Sick BNP ‘Christians’ compare immigration to Hitler’s crimes in Poland

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The BNP, desperate to convey a ‘tradional Christian’ image, has found the answer to the fact that every Christian denomination in Britain rejects its message of hate in the form of the ‘Christian Council of Britain’ (CCoB), an organisation run by BNP candidate ‘Revd’ Robert West, who preaches nationalism and racial separatism.

Recently, the BNP website was crowing about a ’service’ West held for BNP supporters in Loughton, Essex. According to the BNP, 80 plus ‘members and supporters’ gathered to hear West preach and to sing ‘Jerusalem’, followed by speeches ‘about the party’s intentions and plans over the next few months both locally and at national level’.

Looking at the CCoB website, we find a blog entry by West featuring a CCoB flyer entitled ‘Racism is not what you have been told!’ It’s bog standard BNP material until we reach the end of the text, in which the author asks the following obscene question:

Now, we already know that Nick Griffin thinks that the mixing of ethnic groups constitutes ‘genocide’ and has compared British Generals to Nazi war criminals, but this has to be one of the most disgusting BNP attempts to use Nazi analogies yet.

To compare immigration from the developing world to the Nazi Lebensraum policies in Poland is sick and outrageous.

Let’s remind ourselves of exactly what this BNP front group is talking about.

Speaking of his Lebensraum plans for Poland, Hitler stated:

I have placed my death-head formations in readiness—for the present only in the East— with orders to send to death mercilessly and without compassion, men, women, and children of Polish derivation and language. Only thus shall we gain the living space that we need.

Once the Nazis entered Poland, here is what happened:

Initially, Germany annexed western Poland directly, establishing a brutal colonial government whose expressed goal was to erase completely the concept of Polish nationhood and make the Poles slaves of a new German empire. About 1 million Poles were removed from German-occupied areas and replaced with German settlers. An additional 2.5 million Poles went into forced labor camps in Germany.

[...]

After Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, all the Polish lands came under control of the Third Reich, whose occupation policies became even more bloodthirsty as the war continued. Hitler considered Poland to be an integral part of German Lebensraum, his concept of German domination of the European continent. Eastern Europe would be purged of its population of putative racial inferiors and prepared as the hinterland of a grandiose Germanic empire. This vision fueled the genocidal fanaticism of the conquerors. Reduced to slave status, the Poles lived under severe restrictions enforced with savage punishment. As the principal center of European Jewry, Poland became the main killing ground of the Nazi Holocaust; several of the most lethal death camps, including Auschwitz, Majdanek, and Treblinka, operated on Polish soil. The Germans annihilated nearly all of Poland’s 3 million Jews. Roughly as many Polish gentiles also perished under the occupation.

The Lebensraum plan was more than just an attempt at seeking extra land; it was a direct expression of Nazi racial ideology:

Under German rule, occupied Poland became a laboratory for National Socialist “racial and population policy”. After the outbreak of war, Jews and non-Jews, particularly Poland’s leadership and intelligentsia, fell victim to the Special Units of the Security Police. The latter continued their activities of repression after becoming stationary agencies of the Security Police and Security Service.

The “Generalgouvernement” Poland was slated to become a manpower reservoir for the German war economy, while the country served as an object of exploitation for military and civilian purposes. In cooperation with the administrative agencies of the Reichsfuehrer-SS in the “Warthegau”, “Gauleiter” (regional Nazi leader) Greiser attempted to create a model German “Gau” (archaic Germanic term for “region”, revived by the Nazis). Between 1939 and 1941, hundreds of thousands of Poles were “resettled” in the “Generalgouvernement” while their property was confiscated. Similar expulsions in the Lublin district likewise resulted in destitution and misery for the population. Germanization and the quest for “German blood” were characteristic features of German “population policy”. Poland was to be “racially crushed”.

Nazi actions in Poland were barbarous and deliberately designed to destroy Polish society through mass executions of political leaders, the intelligentsia, and religious leaders with the intention of leaving a massive peasant underclass to be used as slave labour, as the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum article ‘Poles: Victims of the Nazi Era’ explains.

Landowners, clergymen, government officials, university professors, teachers, doctors, dentists, officers, journalists, and others were killed in mass executions or sent to concentration camps:

The Polish scholar Franciszek Piper, the chief historian of Auschwitz, estimates that 140,000 to 150,000 Poles were brought to that camp between 1940 and 1945, and that 70,000 to 75,000 died there as victims of executions, of cruel medical experiments, and of starvation and disease. Some 100,000 Poles were deported to Majdanek, and tens of thousands of them died there. An estimated 20,000 Poles died at Sachsenhausen, 20,000 at Gross-Rosen, 30,000 at Mauthausen, 17,000 at Neuengamme, 10,000 at Dachau, and 17,000 at Ravensbrueck. In addition, victims in the tens of thousands were executed or died in the thousands of other camps-including special children’s camps such as Lodz and its subcamp, Dzierzazn—and in prisons and other places of detention within and outside Poland.

Universities, schools, museums, libraries, and scientific laboratories were closed or destroyed. Education was limited to the bare minimum, as explained in Himmler’s May 1940 memorandum:

The sole goal of this schooling is to teach them simple arithmetic, nothing above the number 500; writing one’s name; and the doctrine that it is divine law to obey the Germans. … I do not think that reading is desirable.

Hundreds of thousands of Poles were expelled from their homes, and able bodied adults and teenagers were forced into slave labour.

Robert West’s ‘Christian’ BNP group compares all this to immigration into Britain from the developing world and asks: what is the difference?

Are there no depths to which these people will not sink?

Edmund Standing

Racist jailed for shotgun attack

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A "racist" gunman who tried to shoot a black man in the back of the head with a shotgun has been jailed indefinitely.

Jamie Bunter, 20, from Brixton, south London, robbed Nicholas Dwebeng of his phone, racially abused him and tried to shoot at him in June last year.

Mr Dwebeng, 30, only survived the attack in Mitcham, south London, when the shotgun cartridge did not explode.

Bunter was sentenced to a minimum of 12 years in custody for attempted murder, robbery and firearms offences.

The incident began when Bunter and two accomplices, who are yet to be found, took to the streets with "serious violence in mind", the Old Bailey heard.

Between them the gang carried a double barrelled sawn-off shotgun, a revolver and a knife.

