Man Stabbed by EDL Supporters

A man was stabbed in the shoulder after trying to stop his friend being attacked outside a Middleton pub. It happened outside the Oddfellows Arms on Oldham Road at about 11.30pm on 20 March 2010

The scuffle broke out after English Defence League supporters were behaving aggressively and abusing customers at the pub. They were asked to leave the pub by one of the victims, who escorted them outside. He was then jumped and his friend, 49, intervened. After the scuffle had ended and the two men returned inside, the victim realised he had suffered a stab wound to the back of his left shoulder. It is believed a cutthroat-type blade had been used.

Police are now appealing to anyone who witnessed the attack to come forward.

The first offender was white, about 5ft 6in tall, in his late teens or early 20s and of a chunky build. He had short black hair and was wearing a blue EDL t-shirt with 'No Surrender Al-Qaeda' and an England badge emblazed on the front. The second man was taller, with dark hair and wearing dark-rimmed glasses and a light jacket. The third offender was also wearing a sweatshirt with an EDL logo. Two of the men had England flags around their waist.

Detective Constable Wayne Hagan, of Rochdale CID, said: "Sadly, alcohol-related violence like this gives pubs in our communities an unwanted, and unfair reputation, as the majority of pub-goers do behave responsibly. Some people are intent on causing trouble and we need to identify these men and lock them up where they cannot hurt anyone else.

"I would appeal to anyone who has information to come forward. The pub would have been quite busy at that time so there maybe a lot of potential witnesses who could be key to our investigation. I would also stress that there is no racial element to this attack whatsoever, and appears to be a totally unprovoked attack by these men who, fuelled by alcohol, were determined to cause trouble."

Anyone with information is asked to call Rochdale CID on 0161 856 8437 or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

Rochdale Online

Black churches not welcome in white areas, says BNP leader

Black churches would not be welcome or receive grants from a BNP local or national government if their ministry and place of worship were to be in a “historically white area”, BNP leader Nick Griffin admitted on live TV last night.

Mr Griffin aired his views in a controversial live debate with the leader of the Christian Party and British-born, black pastor Rev George Hargreaves on Revelation and Genesis TV. Both men are standing against Labour Minister Margaret Hodge for the Barking constituency in the up-coming general election. The two were debating the motion: “That the election of any BNP MP or leader of a Local Authority will be detrimental to Black and ethnic minority Christians in particular and the wider church in general in Britain."

Mr Griffin revealed that his understanding of Christian heritage was one of "national pride and history", rather than a personal and corporate dedication to Jesus Christ. When asked about his own relationship with God, he stated his relationship was not so much with Jesus, but rather with an ideal of what the Anglican church as the 'state church' should be. When asked if the BNP would allow black churches to purchase building in certain areas of London, Mr Griffin made it clear that any church composed primarily of ethnic groups would be disallowed in historically white majority areas, and forced to conduct their worship in areas deemed suitable by a white political leadership.

Rev Hargreaves said: “BNP policy is to oppose the community cohesion that would allow non-Christians to hear the Gospel at, say, Christian school assemblies. Most alarming for Christians and churches, is their policy on ‘eliminating multiculturalism spending’. Their policy is to overhaul the Charity Commission and debar from having charitable status any organisation that promotes multiculturalism, multi-racism and foreign religions, in fact, only ‘indigenous groups’ are welcome and would receive funding."

The current BNP Mission Statement states: "The British National Party exists to secure a future for the indigenous peoples of these islands in the North Atlantic which have been our homeland for a millennia."

Revd Hargreaves added: “This statement means that the BNP does not exist for my future any other Black or ethnic minority Christian. And since in Christ racial division are demolished – “for there is neither Greek nor Jew, but all are one in Christ Jesus”– the BNP does not exist for the wider church. Last night’s debate clearly shows that the election of any BNP MP or leader of a local authority will be detrimental to black and ethnic minority Christians in particular and the wider church in general in Britain’."

Christian Today

A message from Nick Lowles at HOPE not hate

Over the past few days the media have been reporting that Griffin and his fellow BNP MEP Andrew Brons have been using vast amounts of taxpayer money to prop up their extremist party. Our research team have just sent me a dossier listing the benefactors of this action – and 10 of them are standing to be MPs in the coming election, including their election co-ordinator.

