EDL Bristol Bill? Shouldn't that be 'We are Bristol' Bill?

The manner in which reporting of the EDL is systematically skewed by the mainstream media was revealed once again in this week in Bristol's online news source Bristol 24/7 which ran with the headline "EDL in Bristol: £495k bill revealed for police operation." As regular readers of this blog well know, there are almost invariably two sets of protesters present at any EDL demo, with self-styled 'anti-fascists', usually under the UAF banner or under another Socialist Workers Party front group with a title beginning "We are . . .", in this case "We are Bristol", attempting to violently confront the EDL. The statistics relating to arrests since the EDL's inception speak for themselves, for the numbers of anti-EDL protesters arrested greatly outnumber those from the EDL side. However, perhaps I should rephrase that, for the statistics are not permitted to "speak for themselves", but are instead compelled to speak through the mouth of the mass media which once again does a fine job of deliberately misrepresenting them to create the desired, and totally false, impression. How is this done? Take a look below at the manner in which Bristol 24/7 reported the Bristol arrests:

There were just 16 arrests on the day: for offences of going equipped, going equipped for damage, found on enclosed premises, affray, racially aggravated section 5 public order, Breach of Sec 60 Refused to remove face covering, assault police (x2), violent disorder (x2), section 3 public order (x2), drunk and disorderly (x2), theft and common assault.

What strikes the reader immediately is that an article that adopts a critical stance and hostile tone towards the EDL does not mention the identities of those who were arrested, conveying the impression that they were EDL protesters and that the crimes enumerated were committed by the EDL. However, within 24 hours of the demo, when a total of 14 arrests were reported as having been made, it was said that only two of these were from the EDL side, the rest being drawn from the ranks of the counter-demonstrators, particularly from members of the violent 'Antifa' anarchist contingent who set fire to the content of wheelie bins and attacked the police.

If you are a reader of Bristol 24/7, can you honestly say, taking the above into consideration, that you can trust its reporting as being factual and impartial? Could it not equally have run with the headline "We are Bristol: £495k bill revealed for police operation"? Clearly, it should have employed a headline less partisan in orientation.

  

 

'Antifa' Violence erupts in Bristol

In an earlier article outlining the background to the opposition campaign to today's EDL protest in Bristol, it was shown that elements of the anarchist and Trotskyist fringe were intent upon whipping up an atmosphere of hatred in Bristol today and instigating violence. Tweets from This is Bristol's Emily Koch suggest that at the time of writing the police were still seeking to contain violence seemingly emanating from the self-styled 'anti-fascist' opponents of the EDL.

Avon and Somerset Police did their best today to keep the EDL and anti-EDL protesters apart, but the latter appear to have violated the instruction not to assemble at 'The Fountains', resulting in the arrest of previously convicted violent anti-democratic agitator Martin Smith of UAF.

As of 16:10, Temple Way was blocked, and police had closed the Temple Circus Gyratory and groups of protesters were running down Victoria Street. Wheelie bins had been overturned and their contents set alight in the street by 'antifa' elements. Earlier, supporters of Trotyskyist front groups UAF and 'We are Bristol' had traded insults with the EDL, with the two sides throwing stones at each other. Although EDL supporters had been boarding their coaches to return home since 15:30, significant elements within the 'antifa' appear to have been intent upon violent confrontation and sought to prevent EDL coaches from leaving the city. The stone-throwing led to the deployment of riot police in Redcliffe at around 15:45. Once the evening had arrived, a small number of EDL remained in the city drinking, and came under attack as described below:

Ricky Howell it went right off in old market a hour ago, everyone outside long bar got attacked by a load of scruffy fuckers with bricks, bottles and lumps of wood...... loads of edl just stayed in the pub and watched while a hand full of us fought with them and just about held our own!!!!!! not on we should of all stood together, some people got all the gob but no bottle when the shit hits the fan..... you know who you are!! 18 hours ago · 2

It is the anarchist contingent within the anti-EDL coalition that had been most intent upon violence, and which was unwilling to move the location of the counter-protest to the place specified by the police. At this stage, it still has not been revealed who issued the death threats against two members of the EDL in advance of today's protest, which resulted in the issuing of Osman warnings this week, so the threat could have emanated from an element within the violent 'antifa' fringe, rather than from Islamists. Although thankfully there have been no deaths today, there have been a number of injuries. The video below shows mounted police dispersing 'antifa' demonstrators. Such tactics were not required against the EDL. All in all 11 arrests, including Martin Smith of UAF, were made.

