliberately, while winking.
“Bitter? Lager?” Continued the Landlord.
This wasn't working. Perhaps the unfortunate fellow knew their conversation was being monitored.
Taking his courage in both hands, Agent Arrow realised he would just have drop any subterfuge and come straight to the point; when the bullets started to fly, he'd take his chances.
“Look. Have you got a letter for me?” He asked. The Landlord sighed.
“Oh, it's you is it?” he said, taking an envelope from beneath the bar and handing it to Arrow. “Sent to the wrong address”.
Agent Arrow took a pint of fine (if strangely cold) lager and sat in a corner to read the secret communiqué.
Was this it? Was this finally the message from HQ that all staunch fighters of the Resistance had so long awaited? The announcement that the elements were in place and the final battle was to begin?
He allowed himself to pause, before opening the envelope. This had come from the hands of Agent Cyclops himself: The same hands that he would occasionally use to brush back his lustrous, dark hair. The same hands with which he would stroke his broad, manly chest and possibly reach down to...
“You alright there, Sir?” interrupted the Landlord; “looks like you're getting a bit flushed.”
Agent Arrow shook himself from his reverie and tore open the letter.
“Dear Fellow Patriot” the letter began.
“The British National Party urgently needs your dona...”
Agent Arrow's heart sank. He finished his pint.
Don't miss the next thrilling episode: The Name's Morris - Paul Morris
Agent Arrow - the craggy, wordly-wise leader of the Resistance - lit a precious cornflake, coffee ground and catlitter cigarette and nervously opened the door of the safehouse.
This was the first time he had left the shed in six months, and his sharply honed undercover senses told him it was a risky venture. He knew the agents of the Searchlight-controlled State were everywhere: The old lady at the bus stop, the seemingly friendly policeman on his bicycle, the young children playing in the park – any one of them could, even now, be reporting his movements directly to Chairman Gable himself; sitting in his plush Whitehall lair smoking a fine Romeo y Julieta and flicking idly through his ermine-bound copy of “What Moustache”.
Arrow knew he must take care, but the stakes were too high to remain underground now. “Bertie” Berk, his faithful batman and fellow operative, had received a message from their Control – the Resistance Leader known only as Agent Cyclops. There was a top secret communiqué to pick up from the Nantyglo dead letter drop, and it must be done immediately.
As Arrow walked nervously along the road, staying close to the hedgerows in the knowledge that he may need to dive for cover at any moment, he remembered with a swell of pride his earlier undercover service in Northern Ireland.
In those far-off days, fighting the Fenian menace, Arrow was famed among his comrades for adopting a disguise so cunning, so effortlessly convincing, that anyone would have assumed he was Belfast born and bred. The orange woollen wig and beard, the bright green jacket and matching top hat set off with a large, felt shamrock. The whole finished with a corncob pipe and a nuanced accent perfected only after carefully studying “The Quiet Man” a dozen times or more...
Thanks to this impenetrable disguise, he had felt safe. Whenever he greeted a suspected terrorist with the words “Top o' the mornin' and beggorah! T'will be a foyne day fer plantin' a bomb of good auld Oirish gelignoyte under the bedevilled English, so it will!”, he had known that he went entirely unsuspected; instantly accepted by one and all as a fellow Papist.
Here, today, it was different. Although he had improvised a disguise to pass himself off as one of Gable's UAF henchmen, the safety pin through his septum was beginning to sting and the threadbare tee shirt (bearing the legend “I Luv Alvin Stardust” – Agent Arrow knew full well how influenced were young Marxists by their incomprehensible adherence to punk rock) was cold in the brisk Welsh air, even when worn over several stout layers of potato sacking.
More unsettling than his discomfort, however, was the feeling of being so totally alone: Unable, in some cases, to trust even fellow Resistance fighters. Barnbrook of the Yard – the sterling detective with a nose for trouble; “Honest” Eddy Butler – stalwart of the London Resistance; both had been unmasked in recent months by Agent Cyclops as slavering Marxist traitors, bought and paid for by the state in return for Tesco Vouchers beyond the dreams of avarice. Lately, Arrow had even begun to suspect that their man in Belgium, the Agent known only by the codename “Ex-Nazi”, had been turned.
These were dark days indeed.
So far as Agent Arrow was concerned, there were only a handful of true Resistance Fighters left. Agent Cyclops, of course, and dear old bumbling, well-meaning Agent Berk. These and a mere handful of others were the last survivors of the Resistance.
