Police foil EDL plan to target St Paul's

172 arrested as far-right group gathers in Whitehall to march on Occupy City protesters

More than 170 supporters of the far-right English Defence League were arrested in Westminster yesterday as police moved to prevent a repeat of the violent clashes that took place on Remembrance Day last year.

A contingent of the group's members gathered outside the Red Lion pub near the Cenotaph on Whitehall. Police confirmed last night that threats were made before the visit by Michael Rafferty, a leading EDL figure, that the group had access to firearms and was planning to bring them to London. It is believed that some members were planning to go to St Paul's Cathedral and clash with the protesters encamped there.

Police said they had acted to prevent a "breach of the peace" after intelligence suggested that members were likely to get involved in violence in the capital. Mr Rafferty, who was not arrested, was stopped outside another Whitehall pub and was searched, but no firearms were found.

The 172 arrests were made around two hours after wreaths were laid at the Cenotaph to commemorate fallen servicemen and millions of Britons held a two-minute silence to remember the nation's war dead.

The incident comes just one day after Muslims Against Crusades, a group that last year burnt poppies during the silence, was banned by the Home Secretary Theresa May. The home of its leader Anjem Choudary, as well as two other addresses, were raided by police in a six-and-a-half-hour operation on Wednesday night under the Terrorism Act 2000. Officers reportedly took literature away with them, but no arrests were made.

The operation also comes just two days after the new Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bernard Hogan-Howe's "total policing" policy was put to its first test at the most recent student demonstration. At times during the march, officers were said to outnumber protesters, whose numbers were thought to be depleted after police said they were holding baton rounds in reserve to deal with serious violent disorder.

Earlier in the day, the Metropolitan Police faced criticism over what some regarded as intimidating messages posted on Twitter.

Using the account belonging to the Central Operations bureau – which deals with public order policing, among other branches – officers said that any attempts to disrupt Remembrance Day services in the capital would be dealt with "robustly".

In a later message, officers said: "If the memory of dead soldiers is insulted where people have gathered to honour those soldiers, there is clearly a threat to public order" and that "deliberately using abusive or insulting words or behaviour is an offence under section four of the Public Order Act".

However, the offence requires the "intent to cause immediate unlawful violence", a fact later acknowledged by police, who apologised in a tweet for "any confusion caused" and provided a link to the wording of the Act.

A minor skirmish involving the EDL also took place at the Liverpool office of the trade union Unite.

Fallen remembered: From Armistice to Afghanistan

Britain fell silent for two minutes yesterday as a mark of respect for the nation's war dead.

The annual service, held on the anniversary of the Armistice which silenced the guns in the First World War in 1918, comes just two days after the death of another British soldier in Afghanistan.

Private Matthew Thornton, 28, from the 4th Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment, was killed by an IED while on patrol in Babaji. His family paid tribute to him as a "dedicated soldier" who "loved life".

Wreaths were laid at the Cenotaph in Whitehall during a remembrance service organised by the Western Front Association. In a recorded message used at the Royal British Legion ceremony in Trafalgar Square, David Cameron, said: "We stand together to honour the incredible courage and sacrifice of generations of British servicemen and women who have given their lives to protect the freedoms that we enjoy today."

The act of remembrance was also observed at St Paul's Cathedral, where anti-capitalist protesters are encamped. They formed a circle and linked hands in silence. Earlier, organisers had pledged not to "get in the way" of the traditional two minutes' silence and a separate service was held inside the cathedral.

Independent

Police arrest EDL supporters 'to prevent breach of peace'

Police surround the Red Lion pub in Westminster, where dozens
of EDL supporters were arrested. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Scotland Yard says it has arrested 156 English Defence League supporters, who may have planned to target Occupy London

Police have arrested 156 supporters of the English Defence League in order to prevent a breach of the peace, Scotland Yard said. It is understood the EDL supporters were planning to target Occupy LSX protesters outside St Paul's Cathedral. The EDL followers were arrested outside the Red Lion pub, in Westminster, and taken to central London police stations.

The arrests came after Scotland Yard was accused of sending out threatening messages on the social networking site Twitter in the runup to the two-minute Remembrance Day silence on Friday. In a series of tweets an officer from CO11, the Metropolitan police's public order unit, said: "There is a policing operation in place to preserve the dignity of the two-minute silence. Individuals seeking to disrupt the two-minute silence will be dealt with robustly. Any police action will be considered and proportionate, respecting those who hold the two-minute silence as a sign of respect.

"If the memory of dead soldiers is insulted where people have gathered to honour those soldiers there is clearly a threat to public order. Deliberately using abusive or insulting words or behaviour is an offence under section 4 of the Public Order Act."

