EDL leader in lay-by attack

POLICE have launched an investigation after English Defence League leader Stephen Lennon was violently assaulted in a lay-by outside Luton.

Mr Lennon, who calls himself Tommy Robinson, says he was driving along the A6 at about 2am last Thursday (Dec 22) when he pulled over after another car, a black Vauxhall Zafira, flashed its lights at him.

When he got out of the car he was attacked by three men, with the beating only coming to an end when a ‘good Samaritan’ stopped at the scene, he said.

Mr Lennon, who runs a tanning salon in Luton, said:

“I was on my way back from Dunstable and near Streatley I noticed the car flashing me.

“I pulled over and got out. The car was being driven by a girl and three lads jumped out and I took a beating.

“As soon as I got out the passenger leapt out and I could tell straight away what was going to happen.

“I started fighting back and then the other two got out.

“The geezer that pulled over to help me said one of them had a pole but I didn’t see anything. But the hospital said the injuries looked like they’d been caused by a blunt object.”

Mr Lennon drove to Bedford Hospital where he was given a CT scan, which revealed bruising on his brain. He was released later the same day.

“I didn’t want to go to hospital but the guy that helped me kept insisting that I had to go,” he said. “They had knocked me out when he arrived – he said if he hadn’t pulled over they would probably have carried on.

“I’ve never had a kicking like it. I had to go home to my kids looking like that.”

Mr Lennon said claims on an anti-EDL website that the attack had been faked or had been carried out by football hooligans were “pathetic” and had been fabricated by people who had been kicked out of the EDL for being too right-wing.

He described his attackers as being of Asian appearance and said they were wearing jeans and bomber jackets, with one wearing a checked scarf.

A spokesman for Bedfordshire Police said it was as yet unclear what the motive for the attack was.

They appealed for any witnesses to come forward, including the good Samaritan, saying: “He was driving a silver Ford Mondeo and was called John or Jonathan.

“The officer investigating this case is Det Con Tom Hamm, contactable direct on 01582 473322. He would like to hear from John or anyone who knows who John is.

Luton Today

EDIT
I was going to write an article outlining the differences in the various statements that Lennon has put out but these following comments save me the job.

Anonymous said...

So many discrepancies

1) Where's the official statement about the knuckle dusters ? It seems they turned magically into a rod

2) Why didnt he mention this imaginary Samaritan when he initially made the bullshit statement to the EDL ?

3) Why no mention to the police of his vivid imagination thinking the girl in the car was his wife ?

4) The EDL and the BFP made a statement saying the police are treating it a racially motivated crime..... the police havent said anything of the sort

The liar lennon has cried wolf way to many times..... no one fooking believes him anymore.... not even his own ever shrinking flock

Thanks Anon.

It’s All Fall-Out With The Infidels!

One of the continuing difficulties faced by the far right is their complete inability to agree on anything for very long. Massive fallouts and accusations of ‘grass’ and ‘backstabbing’ (with the occasional ‘nonce’ thrown in) are frequent on their internet forums and it seems that the Infidels are no different. In case you don’t know, the Infidels split off from the English Defence League because of Mr Tommy’s ‘pro-Zionism,’ multicultural racism and being over-friendly to the gays. The Infidels boldly declared their fascist agenda on Facebook and had their first ‘National’ demo in Leeds which was a piss poor turnout as evidenced by the photos posted on the net of them gurning whilst holding beer cans in the drizzle and being outnumbered by plod. This was bizarrely deemed a ‘success’ which was subsequently soured by internal criticisms over the fact that they looked like a bunch of beer swilling racists. Which is what they are. Following the demo some ended up in the Slug And Lettuce for a cup of tea and a bun whilst others headed off to the Hourglass Bar for something a bit more exotic. For ironically, the Hourglass is a gay bar and rumours that there is now a Gay Division in the homophobic Infidels are untrue.

North East Infidelity

Their next demo was in Newcastle where they hooked up with the tiny Scottish Defence League (6) – who are also anti-Tommyistas – and a little contingent of ageing racists from the National Front (8). This brief alliance descended into a drunken brawl over internal differences and was yet again symbolic of their complete inability to be agreeable. They all want to be Elton, no-one wants to be David! Fact! To make themselves feel better the few that weren’t too bruised or comatose went on to manfully jostle the peaceful folk at Newcastle Occupy. Given that Occupy is protesting corporate greed and social inequality we can only assume that the Infidels, like the EDL, are happy with that and are a scab organisation doing the work of the ruling classes for them. The Infidels then called a demo in Durham but no one turned up because it was a bit chilly.

And that’s about it. But now the Infidels, like the recently defunct Combined Ex-Forces, have imploded with the usual venomous recriminations and accusations of ‘grass’ and working for Special Branch. For there be two factions of Infidels, the North West and the North East and both of them are faring less than well. The NEI have just seen several members jailed for attacking the Newcastle Irish Centre. What happened was that the SWP had called a meeting at the Centre along the lines of ‘Smash The EDL’ which was a proverbial red rag to the bullshitters of the NEI. The SWP then cancelled the meeting after threats had been made but this did not deter the brave Infidels who turned up anyway and attacked the bouncers. Sadly for the Infidels, the whole thing was filmed on CCTV and many of the Infidels were consequently rounded up and sent to the choky, including failed BNP candidate Alan Spence (who is 46! Crivvens!). Spence was arrested with his son and will now be tucking into the Christmas turkey twizzlers behind bars. Shame. Plod has released images of the remaining gang members who are no doubt currently shitting themselves over their inevitable prison sentences. The SWP are not that astute when it comes to security and using inflammatory statements like ‘Smash The EDL’ is a bad idea. Wise up Trotskyites and try reading the bearded one on worker’s anti-fascist defence. Oh, I forgot, we can’t endorse ‘squadism’ can we?