Bunter robbed Mr Dwebeng, who had been sitting on a wall with his girlfriend, and aimed the shotgun at his head.

He pulled the trigger but the firing pin failed to set off the shotgun cartridge's charge.

Mr Dwebeng then grabbed the gun and smashed it over Bunter's head, leaving injuries clearly visible in his police mug-shot.

At that point one of Bunter's accomplices shot Mr Dwebeng in the stomach with the revolver.

Judge Peter Thornton said: "This was gratuitous, racist, bullying violence of an extreme nature.

"I cannot think of a worse case of random violence short of murder."

After being shot, the wounded Mr Dwebeng fired at the three attackers with the dropped shotgun and they ran from the scene. Bunter was hit in the leg.

Mr Dwebeng was taken to hospital where part of his bowel was removed and a fractured pelvis treated. One bullet remains in his body.

Two hours later Bunter arrived at St Thomas's Hospital in Camberwell, south London, with a wound to his leg.

He was linked to the incident by gunshot residue on his clothes and identified by Mr Dwebeng's girlfriend at an ID parade.

Det Sgt Paul Davis of the Metropolitan Police said: "Had Nicholas Dwebeng not intervened he may well have lost his life.

"I applaud the bravery of this man who sought to protect himself and his girlfriend from further serious attack."

Judge Thornton said the sentence was aggravated by "the brutal, unprovoked violence of firing at Dwebeng for no reason other than he was black".

BBC

Internet racism pair lose appeal

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Two men have lost their appeals against the UK's first conviction for inciting racial hatred via a foreign website.

Simon Sheppard, 51, was sentenced to four years and 10 months, and Stephen Whittle, 42, to two years and four months at Leeds Crown Court in July.

However, the Court of Appeal has reduced Sheppard's sentence by one year and Whittle's jail term by six months.

Sheppard, from Selby, North Yorks, and Whittle, of Preston, Lancs, controlled US websites featuring racist material.

During their first trial in 2008, they skipped bail and fled to California, where they sought asylum claiming they were being persecuted for their right-wing views, but were deported.

The police investigation began after a complaint about a leaflet called "Tales of the Holohoax", which was pushed through the door of a Blackpool synagogue and traced back to a post office box in Hull registered to Sheppard.

'Abusive and insulting'

Published material found later included images of murdered Jews alongside cartoons and articles ridiculing ethnic groups.

The pair were charged under the Public Order Act with publishing racially inflammatory material, distributing racially inflammatory material and possessing racially inflammatory material with a view to distribution.

Sheppard, of Brook Street, Selby, was found guilty of 16 offences and Whittle, of Avenham Lane, Preston, was found guilty of five.

Sentencing them, Judge Rodney Grant said he had rarely seen material which was so abusive and insulting.

Sheppard's counsel Adrian Davies told the Appeal Court the sites were "entirely lawful" in the US.

He said that there was no evidence that anyone in England and Wales - except for the police officer in the case - had ever seen any of them.

Excessive sentences

Giving the Court of Appeal ruling, Lord Justice Scott Baker said the material had been available to the public despite the fact that the evidence went no further than establishing that one police officer downloaded it.

He said the trial judge had been right to hold that he had jurisdiction to try the pair because much of the activities constituting the crime took place in England.

However, although the Appeal Court judges agreed that "this was truly pernicious material", the sentences handed down had been excessive.

BBC

Protesters told not to cause trouble on march

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POLICE last night gave a warning to right-wing protesters who may be planning violence as part of a demonstration in Bolton.

The controversial English Defence League will stage a protest in Victoria Square in March at which more than 3,000 people are expected.

Leader Tommy Robinson said the EDL would work with police but could not rule out a repeat of violence and flare ups witnessed at previous protests.

Supt Chris Hankinson, of Bolton Police, has warned however, that troublemakers will feel the full force of the law.

He said: “We are committed to facilitating peaceful demonstrations while protecting the local community and we are mindful that given the nature of the protest, some people may feel vulnerable.

“Any criminal or public order offences will be dealt with robustly.

“We would also warn anyone who would want to exploit this demonstration by behaving in a criminal or anti-social manner that such behaviour will not be tolerated.”

The EDL will hold the rally on March 6.

Mr Robinson said: “We have got a core of support in Bolton and a strong membership. People have been saying they want an EDL protest there.

“We had more than 3,000 people at a recent march in Stoke and I think there will be even more in Bolton.”

Mr Robinson said it would be a static protest rather than an organised march, though police will have to escort hundreds of participants from the train station to Victoria Square.

He added: “We will have 150 trained marshals helping police. We respect the police and don’t want to make life difficult for them.

“We want to lay tarpaulin in the square so our members can sit.

“However I cannot rule out violence. At previous events, we have had far-right groups like Combat 18 turning up. It’s naive to guarantee no violence.”

The EDL formed last spring to give a voice to people opposed to extremist Islam in the UK.

But critics claim it is a front for the BNP and football hooligan groups.

They point to photographic evidence of people burning an anti-Nazi flag and making Nazi salutes on past EDL marches.

This is Lancashire

We won't be voting for Hitler fan

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Numpty

BRITISH National Party supporters in Sheffield have said they will not vote for a Nazi sympathiser standing for parliament.

Senior BNP figure Mark Collett, aged 29, has been parachuted into Sheffield to contest David Blunkett's Brightside and Hillsborough seat.

The party polled well in the area in the 2008 council elections, pulling up to a quarter of votes in some wards such as Southey and Firth Park.

But readers reacted with horror when The Star revealed the Leeds-based BNP publicity director had previously expressed his admiration for Adolf Hitler – even saying on tape "Hitler will live forever", and that people in 1930s Germany were happier than in the "inner-city hell of Britain today".

By lunchtime yesterday 50 people had commented on The Star website - with many readers arguing Labour's failure to control immigration had led to the rise of the far-right party.

One reader from Rotherham said: "I am a BNP supporter – I have been for the last couple of years and I am not ashamed to admit it either – but I am glad I have not stayed in Sheffield if this is the sort of man we will have standing for the next election."

A Crystal Peaks resident said: "I have voted BNP before but I won't do again if this individual is standing in the Sheffield area. His views of Hitler are wrong, and he is not a local person so how can he know what the voters round here want?"

A Sheffield man said: "I would vote for anyone against Blunkett – but the BNP have shot themselves in the foot here. They should have had someone local with knowledge of local problems. Not this man."

