CCTV appeal to find Irish Centre EDL thugs

THESE six suspects are wanted for a violent attack on political rivals.

It happened at The Irish Centre, on Newcastle’s Stowell Street, when the right-wing extremists forced their way in. It turned out their targets, members of the Socialist Workers Party, were not even in the building when the English Defence League were spotted in a nearby pub and officials called the meeting off fearing trouble.

But that did not stop a pack of thugs, many wearing EDL hooded tops, from forcing entry, attacking door staff and setting off a fire extinguisher inside the Irish Centre in scenes captured on CCTV.


Northumbria Police released images of the suspects and, as a result of coverage in the Chronicle, nine of those caught on camera were arrested and charged.

As reported in Saturday’s Chronicle, six of the gang have been locked up after appearing at Newcastle Crown Court, while three others received suspended jail terms. However, police are still trying to find six people suspected of being involved in the fracas.

Today they renewed their appeal.

Det Sgt Rob Ridley led what has been a lengthy inquiry. He said: “We received a good response from the public when we released the images of the men we needed to speak to originally. There are still some outstanding people we need to speak with, and I’d urge anyone who recognises them to get in touch with us.”

He added: “I’m pleased these people have been sentenced for their part in this incident. They all stormed into the Irish Centre, scuffled with two people inside and then left. As a big crowd it was intimidating, and it has been a lengthy enquiry to identify those involved and get them to this stage.

“There’s no place for any kind of violent conduct, threatening or intimidating behaviour in Newcastle, and we’ll always do all we can to get those involved before the courts. I hope this sends out the message to others that we take this sort of offending extremely seriously and anyone involved can expect to be dealt with robustly by police.”

As previously reported, Peter Duffy, 44, of Elgin Avenue, Seaham; Colin Bell, 36, of St Oswalds Road, Hebburn; Anthony Burn, 48, of Lecondale Court, Leam Lane, Gateshead; Michael Garriock, 23, of Gibson Street, Wallsend; Barry Keddy, 34, of Deneholm, Wallsend; Alan Spence, 46, of Gerald Street, Benwell; Steven Spence, 27, of Wickham View, Denton Burn, Newcastle, and Paul Starr, 45, of Telford Street, East Howdon, North Tyneside, all admitted affray.

Nicholas Mills, 25, of Drumaldrace, Blackfell, Washington, and Colin Burton, 28, of Woodhave Court, South Shields, admitted public order offences.

Duffy was jailed for 10 months, Keddy got eight months, Garriock eight months, Steven Spence eight months, Alan Spence seven months and Burton seven months. Burn and Bell were sentenced to three months’ imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, with four-week curfews. Starr was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, with a similar curfew. Mills’ case was adjourned until later this month.

Robert Adams, defending, said the EDL had targeted the meeting after it was advertised on the internet under the heading “smash the EDL”.

Judge Roger Thorn said he was not sentencing the men for their membership of any political party but for the premeditated violence.

Evening Chronicle

EDL leader 'headbutted supporter' at Blackburn protest

The leader the English Defence League (EDL) verbally abused a member of the group before head-butting him, a court has heard.

Stephen Lennon, 28, goaded followers during a rally in Blackburn on 2 April, magistrates heard. His victim, Alan McKee, 33, was accused of putting messages online about informers and "grasses". EDL founder Lennon, of Luton, denies common assault, at Preston magistrates' court.

The bench heard Mr Lennon launched a tirade against Mr McKee, calling him a "degenerate mug", before trouble broke out. He was pulled from the crowd for his safety. But he later confronted Mr Lennon about his speech, the court was told. Mr Lennon is accused of stepping forward and head-butting him.

Don Green, prosecuting, showed the court the speech given by Lennon on a DVD, recorded by police. Mr Green said the two men then squared up to each other. After an altercation, "the defendant lunged forward and head-butted Mr McKee once in the face, causing a cut across the bridge of his nose," Mr Green said.

Mr McKee, who was drunk, was arrested and taken away. The court heard he did not want to make a formal complaint and would not be giving evidence in court.

The trial continues.

BBC News

EDL protester jailed for punching Cumbrian policeman at London demonstration

An English Defence League protester who punched a Cumbrian policeman during a banned demo in east London has been jailed for five months.

Darrell Copeland, 44, charged a line of police and smashed Sergeant James Lloyd, from west Cumbria, in the face as the officers struggled to control demonstrators from the far-Right group.

Sgt Lloyd was one of a group of 25 officers from the county who were sent to London to help officers in the capital police the demo, which saw more than 60 arrests.