And it goes on …

The NEI are accusing one Colin Bell of grassing up the Irish Centre attackers and he is currently ‘maintaining Facebook silence.’ No doubt when the thugs are let out next year they will seeking out Mr Bell to help ‘clarify the situation.’ Meanwhile, over the Pennines North West Infidel John ‘Snowy’ Shaw has been hoofed out of his Facebook pages and has fumingly started up another one (11 likes so far and counting!). Snowy, (llama farmer, no charmer and bad karma) carries the whiff of the prison yard about him and is best known for the early EDL rooftop protest in the Midlands. Mr Tommy raised funds to help Snowy the ‘political prisoner’ which are allegedly ‘unaccounted for,’ just like the money Mr Tommy raised for crack and cocaine using child porn aficionado Richard Price when he was arrested. Not only that, but the NWI are mourning the fact that their big man Mr B, or Bernard Holmes of Blackburn, was refused bail this week. He is currently serving a sentence for attacking someone and leaving them with brain damage. Nice man. To make things worse, Connor McCoy has threatened to pull the plug on their page unless he gets the Infidels/SDL flag back from Blackburn Division and he has fallen out with Snowy.

So it’s all fall-out with the beleaguered Infidels: shite turnouts, internal violence, several members jailed, people being ostracised and accused of being grasses and an alarming lack of unity all round. All in all a typical day for the far right then. Well done.

STOP PRESS: 2 EDL jailed for 10 years each after arson attempt on a mosque. See our friends at EDL News for further details.

Thanks to Malatesta for the article.

Unmasked: wealthy backers behind far-right league

A property tycoon and a City-based financier quizzed by police over his links to the gunman who slaughtered 69 people in Norway are exposed today as key figures behind the rise of the far-right English Defence League (EDL).

A Sunday Times investigation has revealed that Ann Marchini, a mother from Highgate, north London, and Alan Ayling, a former director of an investment fund, have sought to mould the thuggish anti-Muslim group into a credible political force.

They are both linked to the murky world of the online "counter-jihad" movement from which Anders Behring Breivik drew ideological inspiration before committing his massacre in Norway in July. They have remained in the shadows until now by using aliases on the internet to mask their true identities.

Breivik repeatedly mentioned the EDL in his 1,600-page "manifesto" and once belonged to an Oslo-based offshoot called the Norwegian Defence League.

The EDL, whose support has mushroomed since it was formed in Luton in 2009, has organised a string of protests against what it perceives as the growing "Islamisation" of Britain.

Many have descended into violence perpetrated by a hard core of football hooligans.

However, the "brains" behind the group — which plans to field candidates at the next council elections — come from a different background.

Marchini, who is thought to be in her fifties, runs a buy-to-let property empire from her £1.6m mock-Tudor home in Highgate, a leafy suburb usually associated with liberals.

Marchini, who is believed to be divorced from an Italian banker, operates under at least two aliases: "Gaia", the Earth goddess from Greek mythology, and "Dominique Devaux".

She is said to have helped organise a "pivotal" meeting between EDL figures and anti-jihad thinkers in July 2009 and recently attended a discussion where the EDL agreed to consider an electoral pact with the right-wing British Freedom party (BFP).

A report by Gaia on the BFP website states that Stephen Lennon, the EDL leader, "explained that the EDL need to move up a notch — they cannot go on forever staging street demos. They are still widely perceived as a rabble, and as such cannot possibly obtain funding or be taken seriously by the political class".

Marchini was photographed alongside Lennon, 28, at a far-right demonstration this year and the image was posted on the website of Hope Not Hate, an anti-fascist group. Her name and address also appeared on a leaked list of EDL donors.

The 2009 EDL meeting took place at the £500,000 flat of Ayling in the Barbican in central London. Lennon attended with two relatives from Luton.

Paul Ray, who claims to be a founder of the EDL, was also there. He says he travelled to the venue from Highgate with Marchini, whom he knew at the time as "Ann", "Gaia" or "Dominique". He says he had previously stayed for "a few months" at one of her rental flats on British Street in Bow, east London.

Ray regards the Barbican meeting as "pivotal". "It was the key people being brought together," he said. "It was bringing together the ideological and political side with the boots on the ground."

Two days after the meeting, Ray received an email from "Dominique Devaux", using the account "gaia2600@hotmail.com". "Still very interested in helping EDF [sic] grow as a movement," it stated. It was signed off by "Ann".

Another email, seen by The Sunday Times, gives a mobile number used by Marchini for letting her properties.

Ayling, 57, has been operating under the alias "Alan Lake". He is an IT expert and was a director of Pacific Capital Investment Management until January this year. The fund was dissolved in August.

Last month Ayling was interviewed by officers from Scotland Yard at the behest of Norwegian police who were investigating whether he was a possible "mentor" of Breivik.

Paal-Fredrik Kraby, an Oslo police prosecutor, confirmed that "the man known as Alan Lake" had been questioned. "But his real name is not for us to give to the press," he said.

In an interview with a Norwegian newspaper nine days ago, Lake denied having any contact with Breivik. However, he admitted to having met a prolific anti-Islam blogger called "Fjordman". "People ought to read him, he is good," Lake said. Breivik named Fjordman 111 times in his manifesto.

In the same interview, Lake said Breivik was "wrong", but added the following about Norway's immigration policies: "You let in dangerous people who do not share your values, who will destroy your society and take your freedom. You will have to pay the price for that."

When shown a photograph of Lake last week, two separate sources at the Barbican confirmed that the man in the picture was Ayling. A man inside his flat denied he was Ayling when contacted over the intercom and refused to step outside. Ayling did not respond to a written list of questions.

