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EDL return to Leicester

anon@indymedia.org (Nottingham Indymedia) | 06.02.2012 18:55

On Saturday February 4th the EDL descended on Leicester. The EDL previously visited Leicester in October 2010. This time round, they weren't able to turnout as many supporters, but once again there was a mobilisation of anti-fascists, while local youth organised to defend their own communities.

On the newswire: Report – EDL visit to Leicester | Dignity Found Dead in Rochdale | EDL in Leicester – compare and contrast! | Leicestershire police: "Operation Stay Safe" | EDL supporter attacks taxi driver in Derby | Leicester EDL march: route announced | EDL to demonstrate in Leicester

2010 features: EDL descend on Leicester | Anti-fascists to face EDL in Leicester

The EDL claim to have chosen Leicester as the venue for their latest demonstration because of the "racist" attack on Rhea Page, who was assaulted by four women of Somali descent in Leicester in June 2010. The women all received suspended sentences in November and the EDL have claimed this is symptomatic of politcially correct sentencing gone made etc. Anti-fascists have been quick to point out that the account of events pushed by the EDL and the Daily Mail is simplistic and misleading.

The EDL’s forces for the day were divided by ongoing infighting. The Infidels splinter group decided to hold a demonstration in Rochdale (where they were joined by members of the British people’s Party) on the same day, while some of their number made threats against an anti-fascist film festival happening in Leeds at the same time. The impact of competing demonstrations can only have exacerbated the EDL’s difficulties in mobilising supporters to stand around in the cold surrounded by plod and online discussions indicate that they were having real problems filling coaches. The final turnout was somewhere between 5-700, substantially less than the 1,500 they had hoped for.

Clearly concerned about disorder, Mayor Peter Soulsby, Leicester City Council, politicians, some “community leaders” and the police urged locals to stay at home and leave the EDL unopposed. The police went so far as to distribute leaflets threatening to lock-up young people on anti-EDL demos. The police even urged pubs not to sell alcohol for the duration of the rally. A major police operation was mounted on the day, at a cost of £850,000, with 2,000 cops on the street and blanket use of the Public Order Act. Despite all these efforts, permission was given for the EDL to march.

The Network for Police Monitoring (NETPOL) who organised legal observers at the demo, provide an account (quoted by SchNEWS) which suggests that policing on the day was primarily concerned with "controlling community opposition to the EDL" while facilitating the fascists unwelcome visit to the city: "The EDL were enabled to move fairly freely, to break away from the main body of the march and form up in groups. They had few restrictions in reality whereas those who opposed them, especially young Asian men, faced a set of restrictions. They were picked on by police whenever they attempt to move in even relatively small numbers. One group of young locals were chased into a park and had dogs set on them. An ambulance was called. There difference between the policing of the EDL and the community response was marked throughout the day and everywhere in the city."

As ever, Unite Against Fascism were one of the most vocal groups organising opposition to the EDL’s presence. Prior to the demo, they organised a meeting, which they report attracted around 170 people, and carried out extensive leafletting of the local area. Despite some disagreements with the authorities in the run-up to the day, UAF ultimately rallied at the clock tower and held a police-authorised A-B march.

There were also a number of independent anti-fascists out and about. According to a report by the Leicestershire Solidarity Group some of these independents "managed to get to the Clock Tower and chant ‘Nazi scum, off our streets!’ which was vigorously taken up by groups of Asian youth in the area." Others meanwhile "headed off to help defend St Matthews from any potential fascist attack. Down by the Campanile, Belgrave flyover and the Belgrave Gate roundabout, they joined about, at times, 200-300 (at other times, fewer) mainly Asian, Somali and Kurdish anti-fascists in keeping a barrier between the local community and potential roving EDL bands."

Some EDL supporters had issued unwise threats prior to the demo, such as claiming that they were going to smash up Leicester. In the end, the day was rather less spectacular. Despite the drinks ban, many of the EDL made sure they didn’t go short on booze with one online discussion suggesting that one supporter had so much to drink they ended up pissing themselves. Tommy Robinson/Stephen Yaxley-Lennon had to break off from a speech to implore a neo-Nazi not to seig-heil in front of the cameras.

At one point, an Argentinian flag was burnt by EDL demonstrators. Self-evidently this has nothing to do with "peacefully protesting against Islamic extremism," but appears to be the EDL’s attempt to capitalise on renewed tensions over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas. This is just the latest example of the EDL’s attempts to jump on any "patriotic" bandwagon they can find (see also the attack on Rhea Page discussed above, Remembrance Sunday/poppies, the supposed banning of Christmas etc.).

It was clear that this was an ignominious day for the EDL (in all its forms), but despite their ongoing problems, they lumber onwards like a zombie which hasn't yet realised it's dead. Where they’re go next is anybody's guess, but rumour has it they’ll be visiting Bristol in the near future.


anon@indymedia.org (Nottingham Indymedia)
- http://nottingham.indymedia.org.uk/articles/2395