Copeland, who had been drinking, struggled violently as he was arrested, headbutting a window, threatening to do the same to police and shouting anti-Muslim abuse, City of Westminster magistrates were told.

He was held in custody after the protest on September 3 until his court appearance, when he admitted assault. District Judge Daphne Wickham heard that Copeland, from Milton Keynes, had previously been jailed for racist abuse.

Victoria Forbes, prosecuting, said he had joined EDL demonstrators at Aldgate station as officers tried to control the crowd.

He claimed he had come to London to visit his mother, not specifically to take part in the demonstration.

The Metropolitan Police said 61 suspects were arrested with 46 bailed to return to a north London police station in November.

Seven people – including Copeland – were charged with offences including assaulting officers and public order offences.

The EDL told Scotland Yard it planned a “static demonstration” following a 30-day ban by Home Secretary Theresa May on marching in six London areas.

It was the first time since the Brixton riots 30 years ago that police have requested powers to stop marches in London.

Scuffles broke out and bottles and firecrackers were thrown by members of the EDL as riot police, mounted police and dogs turned out on the streets in large numbers to maintain control.

More than 3,000 officers were made available amid fears of violence and clashes with opposition groups including Unite Against Fascism.

Police vans from forces including Cumbria, Lancashire and Grampian could be seen on the streets.

News and Star

Tales of terrace warfare told in hooligans book

The violent world of Bolton’s football hooligans has been exposed in a controversial new book.

Walking Down The Manny Road tells the story of Bolton’s various “firms” or gangs, uniting under the name of The Cuckoo Boys, and their clashes with rival groups attached to other football clubs. It also describes the hooligans’ links with the English Defence League and their presence at EDL rallies, including the protest in Bolton town centre in March last year.

The book is written by Doug Mitchell, who claims to have been a member of The Cuckoo Boys for 30 years. He describes how mobs such as the Tonge Moor Stanley Boys, The Horwich Casuals, The Halliwell Cutters Crew and the Billy Whizz Fan Club united under The Cuckoo Boys banner.

A story in The Bolton Evening News, from May 19, 1990, is quoted in the opening pages, describing the hooligans as “Thugs who peddle terror in the name of Bolton Wanderers”.

Mr Mitchell moved to Bolton from Edinburgh when he was eight, and grew up in Farnworth. He first found a taste for “recreational violence”, he says, when he took part in organised fights between schools — as a pupil at George Tomlinson’s he says he regularly fought with groups from St James’s and Harper Green.

The book charts hooliganism from several decades ago, right up to the present day While the book defends the EDL, claiming it is not a racist organisation, it also describes some of the hooligans who support the organisation as openly racist.

A spokesman for Bolton Wanderers said he had not heard of the book. Bolton Wanderers Supporters Association secretary Christopher Peacock said: “Hooligan is a prehistoric and outdated phenomenon and anything that glorifies it should be considered with the same disdain as hooliganism itself.”

Bolton News

Thanks to NewsHound for the heads-up

It’s time to act against the EDL

Searchlight has long complained that the Home Office has failed to appreciate the threat posed by the English Defence League. It fails to classify the EDL as a far-right extremist organisation and pays little attention to it other than as a law and order issue.

Searchlight hopes that the connection between Anders Breivik and the EDL might prompt the authorities to reconsider.

The EDL began its life as a street gang opposing “militant Islam” but it quickly morphed into a more dangerous anti-Muslim organisation. It opposes all new mosques and other Islamic buildings, its slogans and chants abuse the Muslim faith and its supporters have increasingly been involved in violent attacks.

As has been demonstrated elsewhere in this magazine, it shares much of the same ideology and interpretation of the world with the Norwegian killer.

Indeed, several EDL supporters have written approvingly of the car bomb that ripped through the administrative heart of Oslo. Even its leader, Stephen Lennon, while distancing himself from the murders of young people, claimed that Breivik was articulating legitimate concerns.

“People should look at what happened in Oslo and understand that there is growing anger in Europe,” he told the press. “You suppress people’s rights you suppress people’s voices and people will just continue to go underground – but that doesn’t make the problem go away.”

The EDL is not a terrorist organisation but it could act as a conveyor belt for potential terrorists. “I think they are best viewed as a ‘gateway organisation’ to terrorism – like Hizb ut-Tahrir – and subjected to the same kind of monitoring,” says Dave Rich, of the Community Security Trust.