Norwegian police say Lake was interviewed in London as a "witness". They have also spoken at length to Ray, 35, who voluntarily flew to Oslo to try to clear his name after speculation that he could have unwittingly inspired Breivik.

The Norwegian gunman, 32, who has been declared insane by psychiatrists, claimed in his manifesto that he once had an English mentor called "Richard (the Lionhearted)". Ray, a born-again Christian who subsequently fell out with the EDL, runs a blog called Lionheart.

When The Sunday Times first approached Marchini about her EDL links on November 30, she slammed the door shut on a reporter. Last week, she and her son, Paolo, hung up at least three times when contacted by telephone.

On Friday, a lawyer for Marchini said: "Ann Marchini does not operate under the alias of either Dominique Devaux or Gaia. She is a member of British Freedom, but joined only to show support for her personal friend Paul Weston [the chairman]."

Two names on Dominique Devaux's list of Facebook friends — Paolo and Bianca Marchini — disappeared on the same day.

Weston, a former UK Independence party candidate, said he could not recall befriending Devaux on Facebook. He described Breivik as "a psychopathic lunatic".

Lennon admitted knowing Marchini under the Devaux alias, but denied she was influential. He said Lake was a "nutjob" and had not been involved with the EDL "for ages". Lennon, a former member of the British National party, denied the EDL was racist and said Breivik was "a monster".

The Sunday Times

The EDL's English problem

There's obviously been an early start on the alco pops over at the EDL bunker today.

Shortly after dawn up went one of those infamous diary entries that throws up more of those conundrums for the group's elite thinking unit to work on. And if they can't do that, perhaps they'll have to delete it before Herr Yaxley-Lennon sees it.

"In the last 66 years we as a nation, as a race have had our national identity stolen from us by politicians who have forced us to accept multiculturalism", wrote whichever Womble was first up (or perhaps late to bed?)

Obviously, someone also had a fair go at stealing English spelling and grammar while this alleged invasion was going on. But it does bring me nicely to the ongoing but rather quiet of late, debate about Englishness. Who or what are the English, and as Billy Bragg points out, why don't they even have a national anthem?

I was at Wembley last night and they quite clearly played the Swedish national anthem before the generic song that none of the England footballers seem to know the words to, was played.

In essence, the EDL are complaining that there are too many "Johnny Foreigners" in Blighty or "cultural genocide" as they prefer to call immigration. And it is England and not Britain they're talking about. For some time now the EDL has been the self appointed judge of all or what is English. It's developed from initially being anything not Muslim, or perhaps degenerated, to anything apparently not white, racist, vulgar, drunk and capable of acts of violence at the drop of plastic pint pot. "You're not English anymore" is one particular favourite chant of theirs, normally aimed at people working, integrating, shopping and generally going about their civil, decent, every day lives.

For those of us who would happily and proudly describe themselves as English, it is the EDL that represent a greater "cultural genocide" than any of the so-called "cultures or ways of life imposed on us by legislative, administrative or other measures".

The reason for this? Well, one does tend to see more foreign Nazi salutes at an EDL demo than one sees examples of our national dance for instance.

And further to that, I would also like to query the time frame that the EDL puts on this "genocide". For a "non-racist" organisation it looks remarkably like one that pinpoints this genocide as beginning about a week after the Second World War ended and Britain, on her knees, gratefully welcomed people to her shores to help rebuild the great country, the great country that many of those arrivals had served with pride and distinction in the defeat of Nazism.

So, of course it is racism and the EDL do not even deny it or hide it either. It is the colour of people's skin and not a comment about current immigration and migration trends. Fewer and fewer of their former black or Asian collaborators are paraded around on the shrinking EDL demonstrations any more. They left or were hounded out of the organisation as the EDL's demonstrations became smaller and smaller and more pointless and directionless.

Any fool who believes the EDL's early (or even recent) claims that they were not racist may struggle to find any way around this latest all enlightening proclamation that the EDL is anything else other than a self defining, racist and reactionary gang.

Interestingly, the EDL writer puts the blame for England's supposed demise at the feet of the "British elite", which is probably a dig at the Scottish and Welsh, those devious "Brits" with their ideas about self governance and independence. They're not blaming the banks, bankers and globalisation. Not even the fall of the Berlin wall and the eventual shrinking of England's manufacturing base and the growing waste of the English seed, indeed the "bulldog breed". The EDL attacks instead, anything progressive or intelligent. When is the last time they did anything to stop a hospital closure or even a library being closed? There's not even a small whimper in defence of Blake's Jerusalem. They're more likely to burn copies of Shakespeare's Othello than save it.

In England's defence, she never needed or wanted the EDL. Poor old "pernicious Albion" was lumped with them. And all the EDL know about England and Englishness is some rather rudimentary geography and a crude grasp of history.

But a "race"? We've never been a race, ever. Changing the rules the way the EDL does may allow them to steal Monty, Kitchener, William Joyce and a few others. But what does it deny us? A look around Wembley at England's finest footballers and indeed footballing future the last two home games should make clear to them what folly this is. Or perhaps a trip to the Doctor's by riding a bus or train or by taking a taxi (if they can avoid assaulting someone).

We've had these arguments about Britain with the BNP and the NF for over forty years, and we have defeated them. But funnily enough, I actually welcome the EDL's proclamation this morning. It's racist and stupid. So was their proclamation. We English have never been a race, never will be a race, not scientifically the way the EDL think we are. My father came to this country in the 1950's and I was born here as were my brothers and their children.

Englishness is about being from a country not hating another country. We have more than one national dish because we are an old country, a new country and a cultured country. So are our neighbours and we do not have to hate them.