Arriving at the Ffoesmaen Inn, Arrow approached the door with understandable trepidation, tapping the accepted code – three short taps and a long scrape – on the side window.
No reply.
He tried again, with greater insistence. Still, there was silence.
Furtively checking that no-one could see, Agent Arrow bent down to the letterbox and shouted the Special Emergency Code Phrase inside.
“John has a long moustache!”
Still there came no reply.
Gingerly, his hand tight on the trusty .177 Gat Gun in his pocket, Agent Arrow entered the Public Bar. The landlord seemed nonplussed to see him. “A cunning ruse. The poor man's terrified we're being watched by Agents of the State”, thought Arrow.
“What can I get you, Sir?” asked the Landlord.
Clearly this was another code, thought Agent Arrow. “It's. A. Very. Nice. Day. Today.” he replied, slowly and deliberately, while winking.
“Bitter? Lager?” Continued the Landlord.
This wasn't working. Perhaps the unfortunate fellow knew their conversation was being monitored.
Taking his courage in both hands, Agent Arrow realised he would just have drop any subterfuge and come straight to the point; when the bullets started to fly, he'd take his chances.
“Look. Have you got a letter for me?” He asked. The Landlord sighed.
“Oh, it's you is it?” he said, taking an envelope from beneath the bar and handing it to Arrow. “Sent to the wrong address”.
Agent Arrow took a pint of fine (if strangely cold) lager and sat in a corner to read the secret communiqué.
Was this it? Was this finally the message from HQ that all staunch fighters of the Resistance had so long awaited? The announcement that the elements were in place and the final battle was to begin?
He allowed himself to pause, before opening the envelope. This had come from the hands of Agent Cyclops himself: The same hands that he would occasionally use to brush back his lustrous, dark hair. The same hands with which he would stroke his broad, manly chest and possibly reach down to...
“You alright there, Sir?” interrupted the Landlord; “looks like you're getting a bit flushed.”
Agent Arrow shook himself from his reverie and tore open the letter.
“Dear Fellow Patriot” the letter began.
“The British National Party urgently needs your dona...”
Agent Arrow's heart sank. He finished his pint.
Don't miss the next thrilling episode: The Name's Morris - Paul Morris
Labels:
British Resistance,
Green Arrow,
Paul Morris
October 09, 2010
Scum on Saturday
Violence flares at English Defence League protest in Leicester
Officers wearing riot gear and dog handlers worked to keep a crowd of EDL supporters under control as bricks and coins were thrown at police. The EDL held a static demonstration and Unite Against Fascism (UAF) staged a counter-protest in the Humberstone Gate East area of the city.
At least 1,400 officers were drafted in from 12 other forces to deal with the demonstrations, the city's largest policing operation in 25 years.
EDL supporters arrived from across the country in coaches throughout the morning. They were permitted to gather ahead of the protests in Hotel Street, Leicester, with police monitoring the groups in four different pubs.
With many wearing EDL branded hoodies and carrying banners, they met in and around the pubs, monitored by officers and police evidence gatherers. Some chanted ''EDL, EDL" while others carried banners reading slogans including "Sharia laws will destroy Britain and all our British values''.
Before the protests started, police said one person was arrested for drugs offences and another three people were also arrested.
Earlier this week, Theresa May, the Home Secretary, authorised a blanket ban on marches in Leicester, but the groups were still permitted to hold static demonstrations in Humberstone Gate East in the city from 2pm to 3.30pm. The area was shut down by police today, with rival groups placed either side of metal barriers.
Much of the city centre appeared quiet and some shops were boarded up near to the protest site.
Police were using Section 14 of the Public Order Act which meant officers could take action against anyone who protests outside that place and time. They were also using stop and search powers, and were supported by the dog unit, mounted unit and East Midlands Air Support Unit.
At one point a policeman was put into a buggy-style ambulance on a stretcher. Some EDL protesters were also treated by police medics, it is unclear what their injuries were.
Police said around 1,000 EDL supporters had turned up and approximately 700 UAF demonstrators.
Telegraph
Morons chant: "You're not English..."
EDL heroes in side-street
More:
EDL Protesters Attack Sky News Truck
Five arrests during Leicester protests by EDL and UAF
Clashes break out between EDL and black and Asian people
Nick Lowles updates
Barnbrook announces a new leadership challenge.