We are paying for the BNP’s election campaign.

This appears to be a clear misuse of public funds – and it’s up to us to demand that the EU take the strongest possible action to stop it. We’ve set up a simple tool that lets you write to four EU anti-corruption bodies at once.

According to our source inside the BNP, 14 party members are being paid with EU money. Several of them don’t even live in areas where the BNP has MEPs. And most of them are among the party’s lead candidates in the forthcoming General Election.

We can’t let this continue. If enough of us come together we can demand that the EU stamp down on the BNP’s dodgy activities – and stop each of us funding this nasty, extremist party. Our simple tool lets you write to the EU Anti-Fraud Office, the EU Ombudsman, the President of the EU Parliament, and the Secretary General.

http://action.hopenothate.org.uk/fraud

Every taxpayer is currently funding the BNP’s election campaign. With your help we can stop this right here and right now.

You can sign our petition here.

As I write this an incredible 12,736 letters have been sent [and now - 24 hours later - the figure is well over 18,000!].

Hope not hate

BNP councillor admits BNP Nazism

Former BNP Stoke councillor Alby Walker was widely acknowledged to be a popular and relatively capable councillor in the BNP strong-hold of Stoke on Trent. After several years involvement right inside the BNP, Alby Walker gained detailed insights into the internal workings of Nick Griffin's party, and into the true motives of the BNP leaders. In this video Alby Walker speaks openly about what he found in the BNP, and he should be congratulated for having the courage and dignity to share what he learned.

Thanks to UKfightback for the heads-up

Racist BNP sets sights on Ireland

The racist British National Party have their sights set on Ireland, Sunday World can reveal. The controversial party have been building links with right-wing extremists across the island and even offered money and training to supporters living here.

A group of Irish BNP activists from the UK have been looking to make contact with the recently formed Irish National Party. One BNP member even spent a frantic three-day trip to Dublin desperately trying to find the INP leadership this week. However, we can reveal that since Sunday World exposed INP leaders David Barrett and Ollie Allen as Nazis, the pair have abandoned their planned anti-immigration party.

BNP activist, Paul Ryan, revealed that his party are desperate to get a foothold in Ireland and already have a network of contacts across the country. While trying to make contact with the INP, Ryan inadvertently revealed his plans to our undercover reporter.

He explained that party Deputy Chairman, Simon Darby, spends much of his time traveling to the North, where former orange man, Jim Dowson, runs the party’s call centre.

“Darby is very interested in getting a group going in Ireland that we can work together with,” Ryan declared. “I can get loads of people to join you from Irish community as well as our people living in Dublin. In the past the BNP had a problem with Irish people but there is a group of us now who support the party and they are very open to the idea of a similar party in Ireland.”

Ryan offered the party money and advice on security as well as issuing an invitation to attend the BNP’s annual red, white and blue festival, which draws in far right groups from across Europe. He ranted about the threats posed to Ireland and the UK by Muslims and mass immigration.

“I promise you that I can help you out as a party, financially with fundraising and to give you advice,” he added. “We are as determined as yourselves. Frank O’Brien (BNP election candidate) from the BNP is good friend of mine and he is of Irish descent, I want to put him in touch with the INP. We are in touch with Swedish groups and want to get a network across Europe of nationalist parties.”

BNP leading member Darby recently commented that he would be “overjoyed if an Irish National Party was set up and we would do all we could to help it.” His comment came just weeks before the Irish National Party publicly announced their existence.

A leaked email from BNP Solihull Councillor, George Morgan, to the INP pledged support for the group.

“As a fellow nationalist I believe that, regardless of whether we are of Celtic, or Anglo Saxon stock, we face the same basic threats to our heritage, culture, identity and ultimately our future,” the Cllr declared. “I further believe that as nationalists we must fight these threats on a united front, albeit different peoples but with a common ancestry. I would suggest that in the first instance you contact the regional organiser for the West Midlands.”

Following a recent Sunday World exposé the emergent Irish National Party were exposed as an anti-Semitic far-right thugs. The group’s website was taken down within days and anti-Semitic party leader, paediatric nurse, David Barrett, has been keeping a low profile.