Defending his comments, Mr Collett told The Star: "That all happened a long time ago. We all say things when we are younger that we look back on and think 'Why did I say that?'

"The issues have moved on and people aren't interested in what I may have said or not said seven or eight years ago."

The BNP is contesting four parliamentary seats and putting up candidates for 16 Sheffield Council wards.

Council leader Paul Scriven said: "I would urge people to think very carefully at the forthcoming election before putting a cross next to the BNP because the party offers no real solutions to Sheffield's issues and will only cause greater division."

Sheffield Telegraph

Stetchford soldier in "Nazi" picture storm admits being in BNP

A runaway Birmingham soldier condemned as a “Nazi” broke his silence to insist he would give himself up within days

BNP member Anthony Phipps, aged 21 and from Stechford, went on the run after being accused of having a tattoo in honour of the Third Reich and of making Sieg Heil-style salutes in internet pictures. Despite criticism of his political views, Phipps insisted: “I’m not a racist or a Nazi.”

Speaking as he laid low in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the Iraq veteran added: “I do follow the BNP, that I don’t deny. But I didn’t join it to be racist. I can’t go back to the Army because I feel threatened.”

Phipps, a member of 3 Mercian Regiment (Staffs), said he fled his barracks in Fallingbostel, Germany, last weekend after a Sunday newspaper revealed pictures of his “Nazi tattoo”, which was originally posted on social networking website Facebook. He was also being hunted by Military Police officers and the Ministry of Defence urged him to give himself up. Phipps said he would hand himself over to the authorities within days. But he claimed the coverage he had received had made it “impossible” to return to his military duties.

“They’ve put me at risk and my family,” he said.

Phipps’s sister Andrea, a 24-year-old mum-of-two, said the picture of him appearing to make Nazi salutes was taken out of context.

She said: “He’s far from a Nazi. The photo was taken at his grandma’s funeral. They were pointing to a picture of his grandma. So what if he is a member of the BNP? He has every right to express his views. He’s a soldier fighting for his country and people are stabbing him in the back. It’s not fair.”

But Hall Green Labour MP Steve McCabe said: “Membership of the BNP is inconsistent with the values of the British Armed Forces. Army personnel are supposed to uphold the values of the Crown and the BNP’s views conflict with those.”

An MoD spokesman said Army personnel were allowed to join political parties as long as their membership did not “conflict with core values and standards”. The spokesman added: “Members of the Armed Forces are entitled to their beliefs provided their practice does not conflict with the Services’ core values and standards. Soldiers who are AWOL are urged to contact their units and to make arrangements to return to military service of their own accord.

“Advice is available from the Services Confidential Support Line – 0800 731 4880. Safeguards have been put in place to ensure those arrested are treated in a sensitive manner. There are many reasons why service personnel go absent and all absentees are afforded Army welfare and duty of care provisions upon return.”

Birmingham Mail

BNP man barred from council ceremony – Labour says he was drunk

Bob Bailey, the BNP’s London organiser and leader of the opposition on Barking council, was turned away last night from a ceremony conferring the freedom of the borough on the footballer Sir Trevor Brooking and the Royal Anglian Regiment. He had been due to speak at the event.

That much is common ground – but the reasons are heavily contested. The council’s ruling Labour group has issued a press release claiming that at the reception preceding the ceremony, Cllr Bailey was “worse for wear” and “under the influence.”

The deputy leader of the council, Robert Little, who was at the event, claimed Cllr Bailey was “clearly under the influence of alcohol and was in no fit state to deliver any speech. In all my time as a councillor I have never seen anyone behave in such a way,” he said. “It was embarrassing.”

Cllr Bailey himself, contacted today, flatly denied that he had been drinking and said the claims about his behaviour were “total rubbish.” He told me: “You know the BNP are against the war in Afghanistan and I was barred from attending the event because they were worried I would say something against the war.”

Richard Barnbrook, the BNP’s London leader and another Barking councillor, also present for part of the event, said: “Somebody mentioned it to me when [Bob] was leaving, saying he seemed to be a little bit drunk, but in my presence he seemed perfectly fine.”

Whatever the truth of the matter, it’s the first skirmish in what is likely to be a very tough struggle between the BNP and Labour at the forthcoming council elections in May. Though media attention in Barking will focus on the parliamentary battle between BNP leader Nick Griffin and Labour’s Margaret Hodge, the real contest may be for the council. Last time, had the BNP put up candidates in every ward, it would probably have taken control of the council. Labour is fighting back, but it knows that still remains a possibility.

Telegraph

BNP whites-only policy 'must go'

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The British National Party has been warned it has one last chance to scrap its whites-only membership policy or face a possible court injunction.

BNP leader Nick Griffin was told party rules complying with race relations law must be agreed at an extraordinary general meeting in two weeks' time.

There were scuffles outside the Central London County Court as Mr Griffin tried to speak to reporters after the case.

About eight anti-fascist protesters were demonstrating on the court steps.

BNP officials were forced to rush out letters to the party's 14,000 members in the last post in order to achieve the 14 days needed to alert them to the proposed changes.

Even then there remained queries over whether the amended version would go far enough to satisfy lawyers from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

Robin Allen QC, representing the EHRC, told the hearing the changes the party had proposed to its constitution were "highly suspect" and "unquestionably" racially discriminatory.

“ We are pledged to the continued creation, fostering, maintenance and existence of the unity and of the integrity of the Indigenous British ”
Proposed BNP constitution

He said that making potential members agree that they supported the "unity and integrity of the indigenous British" would in effect bar some people from joining.

Judge Paul Collins told the hearing that "on the face of it" the EHRC had put forward "powerful submissions", saying some passages in the proposed text were vague.

But he declined to rule on the legality of the new constitution until after the party had held an extraordinary general meeting (EGM), which is due to take place at a secret location.

Deciding on an adjournment, Judge Collins said: "I'm going to give the BNP an opportunity to have its EGM and take into account what has been said today and get it right.

"I do not think there will be another opportunity to get it right. This is it."

He ordered the BNP to pay the £12,500 in court costs relating to the adjourned session.

Mr Griffin has urged party members to back the changes to its constitution, saying it must "adapt or die" but he also condemned the EHRC action as "cynical and despicable" and a "waste of public money".

