Riot police were struggling to contain protests by anti-fascist demonstrators and rightwing organisations outside a mosque in north-west London tonight. Officers were hit by bricks and bottles as they tried to keep about 1,000 rival demonstrators apart outside the partially completed mosque near the tube station in Harrow.
Seven people had been arrested and weapons, including bottles of bleach, a hammer and a chisel, were seized, a Metropolitan police spokeswoman said.
Police were braced for trouble after the rightwing English Defence League (EDL) and a group called Stop the Islamisation of Europe (SIOE) said they would converge on the area at 5pm for a rally to mark the eighth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Unte Against Facism called on its supporters to meet for a counter-demonstration.
At around 5pm demonstrators, some armed with weapons, broke through police ranks and ran through the streets.
The stand-off was still going at around 7pm, with groups of youths seperated by riot police.
The police spokeswoman said: "There have been a number of further movements by the crowd in large groups attempting to reach small numbers of other people.
"Throughout the afternoon police have identified and stopped a number of people believe to be heading to the original SIOE demonstration from getting to the protest area."
Witnesses said anti-fascist demonstrators outside the mosque burst through police lines in an attempt to reach groups of EDL supporters who were gathering in the surrounding streets.
One resident, who did not want to be named, said: "It's terrifying. This group of men came running down the street towards us and we had to hide with a couple of young Muslim boys in a shop.
"It's really tense and we can still hear the police helicopters overhead. I've never felt this kind of tension in Harrow, it's horrific."
Before today's protests, Muslim community leaders had expressed frustration that their mosque had become the focal point for the rally and had urged demonstrators to protest peacefully.
The EDL has held several similar rallies throughout the summer. More than 30 people were arrested last weekend at a similar portest in Birmingham.
Report taken from The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/11/rightwing-anti-fascist-protesters-riot
-------
Video here of the large crowd not having it
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8251598.stm
Police were braced for trouble after the rightwing English Defence League (EDL) and a group called Stop the Islamisation of Europe (SIOE) said they would converge on the area at 5pm for a rally to mark the eighth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Unte Against Facism called on its supporters to meet for a counter-demonstration.
At around 5pm demonstrators, some armed with weapons, broke through police ranks and ran through the streets.
The stand-off was still going at around 7pm, with groups of youths seperated by riot police.
The police spokeswoman said: "There have been a number of further movements by the crowd in large groups attempting to reach small numbers of other people.
"Throughout the afternoon police have identified and stopped a number of people believe to be heading to the original SIOE demonstration from getting to the protest area."
Witnesses said anti-fascist demonstrators outside the mosque burst through police lines in an attempt to reach groups of EDL supporters who were gathering in the surrounding streets.
One resident, who did not want to be named, said: "It's terrifying. This group of men came running down the street towards us and we had to hide with a couple of young Muslim boys in a shop.
"It's really tense and we can still hear the police helicopters overhead. I've never felt this kind of tension in Harrow, it's horrific."
Before today's protests, Muslim community leaders had expressed frustration that their mosque had become the focal point for the rally and had urged demonstrators to protest peacefully.
The EDL has held several similar rallies throughout the summer. More than 30 people were arrested last weekend at a similar portest in Birmingham.
Report taken from The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/11/rightwing-anti-fascist-protesters-riot -------
Video here of the large crowd not having it
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8251598.stm 
Comments
Hide the following 8 comments
Pics from Harrow
11.09.2009 20:42
The ugly face of racism
Locals not impressed
Less impressed by police too
Flap flap flap blah blah blah
Locals give free gifts to racists
Eva Banana!!
OI OI
11.09.2009 20:48
Curly Strikes Again
The EDL may attract Muslim haters and racists...
14.09.2009 08:59
TheYoung Muslim Organisation UK and Islamic Forum Europe are fronts for a fascist south asian party called Jamaat-e-Islami.
This is what Wikipedia says about them:
" They are an anti-liberation front, who openly attempted to stop the liberation of Bangladesh from Pakistan, believing it would have existed better as a dominated islamic state under Pakistani rule. A large number of members of the party have played a crucial role in the 1971 Bangladesh atrocities during the liberation war such as organized killing of intellectuals, genocide and violence against women"
They were recently completely smashed by anti-fascists in Bangladesh in the recent elections.
The other three links at the bottom of the page are:
Islam Channel
Islam Expo
Islamonline.net
Islam Channel is run by a convicted Islamist terrorist, Mohammed Ali Harrath, who is an outspoken racist. It regularly broadcasts supporters of extremism, including a preacher called Qadhi who incites hatred of Shia Muslims:
Islam Expo was run by one of the founders of Hamas, a man called Sawalha.
Islamonline.net is the website of the Muslim Brotherhood preacher, Qaradawi. He has gone on record supporting the Holocaust as a "divine punishment!!
So, be a bit careful when you go choosing sides here. Ordinary worshippers at Harrow Mosque have a right to be left in peace. However, don't harbour any false illusions as to what sort of organisation Harrow Mosque is!
.... or perhaps the author of this piece knows exactly what they're saying. After all, the EDL protest is described as "anti-Islamist". Believe me, Islamism is the last thing you want to be defending as a progressive.