The party was unable to meet with the BNP to get vital funding and training as the BNP’s contact was intercepted by this paper. However, a new website was hastily launched this week to replace the INP’s failed project – the London registered Irishnationalparty.com site is believed to be linked to British attempts to gain a foothold in Irish politics.

The BNP say their plan for Ireland is to “end the conflict” by making the North and South part of the United Kingdom. BNP have links to Irish pro-life group, Youth Defence through their main fundraiser, Jim Dowson. Dowson runs the BNP’s Belfast call centre and is believed to be bankrolling the BNP, providing hundreds of thousands in funding, according to recently leaked accounts for the party. The former Orange Man has links to the loyalist murderer Michael Stone and has been described as a “rent-a-cause extremist”.

He formed Precious Life Scotland, later the UK Life League in 1999, and has been in regular contact with Youth Defence since.

Brian Whelan

BNP Organisers Come Clean Over EDL Involvement

Click on image to see it full-size

As British authorities are accused of turning a blind eye to fascist racial incitement and street violence, there is damning evidence BNP organisers are, as suspected, using the EDL to do the BNP's dirty work by plotting race riots in multicultural areas

The alleged failure of the Greater Manchester Police to act impartially, coupled with the cancelling of charges against Tommy Robinson and the softening of media attitudes towards the English Defence League, have paved the way for the BNP to come clean about their interests with the EDL.

Until recently the British National Party were still peddling their tired and worn lies about the EDL being proscribed, even though Chris Renton has been outed as the Griffinite stooge with his hands on the reins of the nationalist football hooligan bandwagon. While some Aryan purists within the BNP err on caution on the presence of Uncle Toms in the EDL (just as they do regarding changing the BNP's constitution), many BNP organisers are now openly declaring their love of the EDL on hardcore neo-nazi chat sites such as Stormfront (see the screenshot), and the Griffinite "Covert Underground Nuisance Tactics" website (abreviated C.U.N.T.S).

"Covert Tactics" is one of the most racist Griffinite websites on the net, and bearing in mind their candid anti-Semitism, why would they throw their towel in with EDL rallies where a tokenite Israeli flag flown for effect (the Jew Flag as Aryan hardliners love to call it), unless the EDL had become the street-fighting division of the BNP (as suggested by the screenshot)?

On Saturday, Covert Tactics were openly supporting the EDL's visit to Bolton, carrying a live feed of the EDL rally, arguably peculiar behaviour for a website run by trusted close friends of Nick Griffin - Tommy Williams and Dave Howard.

Since the CPS dropped charges against Tommy Robinson, police forces up and down the country have noticeably dropped their guise of impartiality when policing EDL rallies and anti-fascist counterprotests. This change in attitude was first visible during the London scuffles when Dutch Islamophobe Geert Wilders arrived to speak in the House of Lords, when the Metropolitan Police waded heavy-handedly into law-abiding anri-racists, batons-blazing.

The policing debacle in Bolton when peaceful UAF supporters were arrested and released without charge, coupled with a parellel sea-change of the reporting of the British Media, (from the Guardian to the BBC, politically correctly labelling the EDL merely "right wing" rather than far right), questions must be asked as to what deals (if any) were done in secret, in the Sheffield Police Station interrogation room, between the authorities and the leadership of the EDL.

For the Establishment to do a sudden about-turn following the EDL's violent anti-police thuggery of Stoke, is absolutely astonishing. From the BPP to the BNP and the National Front, Special Branch are believed to have infiltrated the whole of the Far Right using the carrot as well as the stick.

For every threat or sanction comes a concession (in this case, if true, a loss of impartiality and softening of policing towards EDL racism and criminality). If it was public knowledge the leadership of the EDL had done a deal with the police or the government following interrogation in Sheffield (under coertion or otherwise), the organisation's credibility would be in tatters, and their followers would walk away, accusing the leadership of having "sold out", thus a juicy "carrot" (the Metropolitan Police viewed as taking sides rather than doing a deal). goes some way to convince the EDL's supporters its leaders still have its interests at heart.