The tweets were greeted with outrage on Twitter, with critics accusing the Met of being intimidatory, threatening and aggressive.

Jules Carey, a lawyer who represented Lotfi Raissi, the Algerian pilot wrongly accused of taking part in the September 11 attacks, said: "This is the kind of freedom the veterans died for."

Referring to Scotland Yard's announcement this week that the Met had pre-authorised the use of plastic bullets in advance of the student anti-cuts rally, he added: "Are the Met about to announce that rubber bullets have been authorised for use on anyone showing insufficient respect?"

But Scotland Yard said it had issued the tweets because of intelligence that Muslims against Crusades were planning to repeat last year's protest to burn poppies during the two-minute silence.

In a statement the Yard said: "Last year during the two-minute silence a group burnt poppies and a counter-protest was also held. This caused considerable upset to members of the public and arrests were made as a result under the Public Order Act. Two people were later convicted in relation to this.

"Intelligence and information suggested a similar incident may occur this year. The tweets sent out from the CO11 Twitter account were intended to warn against this."

As the morning progressed, however, there was no sign of anyone from Muslims against Crusades – the group which was proscribed by the home secretary, Theresa May, on Thursday. Instead police moved in on a large group of EDL supporters and made arrests to prevent a breach of the peace, in the belief they were going to cause trouble with protesters outside St Paul's.

On Thursday night officers carried out searches at addresses in east London linked to Muslims against Crusades under the Terrorism Act 2000.

Guardian

EDL Announce plans to disrupt Armistice Day

Click on image for full-size

The English Defence League [yesterday] announced their plans to disrupt Armistice Day. Their disruption comes only a few weeks after they caused a disturbance in front of the victims of the 9/11 victims when they spent the afternoon brawling with members of Muslim Against Crusade during the memorial service.

Members have been instructed not to get so drunk they cannot stand up (like they did in Birmingham) and have threatened the City of London police when in actual fact that part of town is covered by the Metropolitan police.

The EDL have also attempted to distance themselves from their Combined Ex-Forces Division. Their 'commanding officer' Mike Rafferty has this evening made threats to kill police officers on the day (see image above).

We have highlighted the interesting parts of the EDL's statement.

Details regarding Muslim Against Crusades - Friday 11/11/11

by English Defence League EDL on Tuesday, 08 November 2011 at 21:13

After the attrocities last year at the 11th Hour of the 11th Day, we the English Defence League feel compelled to once again take to the streets to defend our nations troops past and present, our memories of them and the sacrafices they have made for our once great nation. Why you may ask? Well, because they are our brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters, they are our grandfathers and grandmothers. The Poppy stands for each and every one of them. Our government nurtures and protects radical jihadists while allowing them to insult and humiliate every single one of us and everything our forefathers fought for. We can not and will not sit quietly while this great disrespect is allowed to continue.

So, what are our intentions?Our intentions are to STOP MAC from entering their demo area by any means. We are not holding a counter demonstration, we co-operated with police when we held a counter demonstration last year that was virtually ineffective, we were led round the houses by the Met who obviously wanted us to miss the burning of the poppies (for an easier life i guess). This year wont be so similar. This year we are not cooperating with any police force. This year we are not countering, but stopping. We urge everyone reading this to ask themselves one question, Should mac be allowed to burn our poppies? If your answer is no, then we expect to stand side by side with you this friday in London. The time for doing nothing has passed. Its our country, we`re taking it back.Details for the MAC Demo are as such:

Demonstration Location: Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, London, SW7 2AP

Date/Time: 11th November 2011/ 10am - 12pm (midday)

We urge our members and supporters to be in the area of South Kensington for no later than 9:30am Friday morning. We urge our members not to drink any alcohol as this is not the day to be doing so and you will also avoid you being section 27ed, we urge our members to dress smartly and respectful, no colours although i would advise you to wear your poppies and pin badges with pride. Lastly, please keep in your hearts what a sacred day this is to all of us. Our only advice to the City of London Police if you continue to allow this to happen is to make sure you have plenty of empty cells. Last year Tommy Robinson did what every single person in this country wanted to do, This year, there are 1000 Tommy Robinsons. And if it continues to next year there will be 10000.

We do not take any of our actions lightly,but we feel this has been pushed on us by our governments failure to deal with Radical Islam at the Core - MAC, This is what you all joined EDL for!

While we do not support any other organisations or political parties who will be protesting that day, we will respect what you are doing and leave you to it as you are another obstacle for MAC to get over, but we expect every single member of the EDL in attendance to remember that it is them the EDL who are leading the fight against radical islam and to set the example by acting accordingly.

Do not attend the MAC Demonstration to lend them the ears they need, simply turn around and walk away, plank yourself up and wait til they come back out.