In the proposed new constitution BNP members must be "indigenous British by descent or origin", or "of any other descent or origin" and who "bona fide supports and agrees with each of the Principles of the Party".

The party's new statement of principles includes: "We are pledged to the continued creation, fostering, maintenance and existence of the unity and of the integrity of the Indigenous British and of the government of ... our 'British Homeland'."

It also states that the party is "implacably opposed to the promotion by any means of any form of integration or assimilation of any indigenous people, including the Indigenous British, which is likely to deprive such people of their integrity as a distinct people or the distinctiveness of their cultural values or of their ethnic or national identities or characteristics".

BBC NEWS

Private Hire Cars Suspend Service In City Centre, Store Takings Down And Council Clean Up Begins After EDL Violence

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Most of the large private hire car companies suspended service in and around the city centre on Saturday night after verbal threats aimed at their drivers by groups of right-wing extremists. The threat of continued violence was so great, that the police gave out a warning to the companies and their drivers.

It seems that some firms also got phone calls from people threatening violent acts against any Asian drivers suspected of being Muslim. One of the companies targeted was Auto Cab Private Hire, working out of Normacot . They had threatening calls over the phone, in the end the company manager, Basharat Hussein , made the decision to stop cars in the area because of the safety of his staff and customers.

Another firm, City Centre Private Hire suspended service after a call from a sergeant at Tunstall police station warning them not to go out, and that work in Cobridge was also dangerous. Other firms such as Magnum in Burslem and Lucky Seven of Longton also stopped running.

Many shops and stores in the city centre closed early as lack of trade made it the worst day many of them had ever had, some reporting takings down as much as 90%. Many of the Fountain Square stalls packed up as early 2pm. Council work began soon after the protest ended and continued though Saturday night and into the early hours of Sunday to clear the debris.

Pits 'n' Pots

The EDL: not racist, violent or BNP-linked?

EDL say they support British laws and that they're not racist or connected to the BNP, but after the EDL demo in Stoke on 23 Jan 2010, EDL supporters "dispersed" into side-streets to break windows and attack cars owned by Stoke residents. EDL co-founder and convicted knife criminal Jeff Marsh filmed the police ID-ing him by name (0:02 "Jeff Marsh, turn round and go back") and then filmed EDL supporters chanting "BNP, BNP, BNP" (0:26).

Police then chased the EDL into a nearby park where EDL accused police officers of being "Paki loving bastards" (0:35), "Fucking cunts", and one officer of being a "wanker" and "Fucking paki lover"

Video courtesy of bnpinfo

EDL supporters clash with police in Stoke

Violent English Defence League attack Police Officer in Stoke

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The violent and cowardly English Defence League can be clearly seen in this video attacking a lone police officer in Stoke on Saturday.

Soldier of hate

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A soldier in Prince Charles' regiment is today exposed as a Nazi fan and BNP supporter.

Anthony Phipps proudly shows off a Nazi tattoo and pictures of SWASTIKAS on his Facebook page. In one snap, he and some pals appear to be making hateful Sieg Heil gestures used to salute Adolf Hitler.

Another shows a tattoo featuring a Nazi Party-style eagle standing on top of a St George Cross. Phipps makes clear his racist beliefs by stating his political views are "BNP".

Although being a BNP member is not banned in the armed forces, it is frowned upon by top brass.

Last night, it was revealed that Phipps has gone AWOL. He is being hunted by Military Police - who on Friday raided an address in the West Midlands - as well as facing a carpeting over his sinister political beliefs.

No one visiting Birmingham-based Phipps' Facebook page is left in any doubt about his vile opinions.

The frontline infantry soldier serves in 3 Mercian Regiment (Staffs), whose Colonel in Chief is Prince Charles. Yet he lists his political beliefs as: "BNP. i.e. Pride, Power and Patriotism. No surrender, EVER." He even set up his own Facebook group in early 2009 asking pals if they would vote for him if he ran for the racist party.

Pictures Phipps has posted on his personal Facebook page are even more sinister. They include photos where he proudly shows off tattoos - one of which incorporates the St George cross with the eagle from the German Nazi Party. Another snap added to the page is a red-on-black Nazi Party crest complete with a swastika at the bottom.

As a soldier in 3 Mercian - formerly known as 1 Staffords - Phipps will have been in Iraq in early 2007.

An MoD spokesman said last night: "We can confirm an investigation concerning a serving soldier is currently under way. The Army does not tolerate racist behaviour and those who are found to fall short of the Army's high standards will be dealt with appropriately."

A senior military source said: "Being a multi-cultural unit, we are horrified and appalled. There is a lot of anger about the shame he has brought upon us all. He's not fit to wear the uniform."

He added: "Phipps was a bit of a loner. He could not be trusted and would always take the easy option."

News of the World

“F*** the pakis” – meet the EDL’s anti-racist poster boy

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Ever since its formation last year, the English Defence League (EDL) has insisted it is not racist and doesn’t have a problem with ordinary Muslims, just radical extremists. Amit Singh is a British-born Sikh and EDL activist who will address the EDL’s demonstration in Stoke this Saturday to try and show British Asians that the group is neither racist nor anti-Muslim.

But as Secunder Kermani discovered, scratch beneath the moderate surface and a very different picture of the EDL’s Asian poster boy emerges – one of vitriolic rants against Muslims and insults aimed at the Prophet Muhammad.

Amit Singh is a British-born Sikh in his late 20s, and one of the leading EDL activists in his hometown in the Midlands. He was introduced to me by an EDL spokesman, himself of mixed-race descent. He told me that people like Amit were of crucial importance in highlighting the fact that the EDL weren’t racist, and in helping spread the group's message within their own communities.

“Amit’s doing his speech to highlight the fact that we’re not white supremacist, skinhead boot boys basically,” the spokesman explained. “It would be a hell of a lot nicer to get more multicultural people there.” He said he wanted support from as many different communities as possible, including, he said, moderate Muslims.

The EDL website highlights Amit's role in an advert for this Saturday's demonstration in Stoke: "We will have two speakers; one is a Sikh, and the other is one of our black members, both proud Britons, and both of whom have volunteered to help start the year off strong by telling the UAF [Unite Against Fascism] exactly where they can stick their dishonest claim that we are racists." Amit isn't named as the Sikh speaker on the website, but both Amit and the EDL spokesman confirmed it was him.