Just how the EDL's majority football hooligan support base will react if they discover their leadership have grassed-up its loyal football hooligans to Special Branch, is not known, as for the moment, the extent of "state-collaboration" will be hidden amongst the celebrations of a seemingly victorious EDL, but if the police continue to treat the EDL with kid gloves, people will eventually ask awkward questions.

It takes a quarter of a century for official documents to be declassified. It wasn't until many years after Margaret Thatcher left office when the horrid truth was revealed about illegal paramilitary police tactics, agent provocateurs and state-approved strike-breakers in the miners strike, by which time, most if not all key players have left office, making justice for the wronged victims largely impossible. The time-friendly veil of secrecy afforded to the police, government and civil service allows human rights abuses to happen safe in the knowledge nobody will ever be held to account for their actions.

The intrigue of what went on in the Sheffield police station interrogation room might never be known, but if the authorities continue to treat the EDL with kid gloves, society will most definately suffer. How much longer must Britain's racial and religious minorities suffer open incitement, whilst the upholders of law and order continue to turn a blind eye to illegally provocative chants, Facebook and YouTube death threats to journalists, and open calls online for racist murder and the "wiping out of Muslims?"

Are peaceful anti-racist protestors to now expect regular harrasment, violence and intimidation from police, simply to keep loose-tongued EDL leaders happy?

The 89 year old veteran campaigner knocked over by out-of-control riot cops was an act of criminal negligence, and the apparent taking of sides with the neo-facists of the EDL makes a mockery of the supposed impartiality of the Greater Manchester Constabulary. Several policemen have been filmed laughing and joking with EDL leaders, which proves beyond all doubt the lack of professionalism of the Bolton police.

Immediate questions must be asked to our democratically elected government in regards to whether secret deals have been done between the EDL and the state. Nobody in their right mind appreciates gangs of maurading soccer thugs fighting amonst themselves outside football grounds, trashing pubs, shops, trains and buses with insane abandon, but if the EDL leadership have indeed thrashed out a deal to grass-up their football hooligan followers in return for "public respectability", this is of concern for everybody.

If organised racism is being tolerated just so the British Sporting Scene can be cleansed of hooligans in time for the 2012 Olympics, to assure the safety of tourists, without more importantly considering the safety of our own racial and religious minorities from the "well directed boot or fist", democracy is well and truly failing.

The far right have made a meal of the fact that fewer EDL racists were arrested at Bolton, while ignoring the fact that EDL thugs were arrested for inflamatory chanting, throwing missiles, and walking the streets drunken and disorderly. If the amount of actual crimes are considered per person, the EDL would be seen as culprits not victims. The only reason there was not an Anti-Muslim pogrom as in Stoke, is down to the steadfastness and refusal to budge under intense pressure of the mostly peaceful anti-fascist supporters. Whether socialist or anarchist, Quaker, Buddhist, Muslim or Athiest, there was unity against a common enemy last Saturday, and ignoring the heavy internet trolling of the far right and the dodgy pro-EDL media spin, everybody who attended Bolton helped ensure the fight-hungry EDL yobs went home unfulfilled.

Don't be fooled by either arrest numbers or EDL lies, trolling and spin. With a ready-made army of seasoned ultra-violent football hooligans, regardless of public intent, the EDL's sole intent is to cause deadly race riots, and the greatest danger is that complacency will allow this to happen. A number of smaller-scale EDL events are happening shortly in the Midlands and the South where the EDL will "lie low", preparing for far more destructive altercations when the time is right.

The ethos of the Turner Diaries, a popular read of the Far Right, is one of "leaderless resistance", racial terrorism and open racial warfare on the streets, and this is the reason the BNP have reportedly taken control of the EDL.

Whichever puppeteer is running things at the top, be it Chris Renton, Nick Griffin, Tommy Robinson or Alan Lake, the EDL's "political agenda" is in-line with that of Geert Wilders, i.e., vehemently Islamophobic and designed to alienate an entire community not just religious extremists, stopping mainstream Muslims from practising their faith (closing down mosques, banning Halal meat), with the ultimate aim of reducing the numbers of Muslims in the UK, something that can only be achieved via forced repatriation, nazi-style sterilisation, or a Muslim Holocaust, as British Muslims are here to stay.