EDL supporters have displayed a growing militancy in recent months. Some have called for the taking up of arms while others are actively demanding a more confrontational and violent strategy.

A cursory study of the Facebook pages of EDL supporters reveals many posing with guns and other weapons.

The growing relationship between the EDL and elements within the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Defence Association should be cause for concern.

The EDL arguably presents the biggest threat to community cohesion in the UK today. Its strategy of provocative marches and physical attacks on political opponents is designed to increase tensions and divisions in communities with a large Muslim population.

Worse still, it is politicising a generation of young extremists, some of whom could go on to commit more violent acts.

It is time the Home Office reclassifies the EDL as an extremist organisation and allows the police to deploy the same manpower and resources on monitoring its activity as they would in relation to other extremist groups.


Thanks to Nick Lowles at Searchlight

Ban London march by far-Right extremists linked to killer, say MPs

The Government was today urged to ban a far-Right demonstration by the group praised by Norwegian killer Anders Breivik.

The English Defence League is planning an anti-Islam protest in September in Tower Hamlets.

The Standard yesterday revealed links between the EDL and Breivik, who was in contact with members of the group in the days before Friday's bombing and shooting spree in which 76 people were killed. Breivik was told he would be welcome at the EDL's protests and replied: "You're a blessing to all in Europe".

EDL march organisers have released an online message to members calling on them to take "our message into the heart of militant Islam within our own country".

The message continues: "The last two years of demonstrations could arguably have been dress rehearsals for this one. We will go where we want, when we want." MPs and activists today called on the Government to investigate the EDL's links to violent extremism.

Poplar and Limehouse MP Jim Fitzpatrick said: "Any thinking person is going to be worried that someone like Breivik has been in touch with the EDL. The march will affect public order. It's better if the EDL didn't come to the East End. They should keep out."

Nick Lowles, of anti-fascist organisation Searchlight, said: "It is inconceivable after the events of the weekend and the evidence of links between Breivik and the EDL that the planned march through Tower Hamlets can proceed… We call on the Home Office to ban this provocative demonstration."

A Met spokeswoman said they were aware the EDL planned to stage a national march on 3 September and another in Waltham Forest on 30 July. She said that "appropriate and proportionate policing plans will be in place" and there were no plans to ask for the event to be banned.

A millionaire computer engineer who has admitted funding the EDL today appeared to confirm the existence of the Knights Templar group described by Breivik in the manifesto he emailed to contacts shortly before the killings. Breivik claimed to have attended a meeting of the Knights Templar in London in April 2002. In a posting on his forum Alan Lake, 45, distanced himself from Breivik but says there were "attempts" to involve him in the Knights Templar, which he resisted.
London Evening Standard

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

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

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

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

Lennon denies using threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour.

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

The case continues.

BBC News

Searchlight statement

There is a story running on BBC News 24 claiming that we are saying that there is no link between Breivik and the EDL. I have no idea where the BBC got this claim from but it wasn't from us. We know of some links. We've just released this statement to the media.

"The anti-fascist group Searchlight are appalled at the atrocities that occurred on Friday in Norway and have today launched an online book of condolence. Anders Behring Breivik clearly has some links with UK extremist groups and over the next days, weeks and months the details of these will emerge.

Searchlight has found some links between Breivik and the British far right and will be revealing these shortly.

The events in Oslo and Utoeya Island demonstrate how dangerous far right extremism is and that we must all continue to be vigilant in the fight between against extremism of all forms.

"Searchlight welcome the Government's renewed focus on right wing extremism and hope that they and the Police will start to take organisations like the EDL seriously. In particular we urge the authorities to classify the EDL as a far right extremist group, something which it is not doing at present."

Thanks to Nick Lowles at Searchlight/HOPE not Hate

You can sign the book of condolences here

Police confirm five arrests made at Portsmouth’s EDL march

Five people have been charged with offences under the Public Order Act following an EDL demonstration in Portsmouth.

The five men were arrested during Saturday’s march by members of the far-right wing English Defence League and counter protests by groups affiliated with United Against Fascism.

They are Phillip Pallett, 35, of Pulborough Way, Bognor Regis, who is charged with breaching section 5 of the Public Order Act, behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

Timothy Lister, 23, of Lockyer Street, Plymouth. He has been charged with assaulting police and behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

They have been bailed to appear at Portsmouth Magistrates Court on July 26.

Daniel Clements, 34, of Jervis Road, Portsmouth, Graeme Stubbington, 50, of no fixed abode, and David Heard, 36, of Cumberland Street, Portsmouth, have been charged with breaching section 5 of the Public Order Act.