No, not Little Dicky, the other one.
The BNP's very own super dooper sleazebuster Michael Barnbrook has announced his intention to run for the BNP leadership next year in this statement published on another forum:-
Leadership Challenge
I am very concerned at all this talk of starting up a new political party. It will not work. Eddy Butler would be the first person to tell you that. The British National Party is a brand name and with the right leader, who knows what might happen. There are hundreds of thousands of voters out there who would vote for the British National Party if it had a leader who carried no baggage. In just over one year I will be able to put myself forward as a leadership challenger. I carry no baggage and with the support of commited nationalists such as Nick Cass and Eddy Butler I am prepared to put myself forward as a leadership challenger. I urge you all to hang on in there. I am no spring chicken but totally committed saving the British National Party.
Michael Barnbrook
BNP Sleazebuster
Now my first impressions of the statement are that he isn't aware of the BNP's current rules about their leadership challenges as "In just over one year I will be able to put myself forward as a leadership challenger" really means he won't be able to challenge Griffin until the summer of 2012. Unless of cause it's a cock up on his part and that really won't inspire confidence in his campaign.
After looking closely at how Eddy Butler has operated in his leadership challenge over these last few months there is no way that post went anywhere near Butler unless he was pissed up in a brothel.
The BNP's very own super dooper sleazebuster Michael Barnbrook has announced his intention to run for the BNP leadership next year in this statement published on another forum:-
Leadership Challenge
I am very concerned at all this talk of starting up a new political party. It will not work. Eddy Butler would be the first person to tell you that. The British National Party is a brand name and with the right leader, who knows what might happen. There are hundreds of thousands of voters out there who would vote for the British National Party if it had a leader who carried no baggage. In just over one year I will be able to put myself forward as a leadership challenger. I carry no baggage and with the support of commited nationalists such as Nick Cass and Eddy Butler I am prepared to put myself forward as a leadership challenger. I urge you all to hang on in there. I am no spring chicken but totally committed saving the British National Party.
Michael Barnbrook
BNP Sleazebuster
Now my first impressions of the statement are that he isn't aware of the BNP's current rules about their leadership challenges as "In just over one year I will be able to put myself forward as a leadership challenger" really means he won't be able to challenge Griffin until the summer of 2012. Unless of cause it's a cock up on his part and that really won't inspire confidence in his campaign.
After looking closely at how Eddy Butler has operated in his leadership challenge over these last few months there is no way that post went anywhere near Butler unless he was pissed up in a brothel.
October 08, 2010
So, who are the English Defence League exactly?
You have probably read all about the planned EDL protest in Leicester on Saturday, but do you know what the group really stands for? Adam Wakelin reports on their short but stormy history
If the cause was different, you might be tempted to call it a rainbow coalition. Football hooligans, neo-Nazis, gay rights activists, disillusioned BNP supporters who think the nasty party's gone soft and more besides: protest movements have seen some rum old alliances down the years, but nothing quite like the disparate bunch who gather under the English Defence League banner.
You could equally call it an unholy alliance, if it weren't for the fact that the EDL has Christian and Jewish supporters and has been trying to encourage Hindu and Sikh youths to join the group's protest in Leicester this weekend.
What binds them all together? A common enemy. Islamic fundamentalism.
"We are fighting an extreme interpretation of Islam, people who have no qualms about killing themselves and other people in the process," says Guramit Singh, event organiser and EDL spokesman.
"It's a grass roots social movement."
Prime Minister David Cameron has a rather different view. "Dreadful people," was his verdict on the EDL during the election campaign.
Journalist Matthew Taylor, who followed activists earlier this year for an exposé in the Guardian, said the group acts as a "lightning rod for people with a range of grievances who appear to be coalescing around a rampant Islamophobia."
"At each demonstration I attended, I was confronted by casual – often brutal – racism, a widespread hatred of Muslims and often the threat of violence," he wrote.
And on Saturday, they're coming to Leicester.
So what is the real driving force behind this group that will descend on our city in a couple of days, provoking a counter Unite Against Fascism protest, and costing hundreds of thousands of pounds to police? Who are the EDL?
The English Defence League was born in the aftermath of an ugly demonstration by a small extremist Muslim group in March last year against homecoming troops parading through Luton. Its growth since then has been rapid. The EDL now has between 200 and 300 divisions across England, claims Guramit, and is affiliated to similar defence leagues in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Links have also been forged with groups in Europe and the USA. Luton was the "spark that ignited the fire," he says.