The mass media's systematic distortion and manipulation of public perception of the EDL is encapsulated perfectly in The Guardian's report on the Bristol demo from which the following extract is taken:

Riot police made the arrests as up to 300 English Defence League (EDL) demonstrators marched through the city. Some of the demonstrators threw objects and wheelie bins were set on fire.

What impression is conveyed by these two sentences? Who does it imply committed these acts? EDL demonstrators, or their opponents? In all, the BBC reports that 14 arrests were made, but as is standard in reporting on the EDL, no reference was made to who had been arrested, with the implication being that the majority, if not all of those arrested, were EDL supporters. Why did it not mention that Martin Smith of UAF was the first to be arrested? Given his high profile in UAF, surely this was worthy of comment? One claim has circulated that only two of the 14 arrested hailed from the EDL, with the remainder coming from the ranks of their opponents, which given the violence of the latter, seems credible. This claim will either be corroborated or proven false when the identities of those arrested are released, but the experience of previous demonstrations indicates that the bulk of those arrested are likely to be counter-demonstrators.

Further information relating to the essentially peaceful conduct of the EDL demonstrators, in contrast to the unprovoked violent attack upon the police by the self-styled 'anti-fascists', was published in a report by This is Bristol on Monday 16 July. This underscores the point that it is not the EDL - the so-called 'far-right' - that constitute a threat to our liberties and freedom of expression, but the Trotskyist and anarchist hard Left who do not believe in pluralism, and who are eager to resort to violence to close down debate. People need to understand that behind the words calling for alleged 'tolerance' and 'respect' employed by the hard Left, there lurks a nasty and violent totalitarian impulse, and you don't have to scratch too hard for it to reveal itself.

Are anarchists 'green'? Not when it comes to wheelie bins

Video of EDL Bristol Demo

Below is a video of today's EDL march in Bristol, in rather quick time. Although the numbers are not large, they certainly aren't any smaller than in Dewsbury on 30 June. Background information on the demonstration can be accessed here and here. A video of mounted police tackling self-styled 'antifa' demonstrators can be viewed here.

Timelapse: EDL March in Bristol (14 July 2012) from Triggertrap on Vimeo.

EDL Bristol Demo 14 July 2012: Live Coverage

Today’s EDL demo in Bristol has generated a great deal of advance publicity, almost all of it negative given the wide variety of the protest movement’s opponents, and the backing that the latter receive from the mass media, owing to NUJ diktat that makes it obligatory for journalists to report the EDL in a negative light. Whereas the EDL declares itself to oppose Islamist terror, Islamism and Islamisation, its detractors assert that these declared aims are based upon a paranoiac mindset lacking a solid basis in contemporary reality, and are little more than a pretext for giving vent to a form of crude ‘racism’. Recent events however, should help the reader to disentangle claim from counterclaim, and to identify which of the perspectives is more rooted in reality.

This week, two members of the EDL involved in the planning of the Bristol demo have been issued with Osman warnings by Avon and Somerset Police, which means that intelligence has been received relating to credible death threats against them, but the police do not have sufficient evidence to arrest the suspect(s). The background of those who have issued the threats is unclear, but taking into account the violent language and imagery employed by some of the EDL’s Trotskyist and anarchist (the self-styled ‘anti-fascist’) opponents, they rather than Islamists could well be the source. Besides these threats, there have been the recent arrests of six Muslim suspects relating to the alleged Dewsbury Bomb Plot, the object of which was said to be the EDL’s last demonstration in that town on Saturday 30 June. Clearly therefore, for all the mass media’s talk of the EDL being ‘hatemongers’ and violent yobs, these death threats and this intercepted bomb plot highlight a rather different reality, and underscore the validity of the EDL’s stance.

Avon and Somerset Police have taken the rational decision of ensuring that the counter-protest mounted by Trotskyist front group 'We are Bristol' will now be held in a different location and at a different time to the EDL demo, presumably having taken into account the experience of previous such protests when the violent intent and proclivities of many of the counter-demonstrators led to attacks upon the police as well as upon the EDL. 'We are Bristol' will now have to assemble in Castle Park instead. Unsurprisingly, now that the police have wisely removed their opportunity to seek violent confrontation, 'We are Bristol' yesterday released a disgruntled press statement voicing their dissatisfaction with this decision.