Mr Heard has also been charged with obstructing police.

The three will appear at Portsmouth Magistrates Court on July 25.

Two women arrested at the event have been released without charge after speaking to officers.

Portsmouth News

Seven arrested after Portsmouth far right march

SEVEN far right protesters were arrested during a heated protest that took over parts of Portsmouth today.

The English Defence League supporters – being quizzed on suspicion of crimes ranging from public order offences to assaulting a police officer – are among about 500 people who descended on the city.

Two counter protesters who took part in a demonstration in Guildhall Square were also arrested but released without charge at the scene, Hampshire Constabulary said.

Police who spent weeks gearing up for the protest ramped up the operation after tempers flared following the end of the march.

Moments after the protest ended in Edinburgh Road, riot vans were called to Guildhall Square as some EDL supporters tried to get at a group of about 150 counter-protesters.

Two vans blocked the entrance to the square where it meets Isambard Brunel Road and dozens of officers in high-visibility jackets formed a human barrier to stop the two rival factions from clashing.

The groups hurled abuse at each other and some EDL protesters tried to force their way through – but failed.

One man climbed a tree in front of the police cordon to shout insults.

Mounted officers from Thames Valley Police were also drafted in and police managed to quell the volatile situation.

Superintendent Rick Burrows, who led Operation Buscot, said: ‘They stuck to the procession route we had agreed with them.

‘The contingency plan was to block access to Guildhall Square and yes, we did have to push people back to prevent confrontation, but that was easily delivered using the mounted section.’

A short while earlier officers had managed to stop protesters who tried to break away in Isambard Brunel Road from grabbing hold of scaffolding on a truck parked nearby.

Vans and officers also blocked the road at the roundabout with Greetham Street, forcing them to turn back.

The flashpoint came after police escorted English Defence League supporters from all over the country who turned out for the first protest of its kind in Hampshire.

Edinburgh Road was shut from its junctions with Anglesea Road and Alfred Road to its junction with Stanhope Road and Unicorn Road from about 10am as police mounted Operation Buscot.

About 200 officers were drafted in to police the march – and escorted placard-bearing protesters with flags and banners from the start point at Edinburgh Road, past The Hard and back up Park Road and Anglesea Road to the start point where speeches where given.

Some protesters chanted. But others shouted racist abuse as the marchers were guided along the agreed route by EDL stewards and police.

However despite having to hold protesters back after they tried to surge forward at the start of the march, they were safely escorted for the remainder of the route.

Superintendent Rick Burrows said: ‘It’s gone 90 per cent to plan. All plans have to build in flexibility .

‘The 10 per cent that didn’t is probably the initial policing of the procession when it set off, which required [police] holding them back and re-setting it.

‘We had asked the EDL stewards to do that and it looked like they didn’t have the resilience to do that so we had to play catch-up and do it ourselves.’

‘The engagement with the protest organisers from both sides was very positive.

‘It’s about having a proportionate and appropriate numbers – you have also got to bear in mind policing of the whole of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.’

Portsmouth News

Anti-fascists clash with right-wing protesters in Birmingham

The EDL in action

There were angry clashes in a city centre today as right-wing protesters fought with anti-fascist campaigners in a busy shopping street.

A planned demonstration by The English Defence League in central Birmingham descended into violence as the group charged along New Street, close to the city's main train station. One onlooker said: "There were about 250 people in total, fighting and throwing bottles at each other."

The disorder spilled onto the adjoining Bennetts Hill, a street lined with a number of pubs, popular with shoppers. Dozens of riot police worked to contain the disturbance and a police helicopter hovered overhead. A police spokeswoman said there had been "pockets" of trouble but could not confirm whether any arrests had been made.

West Midlands Police said it would deal with anti-social behaviour or criminal activity connected to the protests "robustly" after a demonstration last month turned violent.

Earlier this week the force, along with Birmingham City Council, obtained an order from the Home Secretary banning protesters from the Bullring area of the city, under section 14a of the Public Order Act. Under the same legislation, Chief Constable Chris Sims passed an order restricting the protests to two locations - Lancaster Circus and Old Square. But after meeting on Broad Street in the city's entertainment district, demonstrators proceeded to New Street, around half a mile away, and trouble ensued.

The street, which houses a large number of banks, cafes and chain stores, is a major pedestrian route from Birmingham New Street train station to the Bullring shopping mall. The exact location of the first outbreak of violence is close to the city's Town Hall and central library.

Birmingham Post