Matthew Lloyd Getty Images/ Phil Noble Reuters/ Sand Tan AP
“We’re expecting a nice peaceful protest, and we’ll all be home for tea time.”
The police officer in the northern British city of Bradford was speaking in advance of a planned rally by the English Defence League, a far-right group that, since its launch less than two years ago, has grown into a street movement capable of mobilizing hundreds or thousands of supporters at demonstrations across Britain. The EDL says it is non-racist and opposed only to Muslim extremism and the “stealthy introduction of sharia law” into Britain. “We are a grassroots social movement who represent every walk of life, every race, every creed and every colour, from the working class to Middle England,” the EDL’s website claims. “Our unity and diversity is our strength.” Their opponents say they are fascists and racists, and hate Muslims of all types.
The EDL formed last year, shortly after a small group of Islamist extremists in Luton confronted members of the Royal Anglian Regiment with taunts and insults during their homecoming parade after returning from the war in Afghanistan. Early adherents were organized through groups of soccer club supporters, and came to include members and ex-members of the British National Party, which until recently banned non-whites, as well as a sprinkling of more extreme neo-Nazis and skinheads.
Usama Hasan, an imam at London’s al-Tawhid’s mosque, has argued strongly for what he describes as an indigenous, English Islam, one that rejects extremism and is integrated into broader British society. He corresponds with one EDL supporter online and says the group’s rise reflects, in part, the failure of British Muslims to engage with their non-Muslim peers and make clear their opposition to extremists such as the “idiots” who verbally attacked returning British soldiers in Luton. “We have a lot of work to do on dialogue,” he said. Hasan is trying to organize a group of British Muslims to go to Wootton Bassett, the small town through which the bodies of deceased British soldiers are taken when they are brought home from Afghanistan, to show their respect and support.
EDL marches and demonstrations typically result in violent confrontations with police who stand between them and their opponents, including the thousands of British Muslims living in cities the EDL targets. Despite claims of inclusiveness, a broader hostility toward Muslims in general is often evident. “God bless every single person in this country, of all religions, creeds and cultures,” an apparent EDL leader told supporters as he spoke to them through a megaphone at a recent rally. “And you know what? Even God bless the Muslims. They’ll need it for when they burn in their f–king hell.”
Previous violence at EDL demonstrations led to a hot debate among opponents of the EDL about how to respond to the group’s visit to Bradford. The economically depressed city is home to some 75,000 Muslims and was the scene of race riots and arson in 2001, when another far-right group tried to march there. Some activists feared that physically confronting the EDL, as has happened at previous rallies, might trigger a similar conflagration.
Several Bradford imams urged the city’s Muslims to stay away from the city centre to avoid confrontation. Others supported a coalition calling itself “We are Bradford,” which held what was billed as a celebration of unity and peace at a location far enough removed from the EDL demonstration site to avoid any direct confrontation. The leftist group Unite Against Fascism, which had previously faced off against EDL marches, bused in supporters to take part. “They’re here to stir up racial hatred. We’re not going to rise to that,” Arshad Ali, a psychologist and organizer with We are Bradford told Maclean’s as the event began around noon.
He stressed that those opposed to the EDL would stay well away from them but that simply ignoring their presence would have implied EDL opponents were weak. “If we don’t come here, what are we saying, that fascists can come to our city and we hide in our houses?” Ali said. “When the Nazis attacked Britain, Churchill didn’t say hide in your houses. This is our city. If we gave in to the Nazis, we’d be German by now.”