It is noteworthy that a statement was yesterday issued by Zaheer Shabir on behalf of Bristol's 'Muslim community' in which he made it clear that despite their dislike of the EDL they did not support the call for a ban on the EDL march and wished to have no involvement with the coounter-protest. Interestingly, he also reveals that he and others had met with both the EDL and UAF/We are Bristol, and that whereas contact with the EDL had opened up "a pathway for further dialogue", the meeting with the latter was not judged to be so constructive:

We . . . [requested] them not to confuse and entice Muslim youth to join their counter protest. They have not proactively engaged with the Muslim community leadership so we are not assured on any matters whatsoever.

At the last couple of EDL demos there has been a notable absence of Muslim counter-protesters, and the number of self-styled 'anti-fascists' has been small. Clearly, Muslims in general have awoken to the fact that the Trotskyist Left has been attempting to manipulate them for their own 'revolutionary' political ends, and have decided that they are no longer going to be duped.

The question that many will be asking today, is what impact will these recent revelations have upon turnout at the EDL’s Bristol demo? Will they serve to galvanise its supporters and increase their numbers, or to deter people from attending? The answer will become apparent as the day progresses, and will unfold below as news becomes available, drawn from a variety of sources including both pro- and anti-EDL sites and comments, as well as official releases by the Avon and Somerset Police. Please return for ‘live’ updates throughout the day. It is likely that the first available video footage will be posted by early evening. 

Updates
Despite the police moving the counter-demonstration to Castle Park, according to a tweet it appears that at least some within the anarchist contingent of 'We are Bristol' are intent upon meeting at 'The Fountains' in Bristol City Centre at 11.00am. 

As the EDL demo is not due to start until 1.00pm and the opposition officially-sanctioned protest started at 11.00am, it is not yet (as of 12.07) clear as to the likely turnout for the EDL. According to some of their opponents, the estimates of the total number of counter-protesters varies wildly, being 30, 150 or 300 according to your taste. As with all demos, it is safe to discount the highest figure given that it is not from a neutral source.

This is Bristol reports that circa 250 counter-demonstrators had gathered in the centre of Bristol, and that a number of them appeared to be heading off to Redcliffe Bridge in an effort to block the EDL march.One tweet reports that Martin Smith of UAF has been arrested.The counter-protesters are claiming some rather high figures for their demo - up to 2,000 people - whilst asserting that the EDL turnout has been very low. As yet, there are no neutral or sympathetic sources providing estimates of the number of EDL supporters, with one hostile tweet claiming that there were 150. From the first of the pictures below, EDL numbers are not currently looking healthy. As of 12:56, one tweet stated that the EDL were claiming that 500 supporters had turned up, whereas in the opinion of the tweeter, the figure was closer to 300. This is Bristol opts for a figure of 500, BBC Points West for 250. If this does prove to be the case, the size of the demo appears to be very much in line with that witnessed in Dewsbury a fortnight ago. Posters welcoming the EDL to Bristol are said to have been seen going up in the city centre.

By 3.30 the protesters were boarding their coaches to head home. However, at 3.35 Emily Koch of This is Bristol posted a tweet stating that rival protesters were not only yelling abuse at each other, but also throwing rocks. A very ugly scene indeed. Riot police had been deployed in Redcliffe by 3.48. A tweet posted at 4.03 claimed that UAF protesters had blocked routes in Bristol in an attempt to stop EDL coaches from leaving the city. It seems that some 'antifa' protesters have clashed with police, upturned wheelie bins and set light to rubbish in the road. More on the unrest can be accessed here.  

Avon and Somerset Police issued a statement in which they expressed satisfaction that the majority of demonstrators "were well behaved, in good spirits and caused no problems to the local community." According to their estimates, the EDL attracted some 300 protesters, whereas the counter-protest numbered approximately 500.


A video of the EDL march can be seen here.

EDL Protesters gather in a dank car park near St Mary Redcliffe

SWP-directed counter-demonstration: 2,000 people?

Death Threats made against EDL Members

This is Bristol reports that Avon and Somerset Police have issued two EDL members with Osman warnings ahead of the group’s protest in Bristol this Saturday. Such warnings are issued when intelligence is received relating to credible death threats, but the police do not have sufficient evidence to arrest the suspect(s). The names of the two individuals who have been threatened have not been revealed. However, it is probable that one of them is Mickey Bayliss who had a concrete slab thrown through the windscreen of his car recently whilst out campaigning. News of these threats follows the recent arrest of the Dewsbury bomb plotters who had allegedly been planning to attack the EDL’s last demo in Dewsbury on Saturday 30 June. The arrest raises the question as to whether this will increase turnout at the EDL’s 14 July demo, or whether it will deter people from coming out.