People were sick of the creeping Islamification of Britain and the failure of mainstream politicians to protect our "democratic freedoms" from the medieval dogma of militant Muslims and their Sharia law, reckons Guramit, who got involved with the EDL when it marched through his home town of Nottingham last year.
"There are more than 100 Sharia courts practising on a daily basis," he claims.
Sharia law is a "racist, fascist, paedophilic law", he insists; a law which condones child marriage, imprisons women behind burkhas, legitimises female circumcision and wants to take over the world.
Actually, it doesn't. Sharia courts in the UK don't trample over the laws of the land. They're mainly a forum for resolving matrimonial disputes. In truth, they're the Islamic equivalent of Relate.
The idea that the EDL arrived out of nowhere is wrong, reckons Simon Cressy, a journalist for the anti-fascist monitoring organisation Searchlight. Simon, not his real name, has been keeping a watchful eye on the EDL since day one.
The rump of the EDL, he claims, is a shotgun marriage of football hooligans and extreme right-wingers who have been lurking in the shadows for years. Its self-proclaimed leader is a man who is said to have taken the name of a notorious Luton Town FC football hooligan, Tommy Robinson, as his pseudonym.
Searchlight claim the man behind the pseudonym has a BNP past and a conviction for assaulting an off-duty police officer. "The EDL has quite a lot of unsavoury characters, not the sort of people you want to congregate around," says Simon.
Football hooligan firms are the foundation of the EDL, claims Simon. They use Facebook and established hooligan networks to organise.
The EDL, which has no formal membership structure, has also been a magnet for neo-Nazis and older National Front thugs who've found themselves marginalised by the BNP's desire to present themselves as more respectable.
But it would be wrong to dismiss them as a simple replay of the far-right street movements of the past.
"Black and white unite in Leicester," says the EDL poster for this weekend's protest. The group has launched a Jewish section, with its own Facebook page. There is also a "lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender division," says Simon, but their presence has noticeably thinned at recent marches.
"The EDL has made a number of representations to Hindu and Sikh youths in Leicester to come out and march," he says.
Taking a stand against Islamic extremism might be the rallying cry, but Simon claims it's just a front. "The majority of the EDL will be in Leicester for one reason," he says. "They will be there to get drunk and have a fight. They are not serious people with a political agenda."
Surprisingly, Guramit makes no attempt to play down the football hooligan element of the EDL. If anything, he's rather proud of them.
"Most of the main football firms in the country are involved," he says. "It's the only time football hooligans have come together. One Saturday they are kicking the s*** out of one another, the next weekend they are buying one another a drink.
"At the end of the day, we need our army," says Guramit. "We don't need counsellors and school teachers against militant Muslim youth, we need our army, so I don't have a problem with them. It's nothing to me if they want to have a fight on a weekend basis. Some of them are friends and brothers to me."
Guramit has visited Leicester "four or five times".
He says he's seen three to five-year-olds in burkhas and talks of no-go areas that have been "ethnically cleansed" by Muslims. Which is a bit odd because anyone who lives here and strolled through those "no-go areas" won't have seen that.
"In some areas of Leicester there are more burkhas than baseball hats and that shouldn't be allowed," he says. "I'm not really a PC sort of person" says Guramit. "I may say things that other people might find offensive."
Proof of that can be found on a video of him posted You Tube.
Guramit, brandishing a megaphone at an EDL rally, can be heard bellowing: "God bless the Muslims. They'll need it for when they're burning in ****ing hell".
And he's their official spokesman, someone who addressed that braying crowd as "one of the 12 leaders of the English Defence League".
It was a slip of the tongue, says Guramit. He missed a word out. He meant to say "Muslim extremists... burning in ****king hell".
It's interesting that Guramit sees extremists everywhere. Could it be that it takes one to know one? "I say an eye for an eye," he says. "If people want to behead me and take my mum and my grandma as war booty then I'm going to fight them."
Take your mum and grandma as war booty? What? In Nottingham?
It could happen, believes Guramit. If people don't take a stand, he claims, Britain will become an Islamic state.
"As a British-born Sikh I've learned about the 10 Gurus that sacrificed themselves to save India from militant Islam. Everything they fought for is being washed away by the third Jihad. I'm against any fascist ideology that wants to take over my life and my family's life."