EDL leader Stephen Yaxley Lennon claims a lot of pride in his Irish heritage, when it suits him. I do not deny him either his Irishness nor do I or would I deny him his Englishness. But it seems this morning that his depleted army of Stormtroopers would seek to do just that.

And while the EDL are doing all this, their former friends in the Scottish Defence League are once more planning on invading the English town of Berwick, a town that they claim belongs to Scotland.

To quote another Bard, "what do they know of England/if only England knows".

Hope not Hate

Hobson's hatred.

A former senior member of the English Defence League who was once linked to the Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik and investigated over threats to kill George Galloway, has joined a secretive facebook group set up three months ago to post death threats to the Irish and Catholics in general but in particular, Celtic manager Neil Lennon.

Daryl Hobson aged 43, who is no stranger to the courts and controversy was disowned by the far-right EDL earlier this year after he allegedly boasted of the group’s links to Anders Breivik, the right wing Norwegian terrorist who murdered 77 people in two terrorist attacks in Oslo dring July of this year. In the same month as the attack, Hobson was then investigated over death threats posted on the internet about the former Respect MP George Galloway.

Hobson, from Worthing, Sussex only last week had an appeal turned down relating to a conviction he received in Aylesbury last year after EDL an demonstration where he was arrested for abusing police officers. The court heard how Hobson was also chanting and glorifying Harry Roberts who is an infamous London bank robber jailed for the killing of three Police officers.

Hope Not Hate can now reveal that Hobson has continued posting hate messages and threats on facebook and even joined a secret facebook group of just two hundred hardline neo-nazis and Loyalists administered by other former members of the EDL. The seretive group is dedicated to promoting and encouraging sectarian hatred and violence. “Orange Order & Loyalists” which is accessible by invitation only, is administered jointly by Max Graham, a Scotsman living in Merseyside, and former crack addict and Llama farmer John “Snowy”. Shaw from Knaresborough, a market town in North Yorkshire, runs a rival group to the EDL known as the “Infidels” who broke away from the EDL criticising its leaders for among other things, their Irish heritage and Catholic faith.

Shaw, who plays the flute for a Yorkshire based Flute band, “Leeds Crown Defenders” is also a close associate of former London UDA boss Frank Portanari and is one of a number of former EDL members that has drifted towards the hardline Loyalist National Front as the EDL begins to fracture and show signs of fatigue.

For Hobson however, there appears to have been no let up in his hateful activities on or off line no matter what group he is involved in. Posting on the group’s secretive wall Hobson wrote last Sunday that “the only way to cure a man of catholicism (sic) is a good burning. FGAU” [for God and Ulster].

Hobson also wrote last month “Kill all Taigs” (Catholics), and posted up an image that he had created himself of Celtic manager Neil Lennon with the message “Target The Taig, one magazine is not enough” peppered with what would appear to be bullet holes.

Celtic manager Lennon has been living away from his family and under police protection after receiving death threats and bullets through the post. He was even physically attacked on the pitch by a football supporter during a Celtic match away at Edinburgh based club Hearts in May.

Another member of the group is Gina Adair, the former gun-toting wife of former Loyalist terror chief Johnny Adair. Last month Gina was photographed with a group of well known English neo-nazis who had been previously associated with the neo-Nazi terror group Combat 18.

The hatred of Irish Catholicism is nothing knew to the British far-right. For years and years the NF, BNP and C18 gave support, money, members and arms to Loyalist terrorists, but not always with great success. Although the BNP in particular has attempted to play down its history of sectarian hatred, that organisation has seen a small number of hardline deserters move into the previously moribund National Front, which shares as well as a hatred of the Irish, a hardline anti-Semitism.

There have been a number of cases recently of people being prosecuted for inciting hatred on social media. The police in Scotland have also reacted to threats against Lennon and the wider and growing problem of sectarianism with a series of arrests.

The likes of the EDL, "Infidels" and the National Front are a repetition of some of the darkest and most dangerous days of British fascism.




Hope not Hate

Tommy Robinson gets punched

EDL founder Stephen Lennon fails in appeal over Luton brawl

The founder of the English Defence League has lost an appeal against his conviction for leading a brawl involving 100 football fans.

Stephen Lennon, 28, led Luton Town supporters as they clashed with Newport County fans in Luton, the town's crown court heard.

Lennon, from Luton, was convicted in July of using threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour in August 2010.

His claim that he was not in the group was dismissed by a High Court judge.

A confrontation began ahead of the evening game on 24 August when Newport supporters made a mass exodus from the Bedfordshire Yeoman pub just as 50 Luton fans approached.

The trouble involved chanting, missiles being thrown, assaults and damage to property, the court heard.

Lennon was at the front of the group, with others looking to him for leadership, and it is alleged he was chanting "E ...E...EDL" the court was told.

'Confusing scene'

Lennon told Mr Justice Saunders: "I was not with the group. There was a lot of shouting and screaming and some fighting but it looked more like 'handbags' to me."

He claimed it had all been about England and Wales and that, while he may have made "sheep" insults, he had never mentioned EDL.

"It is ridiculous to suggest that, it is just not relevant."

In dismissing the appeal Mr Justice Saunders said: "It must have been a very confusing scene and we are not making any detailed finding on exactly what happened and whether he was the leader of the group or not.

"We are not saying whether he was shouting about the EDL but on his own admission he was shouting something which was intended to be insulting to the Welsh and he was waving his arms about.

"It is impossible to accept any other intention than to provoke them into fighting.

"It must have been a frightening scene for anyone to observe."

Luton magistrates had sentenced Lennon to a 12-month community rehabilitation order, a three-year ban from football and ordered him to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.

Lennon is due to be sentenced in November for an assault on an EDL member at Blackburn, Lancashire, in April.