Look at both sides, closely
e-mail:
starsqui@gmail.com
The EDL may attract Muslim haters and racists...
14.09.2009 09:14
TheYoung Muslim Organisation UK and Islamic Forum Europe are fronts for a fascist south asian party called Jamaat-e-Islami.
This is what Wikipedia says about them:
" They are an anti-liberation front, who openly attempted to stop the liberation of Bangladesh from Pakistan, believing it would have existed better as a dominated islamic state under Pakistani rule. A large number of members of the party have played a crucial role in the 1971 Bangladesh atrocities during the liberation war such as organized killing of intellectuals, genocide and violence against women"
They were recently completely smashed by anti-fascists in Bangladesh in the recent elections.
The other three links at the bottom of the page are:
Islam Channel
Islam Expo
Islamonline.net
Islam Channel is run by a convicted Islamist terrorist, Mohammed Ali Harrath, who is an outspoken racist. It regularly broadcasts supporters of extremism, including a preacher called Qadhi who incites hatred of Shia Muslims:
Islam Expo was run by one of the founders of Hamas, a man called Sawalha.
Islamonline.net is the website of the Muslim Brotherhood preacher, Qaradawi. He has gone on record supporting the Holocaust as a "divine punishment!!
So, be a bit careful when you go choosing sides here. Ordinary worshippers at Harrow Mosque have a right to be left in peace. However, don't harbour any false illusions as to what sort of organisation Harrow Mosque is!
.... or perhaps the author of this piece knows exactly what they're saying. After all, the EDL protest is described as "anti-Islamist". Believe me, Islamism is the last thing you want to be defending as a progressive.
Look at both sides, closely
e-mail:
starsqui@gmail.com
But..
14.09.2009 16:40
"Harrow Central Mosque is not responsible for the content of external internet sites."
acab
Linking to external sites
15.09.2009 09:24
If you came across a church website that linked to the BNP, the National Front, Redwatch and Combat 18 and then said:
"we have no responsibility for the content of external sites"
- what would your reaction be?
Look at both sides, closely
e-mail:
starsqui@gmail.com
Harrow Mosque Website Links, Part 1
07.10.2009 22:37
Looking at Islamic Forum Europe's own website, on 15 July 2005 IFE issued a Press Release offering prayers for Shahara Islam - a Muslim bank worker from Islington who was murdered by Muslim terrorists in the 7/7 attacks, and whose family were it seems associated with the Mosque at which IFE is based. IFE stated that the 7/7 bombers "were not concerned about who, where and how they killed, their murderous acts had no respect for human life, their criminality was committed regardless of race or faith", that "all sections of the community have condemned this mindless carnage, not least the Muslim community", that "as we were united in our grief and loss we must be united in working towards eradicating these mindless criminal acts", and that "this task of eradicating extremism must be undertaken by the whole community, including Muslims" (3).
Starsqui overlooks links on the Harrow Mosque website to Muslim Aid UK and Islamic Relief, but says that Islam Channel "is run by a convicted Islamist terrorist, Mohammed Ali Harrath, who is an outspoken racist". One web page (4) states that Mohammed Ali Harrath is wanted by Interpol for founding a group called the Tunisian Islamic Front (FIT), but the same page observes that in early 2008 the Metropolitan Police funded an annual Muslim gathering "hosted by Mohamed Ali Harrath's Islam Channel" which it describes as "an annual INTERFAITH forum" (emphasis added). An article from The Times quotes Mohammed Ali Harrath as claiming his FIT group "was wrongly blamed by the French courts for founding a guerrilla network that held banned military weapons" (5). The Times itself states that "no one has ever produced evidence linking Mr Harrath to any terrorist activity", and states that Scotland Yard's former Muslim Contact Unit chief Robert Lambert said that Mohamed Ali Harrath has made a "key contribution to our efforts to DEFEAT the adverse influence of Al Qaeda in the UK".
James
Harrow Mosque Website Links, Part 2
07.10.2009 22:38
Finally Starsqui states that Islamonline.net "is the website of the Muslim Brotherhood preacher Qaradawi" who "has gone on record supporting the Holocaust as a divine punishment". Wikipedia states that Islamonline "has more than 1500 writers, correspondents, counselors and Islamic scholars working with it from around the world" and that that "its content providers belong to a large variety of creeds and ethnic backgrounds" (8). However Wikipedia also describes statements made by Yusuf al-Qaradawi which reveal him as a poisonous Anti-Semitic scum-bag of the worst possible stripe (9), and one Islamonline article describes Holocaust deniers Robert Faurisson and Fredrick Toeben as "prominent Western historians" (sic) engaged in "scholarly debate" (10).
To conclude, in my opinion there is a risk of using "six degrees of separation" (11) logic to condemn Harrow Mosque unfairly on most of these claims, but the last of Starsqui's 5 allegations carries serious weight. Starsqui is right to suggest people should be "careful when you go choosing sides here", but also right that "ordinary worshippers at Harrow Mosque have a right to be left in peace".
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)
(11)
All info gathered 7/10/2009
James