"We are against racists" When I first spoke to Amit, he assured me there was a growing number of Sikhs joining the group to protest against militant Islam - although in reality, the numbers are unlikely to be more than a small handful out of Britain's large Sikh community.

Amit told me he had joined the EDL after he was sent an invitation on Facebook to join a group opposing the organisation’s march in Nottingham in December. “I googled EDL and I read what it was about, and I thought to myself straight away, ‘well this is a really good cause why are we marching against them?’ Once I had spoken to a few people on their Facebook site and on the EDL forum I got involved and I’ve been marching ever since.”

He also stressed that the group, one of whose slogans is ‘Black and White Unite’, is not racist. He repeated an assertion I had heard from other EDL members - that because of their acceptance of non-whites they were hated by far-right groups: “We are against racists. That’s our biggest problem with the Nazis, with Combat 18 and the NF. They hate us because we’re not joining a group like theirs.”

"We're not anti-Muslim"

But Amit was insistent that the EDL wasn’t against Muslims per se: “We’re not here to be anti-Muslim, anybody in the group who is anti-Muslim will be kicked out. We’re here to fight against Muslim extremism. If Hindus were doing what the Muslims are doing, if Sikhs were doing it … whoever was to do it in this country, we would fight against them. I can understand that it can look like we’re singling out Muslims but we’re not, we’re not here to do that. We’re against Muslim extremists.”

Amit told me he believed there were moderate Muslims who agreed with the aims of the EDL but that they were too scared to speak out. As for why Muslims were protesting against the EDL, for Amit the answer was simple: “The only reason I can see for anyone protesting against us is that they support Muslim extremists. What other reason are they coming down for? We’re fighting against Muslim extremism so if you’re going to protest against us then that basically means you’re accepting Muslim extremism.”

"Fuck the pakis"

I was slightly troubled by some of Amit’s views but on the whole they didn’t seem too radical. He was certainly friendly with me, as were most of the other EDL members I had spoken to.

So I was shocked when I added him on Facebook – his profile was littered with racist jokes and offensive rants he had posted against Muslims and the Prophet Muhammad:

You know what, ive got an inkling the profit muhammed was really a bit of a adultering, raping, hate preaching looting Cunt!! Anyone agree, or is it just me????

the muzzies wanna keep away from me im just looking for an excuse im fucked off at the mo fuck the pakis … i just think we shud burn the cunts now!!

Be careful if you go out driving today… driving conditions are awful, ive just come off the road and hit a muslim!! It took me 10 minutes, 2 fields and a golf course, but I got the fucker!!

Hes one of the greatest naturalist of all times, searched the world and showed the british public animals and plants from across the world through the aid of television, and I congratulate him on his retirement, but please before you do retire sir richard attenborough [sic], any chance you can find me a moderate muslim????

- [comment by Amit Singh] hes just rung me and said hes got more chance of finding bin laden!!

- [comment by another supporter] Ordinary Muslims lol, there aint 1 in birmingham. They all have 6 inches of rat hair hangin from there chin - [comment by Amit Singh] how dare you compare muslims to rats, rats deserve more respest than that! lol

u know what does my head in, they say pork is a filthy animal, well ive been in the restaurant and pub business and the health and safety standards are so fucking high its incredible all the way from slaughter down to it being on a plate, but yet they grill frozen kebab meat on a scewer in the open air, the reason for it one of the elders told me they hate pork is because they could never afford it back in the day, 'let’s put that in the quran gives us an excuse not to look like tramps when were trying to recruit to take over the world' CUNTS!!

[Comment aimed at a Muslim who insulted the EDL] hey amir how many times have u fucked your sister today, ure all a bunch of pedos, piss off back to pakistan!!

It would be unfair to automatically take someone’s Facebook comments as gospel, but the frequency and sheer vitriol of the statements, and the approving comments left by other EDL supporters, seem to give the lie to Amit’s and the EDL’s claims not to be prejudiced against ordinary Muslims.

When I asked about him about these comments Amit claimed that he had been receiving death threats from Muslims at the time, and that this had provoked him into writing many of them. He also said he had an outspoken sense of humour and that many comments were intended as jokes.

He did however admit that he viewed Islam as an inherently extremist religion. “I do believe that the majority [of Muslims] believe in these extreme actions … From what I’ve been told and what I’ve read it is an extremist religion. If you ask the majority of the world they say it is an extremist religion. This is what the British public perceives and this is what I perceive. This is what I know Islam to be. This is what I’m taught from Islam’s speakers.” He pointed to preachers like Anjem Choudary and Abu Hamza as proof of this and said they were responsible for this impression of the faith.

He also defended his opinions on the Prophet Muhammad, highlighting his marriage to Aisha when she was nine years old. The fact that this would now be classed as paedophilia is highlighted by many critics of Islam, although they often ignore that until 1875 the legal age of consent in England was 12.

The EDL spokesman who had introduced me to Amit said the views he expressed were personal ones and that the EDL did not support or approve of them.

Despite this I wasn’t convinced. Admittedly most people, me included, have written things on Facebook that shouldn’t be taken literally. However it seems too naïve to accept Amit’s anti-Muslim statements were all just jokes without any malice behind them, given their frequency and vitriolic nature.

His assertions about Islam are, however, indicative of a wider mistrust of the religion in Britain. The very fact that he took extremists such as Anjem Choudary as being representative of the entire religion revealed not only his ignorance but also the effect of the tabloid media’s courtship of such controversial figures – consistently according them publicity denied to more moderate voices.

And Muslims must bear a certain responsibility for this too. As a Muslim myself, I believe the community needs to examine why we are yet to see similar levels of popular grassroots anger directed at the Taliban and Al-Qaeda as (often quite rightly) greet Western policy in the Muslim world.

"Divide and rule"

Amit played down suggestions that his role was to recruit more Sikhs to the EDL cause – but members of the organisation have been looking to recruit non-Muslim members of Britain's black and Asian communities to cut across accusations of racism. A Facebook group called ‘Sikhs Against Sharia’, which explicitly states it is not anti-Muslim, appears to be a disguised front for organisations such as the EDL and Stop Islamisation of Europe, and its membership is overwhelmingly white and non-Sikh, but its potential recruitment role is clear:

It’s a strategy that drew strong condemnation from a Unite Against Fascism spokesperson: “Throughout history racists and bigots have tried to justify and promote their hatred by encouraging different minority groups to attack each other. It’s called divide and rule: playing off one against another so that we all lose out.”