If you think this is alarmist, spend time trawling through the many thousands of Facebook and genocidal YouTube comments. Behind the spin and trolling of Trevor Kelway, forget the lack of arrests at Bolton. The EDL's street-fighting agenda and their continued utilisation of violent racist hooligans, inviting Wigan Mike and Liam Pinkham to attend rallies via the phone (as recently revealed on VNN), supports the observations that they are merely waiting their chance to create "the mother of all race riots".

Nobody has the moral right to march willy-nilly through towns and city centres peddling hated and fear under the guise of free speech, be it (banned) Islamic extremists or (not banned) racial supremacists. Allowing racist chants to go unpunished, while fascist-friendly police phyically assault peaceful anti-racist protestors simply exercising their opposition to organised racial hatred, is an abuse of the very Western democracy the EDL neo-Nazi thugs claim to hold dear.

If EDL grasses are (as alleged) helping the authorities entrap a handful of British football hooligans while whole communities suffer fear, hatred and desperation, this is most surely a price not worth paying.

The General Election approaching, ask your prospective parliamentary candidates how they will protect communities from EDL invasion, and vote accordingly.

Investigator at Indymedia

Band Sell 'Nick Griffin Is A Wanker' T-Shirt To Fund Anti-BNP Single

A ska band are releasing a 'Nick Griffin Is A Wanker' t-shirt to fund the release of their anti-BNP (British National Party) song

The London based group, Big Hand, are selling the t-shirt via their official website to fund the recording of the single 'Rock The Boat' and its accompanying promo video. They then plan to release the track on May 3rd in time for the general election with all proceeds from the track going to Love Music Hate Racism.

In a statement on their website, Big Hand write: “In the words of a great mind: 'All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing'. We have seen the effects of apathy in the face of the far right throughout history. We all know in our hearts that fascism is not the way forward. Big Hand encourage you to "Rock The Boat", join our campaign and let the nation know that the BNP do not represent a way of life that we in the UK are willing to accept.”

'Rock The Boat' was penned by Big Hand singer Tim Lomas the day after Nick Griffin's party won two seats in Europe.

Gigwise

Joint statement condemns BNP 'race hate'

Councillors, religious leaders and union representatives have joined together to condemn the British National Party

A joint statement by 44 people accuses the party, which is contesting Lewisham’s mayoral election, of stirring up race hate. Along with other mayoral candidates, signatories also include the Bishop of Woolwich the Rt Rev Christopher Chessun and Archdeacon of Lewisham and Greenwich the Venerable Christine Hardman. Representatives from Unison, the National Union of Teachers and students’ unions have also signed.

The statement says: "As representatives of many political opinions and parties in Lewisham, we affirm the values of unity, tolerance and mutual respect, which have always helped people from different backgrounds to live together. We are deeply concerned at the activity of racist and fascist groups such as the British National Party, which use people’s fears to stir up race hate, which their candidacy in the Lewisham mayoral election will seek to do.

"We also reject their demonisation of Muslims, and their claim to speak for Christians, as an affront to all our religions and beliefs and a danger to the unity of the whole community. In the next few months the people of Lewisham will choose their mayor who will lead Lewisham Council in all its policies at the town hall. We believe that a high turnout of voters will minimise the impact of candidates on extremist platforms in our borough. So we urge the overwhelming majority to turn out and vote, and give a clear signal that messages of race hatred and division are not welcome here."

Chairman of the Lewisham Anti-Racist Action group Councillor Jarman Parmar, who organised the statement, said: "Fascists were stopped in Cable Street in 1936 and at Lewisham in 1977, by myself and many others. They must be stopped today."

Tess Culnane, who has previously run for the National Front and has spoken at a meeting of the far-right British People’s Party, is standing as the BNP candidate. News Shopper is awaiting a comment from Ms Culnane.

This is local London

Dad daubed BNP graffiti on Tyneside park

A Tyneside beauty spot was daubed with graffiti in a four-month spree by a depressed dad

British National Party member John Nichols spray painted the letters BNP on sculptures and trees in Gateshead’s Watergate Park. The 51-year-old also plastered the 158-acre countryside site with orange and green stickers on which he wrote BNP.