The EDL's core support "appears to be young white men who are often fuelled by drink and sometimes drugs", according to Matthew Taylor's report in the Guardian.
Simon, from Searchlight, says most are working-class, male and aged 16 to 40. Strongholds are Yorkshire, Lancashire, Birmingham and London. That's where the vast majority will be coming from on Saturday.
Professor Colin Copus, director of De Montfort University's local governance research unit, has interviewed 25 EDL supporters for a research project. Only half could be described bellicose nationalists on the fringes of the far-right, he says. Others were ordinary people who had voted for all of the major parties in the past.
For many the EDL was an outlet for their dissatisfaction with the "privileges" given to minorities by governments and public sector organisations. There was also a strong sense that such groups were almost above criticism.
They might not be the angry brigade who go on marches, says Prof Copus, but it showed how the league had tapped into growing resentment felt by a relatively broad base of followers.
"In some respects it's a sign of how fractured and frightened some elements of society are," he says. "They will associate themselves with groups they wouldn't normally associate with because they are worried about what they see as a greater problem."
The EDL's Leicester division usually brings 30 to 40 supporters to a demonstration, claims Guramit. He expects up to 200 local activists in a crowd of about 3,000 when it mobilises in the city.
Simon believes the EDL will be "lucky" to get 1,000 out on to Leicester's streets.
The EDL is already struggling to carry the weight of its contradictions and conflicting agendas, some observers claim, with friction between the hooligans and the right-wing elements.
At a recent rally in Bradford, dubbed 'the big one', only 700 turned up. Marches and demos might have seen the EDL commandeer acres of newsprint, but the tactic already seems to be running out of steam.
The idea of spending two hours on a bus and being corralled into a corner of a city centre for another two hours, before getting back on the bus is rapidly losing its appeal for a lot of EDL activists, says Simon.
That doesn't mean Leicester can afford to be complacent.
"The number of arrests (on an EDL rally) doesn't really tally with the amount of disorder," he claims. "I was in Bradford and I saw what the EDL was like and what the locals were like. The police momentarily lost control. They just wanted to get the EDL in and out with the least amount of fuss possible.
"The BNP has had to adapt and portray a more moderate image. The EDL don't have to answer to anybody. They can get away with doing what they want – they don't want respectability."
In total, Matthew spent four months filming the EDL for his Guardian report, The English Defence League Uncovered. He said it had only been possible to record some of "the most alarming scenes" with a hidden camera.
He joined EDL supporters at a pub in Stoke in January for their first demonstration of the year.
"They had spent the past four hours drinking," he wrote. "The balcony around the top of the cavernous pub was draped in flags bearing the names of different football clubs – Wolves, Newcastle , Aston Villa – and the chants 'we all hate Muslims' and 'Muslim bombers off our streets' filled the air.
"The atmosphere was tense, and not just because of the growing anti-Islamic rhetoric. The pub was packed with rival football gangs from across the Midlands and the north of England. Twice, fighting broke out as old rivalries failed to be subdued by the new enemy – Islam."
It will get ugly if the EDL an United Against Fascism are within shouting distance of one another, believes Simon.
"I feel sorry for the people of Leicester that they've got to put up with this in their multi-cultural city," he says. "I'd appeal for locals to stay indoors. Don't attend the counter-demonstration. Don't get involved."
If you doubt the wisdom of that then Guramit makes it crystal clear.
"We're here for peace," he says. "But we're ready for war."
See Matthew Taylor's film for the Guardian here.
Leicester Mercury
If the cause was different, you might be tempted to call it a rainbow coalition. Football hooligans, neo-Nazis, gay rights activists, disillusioned BNP supporters who think the nasty party's gone soft and more besides: protest movements have seen some rum old alliances down the years, but nothing quite like the disparate bunch who gather under the English Defence League banner.You could equally call it an unholy alliance, if it weren't for the fact that the EDL has Christian and Jewish supporters and has been trying to encourage Hindu and Sikh youths to join the group's protest in Leicester this weekend.
What binds them all together? A common enemy. Islamic fundamentalism.
"We are fighting an extreme interpretation of Islam, people who have no qualms about killing themselves and other people in the process," says Guramit Singh, event organiser and EDL spokesman.
"It's a grass roots social movement."
Prime Minister David Cameron has a rather different view. "Dreadful people," was his verdict on the EDL during the election campaign.