Similarly Jasdev Rai of the mainstream British Sikh Consultative Forum pointed out that the handful of Sikhs joining the EDL and theBritish National Party are not representative of the rest of the community. He said there was no place in the Sikh religion for “communalism or racism of any kind”.

On a personal level I actually quite liked Amit. And he and others in the EDL had repeatedly invited me to join them as a supporter on their demonstrations including the protest this weekend in Stoke. As a self-described moderate Muslim profoundly committed to combating violent extremism, according to the official EDL line I should fit right in.

However, while Amit may be right that the EDL is not racist in the traditional sense - it seemingly has no problem with blacks, Sikhs or Hindus – its claim to oppose only violent extremist Muslims rings hollow.

The EDL spokesman I spoke to said insulting Muhammad “wasn’t on”, and that he had no problem with Muslims practising their religion in Britain as long as they didn’t harm other people. Maybe this is true - for him. But the question is, how many of the EDL’s supporters also believe this – and how many are implacably opposed to the presence of Muslims in this country, regardless of how moderate they are?

Amit Singh says he has received death threats because of his activism, so The Samosa has agreed not to publish his picture, full name or where he lives. The Samosa has screen-captures of Amit Singh's Facebook comments but is not publishing them as they would identify him.

The Samosa

BNP man denies 7 charges

A farmer who is a British National Party activist has denied seven firearms and explosives charges. David Lucas, 49, of South Road, Lakenheath, denied the charges at Ipswich Crown Court.

Lucas, who stood as a BNP Euro-MP last year, denied possession of explosives in suspicious circumstances, possessing an explosive substance without a licence, possessing a prohibited weapon, possessing ammunition with intent to endanger life, two charges of possession of prohibited ammunition and possessing ammunition without a firearms certificate.

Judge David Goodin told Lucas his trial should start on July 26 and last four days.

Lucas was released on bail on condition he lives either at South Road, Lakenheath, or at Black Dyke Farm, Hockwold. His passport will remain with the police and he must have no contact with two named people.

Lucas has previously claimed he made gallows for Third World countries.

Newmarket Weekly News

BNP gun crime story is baseless

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Just got off the phone with Scotland Yard. It appears the BNP’s story about black gun crime is factually baseless.

The BNP have taken their story from a Met Press Release that said:

Gun crime since April 2009 is 12.6% (280 offences) higher than the same period in 2008. The latest figures represent a slowing in the rate of gun crime increase (down from 17% on 30 September). Nevertheless, the increase in gun crime continues to be a matter of grave concern and the subject of extensive and significant operational activity.

Now compare what the BNP have to say:

Gun crime committed by Third World-origin immigrants and their children has become the Metropolitan Police’s biggest area of concern as this year marks the predicted minority status of white people in Britain’s capital city.

A new report on crime in London shows that although the total number of offenses fell, gangland shootings have led to a big rise in gun crime.

Notice how in the Met’s Press Release there is no mention of what type of gun crime has been committed (let alone a racial profile). This story has a similar Richard Barnbrook ring to it, who made up knife crime stats.

If the BNP want to be taken seriously as a political party then they should stop making up stories about serious issues without verifying their facts.

Nothing British

Britons held over synagogue fires

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Two British men have been arrested in connection with arson attacks on a medieval synagogue on the Greek island of Crete.

The two men, who have not been named, are being held in the coastal town of Hania. A Greek man is also in custody and two Americans are being sought.

Hania's Etz Hayyim synagogue has been targeted by arsonists twice this month.

The UK embassy in Athens said two British men had been arrested on charges of arson.

The BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Athens said, according to the police, the men are aged 23 and 33 and are nightclub waiters in the seaside town.

Police said they were arrested after a 24-year-old Greek man confessed, our correspondent added.

The British men have been offered assistance by consul staff on the island.

The first attack happened on 5 January but it was the second attack on Saturday 16 January which caused extensive damage to the synagogue's interior, its archive material and technical equipment.

The Etz Hayyim synagogue, which dates back to the Middle Ages, is the only surviving Jewish monument on the island of Crete.

It was restored in the late 1990s and has since become a memorial and a tourist attraction.

By 1941 most of the Jews in Crete had emigrated, leaving only the Hania community of about 270 people.

They were deported by Nazi invaders in 1944 and died when their ship was bombed and sunk by the Allies.

BBC NEWS

Front National gasps for air under huge debt burden

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France’s extreme-right Front National (FN) will have its 2010 annual government subsidy seized by a court bailiff for non-repayment of a massive debt, according to French newspaper Le Parisien.

The FN owes 7.5 million euros to a creditor who helped finance its campaign in the 2007 legislative elections - in which the party won no seats and accounted for 4.29 percent of the vote, its worst score ever.

Following legal action by creditor Ferdinand Le Rachinel, the FN’s annual subsidy of 1.8 million euros is to be appropriated by the bailiff even before it lands in party coffers, the newspaper reports.

All political parties in France receive cash from the government proportional to their results in previous legislative elections.

But for the FN, its poor results in 2007 were a double whammy of financial misfortune. Firstly, its annual subsidy fell because its results were much worse than in the previous elections. Secondly, campaign costs in France are only reimbursed if a party gets more than five percent of the votes, which the FN singularly failed to do.

Not getting the subsidy for 2010 is a serious blow to the FN – last year the money made up half of the party’s income and its existing debt of some eight million euros is costing 40,000 euros a month just to service, according to Le Parisien.

In a bid to raise cash and reduce costs, the party, led by octogenarian firebrand Jean-Marie Le Pen, put its headquarters building on the market in spring 2008, moving everyone to smaller premises. No buyer has been found.

The Paris HQ, known as Le Paquebot (meaning cruise ship), is advertised at 15 million euros. According to Le Parisien, its real value is closer to 10 million.

Despite Le Pen’s money worries, the FN, which is very much part of the French political landscape, should certainly not be written off as a lame duck.

The party historically does better in local elections, which are due for March, than in national and European polls (it got 6.34 percent in the last round of European voting).

Le Pen’s daughter Marine, an MEP who is increasingly the public face of the FN, last week called for a “national re-conquest” of France by the FN in the March poll.

