Report from the EDL Demo in Dudley

Here’s the first eyewitness report from today’s English Defence League demonstration in Dudley, from Gaia:

The crowd in Dudley was the biggest so far, possibly 3,000 to 5000.

Guramit Singh, one of the leaders of the EDL, gave a speech. A little Russian girl also gave a speech in Russian about the Moscow bombings.

I’m not sure why the barriers were knocked over, and I didn’t see any UAF.

For the story about the barriers being knocked over, see The Birmingham Mail. I’ve included excerpts from that article and another from the BBC at the bottom of this post.

This is the speech given by Guramit Singh in Dudley:

The English dictionary says “a wish is a hope or desire for something”. We all know, we all wish everyday. 20,000 members of the Dudley public have made a wish. They have petitioned against a super mosque being built in their town.

This proposed mosque is the size of three football pitches with minarets built to such a height they generally impose on a large scale on Dudley. Not only will this eyesore pose a visual threat for the people of Dudley, it has the potential to threaten their lives as well, The mosque is being funded by Saudi Arabia which believes in Wahhabi Islam, the same interpretation Osama bin Laden bases his worldwide jihad on.

So in what way would this be a benefit to the Dudley community, when it has the common attributes for being a breeding ground for radical Muslims? It also has clustered around it a community which will be only for Muslims. Segregation, if proposed by myself or any other member of the British public, would be classed as a act of racism and ethnic cleansing. So how will this benefit this city?

The majority have stood and petitioned, but yet again this is completely ignored by the local government. The people of Dudley do not wish to have this enormous threat on their doorstep. They have a basic human right to be protected from this nightmare construction project and the potential nightmare cannot be allowed to manifest itself here.

20,000 wishes were overlooked by Dudley council.

Well, people of Dudley, on this day April 3rd 2010, 3000 members of the English Defence League are here to make your wishes come true, for this is England, and we will not tolerate it!

We, the English Defence League, will march every four weeks until the Outline Planning Permission has been overturned. We will make sure the voices of the people of Dudley are heard, and not put on a back bench to appease local Muslims. There is no need for this super mosque to be constructed, and the morale of the people of Dudley be demolished.

We will stand, we will fight and the English Defence League will grant them of their wish, for this is England and our voices will not be dismissed!

I can quite easily give you a brief outline of what the female Muslim population of this country wish for. They wish for their husbands to not commit acts of bigamy, they wish not to be suppressed and forced to wear burkhas. These are illegal under Common Law, but yet again the government give special treatment to the same militant Muslims, that recently killed 40 and injured 87 in the suicide bomb attacks in Russia, for they fear being called racist. Why don’t the government do something about the female Muslim issues we have happening right now in this country?

Cases of forced marriage of schoolgirls are rife in this country. Many girls are attending school one day and then, after a seasonal holiday, are never to be seen again. I can tell you their wish. It is to come home, to be safe, to enjoy the privilege of living in this country, the same as the rest of us. Another massive problem they face is undergoing the procedure of FGM, female genital mutilation, about which I will not go into a description, but which leaves these poor girls physically and mentally scared for life. All done in the name of their religion.

- - - - - - - - -

Why not invest and deal with these problems in your community rather than building breeding grounds for terrorism? This would never be a wish for some of these girls. It is their basic human right under Common Law to be protected, but still no one listens.

So we will march, we will demonstrate and we will highlight these issues wherever necessary because this is England and we will not give up on ourselves, and as one of my fellow leaders Tommy Robinson once said in Stoke, “from Land’s End to John o’ Groats,

We will not surrender!”

From The Birmingham Mail:

English Defence League and UAF Dudley Protests: Seven Arrested

A Seventh person has been arrested in Dudley, where two events by the EDL and UAF are ongoing.

The seventh arrest was for possession of an offensive weapon.

Police at the EDL venue quickly restored calm after a brief outbreak of disorder among protesters at around 3.20pm.

Police have now contained a group of EDL supporters who broke away from the main section of their party as they were being taken back to their coaches.

Officers responded rapidly to the incident near the EDL protest venue shortly after the event’s 4pm deadline had passed.

Officers dealt with sporadic incidents within the protest group after barriers were knocked over.

Meanwhile a seventh person has been arrested, for possession of an offensive weapon.

Two people were arrested late yesterday for criminal damage to a wall beneath a bridge in the town.

A further four have been arrested today on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon. Two of them were also arrested for possessing a Class A drug.

Chief Insp Mark Payne, of West Midlands Police, said at 2.30pm: “Many of the protesters and people attending the multi-faith event are now in place and at this stage are getting their messages across peacefully.”

The BBC (which disagrees on the crowd size) has a bit more to say:

The two groups organised demonstrations in Dudley, West Midlands, which resulted in the market closing and shops being boarded up.

[…]

About 2,000 people took part in the demonstrations.

Five people were arrested on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon.

Two more people were arrested on Friday evening on suspicion of causing damage to a wall beneath a bridge in the town.

‘Additional heat’

Ch Insp Mark Payne said police knew who some of the main protagonists were.

“As part of the preparation we have made some arrests overnight to deal with some people who might be placing additional heat on the demonstration.

“We look very closely at who we think it is going to cause trouble and we have people on the ground who will be able to indentify them to local officers,” he said.

Police said they had met with organisers from both groups prior to the demonstrations.

Unite Against Fascism began its protest during the morning with the EDL one getting under way in the afternoon.

The EDL said one of its issues was the building of a “mega mosque” in Dudley which the council had opposed on planning grounds but which was permitted by the government.

The council said it had closed the market following discussions with traders.

Police said it did not welcome the EDL protest in Dudley, but was committed to making sure it was peaceful.

“Disorder and violence will not be tolerated,” a spokesman said.