Speaking in Brussels on 9 July, Tommy Robinson/Stephen Lennon made it clear that he thought that the discovery of the Dewsbury bomb plot represented a turning point in the country. Although relieved that the plotters had not succeeded in unleashing carnage on the day in question, he voice his opinion that were such an attack to be made upon the EDL, its impact upon national sentiment in England would be very much akin to that experienced by Irish republicans following Bloody Sunday: “I believe England would rise up” he stated. His speech was delivered as part of the Brussels Process sponsored by the International Civil Liberties Alliance at the EU Parliament which has been extensively covered at the Gates of Vienna blog. Comment on the conference will be forthcoming her tomorrow. 

 

EDL Bristol Demo 14 July 2012: the Background

Bristol, to the best of my knowledge, has not previously hosted an EDL demonstration. In years gone by, the idea that Bristol would come to host a large Muslim population was unthinkable, but today that situation has sadly changed. In Totterdown a mosque has appeared, its minaret dominating the local skyline like a missile aimed at the heart of the city. The largest resident Muslim population is Somali. Estimates that have frequently appeared in the media claim that the Somalis could number some 30,000, whereas a Bristol City Council document published in November 2010 was of the opinion that the range was more likely to be between 6,600 and 10,000. Whichever figure is selected, it is too high a number. What benefit accrues from their presence in Bristol? Why are they there, rather than in Somalia? If current trends continue, the Somali share of the population will grow rapidly, for in 2009 it was reported that 3.8% of Bristol schoolchildren were Somali, or one out of every 25. In 2001, the equivalent figure was only one in every 500. This growth has been fed both by immigration and high Somali fertility.

Totterdown Mosque (courtesy of Nicksarebi)

It comes as a surprise that there is a Council of Bristol Mosques, to which five mosques are affiliated, which nonetheless seems rather modest given estimated Muslim numbers. The first data from the 2011 Census will not be published until 16 July, but strangely, this will not contain any information on religion or ethnicity. It is therefore difficult to provide an accurate estimate of the size of Bristol's resident Muslim population, but one site propagandising Islam with the assistance of the BBC, using public funds provided by the local authority and Government Office South West, claims that there are 35,000 Muslims in the city. For those of us who knew Bristol 20 or 30 years ago, the emergence of such a population is staggering, as it has seemingly sprung out of nowhere.

What is the protest about?

Whereas elsewhere the EDL has generally used specific events that have occurred within a given locality as grounds for a demonstration, this does not seem to be the case in Bristol. The EDL explain their decision to hold a protest in the city on 14 July 2012 as follows:

The EDL are going to Bristol.  We are going to Bristol because we wish to draw public attention to Islamic grooming, the refusal of Muslims to integrate into British society and the increasing attacks by Muslims on non-Muslim Britons.

We are coming to Bristol to raise awareness of these problems and to call for a unified country under one democratic government, one law and one society grounded in British culture and traditions.

We want to call attention to the creeping Islamisation of Britain, with the increased use of halal meat whether non-Muslims want it or not.

We want to make people aware that our way of life and our culture are under threat from people who don’t care for our culture, country or humanity. They don’t care for our religions, politics, way of life, culture or traditions. They want to recreate 7th Century Arabia in Britain and they will lie, subvert and even kill to do it.

Given the experience of many other English towns and cities, as well as the general process of demographic Islamisation unfolding across the country, drawing attention to what has happened elsewhere and this general phenomenon could be adjudged to be worthwhile. However, it would perhaps be more effective were the EDL to highlight the deficits of multiculturalism and immigration policy, for without multiculturalist policies combined with mass immigration there would be no problem with Islamisation in this country, because the conditions that allow it would be removed at a stroke. Certainly, Stephen Lennon’s own statements regarding multiculturalism have been unclear, for on a number of occasions he has described the EDL as “multicultural”, whilst at other times criticising “multiculturalism”. It seems that he sometimes conflates “multiculturalism” and “multiracialism”, for the EDL is certainly multiracial, although predominantly English. The two are related, yet distinct.

