EDL Protest In East London Sees 60 Arrested

Sixty people have been arrested after English Defence League (EDL) members clashed with police in east London.









EDL demonstrators were led along Tower Bridge as police tried to disperse them.

Police said 16 arrests were made during a demonstration by the group, while 44 people on a coach were held later on suspicion of violent disorder.

The protest went ahead despite a ban on marches in the area, with police estimating 1,000 EDL supporters and 1,500 counter-protesters had gathered.

Missiles were thrown by activists as 3,000 police tried to maintain control.

The supporters of the EDL, which says it is protesting against Islamic extremism in the UK, assembled near Aldgate Tube station, with the counter-protesters gathering in nearby Whitechapel Road.

'Altercation with locals'

The EDL protesters were later led to Tower Bridge by police to disperse.

The 16 arrests during the demonstration were for offences including assault on a police officer, common assault, drunk and disorderly and affray.

The later arrests came after a coach taking EDL supporters away following the protest broke down outside Stepney Green Tube station, at about 18:30 BST.

Police said there had already been one altercation with local youths after the vehicle stopped in Whitechapel Road and some passengers got off the coach.









There were clashes between police and protesters.

When the coach broke down outside the station there was a further disturbance, the Metropolitan Police said, and all the passengers were arrested.

Officers from London were joined in patrolling the protests by colleagues from around the UK. Vans from forces as far away as Cumbria, Lancashire and Grampian were in action, with riot police, mounted officers and dogs also employed.

EDL founder Stephen Lennon, 28, breached his bail conditions by attending the protest in Aldgate, but was not one of those arrested.

He stood to address the crowd disguised in a wide-brimmed hat and fake beard before revealing his identity.

He said: "I'm meant to sign on at a police station on a Saturday, I'm not doing that.

"I'm not allowed to go to a demonstration, I'm not doing that.

"The credible outcome is I will be put on remand in prison for my democratic right."

'Wrong message'

Lennon was convicted in July of leading a street brawl with 100 football fans in August last year.

Home Secretary Theresa May had imposed a ban on marching in Newham, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Islington, Hackney and the City of London.

The EDL had claimed the ban on marching sent out "completely the wrong message" and insisted a static demonstration would go ahead.

The activists were supposedly prevented from chanting or waving their flags while walking as that would constitute a march.

The protest was moved however, at the behest of police, as the EDL protesters were led towards Tower Bridge by mounted and riot police. They were held on the bridge for about 40 minutes before being allowed to disperse.

Police had not requested powers to stop marches in London since the Brixton riots 30 years ago.

Racist Thugs Shall Not Pass

Thousands of anti-fascists took to the streets of east London on Saturday to oppose a planned demonstration by the racist English Defence League in one of the capital's most diverse areas.












In the wake of last month's disturbances the EDL had cynically attempted to exploit the riot, claiming it was defending the streets of the capital.

But on the streets of east London on Saturday the message was loud and clear as a community united in opposition to the ultra right-wing group. Some in the crowd chanting: "They shall not pass," making reference to the Battle of Cable Street against Oswald Mosley's fascists in 1936.

A proposed march by the EDL down Whitechapel Road and past the east London mosque had been banned by the Home Secretary so only a static demonstration could take place.

But in an attempt to bypass the ban hundreds of EDL members arrived in different areas of the capital to march to the site of the static protest near Aldgate Tube station.

The racists and fascists of the EDL had bragged that they were coming to the heart of Tower Hamlets - "marching into the lion's den" in the multiracial, multicultural borough.

In the event the day was very much won by the anti-fascists and the people of Whitechapel who overwhelmingly rejected the EDL's hate-filled message.

EDL chants of "whose streets? Our streets." could not have been more ironic.

Only around 600 - police estimate 1,000 - EDL members made it to their final rally point - at Aldgate, outside the Tower Hamlets borough boundary.

The largely incoherent rabble chanted anti-Muslim slogans and attempted to sing God Save the Queen but apparently, did not know the words to the national anthem. Most appeared drunk.

At one point one skin-headed member began to abuse and push a young Asian man who had found himself within the police cordon.

But on the whole a massive policing operation had effectively isolated the group from all but a few bemused passers by.

