Mounted police, dogs and officers act as a barrier between the groups of protesters
At least 2,000 people are protesting in two political demonstrations in Manchester city centre.
About 700 members of the English Defence League (EDL) and 1,400 members of Unite Against Fascism (UAF) are separated by a line of riot police.
The EDL members are protesting against Islamic extremists - prompting a counter-protest from the UAF.
Police said 34 people had been arrested in Manchester on suspicion of public order offences.
One arrest was also on suspicion of carrying an offensive weapon.
Both sets of demonstrators are facing each other in Piccadilly Gardens and are separated by a line of police officers, dogs and mounted police.
Mat Trewern, from BBC Radio Manchester, said the atmosphere had turned "quite nasty" compared to earlier on in the day.
He said: "The police are trying to keep the two groups separate and it has been working so far.
"Some members of the UAF tried to break the police line between the two groups, which in turn angered the EDL members.
"Trouble had started when 100 members of EDL arrived at Piccadilly Gardens and they were immediately met with shouts of 'racists' and 'off our streets' by members of the UAF, who had already congregated at Piccadilly.
"The atmosphere is tense."
'Hell-bent on confrontation'
He said the number of protesters from the UAF outnumber those from the EDL by about two to one.
Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan said: "The presence of so many protesters in the city has proved a challenge and while many have turned out to protest peacefully, the police reaction has been necessary in order to prevent the few hell-bent on violent confrontation.
"Today we've made arrests, many of whom were thought to be agitators and trouble-makers."
Greater Manchester Police confirmed one man, believed to be heading to the protest, had been arrested in Birmingham on suspicion of distributing racially aggravated material.
Muslim leaders had renewed appeals for people to avoid the demonstrations.
A recent EDL event in Birmingham led to counter-demonstrations and bricks being hurled at riot police. Up to 90 people were arrested.
Nanu Miah, a community leader from Oldham, said: "We are not encouraging people to go, we don't know who EDL is and what could happen."
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Anti-Islamist Demonstration In Streets Of Manchester , England
Once again, these demonstrations appear to be led by the English Defense League (EDL), who claim they are an anti-racist organization.
During the demo, members of the EDL appear to have clashed with members of the UAF (Unite Against Fascism). The UAF claim to be against Fascism, but they are commonly caught beating people in the street whom they disagree with.
Is there a right side in this? I believe there is, but only in the ideological sense. I'll break it down this way. I am against Racism of any kind. And, I am against Islamic Jihadism.
Certainly, there are plenty of Brits who would agree with me, and I'm guessing that they are falling on one side or the other here in these clashes.
It would be better if they joined up and formed a real human-rights protecting party which was "United Against" fascism in all it's forms, including Islamic Jihadism
(Note, BabbaZee wrote a cautionary piece on the EDL. Right now, I can not seem to find it. When I do, I will link it here.)
From the BBC News:
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15 comments:
It is good too see the EDL has gone from a handful to 700
Oh by the way there is no solid proof that EDL have any link to so called racist or nazi groups, only rumors and black propaganda from the
the socialist and moslem organizations behind UAF.
The Unite Against Fascism people were the ones responsible for the violence here. They were trying to illegally disrupt the EDL's peaceful protest. 100% of the focus here should be on the the violence of the UAF, not the supposed racism of the EDL.
When fascism comes to Britain, it will come in the guise of anti-fascism.
Jeppo,
You said: When fascism comes to Britain, it will come in the guise of anti-fascism.
I say: That is already the predominant form of fascism in England, well, next to Islamic fascism.
Note that I wrote this:
"The UAF claim to be against Fascism, but they are commonly caught beating people in the street whom they disagree with."
I did not write a similar sentence about the EDL, because as far as I know they have started no fights in their demonstrations, and they have not ganged up and beaten anyone, even when one of their own is being beaten, and the cops are allowing it to happen.
Shiva,
Babba wrote a great piece on the EDL and posted it here.
I can not find it. For some reason, lately, blogger has been making it harder and harder to find things. I don't know wtf is going on.
Anyway, Babba will send me a link and I will post it tomorrow, and then you can comment on that.
By the way, you say the EDL has no links to fascism, and yet you are not on the ground in the UK and have not been for a long time, as I understand.
So, upon what do you base your information.
I can tell you this, I base my concern about the EDL on some inside second-hand information I have received. In other words, hearsay.
However, the person who gave me the info is a supporter of the cause.
So, I tend to believe my source.
That does not mean the EDL is riddled through and through with Fascists. I don't think it is, but I don't know.
The BNP criticized the EDL as being a "Zionist plot." But, something tells me the two are closer than they would let on.
By the way, I hope I am wrong about my suspicion. I'd rather that the people of the UK had a strong Human Rights-focused organization to lead them in the fight against Islamic Jihadism.