The EDL's Opponents in Bristol

Although the EDL gives expression to many of the general public’s officially repressed suspicions and concerns relating to Islamic issues in England today, the EDL has no friends in high places, and has to confront three primary sources of opposition emanating from: 1) mainstream politicians and the mass media; 2) the self-styled ‘anti-fascist’ movement encompassing the trades unions and a range of far-left fringe groups and campaigns: UAF, Hope Not Hate, Searchlight, Love Music Hate Racism, various ‘unity’ front groups for the SWP and sundry independent anarchist groups; 3) Islamists and the wider Muslim population. All three forms of opposition intersect, with each attempting to make parasitic political capital out of the EDL. None of the EDL’s opponents are interested in portraying what the EDL really is, and the ‘anti-fascist’ propagandists of the second group enjoy the uncritical attention of the media. All however are united in their mutually profitable desire to manufacture the sense of a ‘far-right’ threat, whilst ignoring and facilitating the spread of the real ultra-reactionary ‘far-right’ in the form of Islamism.

Returning to the specifics of the Bristol demo on 14 July, the opposition from the first group enumerated has already been not-so-subtly voiced by the BBC, which stated in a story run on 14 June:

A security operation costing up to £1m and involving 700 police officers is being organised ahead of an English Defence League (EDL) march in Bristol.

Why did it open this story referring to the cost of the demo? How many BBC reports about forthcoming demonstrations, involving trades unions for example, are prefaced with such information, particularly citing such large figures? Although the article makes reference to the counterdemonstrators who oppose the EDL, it does not make clear that police concerns over public disorder arise largely from likely attempts by the Trotskyist SWP and anarchist-related self-styled ‘antifascist’ groups to provoke a violent clash with the EDL. Why did it choose to omit this information? Of course, there have been violent incidents at previous EDL demonstrations involving their supporters, and these cannot be justified, but a far larger number of their opponents have been arrested for public disorder and assault. Although the BBC did on this occasion refrain from describing the EDL as ‘far-right’ (a very rare honour for the broadcaster to withhold this slur), its reporting of the forthcoming march has in no way been balanced.

However, in the video below taken from an episode of the BBC’s Sunday Politics West, the EDL is repeatedly described as ‘far-right’, although the additional policing costs are cited as £500,000 rather than the £1 million stated on the website.

The opposition of the second group, which can be subsumed under the heading of ‘antifascists’, has manifested itself in a number of ways. An online petition has been set up, calling for the EDL demo to be banned. As of the evening of 25 June, this had attracted 1,970 signatures. The SWP-dominated UAF has also set up a front campaign named We are Bristol which is supported by leading members of a number of trades unions including: the CWU, FBU, NUJ, NUT, PCS, RMT and Unison. Other supporting bodies include the Bristol Labour Party; Bristol Anarchist Federation, Bristol Antifascists and Bristol Queercafe. Representatives from this SWP front group met on 11 June to discuss tactics for opposing the EDL’s demonstration. In support of this, they have produced various pieces of inflammatory campaign literature that I have reproduced below to give the reader a flavour of the far-from-peaceful mindset of these so-called ‘antifascists’.

The first below displays a very ugly and angry figure wielding a baton of some sort, smashing a swastika which presumably is supposed to represent the EDL. Hardly, you would think, an image produced to encourage peaceful counter-protest. The second image once again employs the hackneyed and inappropriate image of a swastika, this time being smashed by a rather beefy fist. Peaceful? If you believe that black is white and that white is black then I suppose you could construe it as ‘peaceful’, yes. Unintentionally amusing? Well, perhaps, given that it states “This is a no go area for all fascists, racists, sexists and homophobes”. In that case, why do they wish to demonstrate against the EDL? Surely their statement is far more applicable to Islamists? Still, there’s no reasoning to be had with these antifa types. The last two images below are of an antifa leaflet produced in the city. Although not as crude in style as the first two, they contain misinformation and the absurd insinuation that the EDL is some sort of “street army” being used by big business to distract the public’s attention from the evils of the capitalist crash. Utterly fantastical, there is about as much substance to these antifa allegations as there is to David Icke’s humanoid lizard conspiracy theory. 

UPDATE 9 July: The SWP front group 'We are Bristol' has been very successful in spreading its message, as although the city's council leader - Simon Cook - has declined to participate in the anti-EDL demonstration, he has stated: "We have made absolutely clear that we do not agree with their extremist views and do not want them in Bristol." However, unlike the SWP and UAF he added: "They are not a proscribed organisation and have a right to march." The 'This is Bristol' website which ran the story once again quoted the alleged £500,000 price tag for policing the EDL demo. Cook's even-handed position has upset both Islamophobia Watch and MPACUK.

Bristol's Antifa Propaganda Gallery