EDL leave London: Sophia Ignatidou
As thousands of anti-fascists gathered in Tower Hamlets on Saturday afternoon, English Defence League marchers were kept away by ranks of police officers who escorted them rapidly towards Tower Bridge and well away from their objective of gathering in Whitechapel.
By 6pm in the evening, the confrontation was all over. According the Metropolitan Police, only five arrests were made.
Martin Smith, the UAF national organiser said: “We have won. We haven’t had anybody arrested. We have stopped the EDL coming into this borough. Tommy Robinson [the leader of the EDL] has been arrested. We have marched on the streets today, the EDL have gone and we have won.”
However, a Tweet by the National Union of Journalists reported: “The #EDL set light to a colleague today in the Tower Hamlets protest. He has suffered minor burns. #NUJPhoto.” The NUJ said there were also “numerous reports of abuse, racism, assaults and one count of sexual assault against journalists.”
For life coverage of the demo see here
EDL demonstrators: Sophia Ignatidou
I think the important point is that had there not been thousands of anti-racist protesters from the local community gathered across Whitchapel and Tower Hamlets all day, the police would not have been forced to keep EDL out of the borough, and they would have been allowed to protest and spread their racist hate outside the mosque.
Saturday was a victory for the community and for anti-fascists who argued the only way to defeat the EDL is to unite in action on the streets. To build a united front willing to defend the community from fascists and racists.
If we had taken the advice of the politicians and campaigners who told us to stay a home and let the police deal with the EDL, they would have been rampaging through east London spreading hate and violence as they’ve done numerous times before across the country.
My report from the anti-fascist protest is here: http://subcityscrawl.wordpress.com/2011/09/04/tower-hamlets-they-did-not-pass/