Journalist Matthew Taylor, who followed activists earlier this year for an exposé in the Guardian, said the group acts as a "lightning rod for people with a range of grievances who appear to be coalescing around a rampant Islamophobia."
"At each demonstration I attended, I was confronted by casual – often brutal – racism, a widespread hatred of Muslims and often the threat of violence," he wrote.
And on Saturday, they're coming to Leicester.
So what is the real driving force behind this group that will descend on our city in a couple of days, provoking a counter Unite Against Fascism protest, and costing hundreds of thousands of pounds to police? Who are the EDL?
The English Defence League was born in the aftermath of an ugly demonstration by a small extremist Muslim group in March last year against homecoming troops parading through Luton. Its growth since then has been rapid. The EDL now has between 200 and 300 divisions across England, claims Guramit, and is affiliated to similar defence leagues in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Links have also been forged with groups in Europe and the USA. Luton was the "spark that ignited the fire," he says.
People were sick of the creeping Islamification of Britain and the failure of mainstream politicians to protect our "democratic freedoms" from the medieval dogma of militant Muslims and their Sharia law, reckons Guramit, who got involved with the EDL when it marched through his home town of Nottingham last year.
"There are more than 100 Sharia courts practising on a daily basis," he claims.
Sharia law is a "racist, fascist, paedophilic law", he insists; a law which condones child marriage, imprisons women behind burkhas, legitimises female circumcision and wants to take over the world.
Actually, it doesn't. Sharia courts in the UK don't trample over the laws of the land. They're mainly a forum for resolving matrimonial disputes. In truth, they're the Islamic equivalent of Relate.
The idea that the EDL arrived out of nowhere is wrong, reckons Simon Cressy, a journalist for the anti-fascist monitoring organisation Searchlight. Simon, not his real name, has been keeping a watchful eye on the EDL since day one.
The rump of the EDL, he claims, is a shotgun marriage of football hooligans and extreme right-wingers who have been lurking in the shadows for years. Its self-proclaimed leader is a man who is said to have taken the name of a notorious Luton Town FC football hooligan, Tommy Robinson, as his pseudonym.
Searchlight claim the man behind the pseudonym has a BNP past and a conviction for assaulting an off-duty police officer. "The EDL has quite a lot of unsavoury characters, not the sort of people you want to congregate around," says Simon.
Football hooligan firms are the foundation of the EDL, claims Simon. They use Facebook and established hooligan networks to organise.
The EDL, which has no formal membership structure, has also been a magnet for neo-Nazis and older National Front thugs who've found themselves marginalised by the BNP's desire to present themselves as more respectable.
But it would be wrong to dismiss them as a simple replay of the far-right street movements of the past.
"Black and white unite in Leicester," says the EDL poster for this weekend's protest. The group has launched a Jewish section, with its own Facebook page. There is also a "lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender division," says Simon, but their presence has noticeably thinned at recent marches.
"The EDL has made a number of representations to Hindu and Sikh youths in Leicester to come out and march," he says.
Taking a stand against Islamic extremism might be the rallying cry, but Simon claims it's just a front. "The majority of the EDL will be in Leicester for one reason," he says. "They will be there to get drunk and have a fight. They are not serious people with a political agenda."
Surprisingly, Guramit makes no attempt to play down the football hooligan element of the EDL. If anything, he's rather proud of them.
"Most of the main football firms in the country are involved," he says. "It's the only time football hooligans have come together. One Saturday they are kicking the s*** out of one another, the next weekend they are buying one another a drink.
"At the end of the day, we need our army," says Guramit. "We don't need counsellors and school teachers against militant Muslim youth, we need our army, so I don't have a problem with them. It's nothing to me if they want to have a fight on a weekend basis. Some of them are friends and brothers to me."
Guramit has visited Leicester "four or five times".
He says he's seen three to five-year-olds in burkhas and talks of no-go areas that have been "ethnically cleansed" by Muslims. Which is a bit odd because anyone who lives here and strolled through those "no-go areas" won't have seen that.
"In some areas of Leicester there are more burkhas than baseball hats and that shouldn't be allowed," he says. "I'm not really a PC sort of person" says Guramit. "I may say things that other people might find offensive."
Proof of that can be found on a video of him posted You Tube.
Guramit, brandishing a megaphone at an EDL rally, can be heard bellowing: "God bless the Muslims. They'll need it for when they're burning in ****ing hell".