BBC News

EDL leader Stephen Lennon convicted of assault

The leader of the English Defence League (EDL) has been convicted of assault after headbutting a member of his group during a rally in Blackburn.

Stephen Lennon, 28, goaded his followers during a rally attended by 2,000 EDL members in April, Preston Magistrates' Court heard.

He verbally abused Alan McKee, 33, before attacking him.

Lennon who denied common assault, was found guilty of the charge. Sentencing was adjourned to 3 November.

The bench heard Mr Lennon launched a tirade against Mr McKee, calling him a "degenerate mug", before trouble broke out.

Mr McKnee was pulled from the crowd for his safety. But he later confronted Mr Lennon about his speech, the court was told.

Lennon, who was surrounded by his own security guards and EDL stewards, then stepped forward and headbutted Mr McKee.
Probation report

The EDL leader, of Luton, denied assault and said he had not targeted Mr McKee during his speech.

Lennon said the man he targeted was another man who he said was part of an EDL splinter group, the North East Infidels, intent on causing trouble.

The court heard from two police officers who told the court they were on hand when the incident happened and they clearly saw Lennon headbutt Mr McKee.

After a day-long trial, District Judge Peter Ward said that he believed the police officers and convicted Lennon of common assault.

The judge said he wanted a probation report on Lennon before passing sentence.

He said: "I don't think one can rule out a custodial sentence, but at the same time I'm keeping it open in light of the report and what is said to the court next time."

Sentencing was adjourned until 3 November when police will apply for a criminal (anti-social behaviour order) to prevent Lennon attending EDL rallies.

BBC News

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

Some strange returns and culinary confusion...

I’m sure by now everyone is aware of the disgraceful scenes played out by the EDL and their equally vile half cousins MAC (Muslims against crusades) while people were remembering the near 3,000 victims of the September 11th terror attacks on its 10th anniversary on Sunday.

In an equal display of disrespect a group of beer fuelled EDL supporters attempted to mount a counter protest, chanting racist songs as they normally do.

In this photo from the day we can see Paul Prodromou aka Paul Pitt the Essex organiser laughing at the whole shameful affair. But who is the bald chap admiringly looking into Paul’s eyes?

Why it’s none other than hard-line neo-Nazi Eddie Stamton.

Stamton, who has also gone by the name of Stampton and Stanton during a long and positively criminal lifetime, has been involved with far right politics since he was a teenager. As well as the hard-line, Hitler worshipping British Movement and the now geriatric Combat 18, Eddie was also once the National Activities Organiser and London organiser with the miniscule British Peoples Party (BPP) which turned out a plethora of paedophiles and wanna be terrorists when they were not updating their pathetic “Redwatch” website.

Now that Eddie has surfaced with the apparent non-Nazi, Israel loving EDL I guess we’ll no longer be seeing him down Brick Lane in east London with a swastika flag like he did in the good old days?

The EDL's other serious 'non-Nazi', their leader and former BNP member Stephen Yaxley has apparently returned to Luton after his bout at Her Majesty's pleasure and a dubious hunger strike.

According to the local paper in Luton, Lennon headed straight for Nandos, the world famous up market chicken eatery. Lennon was reportedly very hungry having allegedly refused all food while being kept on remand for alleged bail breeches.

One of the reasons he gave for his supposed hunger strike was that some prisons serve Halal meat and Lennon, rather than allow himself a vegetarian diet decided to make a martyr of himself.

Well I am pleased to report that Nandos in Luton sells Halal chicken. And Halal chicken only: http://www.nandos.co.uk/restaurant/luton


Thanks to Nick Lowles at HOPE not Hate

Hungry for justice - EDL leader released

THE leader of the English Defence League, Stephen Lennon, has been released from Bedford Prison on bail until his trial for assault at the end of this month.

Mr Lennon, who calls himself Tommy Robinson, was held in custody at Bedford Prison for a week after breaking bail conditions by attending a demonstration in London.

The EDL said their leader was on hunger strike while in prison, because he was a ‘political prisoner’ and because he believed the food served was halal.

While at Bedford Prison he is understood to have been kept in segregation both for his own safety and over concerns about disruption at the prison.

A source said: “There was a big concern because he is so high profile, so they kept him away from the other prisoners. He was classed as a vulnerable inmate.

“It is a diverse prison and they were worried what might happen. There are also a lot of people from Luton in there as it’s the nearest prison and there were concerns there might be a riot.”

The source said Mr Lennon was held in an underground cell where he was allowed a television, and that his exercise was taken in a yard boarded off so he could not be seen by other inmates.

They added: “His hunger strike only lasted 24 hours and then he gave up.”

But Mr Lennon said yesterday morning (Tuesday September 13) that he had not consumed anything other than water while in custody.

He said: “I had a Nando’s last night when I came out and I was up all night ill – I thought I was going to have to go to hospital. I lost a stone while I was in there.”

Mr Lennon denies assaulting a man at an EDL protest in Blackburn in April, and said he was looking forward to the trial at Preston Magistrates Court on September 29.

“I will go to court and I will walk out of court,” he said. “The man who I’m supposed to have assaulted has come forward and said it wasn’t me.

“I’m going to keep on breaking these bail conditions – they just want to stop my involvement with the EDL. I’m not allowed to send emails, faxes, texts. That’s against my human rights and civil liberties.

“I will say what I want, when I want.”

Luton Today

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

Eye-witness backs up NUJ account of EDL attacks

A journalist on the scene has spoken to Press Gazette about how photographers came under attack whilst covering an English Defence League demonstration in east London on Saturday afternoon.

The journalist, who said they did not wish to be named for fear of reprisals from the far-right group, backed up reports by the National Union of Journalists that a photographer was set on fire and that a female journalist had made a complaint of a sexual assault.

