Call for support to oppose the EDL in Luton
We are faced once again with the spectacle of a demonstration in Luton the by the so called English Defence League [EDL]. It is just over a year since the town was brought to a standstill on February the 5th 2011, at a huge cost to the tax payer not to mention costs incurred as a result of loss of business for Luton. Since then we have witnessed an escalation in violent and racist attacks by EDL members and their associates.
With recent convictions and imprisonment for Alan Spence leading north east EDL/BNP member for a violent attack on a socialist meeting at the Tyneside Irish centre and EDL/BNP member for Simon Beech for setting fire to a mosque in Stoke among others. We have also witnessed the dropping of any pretence by the EDL that their struggle is purely with militant Islam. At the EDL’s disastrous attempt to march through Whitechapel in September, EDL leader Stephen Lennon warned the entire Islamic community in this country that they would feel the ‘’full force of the EDL’’ in the event of a similar attack to 7/7 2005 bombing outrage in London. Lennon himself has had a busy year in the courts with convictions for attacks on rivals within the racist/Islamaphobic movement and an attack on Newport County supporters prior to a Luton Town game. In 2011 the EDL have shown a desire to widen their target base beyond the Muslim community, with attacks and threats against anti-capitalist demonstrators, a disastrous attempt to attack the Unite trade union offices in Liverpool [EDL thugs fled with tails between their legs when confronted by Unite members] and threats and attempts to attack trade union activists here in Luton. All of this in a background of diminishing numbers at EDL gathering’s/violence and drinking sessions. To counteract this the EDL have recently announced a tie up with the British Freedom Party a fascist party made up mostly ex BNP members proving if proof was needed of the EDL’s wider Fascist agenda.
Not the sorts we want marching/getting drunk and violent in our town. In 2011 when the EDL gathered in Cambridge and Whitechapel they were not allowed to disrupt the activities of these areas with local people and those who wished to oppose the EDL/ support community integration given freedom to protest in a manner which allowed locals the freedom to get on with normal day to day activity.
Disgracefully, when the EDL came to Luton last February, the authorities and the police made the town centre a no-go area and allowed the EDL to assemble in the main square. This is intolerable. Recent counter demonstrations in Cambridge and Tower Hamlets have shown that it is the EDL who need to be marginalized, while the rest of the world goes about its business. These demonstrations also showed that local people welcome and support anti fascist demonstrations and marches.
The authorities may argue that the EDL must be allowed to get drunk and spew racist inflammatory nonsense as this constitutes freedom of speech. If this is the case let Luton follow the examples of Cambridge and Whitechapel and stand together in a united opposition to fascism and in celebration of the fantastic diversity of Luton
Please add your name and oppose the EDL, use the text template and write to your local MP and Councillors.
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- Oppose the EDL letter (DOCX, 10.93 Kb)