And he's their official spokesman, someone who addressed that braying crowd as "one of the 12 leaders of the English Defence League".
It was a slip of the tongue, says Guramit. He missed a word out. He meant to say "Muslim extremists... burning in ****king hell".
It's interesting that Guramit sees extremists everywhere. Could it be that it takes one to know one? "I say an eye for an eye," he says. "If people want to behead me and take my mum and my grandma as war booty then I'm going to fight them."
Take your mum and grandma as war booty? What? In Nottingham?
It could happen, believes Guramit. If people don't take a stand, he claims, Britain will become an Islamic state.
"As a British-born Sikh I've learned about the 10 Gurus that sacrificed themselves to save India from militant Islam. Everything they fought for is being washed away by the third Jihad. I'm against any fascist ideology that wants to take over my life and my family's life."
The EDL's core support "appears to be young white men who are often fuelled by drink and sometimes drugs", according to Matthew Taylor's report in the Guardian.
Simon, from Searchlight, says most are working-class, male and aged 16 to 40. Strongholds are Yorkshire, Lancashire, Birmingham and London. That's where the vast majority will be coming from on Saturday.
Professor Colin Copus, director of De Montfort University's local governance research unit, has interviewed 25 EDL supporters for a research project. Only half could be described bellicose nationalists on the fringes of the far-right, he says. Others were ordinary people who had voted for all of the major parties in the past.
For many the EDL was an outlet for their dissatisfaction with the "privileges" given to minorities by governments and public sector organisations. There was also a strong sense that such groups were almost above criticism.
They might not be the angry brigade who go on marches, says Prof Copus, but it showed how the league had tapped into growing resentment felt by a relatively broad base of followers.
"In some respects it's a sign of how fractured and frightened some elements of society are," he says. "They will associate themselves with groups they wouldn't normally associate with because they are worried about what they see as a greater problem."
The EDL's Leicester division usually brings 30 to 40 supporters to a demonstration, claims Guramit. He expects up to 200 local activists in a crowd of about 3,000 when it mobilises in the city.
Simon believes the EDL will be "lucky" to get 1,000 out on to Leicester's streets.
The EDL is already struggling to carry the weight of its contradictions and conflicting agendas, some observers claim, with friction between the hooligans and the right-wing elements.
At a recent rally in Bradford, dubbed 'the big one', only 700 turned up. Marches and demos might have seen the EDL commandeer acres of newsprint, but the tactic already seems to be running out of steam.
The idea of spending two hours on a bus and being corralled into a corner of a city centre for another two hours, before getting back on the bus is rapidly losing its appeal for a lot of EDL activists, says Simon.
That doesn't mean Leicester can afford to be complacent.
"The number of arrests (on an EDL rally) doesn't really tally with the amount of disorder," he claims. "I was in Bradford and I saw what the EDL was like and what the locals were like. The police momentarily lost control. They just wanted to get the EDL in and out with the least amount of fuss possible.
"The BNP has had to adapt and portray a more moderate image. The EDL don't have to answer to anybody. They can get away with doing what they want – they don't want respectability."
In total, Matthew spent four months filming the EDL for his Guardian report, The English Defence League Uncovered. He said it had only been possible to record some of "the most alarming scenes" with a hidden camera.
He joined EDL supporters at a pub in Stoke in January for their first demonstration of the year.
"They had spent the past four hours drinking," he wrote. "The balcony around the top of the cavernous pub was draped in flags bearing the names of different football clubs – Wolves, Newcastle , Aston Villa – and the chants 'we all hate Muslims' and 'Muslim bombers off our streets' filled the air.
"The atmosphere was tense, and not just because of the growing anti-Islamic rhetoric. The pub was packed with rival football gangs from across the Midlands and the north of England. Twice, fighting broke out as old rivalries failed to be subdued by the new enemy – Islam."
It will get ugly if the EDL an United Against Fascism are within shouting distance of one another, believes Simon.
"I feel sorry for the people of Leicester that they've got to put up with this in their multi-cultural city," he says. "I'd appeal for locals to stay indoors. Don't attend the counter-demonstration. Don't get involved."
If you doubt the wisdom of that then Guramit makes it crystal clear.
"We're here for peace," he says. "But we're ready for war."
See Matthew Taylor's film for the Guardian here.
Leicester Mercury
Labels:
100% racist,
EDL,
English Defence League,
Islamaphobia,
Searchlight
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