An opinion poll carried out by TNS-Sofres Logica last week showed that although the FN's popularity is falling, 18 percent of French people still support Le Pen’s hardline stance on immigration and 44 percent believe there are too many immigrants in France.

France 24

Ex-leader quits to fight for himself

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Alby Walker

FORMER BNP group leader councillor Alby Walker has formally quit the party to focus on fighting his election campaigns as an independent candidate.

His departure comes exactly a month after he stunned fellow group members by resigning as leader without warning.

The Abbey Green ward member, who led the BNP group since 2006, announced that he planned to stand against the far-right party's national deputy leader, Simon Darby, for the Stoke-on-Trent Central Parliamentary seat.

The news caused embarrassment for Mr Darby and party chairman Nick Griffin, as it coincided with the national launch of their General Election campaign on Friday at Meir Community Education Centre.

Mr Walker, pictured, said his decision to leave the party will enable him to focus on the elections as an independent candidate.


He announced his resignation to council officials in a short email yesterday, saying: "I have decided to leave the BNP group. I now consider myself an independent councillor."

The move leaves the BNP with just eight seats on the council, although it remains the third largest political group.

However, it is not clear whether the group's numbers will dwindle even further, as Mr Walker's wife and fellow Abbey Green ward member, Ellie, is understood to be considering her future with the party.

Mr Walker said: "My position had become a bit obscure, as I had stepped down as BNP group leader and decided to stand as an independent candidate, but I was still a group member.

"I hope that leaving the party will make things clearer for people.

"After an amazing show of support from Abbey Green residents, I will be standing as an independent candidate in the elections.

"I have also been pledged my first donation of £250 towards my General Election campaign by a supportive resident, and now I am looking for the other £250 to cover my deposit."

Speaking during a visit to Strasbourg, Mr Darby said yesterday that he couldn't understand why his former ally had turned against him.

He said: "I think Alby's decision is very strange.

"I am determined not to fall out with Alby, because he has done a lot of good work for us.

"If he wants to run a good campaign for his ward then we won't stand in his way, but I don't think he has really made his mind up about standing for the Parliamentary seat."

He added: "We have got a real chance of winning that seat and I won't deny the people of Stoke-on-Trent a proper choice."

Mrs Walker was unavailable for comment yesterday.


This is Staffordshire

Nick Griffin to address US white supremacist conference

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BNP leader Nick Griffin will join Ku Klux Klan members, neo-Nazis, holocaust deniers, anti-immigration extremists and eugenicists at the white supremacist American Renaissance conference in Virginia next month.

The convicted racist will appear alongside Dan Roodt, author of “Afrikaner Survival Under Black Rule”, David A. Yeagley, author of “What’s Up With Dark Men?”, lawyer to white supremacist groups Sam G Dickson, segregationist Jared Taylor – who believes Martin Luther King “left a legacy of division and resentment” – Raymond Wolters, a ’scientist’ who wishes to conduct experiments into race and IQ, and racist filmmaker Craig Bodeker.

American Resistance, a newsletter published by Taylor, promotes pseudoscientific research which argues that non-whites are genetically and morally inferior; their conference seeks to bring together various right-wing racist people and ideas.

Infoshop News adds that:
“The Anti-Defamation League writes that AmRen, “promotes their views by attacking racial, ethnic, and religious diversity, which they call ‘one of the most divisive forces on the planet’ and therefore ‘dangerous’” and that, “many of North America’s leading intellectual racists have written for American Renaissance or have addressed the biennial American Renaissance conferences”.”

A campiagn has been launched to put pressure on the hotel hosting the event to cancel or face a boycott. Yesterday Left Foot Forward reported Griffin’s attempt to use the Haiti earthquake for political gain.

Left Foot Forward

Anti-extremist protesters jailed for Luton rampage

Richard Myers and Tony Griffiths were both jailed at Luton Magistrates Court

Four men have been jailed for going on the rampage during a march against Muslim extremists in Luton. The event on 24 May was held after a protest by Muslim demonstrators during a homecoming parade for the Royal Anglian Regiment earlier in the year.

James Butley, 18, of West Sussex, Tony Griffiths, 27 and Simon Hattle, 21, from Luton were jailed for 16 weeks at Luton Magistrates Court. Richard Myers, 21, from Luton was sentenced to 28 weeks in prison.

The "March for England" through Luton town centre last year saw up to 400 people take part in a peaceful protest, police said. But a group broke away and smashed windows at an Asian-owned fast food shop and an Asian man was attacked. Police officers were goaded by a mob who hurled placards at them, the court heard.

CCTV footage was played in the court which showed a small group running across a dual carriageway where they attacked a car containing three Asian men.

District Judge Carolyn Melanby said: "People who behave in this way will lose their liberty."

Three other defendants who were due to be sentenced had their case adjourned because reports were not ready.

BBC

Far-right Dutch MP Geert Wilders on trial for anti-Muslim stance

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The Dutch far-right MP Geert Wilders was greeted with applause from the public gallery as he faced court for the first day of his landmark trial on charges of inciting racial hatred against Muslims.

Mr Wilders, 46, sat impassively as his lawyer argued that the leader of the Freedom Party, which made big gains at last summer's European elections, had made his critical remarks about Islam in his role as an elected Member of Parliament.

Bram Moszkowicz said that Mr Wilders had a mandate to speak out against what he saw as the Islamisation of the Netherlands and argued that he had not discriminated against a specific national group, saving his attacks for the ideology of political Islam.

Around 200 supporters of Mr Wilders had travelled from as far as Cologne in Germany to hold up placards declaring that free speech was under assault by Islam and by the politically correct. The case is being watched as a test of the limits of political tolerance in the Netherlands after years of relaxed immigration policies which have seen the Musim population rise to around 1 million out of 16 million.

"This case is about more than Mr Wilders," Mr Moszkowicz told Amsterdam District Court this morning. "It touches us all. It is such an important and principled question that could have far-reaching consequences."

Mr Wilders faces a 70-page charge sheet covering five counts of breaking Dutch law on incitement and discriminiation against Muslims in more than 100 public statements, for example by likenening the Koran to Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf and calling for an end to the "Islamic invasion."

The alleged offences include Mr Wilders' film Fitna, which shows images of 9/11 and beheadings interspersed with verses from the Koran. It ends with a the controverisal Danish cartoon of the prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb as a turban.