A total of 60 EDL protesters were arrested as scuffles broke out and bottles and firecrackers were thrown as more than 3,000 riot police and mounted police tried to maintain control.

Further skirmishes broke out during the afternoon as EDL leader Stephen Lennon addressed a crowd, telling them he had broken his bail conditions to be at the protest. He was not one of those arrested.

On Whitechapel Road thousands of anti-fascists - police estimated 1,500 - trade-unionist and religious groups congregated in a carnival atmosphere.

The counter-demonstration organised by Unite Against Fascism and the United East End Coalition was addressed by CWU deputy general secretary Tony Kearns, East London Mosque's Dilowar Khan, veteran local anti-fascist Phil Maxwell and other local trade union and community representatives.

Former mayor of London Ken Livingstone sent a message of support, saying: "This is a fitting response to those who peddle hatred and fear."

Speaking on Saturday evening UAF national officer Martin Smith said: "Today we have won. We haven't had anybody arrested. We have stopped the EDL coming into this borough.

"We have marched on the streets today, the EDL have gone and we have won."

Brian Paddick Picked By Liberal Democrats For London Mayoral Race

2012 race will be rematch between Boris Johnson, Ken Livingstone and former Met deputy assistant commissioner.












Brian Paddick is once again the Liberal Democrat candidate for mayor of London, pitted against Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone.

London's mayoral election next year will be a rematch between Boris Johnson, Ken Livingstone and Brian Paddick, after the former Scotland Yard deputy assistant commissioner was selected as the Liberal Democrats' candidate for the second time.

Paddick, who came third in the 2008 mayoral election when Johnson ousted Livingstone after two terms, was declared the winner after a four-horse race in which the former MP Lembit Opik was eliminated in the first round.

Opik lost the safe Lib Dem seat of Montgomeryshire in the 2010 general election. On Friday, in an election run on the single transferrable vote, he secured just 252 votes, coming fourth behind London councillor Brian Haley, with 316.

Paddick narrowly won on second preference votes (1,567), with Mike Tuffrey, a member of the London assembly, close behind on 1,476. About 6,000 London party members were eligible to vote.

Paddick, who had said he was undecided about standing when he put in his nomination papers in June, has pledged to fight for a "fair deal" for Londoners, to protect local community policing and to hold down bus fares.

He thanked Liberal Democrat members "who placed their trust and confidence in me to be their candidate for mayor of London – I won't let you down".

Opik, who had previously claimed that "forces within the party" were trying to prevent him standing, conceded defeat before the final result was announced. He told the Evening Standard: "I stood because I felt the Lib Dems desperately need to reach out beyond their traditional voters. Boris and Ken are celebrity politicians. I fear the party doesn't grasp the implication of this." He was not quitting. "I'll be back," he said.

Some in the party are resigned to next year's election being a Johnson-Livingstone rematch, and see the mayoral election as a way of boosting the party's profile for the London assembly elections taking place at the same time. Currently it holds just three seats out of 25.

Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader and deputy prime minister, said Paddick provided Londoners with a "real, credible alternative" to Johnson and Livingstone.

"Brian's experience is exactly what London needs right now. Whether dealing with the aftermath of the riots or phone hacking and corruption in the Metropolitan police, Brian has shown in recent weeks that he has the authority and leadership London needs."The phone hacking scandal that rocked News International, the Metropolitan police and the political establishment is likely to surface in the 2012 contest. Paddick, whose phone was hacked by the now defunct News of the World, is among a group of public figures who have sought permission for a judicial review of the Met's handling of the phone hacking scandal.

Johnson, the incumbent mayor who declared his intention to seek a second term a year ago, came under fire over the summer for having dismissed reports that News of the World's use of phone hacking was more widespread than first thought as "codswallop" – a claim that turned out to be wide of the mark.

Livingstone, who was the first to declare his intention to stand again, was mayor when the original police investigation was conducted in 2006.

Paddick, who retired from the police in 2007 after 30 years of service, told the Evening Standard on Friday that reformed gang members should go into school to warn children of the dangers of getting involved in violent crime, after the recent riots in the capital raised fears about violent young people.