Pastorius, the EDL are the product of Government ignorance on an issue that is not going to go away - patriotism. For the last 12 years we've had a socialist government at the helm who have attempted to systematically remove all notion of national identity in favour of a bland, generic eglitarian human unit and the EDL are the long overdue resistance to this policy.
Whether MPs like it or not, the fact remains that vast swathes of this land are fiercely patriotic and inherently culturist.
The EDL recognise that our culture is under attack and have quite rightly called it. I suspect there are ties between the BNP and EDL however only in so much as that before the EDL the BNP was the only focus of anti-Islamic activity, the only problem being the rest of their policies.
With any luck, the EDL is just the start.
Just Cause said it right, bang on. Over 12 years labour have changed England and downgraded the English in a massive social engineering project.
It's great to see the EDL with larger numbers bringing the issue to everyone. Ler's not consume ourselves with the thought that they "may" have connections with the BNP. The media are not saying so.
It's great that someone is brave enough to go out and face the UAF on behalf of us all.
Even more interesting is what will the UAF do when Nick Griffin is on the panel of "Question Time", BBC1 on Thursday 22nd Oct. They have promised massive protests and intend to interfere with transmission. I say bring it on. The BNP are a legal political party like it or not and it will only show the UAF to be the thugs they are. Nick Griffin is unlikely to put a foot wrong.
Jaco
You are quite right. I have been away from the UK for a long time, but this has not stopped me from following very closely as to what is going on.
Also I have been looking at the racist/nazi issue a lot longer than looking at the Jihad issue.
The chances are that had I not moved to Indo or read about islam I would be a hard core UAF,er
"Is there a right side in this? I believe there is, but only in the ideological sense. I'll break it down this way. I am against Racism of any kind. And, I am against Islamic Jihadism."
I agree. A plague on both their houses. I blogged about this myself yesterday:
http://skepticat.wordpress.com/2009/10/10/edl-uaf-wtf/
Dear blogger friends in England, visited on the Italian-German Blog
Dolomite Spirit
You will be informed of the Islanm in Italy and South Tyrol!
http://translate.google.de/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdolomitengeisteu-dolomitengeist.blogspot.com%2F&sl=de&tl=en&hl=de&ie=UTF-8
Here is something to support Just Cause and Ray Boyd's argument:
http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/blog/article/520/BNP-blame-Zionists-for-EDL
I'm trying to be fair.
And, as I said, I would like to believe the EDL is a great organization.
http://babbazeesbrain.blogspot.com/2009/09/wfrl-heil-heil-ziggity-heil.html
September 15:
A couple few days ago Andre asked me what I thought of the EDL. I told him I hadn't read enough about it yet to give him a cogent answer. Well, now I have.
Back in 2007 when I did the research on the VB I kept stressing to people that this sort of stealth entryism of racist nationalists and neo nazis into the legitimate anti-Islamist movement was turbo powered by the jihad itself, that it would rise on jihad's wings, that the jihad itself would conceal their real intent, blind you to them on that level. Which would then give them the opportunity to wear us like a beard.
It is doing just that. The fact that commies, assholes, shitheads and freaks of all description also decry these groups, and people we have known and in many cases respected now support them, is ancillary to the facts and is no reason to dismiss the reality of this situation. The fact that some people with good intentions are being used as dupes and useful idiots is no reason to ignore the truth. The fact that thousands of helpless regular Joes have no one else to turn to and so support and buy into their bullshit is also no reason to give it a pass.
Here is a small sampling of the reading I have been doing on the EDL:
SNIP
Dear blogger friends in England, visited on the Italian-German Blog
Dolomite Spirit
You will be informed of the Islanm in Italy and South Tyrol!
http://translate.google.de/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdolomitengeisteu-dolomitengeist.blogspot.com%2F&sl=de&tl=en&hl=de&ie=UTF-8
Jaco
What do you know of HopenotHate ?
Are you aware that they are a part of Searchlight
Not a very reliable source of info
But interesting to note Nick Lowles who is the editor of Searchlight,
He says that the English Defence League should not be written off because it poses two risks.
"What we are seeing is the formation of a street army, people who will travel around the country to fight," he says.
"Into this mix you can get [far-right] organisations winding them up - let's go here or there, here's some money - giving them some organisational support, that kind of thing.
"But the risk is what happens if they go into areas where there are existing tensions. All those places are potential flashpoints. That's the explosive mix that we have got here.
"I'm not saying that every leader of the EDL is a fascist or hardcore racist but as you have seen with the signs, chanting and actions, it's anti-Muslim - and that's incitement."
Not only that, In Birmingham, the BBC filmed black and white men alongside each other on EDL's lines.
So if it's not exclusively white, is it just a cover for a wider Islamophobia?
What I see is a bunch of nasty thugs doing the right thing for once
Shiva,
No, and I don't know who Searchlight is either. You'd have to fill me in.
The guy you quoted has it wrong. The signs the EDL carry are not anti-Muslim, they are anti-Islamist.
That man has trouble making intellectual distinctions, apparently.
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