Waltham Forest Defeats the EDL: On Saturday 1st September 2012 a number of thousand folks from all Walthamstow’s communities got here collectively as ‘We’re Waltham Forest’ to oppose an English Defence League march in Walthamstow.
Wikipedia has an intensive entry on the EDL, describing it as “a far-right, Islamophobic and usually xenophobic organisation“. Based in 2009 in Luton after a small group of Muslim extremists had protested at a regimental parade of troops coming back from Afghanistan, the EDL attracted assist from former members of different proper wing teams together with the BNP and numerous teams of soccer hooligans, with ‘Tommy Robinson’ quickly rising as its chief. The EDL was at its peak in 2012, however defeats resembling that in Walthamstow precipitated its decline, with new excessive proper teams rising.
The EDL had picked Walthamstow as a goal for his or her rally due to the massive Muslim inhabitants within the space which is in one among London’s most numerous multicultural boroughs. Solely simply over a 3rd of the borough’s residents describe themselves as ‘White British’ and the borough “has the fifth largest Muslim inhabitants in England and the third largest in London… after ..neighbouring Newham and Tower Hamlets.”
That blend of communities was mirrored within the rally opposing the EDL march, each within the audio system and within the viewers, and the ‘We Are Waltham Forest’ marketing campaign was supported by a lot of Walthamstow’s neighborhood and religion organisations, incluing 14 mosques within the borough, bringing collectively round 4,000 folks onto the streets.
After the rally folks marched to the primary highway the place the EDL had deliberate to march to their rally, going previous retailers and buildings the place folks got here out, many waving and cheering in assist. There was some offended chanting and shouting towards the EDL, however this was a really pleasant rally and march with folks from all backgrounds and all ages mixing.
When the reached the highway on which the EDL had deliberate to march, a whole bunch sat down on the road, blocking it and refusing to maneuver, whereas others stood again and watched. I left on the level to search out the EDL who had been marching from a station on the sting of the city centre.
I stumbled on what regarded like a police march, with the EDL surrounded by extra officers than there have been marchers.
I reported “As I took footage a lot of the EDL shouted abuse; others put their arms over their faces, and one rushed in the direction of me, placing his hand over my lens earlier than police pushed him again. It was arduous to get good footage as a result of there have been so many police across the march, although as I continued to obtain threats and insults I used to be happy that the police had been there.”
The had been a number of residents out on the road, and a few had banners towards the march. They had been greeted with racist abuse, as had been others on the pavements who had been abused just because they had been Muslim or Black. As I adopted the marchers there was just one aged man who got here out of his dwelling to assist them.
Clearly it was going to be unimaginable for the march to proceed alongside its deliberate route. Police tried to take them to their rally level via some again streets, the place police managed to pull away protesters (and photographers) for the march to proceed earlier than it was lastly stopped on a highway near the rally level.
I walked on to the place a small group of EDL together with leaders Tommy Robinson and Kevin Carroll had been establishing for the rally on the pavement behind obstacles. Police had been preserving the highway clear with a big group of counter-protesters on the alternative pavement. An EDL steward stopped me from taking footage, calling “over a police officer who insisted regardless of my displaying my press card to him that I left the realm. I unhitched a barrier and went to the opposite aspect.”
The organisers of ‘We Are Waltham Forest’ had requested that the protest stay a peaceable one, however a few of the counter-protesters clearly had different concepts and had been beginning to throw sticks and stones throughout the highway in the direction of these establishing the EDL rally. A small brick landed a number of yards from Robinson, and was picked up by him and handed to a police officer as proof. I moved to 1 aspect to keep away from being hit if extra objects had been thrown.
Many of the ‘We Are Waltham Forest’ marchers had now left the realm, however there was nonetheless a pretty big and offended crowd opposing the EDL. It appeared clear to me that the rally couldn’t go forward, and after I left police reached the identical opinion. The police stored the EDL marchers kettled on the aspect road for some hours after their leaders had packed up and left. When the Met discovered that the RMT had been unwilling to let the EDL marchers onto trains they arrested most of them and took them in vans to varied police stations the place they had been launched within the early hours of Sunday morning.
The EDL had clearly suffered a serious defeat and there have been posts from a lot of them on social media of getting been made a laughing inventory after the occasion.
Many extra footage from the occasion on My London Diary at Waltham Forest Defeats the EDL.
Tags: 2012, EDL, EDL not welcome, English Defence League, Forest Rd, Islamophobia, London, march, Muslims, peter Marshall, police, protest, racist EDL, highway block, sit down, Tommy Robinson, Waltham Forest, Waltham Forest Defeats the EDL, Walthamstow, We’re Waltham Forest
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