Outcry over role of English Defence League - UK Politics, UK - The Independent
►http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/outcry-over-role-of-english-defence-league-2319895.html
Supporters of the English Defence League have blamed the Norwegian government’s immigration policies for the attacks that killed at least 93 people, provoking outcry from anti-fascist campaigners who are calling for the EDL to be classified as an extremist group
Since the attacks, campaigners have called for the EDL to be formally classified by the government as a far-right organisation, rather than a legitimate political entity. Nick Lowles, director of anti-extremist campaign group Hope Not Hate, said yesterday that the decision not to classify the EDL as an extremist right-wing group “severely limits the capacity of the police to gather intelligence on the EDL, its members and its activities”. “Given the mounting evidence of connections between the EDL and alleged violent extremists like Anders Behring Breivik, we don’t see how this situation is sustainable,” he said.
L’indulgence des gouvernements face aux groupuscules d’extrême droite clairement exposée. Il se refusait de classer l’#EDL comme partie d’extrême droite donc potentiellement dangereux et violent.
►http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/blog/article/1298/re-classify-the-edl
Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to learn any lessons of the appalling events in Norway to ensure that this country is “more secure against horrific outrageous like this”.
He could make a start by ordering the Home Office to reclassify the English Defence League. Despite the violence and racial hatred whipped up by this street gang the authorities refuse to label the group as “far-right extremists”. As a result the police do not monitor the group like they do dozens of Muslim organisations and take little interest in its activities. One police officer who has responsibility for monitoring extremists recently told us that the EDL was only an issue when it had a knock-on effect on Islamist extremist groups.
With evidence pointing to Anders Breivik’s admiration for the EDL and an increasingly militant tone being taken by EDL units across Britain, surely it is time for the authorities finally to take this threat seriously.
I’ll be writing more about this shortly but let’s hope it doesn’t take an atrocity for the authorities finally to act against the EDL.
#OSLO