He said that it appeared that the photographer might have been sprayed with lighter fluid setting light to their shirt. The photographer carried on working but was later treated in hospital for minor burns, the source said.

He said: “There were a group of about 20 photographers standing on a raised piece of land behind the police line while Tommy Robinson [the EDL leader) was speaking near Aldgate. One of my colleagues was punched and a female photographer was hit inappropriately, they are classing it as a sexual assault.”

He added: “The EDL has a history attacking members of the media. I think they turn on photographers because we are more visible than writers who can blend in more easily.

“They don’t like journalists covering their events because it leads to reports and pictures coming out showing their violence.”

He said that he has covered a number of EDL events and knows of other incidents where journalists have been attacked, intimidated and even followed home by suspected EDL supporters.

A video emerged yesterday of Saturday afternoon's demonstration (link below) which showed an apparent EDL supporter scuffling with a photographer and then being detained by police.

A spokesman for the Met Police said: "We are investigating an allegation of an assault in which a 17-year-old male had his clothing set alight during the demonstrations in the Aldgate area at around 2.10pm on Saturday, 3 September, 2011. The victim’s outer clothing was scorched and he suffered small partial thickness burns to his hip. Officers on scene administered initial first aid and advised the male to attend hospital. The victim later attended hospital and was treated for the injury and released.

"No arrests at this stage and enquiries continue. Anyone with any information about this incident can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111."

The English Defence League has yet to respond to a request for a comment.

Yesterday NUJ leader Michelle Stanistreet said: “These violent attacks are an appalling abuse of press freedom and a clear attempt by members of the EDL to deter journalists from carrying out their work.

“These attacks are designed to intimidate NUJ members and those in the local community who are determined to stand up to far-right groups.

“The police need to take decisive action to ensure that the thugs who attacked journalists during the EDL protest are identified and prosecuted."

You can view the video here

The Press Gazette

Thanks to Newshound for the heads up.

The guns of the EDL

When right wing extremist Anders Breivik went on his murder spree in Oslo last month, attention predictably turned to England and the far-right extremist English Defence League (EDL), the organisation that inspired the killer.

Despite claiming that his organisation had no official contacts with Breivik and that he condemned the actions of the mass murderer, EDL leader Stephen Yaxley-Lennon claimed in a number of interviews with journalists that in his opinion, the UK was only five years away from the same sort of right wing outrage happening here.

Up and down the country for the last two years we have witnessed dozens of attacks on Muslim and progressive communities as Lennon's private army of racists grew further and further out of control even encouraged fleetingly, by sections of the national media.

News broke last week that finally, the EDL was to be monitored by the same counter terror unit set up after the 7/7 terror attacks. Hope Not Hate has long called for the EDL to be monitored in the same way that Islamic terror groups are.

We are now publishing these photographs of senior EDL members and activists to prove once and for all for any doubters, that the EDL are not just a pressure group with legitimate concerns about radical Islam. They are the flip side of the same coin.

Stephen Yaxley-Lennon says we are five years away from a Breivik styled massacre here. We believe they are already a terror group in the making.












Thanks to Searchlight / HOPE not Hate

Liar

Over the past few of days alleged EDL member Daryl Hobson's name has been mentioned in various media outlets in connection to claims that the Norwegian terrorist, Anders Behring Breivik, met members of the English Defence League and visited the UK in 2010 to take part in EDL demonstrations.

Viewers of last night's (Mondays) BBC flagship programme "Newsnight" will have seen EDL leader Stephen Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson) tell the interviewer Jeremy Paxman, that he (Lennon), did not know who Daryl Hobson was and that Hobson was merely a "random" member of the EDL's Facebook group.

Lennon made a number of other claims that the BBC decided not to challenge.

Well, pictured above is a photograph of Lennon with the Hobson himself. Yes, the "random" and allegedly unknown to Lennon, Daryl Hobson.

Lennon is reported to be charging sections of the media £50 for an interview. Let's hope it is on a sale or return agreement. Based on this evidence, he is selling faulty merchandise.

Shame!!

Thanks to Nick Lowles at Searchlight/HOPE not Hate

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

Puppet Master

Searchlight investigates the man behind the English Defence League.

Somewhere in North London a diminutive and slightly nervous man is scribbling on pieces of paper. He is involved in all sorts of organisations – political, street armies and religious – though conveniently keeps them quite separate.

Meet Alan Lake, at least that is the name he is using now. Lake claims to be a multimillionaire who made his money in computers. More importantly, he is the man behind the English Defence League.

Lake’s association with the EDL has been known ever since he addressed a conference in Malmö on Islamisation organised by the far-right Sweden Democrats in September 2009. What is less well known is the central role Lake has played in getting the EDL off the ground.

Searchlight has learned that it was Lake who came up with the name “English Defence League”. He had heard about Stephen Lennon after the demonstration in Luton in May 2009, when Lennon and his hooligan friends went under the banner United People of Luton. The protest had been organised in conjunction with March for England, a group that Lake actively supports.

Through an intermediary Lake invited Lennon and a couple of others to London where discussions began about forming a national organisation.

For Lake this was the chance to put into practice a plan he had been working on for at least a year. In the United People of Luton he found an uncompromis-ing group willing to take to the streets.

“Cut the politically correct tape tying everyone’s hands and do something about this Terrorist group who hate everything our great county stands for,” read the main statement on the United People of Luton website.

“There is no point sitting in your armchair and shouting at the TV. The only way to get the message across is to take it to the streets. This is a chance to show the Police and the council the power of public opinion. The entire country is behind us!”

