The English Defence League has cancelled a planned appearance by churchpastor Terry Jones at a rally in February. Photograph: John Raoux/AP
The US pastor who planned a mass burning of the Qur'an on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks this year will not be attending a far-right rally in the UK, it emerged tonight.
The English Defence League said at the weekend it was "proud to announce" that Terry Jones would be speaking about "the evils of Islam" at its rally in Luton in February. However it issued a new statement on its website today saying Jones was no longer welcome because it had "reservations" about some of his views.
"The EDL can confirm that Pastor Jones will not be attending the English Defence League demonstration against sharia in Luton on 5 February," it read. EDL spokesman Guramit Singh said the decision had been taken after the group carried out "further research" on Jones and discovered he held some "homophobic and racist" views.
This evening Jones, a pentecostal preacher who runs the Dove World Outreach Centre in Gainesville, Florida, denied he was homophobic or racist, adding that the EDL had bowed to pressure from the government and media. "Of course there are issues they do not agree with us on just as there are issues on which we do not agree with them. But I was coming to speak on the dangers of radical Islam and I think on that there is agreement."
Jones said he still planned to come to the UK in February but would not be attending the EDL rally in Luton.
Tonight Nick Lowles, from anti-racist group Hope Not Hate, said a campaign to persuade Theresa May to ban Jones would continue. "We don't trust Jones or the EDL so we will continue to call on the home secretary stop this man coming into the country."
The home secretary has the power to exclude or deport Jones if his presence in the UK could threaten national security, public order or the safety of citizens, or if she believes his views glorify terrorism, promote violence or encourage other serious crime.
Jones made headlines earlier this year when his plans to burn copies of the Qur'an caused widespread alarm. Barack Obama warned Jones that his actions would boost al-Qaida and put US citizens and soldiers at risk. The president's intervention is believed to have persuaded Jones to call off the stunt with just a day to spare.
The EDL claims to be a non-racist, peaceful organisation. However, demonstrations over the past 18 months have attracted support from a number of known rightwing extremists – from convicted football hooligans to members of violent rightwing splinter groups. Many of its protests have descended into violence and racist and Islamophobic chanting, and during its last march in Luton, 250 EDL supporters rampaged through an Asian area, attacking people and damaging property. On Saturday, 500 people marched in Peterborough, leading to 11 arrests.
Guardian
If the EDL bans everyone with homophobic and racist views from its rally, the only person there will be the cleaning lady.
ReplyDeleteI don't buy this, even the stupid EDL leaders would surely not have issued such a high profile invitation without having done some very basic research on this man's widely publicised views about sexuality and race.
ReplyDeleteThat they could issue the invitation in the first place condemns them as fascists and bigots, the withdrawal of his invitation merely suggests they may have given in to pressure.
Just come across a BNP musician's profile on Bebo.
ReplyDeleteHe looks like such a prick...
http://secure.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=6124820560
Take a look. Sadly Bebo is even more fascist-friendly than Facebook.
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ReplyDeleteWaxy lemon is a proper little publicity monkey isnt he.
ReplyDeletethe withdrawal of his invitation merely suggests they may have given in to pressure.
ReplyDeleteOr they invited him knowing that he'd get banned but have basked in the glow of the massive publicity they've gained for their Luton demo in February?
If that's the case, it's worked.
Jonesy hates blacks as much as Muslims....Now, there's a BIG surprise!
ReplyDelete'Buy a second-hand car from there, and a perecntage of the price will go towards funding the EDL.'
ReplyDeleteAny evidence for that> If you can't tell us in public, sling us an email.
Terry Jones to address NF instead
ReplyDeletehttp://eastmidlandsnf.wordpress.com/
This was a great PR stunt for the EDL. The last demo barely scratched the TV news but within 48 hours the EDL were national news again with the Terry Jones story. Be in no doubt, gun-totin' Paster Jones and the EDL burning Korans is intended to deliberately encourage Islamist violence against European civilians and against British troops.
ReplyDeleteThese morons actively seek to encourage terrorist atrocities to generate more support for their views. It's so sad there are millions of wonderful people who contribute so much to society but whose work is never celebrated, these morons twitch and it's all over the newspapers and TV. What this does show however is that, despite their radio silence about this, the EDL were wounded by Nachum Schifren's homophobic comments at Speakers' Corner, and that they know they can't afford to slip up like that again
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ReplyDelete'Terry Jones to address NF instead'
ReplyDeleteI doubt it. That'll just be the comatose NF's way of trying to scrape up a bit of publicity without moving out of the pub.
@Leakie Linda and Tripeman
ReplyDeleteSorry to remove the comments re' the car sales place but in my opinion they're libellous. If there's any evidence, email it in and we'll happily take a look at it and see if there's enough to make a separate article.
the EDL were wounded by Nachum Schifren's homophobic comments at Speakers' Corner, and that they know they can't afford to slip up like that again
ReplyDeleteReally? Were they? I thought the pro-LGBT stuff was just a load of old guff to throw at the brain-dead media. Do they take that stuff seriously? Looking at the specimens on their demos they hardly come across as all that PC and pro-gay.
I've just noticed what I think it that car place listed on the edl donors leak.
ReplyDeleteWhether the sponsorship money comes from their business profits, who knows?
The far right never are honest about where their money comes from:
Warwick Road Car Sales were listed as an EDL donor orgsnisation on the Pastebin EDL financial donor list.
ReplyDeletehttp://paste.uni.cc/21120
@Leakie Linda and Tripeman
ReplyDelete"Sorry to remove the comments re' the car sales place but in my opinion they're libellous. If there's any evidence, email it in and we'll happily take a look at it and see if there's enough to make a separate article".
1:27 PM, December 14, 2010
The truth lies in the Paste Bin.
I suppose it's like Paul Cromie's garage in quensbury bradford donating money to the bnp.
"The EDL can confirm that Pastor Jones will not be attending the English Defence League demonstration against sharia in Luton on 5 February," - Isn't demonstrating against something that doesn't exist the definition of insanity?
ReplyDelete