After 12pm when the MAC demonstration is finished, we will be making our way over to The FA headquarters to highlight the England football teams issues with Fifa concerning them not being allowed to wear our poppy on their shirt on Saturday when they play against Spain. We believe it is disgusting and disrespectful of Sepp Blatter & co to treat our national team like this hence why we will be popping over to Soho to show our support to the National Team and to urge each and every player to wear their poppy with pride the next day when they smash Spain regardless of Fifa`s Decision.

We would like to invite any patriots who are in London that day to counter MAC and to invite the general public to join us for our walk of support for the FA.We would also like to invite every football fan and firm in London to join us for this and Stand United as One Firm with One VoiceWe will be leaving South Kensington Tube Station for this between 12:30pm and 12:45.One more thing, i would like to ask our rank and file brothers and sisters in the police force not to facilitate MACs Demonstration or assist them in anyway as a lot of you are ex servicemen and women and know in your heart what they are doing is wrong!

EDL

No Surrender to MAC SCUM

EDL News

Twat vs twat

Click on image for full-size

Lager, lies and missing knives.

There's been much written in today's newspapers about the rival clashes between equally obnoxious extremist groups outside of the American Embassy in London yesterday.

Muslims Against Crusades (MAC) and the EDL clashed on a number of occasions at separate locations around central London resulting in dozens of arrests.

While the MAC were outside of the American embassy in a provocative and tasteless demonstration, a ceremony was taking place to remember the 67 British victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

Not to be outdone, the EDL turned up swigging cans of lager and shouting racist abuse. This was, apparently, their attempt to restore dignity to the solemnity of the ceremony and to "defend" the memory of those people who died.

Hope Not Hate has long said that MAC & EDL are exactly the same disease as each other. We condemn them both. Neither represents either the religions or the flags or the communities who they claim to speak for, represent or defend.

What is interesting however, is the claim that two EDL members were stabbed by Muslims. It managed to make quite a few of the reports of the event as the EDL-having further disgraced themselves and their country's national flag-went for some kind of martyrdom of their own, possibly to match even the supposed hunger strike of their mini-Fuhrer Tommy Robinson.

The truth however is far more interesting. There would appear to be an actual absence of the two victims. Their stabbings have been reported in newspapers, but apparently not to either the police or indeed, hospitals.

The EDL of course, never let truth get in the way of their constant campaign of violence and lies directed against the Muslim community. Serial racist and moron Bill Baker of Essex is already writing that it is now "open season on all Muslims". No doubt that was the real intent behind the news of the mysterious stabbings.

The EDL were led in London yesterday by UDA run-away Leon McCreery, the man who once covered his face to threaten to burn down Hope Not Hate's offices.

It looks like Leon has had to move to the south of England having upset some members of the Infidels, the EDL break away group. He's just been named by members of the group as their "most wanted".




Thanks to Nick Lowles at HOPE not Hate

Two men stabbed as protesters clash at 9/11 memorial services

Two men were seriously hurt when they were stabbed in clashes between the English Defence League and Muslim protesters after a 9/11 memorial service in London.

The two men are thought to have been on opposing sides during a pitched battle outside a pub in Edgware Road last night.

The groups staged rival protests outside the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square during a minute's silence to mark the moment when the first hijacked plane hit New York's World Trade Center 10 years ago.

About 100 activists from radical Islamist groups including Muslims Against Crusades set fire to a US flag while others shouted slogans including "USA terrorists".

Sixty members of the far-Right group staged a counter demonstration and both groups then took part in an unplanned 90-minute march along Park Lane and Edgware Road to Regent's Park Mosque.

A fight broke out outside the Tyburn pub in Edgware Road in which the two men were stabbed. More than 40 people were arrested during the day, 13 of them in connection with assaults during the brawl at about 6pm.

An eyewitness, who did not wish to be named, said: "There was a group of EDL guys drinking outside the pub when a large group of Muslims walked past. The EDL started hurling racist abuse at the Muslims who took offence. They got angry and were yelling back. Then the EDL guys picked up pub furniture and started throwing glasses and chairs and tables at the group in the street.

"It was chaos. At first it was just 10 EDL guys but that number quickly swelled to about 50 people. The police were on the scene really quickly. They separated the groups and just started arresting people."

Earlier radical Islamists, including hate preacher Anjem Choudary, gathered in Grosvenor Square as families of British 9/11 victims prepared for a remembrance ceremony in the September 11 memorial garden.

A smaller group of Muslims staged a counter-demonstration nearby, holding up placards reading "Muslims Against Extremism" and "If You Want Sharia, Move To Saudi".