Lake liked this approach and made much of it in his hour-long Swedish lecture. “Another strategy we’re trying to do in the UK is reach out to more physical groups like football fans, get them involved,” he told his audience. “Well actually they’re contacting us, because they’re concerned, and these are people who are happy to go out on the street. I mean your average intellectual is happy typing on his PC, but we’ve reached the end of that road. You’re not going to get a fat lot more mileage out of that.

“You can blog and write letters to your MP as much as you like. Your MP doesn’t care, he doesn’t care what you say. The only thing that is going to make people start caring again, that is our nobility, our elite leaders, is if we have more numbers, and if we sometimes get out on the street. Then they’ll care but they don’t care about our words. They don’t care whether we’re right or wrong and they don’t read the blogs.

“So if you can engage with the physical groups, people who are quite happy to go on the street, the thing about the football fans is they go see a match, and then after the match, they’re already there on the street, so if you can then bring them off for a demo that works really well. You get the numbers. And they’re not scared as well. Everybody else is scared of being beaten up and attacked. They’re not scared of that.”

He expressed similar thoughts to Matthew Taylor of The Guardian in March 2010. “The EDL has a lot of support and is growing quickly and crucially. What it has done is deliver an activist movement on the streets,” said Lake. Pressed on the levels of violence at the demonstrations, he replied: “These people are not middle-class female teachers … if they continue to be suppressed it will turn nasty in one way or another … We have put bodies on the street, writing letters to The Times does not work … if we are going to have a mess that is so much grist to the mill.”

Taylor noted: “Lake says he is opposed to violence or confrontation but regularly returns to the importance of the EDL’s physical presence”.

Lake certainly supported the EDL and soon began to put money into the organisation, giving it access to an international network of anti-Muslim organisations and, perhaps more importantly, political and strategic advice.



It was Lake who suggested that Lennon use a false name to head the group. It was Lake who insisted that the EDL immediately and publicly dissociate itself from the British National Party and any other openly fascist organisation. This was despite the clear evidence that the political origin of the United People of Luton lay in Bedfordshire BNP.

Even today Lake travels regularly to Luton to confer with Lennon and Lennon’s cousin, Kevin Carroll, number two in the organisation.

One of Lake’s key roles is to furnish international links and speakers for the EDL. This gives the group an increased profile abroad and credibility at home. It was Lake who arranged for Rabbi Nachum Shifren and the Austrian Islamophobic lecturer Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff to address the EDL demonstration in Luton on 5 February. It was Lake who previously made contact with the hardline anti-Muslim preacher Pastor Terry Jones and it was Lake who built a relationship between the EDL and Pam Geller, the director of the Freedom Defense Initiative and Stop Islamization of America.

Last September Lake and a number of EDL members attended Geller’s protest against a planned Islamic Centre near Ground Zero on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Carroll was among those in New York with Lake, though Lennon was turned away at US immigration.

Geller has subsequently publicly aligned herself with the EDL and it is clear that she and a number of other right-wing Islamophobes like the combative approach of the British street gang.

“The middle-class intellectuals are coming forward and also American speakers – some of them quite famous, although I can’t give you names yet … they love the fact that we can have people that can go on the streets,” Lake boasted to The Guardian last year.

There are even stories circulating of videos of EDL demonstrations and statements being played at right-wing meetings in the US. Lake is also actively using the EDL profile to fundraise across the Atlantic.

Christian fundamentalism

Not much is known about Lake’s political background but his antipathy to Islam could well have been formed, or at least developed, when he attended the Kensington Temple in Notting Hill Gate, west London. The Temple belongs to the Elim Pentecostal Church, a Protestant evangelical church, elements of which have attracted controversy for their hardline views on Christianity, homosexuality and Islam.

The Temple’s pastor is Colin Dye, who has links with a number of Christian right organisations, including the Christian Congress for Traditional Values (CCTV), which ran a high-profile billboard campaign in 2007 titled: “Gay aim: Abolish the Family”, and is linked to the Brentwood-based Peniel Pentecostal Church.

The Peniel Church was run by Michael Reid and attracted media attention after claims that his followers were attempting to take over the local Conservative Association.

Dye eventually broke with Reid in 2008 after a sexual scandal beset the self-proclaimed Brentwood Bishop.

During his time at the Kensington Temple Lake might have also come across the anti-Islam speaker Sam Solomon. A former Muslim who trained in Sharia for 15 years before converting to Christianity, Solomon is now a hardline opponent of Islam. He even boasts of testifying before the US Congress and being “a consultant to the British parliament for matters regarding Islam”.

In December 2006 the UK Independence Party MEP Gerard Batten presented a “Proposed Charter of Muslim Understanding”, written by Solomon, to the European Parliament. The Charter called on ”Muftis, Ulemas, Imams, community leaders, heads of Islamic madrassas, Muezzins, Mazuns and all other Islamic relevant offices including those of free thinkers and leaders of NGOs as well as NPOs (Non-Profit Organisations), youth leaders, women leaders at all levels of all Islamic institutions” to abide by a revised version of the Qur’an and collaborate fully with police and intelligence services.

Today Lake boasts of his links with Batten and in an interview with the Daily Star in the immediate aftermath of the Luton demonstration, Lennon called for a rewriting of the Qur’an.

Lennon’s political development has clearly been influenced by Lake. When the United People of Luton was formed, and indeed in the early days of the EDL itself, Lennon was at pains to stress that he opposed only “radical Islam” and not Muslims or even Islam as a religion. Today that has changed and the whole tenor of EDL rhetoric has become clearly anti-Islamic.

Pressed on this by a Newsnight reporter a few days before the Luton protest, Lennon claimed he had changed his views after learning more about Islam as a religion. Lake’s continued influence and importance to Lennon was clear to see.

