RED LEICESTER

After the flop in Bradford (see SchNEWS 737), the EDL bandwagon is going to Leicester this Saturday (9th). This time their rally has been banned by the council, and the EDL have promised to illegally march anyway, and will not be liaising with police. But it seems that many in the EDL are happy to do it this way - with no police cordon to stop them from kicking off (and stop them getting their arses kicked!). So without the structure of an organised rally, they will have to assemble their ‘mob’ as it arrives in small groups - and police will have greater powers to disperse them. And then there’ll be the anti-fascist counter-demos to contend with, without the police protection they’ve previously relied upon. The organisers of this illegal EDL rally will risk fines or imprisonment - so that’ll be another problem for their organisation. All moving rallies are banned in Leicester that day, only static assemblies are allowed.

When the Leicester EDL rally was called, the Leicester UAF held an emergency meeting on September 9th, which was attacked by thugs. Two disrupted the meeting and several others assaulted UAF members, and the police came and arrested two EDL. Previously the Leicester UAF had received death threats and racist abuse over the phone from the EDL - leading to one arrest.

The EDL rally is 12pm-4.30pm from Humberstone Gate East, Leicester city centre, fairly near some Asian areas of the city. Opposing them will be the Muslim Defence League who will meet at Leicester Central Mosque, Conduit St, LE2 0JN, from 10.30am-5pm; the UAF rally will assemble 11.30am at the Clock Tower, city centre. There is little information about any call-out from autonomous anti-fascists, but they will be there on the streets taking it to the EDL.

Later in the month some of the EDL will be leaving dear Blighty to go to Amsterdam for the planned ‘European Defence League’ demo on October 30th in support of far-right, Islamophobe, Zionist politician Geert Wilders, who’s trial for crimes of race hate began this week (4th). He faces a year in prison. The event is being organised by the European Freedom Initiative, which is an umbrella group for far-right Muslim-haters across Europe, including the new Dutch and French Defence Leagues - modelled on the EDL and also featuring football fans. Their rally will be at the Museumplein, Amsterdam, 2pm-5pm. Details about resistance to this will be given when known.