But his spate was halted when fed-up park staff, who had been keeping a tally of the damage, kept a watch. And Nichols, of Ebchester Avenue, Wrekenton, Gateshead, was snared acting suspiciously at the nature site.

Gateshead magistrates heard that stickers and silver paint was sprayed on sculptures, trees and signs on the reclaimed colliery site, which is located between Lobley Hill and Whickham. Prosecutor Michael Rose said staff became increasingly concerned about damage taking place at the council-run nature reserve between April and August last year. A diary was kept of the graffiti put up to try and establish a pattern and identify the person responsible.

“Forest rangers started to keep watch to try and find the person who was doing this,” he said. “On August 9, staff found these stickers in the park and noticed Nicholls bending down where subsequently stickers were found. He was photographed by a ranger and later arrested. When interviewed he made admissions but could give no reason why he did it.”

Mr Rose said the graffiti was removed. “There is no total for the cost of the repairs to the damage but it is probably considerable,” he added.

A statement from senior countryside ranger Kelly O’Sullivan was read to the court. She said because of concern about the amount of graffiti she started keeping a diary.

“I have lost count of the number of times I have had to call out the graffiti team,” she said. “Sometimes it has taken a full day to identify and remove the graffiti because of the size of the park.”

She added: “It saddens and angers me to see the park defaced in such a way. Slogans have upset our regular users to have complained.”

Unemployed Nichols was given a 12-month community order after admitting three offences of causing criminal damage. He was ordered to do 100 hours of unpaid work and JPs said they hoped it could be in the park. He must also pay £100 court costs.

Defending, Mick Foley, said Nichols, who has no previous convictions, has suffered from severe depression since his partner left and moved to Kent with their two young children. Mr Foley said: “He has been a member of the BNP for four years but he isn’t an activist, he doesn’t attend meetings and doesn’t attend rallies. He would walk in the park with his dog and can’t really give an explanation why he did it. He was suffering from depression and was on medication which can make people do strange things. This doesn’t excuse it but it is the only thing he can put it down to.”

After the case, Jenny Hart from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Nichols targeted one of Tyneside’s most popular public parks causing great concern to the many people who visit it regularly.”

Chronicle Live

Former Stoke-on-Trent British National Party man criticises party

Alby Walker and Porky Griffin in happier times

A former leader of the British National Party (BNP) in Stoke-on-Trent has criticised his old party as he prepares to fight it in the general election. Alby Walker said "there's a vein of Holocaust denying within the BNP".

Mr Walker will stand as an independent parliamentary candidate in Stoke-on-Trent Central and face the BNP's national deputy leader, Simon Darby. Mr Darby said the chances of Mr Walker becoming an independent MP for Stoke-on-Trent "are zero".

Mr Darby said: "It should be obvious to everybody that this is somebody who's a bit disillusioned with the party, as many people within other parties become disillusioned, struck out for themselves and want to become an independent candidate."

Mr Walker told the BBC's Politics Show in the West Midlands: "There's a vein of Holocaust denying within the BNP that I cannot identify myself with. They've still got senior members of the BNP who will be candidates in the general election that have Nazi, Nazi-esque sympathies."

Mr Walker had been in the BNP for eight years and was leader of the group of nine BNP councillors on Stoke-on-Trent City Council until he quit in January.

BBC

Fun and games with the BNP...

Eaton, Witheridge, Clayton and Kent - acrostically-challenged

There used to be a time when Prospective Parliamentary Candidates (PPCs) were responsible citizens, anxious to show the public that they were moral, intelligent and upstanding, and possessed of all those other attributes that we think we deserve from our MPs. That seems to have changed though since the BNP put so many people up for the General Election. Having had to scrape an already well-scraped barrel, the BNP appears to have selected a bunch of morons who have nothing better to do than play silly games here at Lancaster Unity. What a great investment of £500 each (donated by a cash-strapped BNP membership).

Instead of working to secure the votes of any stray racists who might be persuaded to vote BNP, the PPC for Lancaster and Fleetwood Debra Kent has been spending her time posting acrostics to the comments section of the blog (yes, Debs, they're called acrostics). Here's the explanatory note from her Facebook page (reprinted, left - click on image for full-size):

'Competition going on, who can get the funniest cryptic message on to lancaster unity's piece about the EDL. If you look at the comments near the bottom you will see that Craig has managed to spell out UAF Scum with the first letter of every sentence. I managed to get the word tw*t through too :-) Have a look and have a go lol'

The Craig she mentions is the BNP's probable PPC for South Lakeland, while Debs herself is not only a PPC, she is also the Warrington organiser and the partner of James Clayton (Blackpool North Candidate, Blackpool BNP organiser and the Party's West Lancashire Coordinator).

You don't even have to be a BNP thickie from the North-West to play this exciting game because Debs is joined by Sean Witheridge, the BNP's PPC for Salisbury, who gets terribly excited because he thinks his acrostic for 'unwashed' might appear for a moment or two. Sadly for him, it doesn't.

'oooooooooooh [shades of Frankie Howerd there, Sean] The unwashed soapdodgers didn't even post mine up'

Bless. So for Debs and her friends who were busy playing games when they should have been busy justifying the party's large investment in them, here's an acrostic from us.

Four thousand in Bolton today. Usually busy but this was insane. Came back on the coach. Ketlan wasn't arrested (for a change). Only fifteen hundred of the EDL at most. Fifty arrests though - what a shame. Five injuries, too. You had to be there. One officer grabbed someone's throat for shouting. Useless or what? Still, we wouldn't have missed it. And we'll go to the next demo against the EDL. Despite the police protection they seem to have. Then we get home to find Dopey Debs and her mates playing silly buggers on the blog. What a bunch of idiots. Acrostics, of all things. Though Debs doesn't appear to know the word. Sad, huh.

4 injured, 55 arrests in EDL demo

Fifty five people were arrested and several people injured after violent clashes broke out between right-wing and anti fascist extremists and police during a demonstration in a town centre today.

Controversial right-wing group The English Defence League (EDL) organised the rally in Victoria Square, Bolton, Lancashire. A counter-demonstration by Unite Against Fascism (UAF) is also being held, and hundreds of police officers are battling to keep control of the rival groups. Around 4,000 protesters have descended on the town, with roughly equal numbers in both camps.

The two factions were meant to stay within two designated areas in the square, separated by steel barriers. But a large number of protesters "intent on causing disorder" have broken away from the protest site, police said. Two members of the public were injured by protesters and taken to a nearby shop for treatment, police said.

Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan, from Greater Manchester Police, who is leading the policing operation, said: "There have been unwarranted attacks on police lines that have resulted in injuries. This is not a peaceful protest and we are facing a lot of hostility. We will take swift action when confronted with disorder. The number of arrests already made is a clear indication that this is not a peaceful protest and some demonstrators are determined to cause trouble. The actions of some demonstrators is resulting in injuries to others. This is not acceptable. I am determined to identify the offenders by whatever means and bring them to justice."

Riot police and mounted officers armed with batons are trying to keep the crowds in check in front of the town hall. Police dogs have been deployed in a bid to control the crowds and a police helicopter has also been dispatched. It is unclear how many of those arrested are EDL and how many are UAF.

Weyman Bennett, the UAF joint secretary who organised the protest, was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit violent disorder, police said.

Two UAF demonstrators have been taken to hospital, one with a minor head injury and the other with a minor ear injury, police said. A 19-year-old man has received treatment for an ongoing health problem, another man has fractured a finger. A 16-year-old girl has been treated after suffering panic attack, police said.

Most shops and pubs are closed in the area, and most taxi firms have pulled their drivers off the roads.

Second World War veteran Bertie Lois, 89, who lives in Farnworth, Bolton, is protesting with the UAF. He said: "I fought the Second World War against these Nazis. What did I fight for if we let them? The EDL are the enemy. I would say to them ’you are the guys we fought for, what are you doing?’ I am also here because I am against the war in Afghanistan."

The EDL describes itself as a peaceful, non-political group campaigning against "militant Islam". But ugly scenes also marked one of their protests in Manchester last year, with 44 arrests and 10 injuries.

Manchester Evening News