Lake claims no longer to attend the Kensington Temple but it is clear that he continues to hold many of its religious views close to him. In a strange positing on his 4Freedoms website in April 2010 he linked the theory of evolution with totalitarianism.

In a chart of the political landscape, Lake put Stalin, Mao and Hitler on the extreme left of the political spectrum, all with a “Socialist Darwinist” label. He described Hitler as “left wing killer of 7 million Christians and 6 million Jews”.

He noted that “all of these dictators believed in the so-called ‘Master Race’ which stems from Darwin’s so-called higher level of Evolution”.

In his eyes Liberals Democrats are not too far away from “extreme left wing” and “totalitarianism”, while at the other end of spectrum the US Constitution is close to “extreme right wing”.

Political aspirations

The EDL is just one piece of Lake’s jigsaw and, notwithstanding the wishes of the Daily Star, he does not see it as a political project. It is simply part of his strategy of tension, of winding up tensions and forcing the issue of Islam into the media spotlight through provocative marches.

Last year Lake thought the political solution was in the UKIP, the mainly anti-EU party which however, under the leadership of Lord Pearson, was taking a more anti-Islamic stance. Pearson regularly spoke out against Islam and attempted to forge links with the Dutch Islamophobic politician Geert Wilders.

As already mentioned, Lake was close to Batten and also to Magnus Nielsen, a UKIP candidate in the general election who Lake claimed was prepared to speak at EDL rallies. Nielsen describes Muhammad as a “criminal psychopath”, “the first cult leader” and “psychiatrically deranged”. Lake told The Guardian that there “is ‘some synergy’ between the two groups”.

He boasts of connections with middle-ranking people in the UKIP though it seems that his plans came to nothing as the UKIP leadership publicly distanced itself from the EDL.

Lake has now turned his attention to the English Democrats (EDP). He has even claimed that he was recently offered a senior role in the party, which he declined, preferring to influence events in the background.

There is a clear crossover between the EDP and March for England, a group to which Lake was connected, and several EDP candidates in last year’s general election, particularly in north London, regularly attend EDL demonstrations.

Given the infighting that is currently engulfing the EDP, Lake might eventually have to look elsewhere but his project is clear. He recognises, as Searchlight’s Fear and Hope study clearly demonstrates, that there is a huge vacuum on the right of British politics, in the space between the Conservative Party and the BNP, for a new right-wing English nationalist party that has no links to the old far right and is cultural as well as political.

Lake looks enviously across the Atlantic at the growth of the Tea Party movement and has been heard advocating the need for a similar group over here. His Facebook site is linked to the Patriotic Caucus, a right-wing political action committee established in December by the Tea Party favourite and failed Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle.

Just to maintain his links with a wider movement, Lake is also involved in at least one British Army veterans organisation and promotes Armed Forces Day on his Facebook site.

While Lake waits for the party he desires to arrive he will continue to shuffle his papers and draw flow diagrams between the various organisations and campaigns with which he is involved.

Thanks to Nick Lowles at Searchlight

Fortnight of Turmoil Boils Over

The English Defence League (EDL) claims it has discharged with the services of the far-right English Nationalist Alliance. The ENA, a tiny but vocal group centred around Bill Baker and Roger Firth in London, has taken the lead in EDL demonstrations in the capital.

Antagonism between the two groups has been evident for some time and not just over Baker's lack of Stone Island attire. During last year's "poppy burning" clash in central London it was clear that with the arrival of EDL leaders Kevin Carroll and Stephen Yaxley Lennon, Baker and his smaller but equally vile entourage was somewhat put out when their demo was hijacked by Kevin & co.

Baker who occasionally has the appearance of a badly drawn comic book villain, was the organiser of the drunken demonstration in Dagenham a fortnight ago where a young EDL supporter tragically died after being hit by a train. Baker's excessive boasting about his links to British Nazis and his none too subtle proclamations on his Facebook page of things like "All Muslims Must Die" has left the under-fire EDL leadership, desperate to untangle itself from its myriad of Nazi and wannabe terrorist connections, to declare Baker as a "parasite of a man" who is "an embarrassment himself and his party, but also to those who don't see him for what he is: an opportunist."

Slightly more problematic for the EDL leadership is the war of words that has developed over their Jewish Division's links to terrorists. Roberta Moore who leads the Jewish Division has taken issue with public proclamations from the EDL distancing themselves from the link up with the Jewish Task Force (JTF).

The war of words now threatens to spill over with the Jewish Division claiming that there is a "witch hunt" against Moore on account of her being "a strong Jewish woman". Referring to the faceless administrators of the EDL's Facebook site and web admin's anti-JTF comments made to the Jewish Chronicle describing the Jewish Division as "too extreme" Moore apparently sees this as "one long attack" on herself. In response, the Jewish Division demand that Yaxley Lennon should "sack the Nazis from the admin and apologise to Roberta" who it warns, "has powerful allies in the US and in politics".

Perhaps the removal of Baker's ENA was one step in removing the Nazis that seem to upset the Jewish Division so much. In response to his own banning from the EDL, Baker has surfaced this morning to attack Yaxley-Lennon's PA, Hel Gower.

Gower could be about to earn her stripes as being the fall-gal for all that has happened in the EDL's rocky past fortnight. Gower responded herself to the Jewish Division's attacks on the EDL's admins' by asking "why is she (Moore) talking in the third person as though it isn't her making the comments, dozy tart."

Joint EDL leader Kevin Carroll denied there was any major problem within the organisation, describing it all as "internet talk" made up by "Bolsheviks and hard-line Socialists.

"Roberta is a good girl, she does her own thing. We just can't be tied up with a group like JTF. All this will blow over." If anything Kev, it looks like this is going to run and run.

By Matthew Collins HOPE not hate / Searchlight