Comments

Comment 1 | From: James | Date: 10 October 2009, 17:00

The UAF are worse than the EDL idiots. As usual it is the man on the street that has to pay the price as half the city centre is locked down because the rascists and UAF fancy a scrap. The whole thing is pathetic from the ignorant knuckle draggers led by Choudry, the ignorant knuckle draggers from the EDL and the do gooders. Meanwhile real people just try and get on with their daily lives.

Nick replies: If the EDL had not demonstrated in the first place then there would have been no counter-demo. I would be surprised if even 10% of the EDL supporters out today were even from Manchester. We campaigned to keep them out precisely because of the racism they whip up and the disruption they cause.

Comment 2 | From: Harry | Date: 10 October 2009, 17:09

If they are not kettled, there will be serious problems. Fascists with train tickets should be escorted on their train, football-style. Those who catch a certain bus should be marched to the revelant bus stops. But these are, as described by Kelway a "street army", and armies turn up to fight. Shame on the police and the government for not banning this fascist gathering. The EDL are the new National Front, and they are not a legal political party, so the BBC should stop talking them up as "protestors against Islamic extremists", when they themselves are a private army wearing uniforms just like the brownshirts and blackshirts, so freedom of speech doesn't come into any supposed "libertarian" argument. Does there need to be a death for the EDL to be banned? Worryingly I fear that the threat from these political thugs and bullies is being grossly underestimated by the Labour Party, but the Conservatives have also been stonily silent, which suggests that in approaching the 2012 Olympic games, modern Britain has become a racist country, the clock turned back to the Dark Ages!

Comment 3 | From: Sean | Date: 10 October 2009, 21:34

The EDL weren't too happy at being pushed back from Piccadilly Gardens, I saw the Police use the dogs on them. About an hour and a half before this a group of EDL tried to break into the gardens from the bus station, they seemed to shouting things like "Eid off our streets" apparently trying to mimick the "EDL off our streets" chants. About 40 of them got through the two police that were there before 2-300 anti-EDL charged them and pushed them back out, with help from the riot squad who were there pretty quick. After that the police put in the lockdown. I saw the EDL protestors in the main group make Nazi salutes as well as the usual offensive gestures. A group of them were walking around the perimeter of the Gardens wearing builder's masks with St. George's crosses painted on them. They tried to get into the the Piccadilly Station corner of the gardens but herded back by about a dozen mounted police.

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Meet Tommy Robinson leader of the English Defence League

What happens when the EDL comes to town

credit: consequential films

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