At one point there was laughter in the public gallery when Mr Moszkowicz tried to insist on his client's right to have the entire charge sheet read out in court. The chief prosecutor refused saying that his voice would not hold out that long and the panel of four judges settled for a summary which still lasted almost 20 minutes.

"Mr Wilders has always made his statements in his capacity as a public representative," Mr Moszkowicz said, arguing that the Amsterdam court was the wrong arena and that the Supreme Court in The Hague was the place to hear allegations of misconduct by an MP.

But Birgit van Roessel, for the prosecution, countered that "expressing his opinion in the media or through other channels is not part of an MP's duties." She said that MPs only had immunity for what they said inside parliament. He faces a fine or the possbility of jail if convicted.

The public prosecution service initially decided not to bring charges but were ordered to press ahead by the appeals court. Otto van der Bijl, a spokesman for the prosecution service, today said: "It is possible that we may ask for an acquittal at the end of the trial."

Ulrich Rosendahl, 46, an engineer who took the day off work to travel from Cologne to support Mr Wilders, held up a banner outside the court which read: "Wilders does as [Charlie] Chaplin did. He attacks fascism — Islamo."

Mr Rosendahl said: "I support what he says and I know he has lived under police protection for many years and I think that he pays a high price to fight for freedom of speech."

Anne Wirix, 71, from Schagen in the north of Holland, travelled for two hours to come and support Mr Wilders. "This weekend I am 72 and never in my life have I demonstrated for something until now. I think it is necessary because of the lack of freedom to say what you want. Mr Wilders says the words that a lot of us think."

The Times

English Defence League cracks begin to show

The English Defence League was born in 2009, but as we begin 2010 Simon Cressy wonders whether the EDL is about to self-destruct

The year 2009 could be described as a seesaw year for the newly formed English Defence League.

Responding to a protest in Luton in March by the extreme Islamist al-Muhajiroun group against troops of the Royal Anglian Regiment returning from the war in Afghanistan, local football hooligans organised a counter-demonstration under the name United People of Luton. They in turn linked up with hooligans associated with a variety of football clubs across the UK.

Using social networking websites such as Facebook as their means of communication, the hooligans concluded that Islamism was a national problem and they had to put aside club rivalries.

By the summer the English Defence League had been born and was holding demonstrations across some of the major cities of England, with smaller ones in Wales and Scotland as the embryonic Welsh and Scottish Defence Leagues.

Hands up all you nazi boys: Liam Pinkham (left) and Jerry “Wurzel” Watson

All seemed to be going well for the EDL, but evidence has emerged that splits and divisions are rife within the organisation.

The EDL has always insisted that it is not nazi or racist, even going to the length of holding a sham press conference complete with a pre-planned burning of a swastika flag. However elements in the EDL leadership are quite prepared to accept members of nazi groups as long as they behave themselves, much to the chagrin of more moderate members.

Joel Titus, the violent teenage leader of the EDL’s youth wing, has voiced loud concern, along with several other members of “the inner circle”, over the glib acceptance of known nazis such as Liam Pinkham of the British Freedom Fighters.

Pinkham and his mentor Mike Heaton have been regulars at EDL events since Luton. The EDL inner circle has been well aware of this, yet has refused to distance itself from them.

Pinkham received a four-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, with 200 hours’ community service and two years’ supervision back in July after he burst into the News from Nowhere community bookshop in Liverpool and threatened the female owners. Pinkham, from the Wirral, was taking part in a British National Party march through Liverpool city centre at the time. The wo-men, who were justifiably terrified, testified that Pinkham threatened to “burn down the shop”.

This comes on top of Heaton’s arrest in December by the North East Counter Terrorism Unit. Heaton is currently on bail charged with soliciting murder and using threatening, abusive or insulting words likely to stir up racial hatred.

That will no doubt stick in the craw of Titus, who is of mixed race and claims Martin Luther King is his hero.

Following a recent demonstration in London, EDL supporters led by Titus clashed with Nazi-saluting Chelsea hooligans, leaving one of the Chelsea fans hospitalised. It is reported that Titus now wears a stab vest in fear of reprisals following threats made on the Stormfront nazi web forum.

A closer look at the EDL inner circle reveals why its members may be reluctant to jettison their nazi friends.

One of the global moderators on the EDL internet forum is Sean Corrigan of St Albans. Posting under the moniker “Road Rage”, what Corrigan fails to tell Titus and the more moderate wing of the EDL is that he is a gold member of the BNP.

(left to right) Chris Renton, Joel Titus, Matthew Kaplan and Leisha Brookes

Another in the EDL inner circle is Chris Renton, a BNP activist from Weston-super-Mare, who now appears to be using the online name “John Sheridan” and controls a large number of EDL Facebook groups.

One who recently fell foul of Renton is the veteran Bristol EDL activist Jerry “Wurzel” Watson, whom Renton blacklisted following allegations, strongly denied by Watson, of theft of a charity box.

This led Watson to side with Paul Ray, the increasingly flaky self-styled “spiritual” leader of the EDL. Ray has formed his own St George’s Division of the EDL and has titled himself “Grandmaster Ray”, despite being disowned by the official EDL.

Another leading EDL activist now sidelined is the bullish Leisha Brookes. An ever visible member of the EDL, Brookes has led the women’s division and acted as the group’s police liaison officer.

However, her abrasive nature is not to everyone’s taste in the EDL. One person in particular who has had numerous clashes with her is Matthew Kaplan, a Jewish student from Seattle who is studying history at King’s College, London.

Kaplan is the paid EDL publications coordinator, responsible for leaflets and press releases. He has been seen at several EDL demonstrations complete with Israeli flag. He has clashed on several occasions on the official EDL Facebook group with Leisha Brookes and her supporters for a number of reasons, mainly because he is an American.

Brookes has declared that she doesn’t trust him and accused him of working for the police.

Kaplan revealed that Brookes and her colleagues threatened to attack him if he turned up at the Nottingham EDL event on 5 December.

Other leading EDL members have accused her of posting racist comments on the EDL internet forum.

Whatever the truth behind the fallout, Brookes has definitely been removed as the EDL’s police liaison officer and is no longer in charge of the women’s division.

It is believed that the new EDL police liaison officer is none other than Corrigan, the BNP gold card carrying member from St Albans.

Hope not Hate