London Evening Standard

HOPE not hate condemns, 'extremist exploitation' of 9/11 anniversary

Muslims Against Crusades web site, “exposes pact of hate”

Anti-extremist campaign group Hope not Hate condemned what they called “exploitation” of the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, after it emerged Islamist campaigners Muslims against Crusades had established a web site portraying a graphic reconstruction of the Twin Towers atrocity, alongside the slogan “You lost the War”.

The web site contains the sound of a roaring jet engine and a computer generated representation of an aircraft heading toward the twin towers, followed by an image of the World Trade center exploding in flames. The front page of the web site also asks whether the attacks were “justifiable” suggests the terrorists were “martyrs” and asks “Could There Be Another 9/11” before producing a countdown clock marking of the hours, minutes and seconds to the time the first plane struck the north tower.

Muslims Against Crusades have also announced they intend to hold a protest at the official 9/11 memorial ceremony in London, as part of what they have described as their “You Lost The War” campaign. The English Defence League have also announced their intention to hold a counter-demonstration during the service.

Commenting, Hope not Hate Director Nick Lowles said:

“This attempt by extremists on both sides of the political divide to exploit the appalling events of 9/11 should be utterly and unequivocally condemned. It again demonstrates the extent to which those who seek to divide our communities feed off each other’s warped agenda. Muslims against Crusades and the EDL are effectively joined together in a pact of hate. A plague on both their houses”.

Hope not hate

Two people sought over Portsmouth Jami Mosque protest

Detectives released pictures of a man and a woman they wish to speak to

CCTV images have been released of two people sought by police over disorder outside a Portsmouth mosque.

A protest was held at the Jami Mosque on 13 November in response to the burning of poppies by Muslims Against Crusades in London on Armistice Day. Hampshire Constabulary released pictures of a man and woman they wish to speak to in connection with allegations of bottles being thrown.

One man has already been charged with affray and assaulting a police officer.

BBC

EDL founder charged with assault

Stephen Lennon is arrested by police at a
Remembrance Day protest on Exhibition Road in London

The founder of the English Defence League (EDL) has been charged with assaulting a police officer during clashes with Islamic protesters.

Stephen Lennon, 27, of Layham Drive, Luton, was held by police in Kensington, west London, as the nation stopped to mark the anniversary of Armistice Day. Five others associated with his group were also arrested as members of Muslims Against Crusades (MAC) burned remembrance poppies.

Two Islamic protesters, aged 30 and 25, were arrested for public order offences after the poppies were set alight and protesters chanted "British soldiers burn in hell" during the two-minute silence.

One officer was taken to hospital with a head injury during clashes as about 50 men linked to EDL were kept separate as they shouted abuse.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said Lennon had been released on bail and would appear at West London magistrates' court on November 22. He said four other men, aged 41, 42, 19 and 18, all arrested on suspicion of affray, were released on bail until mid-December. It is not yet known what happened to a fifth man who was held on suspicion of possession of class A drugs.

The spokesman added that the two members of Muslims Against Crusades had been bailed until mid-December pending further inquiries. Meanwhile, parents of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan condemned the inflammatory protest by the hard-line group.

AOL News

A plague on both their houses

(left ) Supporters of the Muslims Against Crusades,
and (right) the English Defence League in West London [yesterday] morning

Two sides of hate faced each other [yesterday] in West London. As Britain remembered those who had died in past wars, 30 Islamist extremists, under the banner of Muslims Against Crusades (MAC), hurled abuse, burned poppies and waved their hate-filled placards. A few metres away 60 supporters of the English Nationalist Alliance and the English Defence League pushed their own intolerant message.

Let us be quite clear, both groups are as reprehensible as each other. In fact, such is the symbiotic relationship between the two that they actually need each other to justify their own existence. For the MAC the presence and activities of the EDL prove how white British society is the enemy. For the EDL the Islamist extremists are proof of the violent nature of Islam. They are two sides of the same coin of hate.

We stand opposed to both sides. We oppose the racism and Islamophobia of the EDL just as we oppose the religious bigotry and antisemitism of the MAC. To hear these Islamist extremists publicly deny the Holocaust and call for the formation of a Muslim Waffen SS Division – as they did yesterday – should rightly sicken every anti-fascist just as much as the racist bile spat out by the EDL and ENA.

We think it is important to criticise both groups publicly. Failure to condemn one group but remain silent about another leads – correctly – to charges of hypocrisy and double standards. Only by criticising the actions of tiny extremist groups can we say with any validity that neither speaks for the wider communities and religions they claim to represent.

And in criticising both extremist groups I believe that we are in tune with the majority of British people, who want to live in peace and without the hatred and violence extremists bring.

Hope not hate