The English Defence League (EDL) ‘Angels’ handed in their petition to Downing Street last Saturday (see SchNEWS 791).

As the ladies’ chance to shine it was a washout, the small crowd of 150 racists was about 80% male – either that or the Angels were looking even less angelic than normal. About 100 UAF (at least half female) had gathered in a pen opposite Downing St to oppose the EDL. It was a fairly uneventful affair with a bit of shouting, the occasional Sieg Heil and Hel Gower (the EDL leaders’ PA) handing in a petition asking why David Cameron called them sick – SchNEWS isn’t known for sticking up for Tory toffs, but we reckon he may have been on to something there.

Stop the War was holding a demo of it’s own a few hundred yards away in Trafalgar Square, but instead of marching down the road to see off the fash, organisers kept the bulk of the 500+ crowd at bay with speeches from Galloway, Pilger and Assange. Though they did eventually make it down to Downing Street to sit in a kettle, it wasn’t until long after the police had safely escorted the EDLers past parliament.

A few EDL yoof tried to make their way back to have a go at the ‘commie scum’ but were quickly outnumbered by protesters and police. The Red Lion pub on Parliament St was a welcoming host for the EDL with many of their number spending most of the day there with little or no police presence, whether they can be persuaded that serving far right bootboys is bad for business in the long run remains to be seen.