- EDL protesor struggles with a police officer on Saturday in Birmingham
This weekend saw ninety arrests after clashes between “The English Defence League”, an ultra-nationalist organisation and who organised the ”anti-Islamic extremism” event, “anti-fascists” and gangs of Asian youths in Birmingham.
“There were about 250 people in total, fighting and throwing bottles at each other,” said one onlooker.
Yesterday, West Midlands Police said all those arrested were “male, aged between 16 and 39, and offences included criminal damage and violent disorder, including possession of an offensive weapon.”
Gang of Asian youths wearing balaclavas during Birmingham clashes
There is some confusion, however, with the BNP’s involvement with the EDL and Saturday’s fracas. Pre-judging Saturday’s event, the BNP (last Thrusday) sought to distance itself from the EDL and announced via its website, it would be a “disciplinary offence” for any BNP member to be involved with the EDL.
And yet, as we reported via our Twitter site, the BNP did promote, on its official Facebook page (3/9/09), an “anti-Islamic extremism march” in Birmingham for September 5th 2009. Interestingly, some web-sites are reporting that EDL protesters are seen wearing BNP official merchandise t-shirts.
While this weekend may have nothing to do with the BNP, we do believe that because of it preach a message of hate, extremism and intimidation, ordinary people are riled up by them and therefore encouraged to hold unacceptable views and behaviour. Furthermore, to stop UK social cohesion worsening, groups like UAF and thuggish gangs, who appear to actively seek trouble, need to understand that violence is entirely destructive and offers no viable answers/solutions (on issues such as Islamism, immigration, unemployment and the recession etc) to those who maybe seeking an alternative to neo-fascism and the politics of hate.
See footage from Saturday below:
