Two men who were arrested during a demonstration in Dewsbury have appeared in court.

Police made five arrests when the English Defence League held a demonstration outside Dewsbury Town Hall on Saturday June 30.

On Wednesday, 20-year old Gary Wellings, of Dudley, was convicted of using threatening words or behaviour to cause harassment, alarm or distress. He was given a 12 month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £85 costs at Kirklees Magistrates Court.

Magistrates also dealt with Kevin Smith, 53, of Brierley Hill in the West Midlands. He must pay a £150 fine, £85 costs and a £15 victim surcharge after he admitted possessing mephedrone. A drug forfeiture and destruction order was also made.

One of the other men arrested was jailed last week for two offences. The two others were released on police bail. One was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and the other for possessing an offensive weapon.

Dewsbury Reporter, 15 July 2012

See also the Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 12 July 2012

Needless to say, Wellings "denied he was an EDL member, claiming that he had only been to one previous meeting". Has there ever been a case of an EDL member appearing in court and admitting to membership?

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This does show the misleading character of the police claim that the English Defence League would not be staging a march through Dewsbury but only a "static demonstration".

Numbers at EDL events continue to decline, however. The police estimate for attendance at the Dewsbury protest is 450. Other observers say it was even less.

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Spen MP Mike Wood is calling for a far-Right protest in Dewsbury tomorrow to be called off. He fears the protest could spark trouble which might spill over into nearby areas. And parents in parts of Heckmondwike are being warned of possible trouble.

The English Defence League plans to protest between 1pm and 3pm in Dewsbury.

Mr Wood, MP for Batley and Spen, has told police that previous EDL demonstrations have led to crime and disorder spilling into neighbouring towns. In a letter to chief constable Sir Norman Bettison he says: "Towns in the Spen Valley have suffered disorder and crime during and after EDL events."

He said a demonstration in Cleckheaton in March led to more police having to be drafted in. Shops were attacked in Heckmondwike and there was disorder on public transport. "And this was a demo designed to show the EDL could behave in order to justify larger protests, such as the one planned for this weekend.

"The history of trouble, attacks and arrests must dispel any claim the EDL has to a legitimate right to protest and demonstrates the potential for trouble to spill over into Spen Valley. The last thing local businesses and residents need is to be footing the bill and dealing with the aftermath of yet another event staged purely to cause confrontation and division. The police should ban this protest and save us all the time, trouble and expense it will cause."

In Heckmondwike, parents at some schools have been given early warning of the demo by text message.

There will be counter-demonstrations by Unite Against Fascism and the TUC and police are asking people to work with them to ensure disruption is kept to a minimum. Several hundred members and supporters of the groups are expected to attend.

Chief Supt David Lunn said: "I urge people not associated with the demonstrations to avoid them." He said the EDL planned a static demonstration not a march.

Spenborough Guardian, 29 June 2012

See also "MPs call for ban on EDL march", George Galloway news report, 26 June 2012

The claim that the EDL will be holding "a static demonstration not a march" is disingenuous.

According to the EDL, their agreement with the police is that they are to assemble at two designated pubs, the Principle and the Black Bull, and will then be given a police escort through the town to where they are holding their rally: "The procession will follow the route of Northgate to Market Place across Long Causeway to Dewsbury Town Hall. Then as promised the speeches will be heard outside the Town Hall." So the EDL will get to march through Dewsbury anyway.

A year ago Sir Norman Bettison rightly used his powers under the Public Order Act to prevent the EDL holding their planned protest outside Dewsbury Town Hall and restricted them to the station car park. EDL leader Stephen Lennon was outraged.

"Do the streets of Dewsbury belong to heroin-peddling Muslim gangs?" he demanded. "No they don't. Do the streets of Dewsbury belong to paedophiliac Muslim gangs? No they don't. Do the streets of Dewsbury belong to imams? No they don't. The streets of Dewsbury belong to us. They are British streets, in England, and we are taking our streets back, city by city, street by street. And there ain't no-one is going to stop it."

Lennon declared that the EDL would return to Dewsbury to stage a national demonstration in sufficient numbers that they would be able to defy the police. It would appear that Bettison has capitulated to this threat.

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Today the English Defence League has posted a number of comments and links on its Facebook page to justify the demonstration in Dewsbury tomorrow and to educate its members about the threat posed by Islam. They're worth checking out if you require confirmation that the EDL is nothing more than a mob of stupid, ignorant, violent bigots.

"An Islamic enclave where secularism is enforced"? Do they mean "Islamism is enforced" or perhaps "secularism is excluded"? It's difficult to tell. As the EDL's opponents have often pointed out, it's an odd sort of English Defence League that shows such a minimal grasp of the English language.

We are also presented with the usual Islamophobic propaganda from the mainstream right-wing press, which feeds the EDL's own more violent attitude towards the Muslim community.

It has escaped the EDL's attention (and, for that matter, the Telegraph's too) that the Dewsbury Markaz is one of the largest mosques in the UK, accommodating a congregation of up to 4,000, so the fact that Mohammed Siddique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer may have attended prayers there is statistically meaningless.

And, as conclusive evidence of the plot to Islamify Britain, we are offered this.

You can watch the Youtube video here. It features a speech by former Dewsbury MP Shahid Malik at the 2008 Global Peace and Unity event, where he expressed the hope that within thirty years we might see a Muslim prime minister in Britain. The video spells out what the EDL apparently believes would be the inevitable consequences of such a development.

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MPs, trade unionists, campaigners and community groups have called for a Celebration of Unity rally in Dewsbury on Saturday 30 June.

The call comes in response to plans by the racist thugs of the English Defence League (EDL) to “demonstrate” in the city on that Saturday.

The Unity campaign has called for people to gather for a peaceful anti-racist event.

Assemble 11am, junction of Foundry Street and Market Place, Dewsbury.
Please note: The assembly time has been brought forward from 1pm.

Dewsbury Unity said in a statement:

The EDL is a racist group dedicated to attacking Asian people and Muslims. Islamophobia — bigotry against Muslims — is as unacceptable as any other form of racism. Its aim is to divide us by making scapegoats of one community, just as the Nazis did with the Jews in the 1930s. Today the EDL threaten Muslims. Tomorrow it could be Jewish people, Hindus, Sikhs, black people, lesbians and gay men, travellers or East Europeans. There is no place for Nazis, racists or the EDL in Dewsbury’s multiracial, multicultural and multi-faith community.

The following signed the call for Dewsbury Unity event:
Huddersfield TUC (Trades Council); Kirklees UNISON; Kirklees National Union of Teachers; Pakistani and Kashmiri Welfare Association (PKWA), Batley; Leeds University Universities and Colleges Union Branch; Kirklees Unite Against Fascism; Mohammed A. Pandor (Anjuman E Zinatul Islam General Secretary); Hasan Loonat (General Secretary, Masjid-e-Noor); Azizi Daji (Chair, Indian Muslim Welfare Society); Amin Patel (ICWA Secretary); Ahmed Variava (ICWA Vice-Chair); M.H.Mulla (Vice Chair, IMWS); H.E.Dadibhai; Iqbal Bhana OBE, DL; Jamil Akhtar (Secretary South Asian Consortium Kirklees); Professor Malcolm J.W.Povey, (Past President, Leeds University UCU); John M. Drewery, (President Huddersfield TUC, aka Trades Council); Andrew Cooper (Kirklees Councillor, Green Party; Patrick Murphy (Member of NUT national executive for West Yorkshire); Paul Holmes (Secretary, Kirklees Unison); Nick Ruff (Chairperson, Kirklees Unison); Mick Ryan (senior steward, Kirklees Unison); Hazel Danson (Joint secretary Kirklees NUT, NUT nat. exec member); Roger Keely, (Kirklees UAF and Kirklees NUT); Barbara Jones (Secretary, Kirklees NAS/UWT); George Galloway (MP); Andrew Burgin; Salya Shaban (Secretary, Coalition of Resistance); Mrs. Amina Bulbulia, (Indian Muslim Welfare Society Project Manager); Ansa Jawed; Mike Richardson; David Hartley (NAPO, Shipley); Wayne Atkinson (Bradford); Ishtiaq Ahmed (Bradford); Rafat Parveen; Sarah Cartin; Lucy Galloway; Chris Chivers (Respect National Treasurer); Richard Searle (Manchester UNITE 159 Branch); Peter Mayne; Diana Raby (Respect); Councillor M.Shabir; Arshad Ali (Respect); Carole Swords (Respect); Dr. D.R.Lane (UCU); Isabel Groke; Dawood Islam (Respect); Ikyra Islam (Respect); Rob Williams (PCS Branch Secretary); Karl Dallas (Respect); Zeeshan Tariq; Zeeshan Shahid; Matthew Caygill; Aysha Ali Khan (Teacher and PA to George Galloway MP); Graham Mustin; Dave Gibson (Barnsley College UCU Treasurer); Sue Clark,retired schoolteacher, (NUT); Tom Clark (journalist); Helen Foot (barrister)

The following signed the original statement condemning the EDL demonstration:
Steve Williamson (Labour Party), Holly Simms (Beeston); Jack Talbot Ejaz Hussein (Chair, South Leeds Community Alliance); Adam Ogilvie (Beeston Councillor, Labour); Karen Mustin (Morley); Paula Russell (Brighouse); Angela Gabriel (Beeston Councillor, Labour); Mike Shepherd (Labour Party); Steve Johnston (Leeds NUT Vice-President and Leeds Trades Council); Steve Francis (Beeston primary school governor); David Congreave (Beeston Councillor, Labour); Mike Weston (Leeds Tenants’ Association, Defend Council Housing); Eileen Harris (Belle Isle Tenants’ Members Organisation); Peter Henderson Rhiannon Wright (Holbeck); Tanis Belsham-Wray; Nial Vivian (Socialist Party); Gary Jones (Socialist Party); Hanif Malif (Hamara Healthy Living Centre); Hafizur Hussein (Touchstone); Kimberley Saggu; Star Zaman (Rugby League, Leeds Rugby); Mohammed Farouk (Hamara Healthy Living Centre); Gohar Almas (Secretary, South Leeds Community Alliance); Francis Jones (Former Labour Party Councillor); Ruth Watson (Beeston); David Smith (Green Party); Sam Kirk (Leeds UAF, Bradford NUT); Phil Goodfield (UNISON); Aftab Ahmed (Beeston); Anna Pyrkosz (GMB); P.Peacock (Beeston); Ed Carlisle (Together for Peace); Garth Franklin (Socialist Resistance); John Baron (South Leeds Life); Jen Scott (Bradford Community Environment Project); Nadine Larmour; Dave Proctor (UCU); Harginder Sagoo (Beeston); Hilary Benn MP.

Unite Against Fascism news report, 26 June 2012

See also "MPs call for ban on EDL march", George Galloway news report, 26 June 2012

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In a disgusting attempt at recruiting assorted racists and fascists to attend their forthcoming Dewsbury protest, it seems the English Defence League have stooped to an all time low when it comes to making up a story.

The EDL's Dewsbury division started a rumour about Muslim men attempting to abduct two young girls from the local area of Kirklees. The EDL said that they had "clear evidence" regarding the attempted abductions and claimed that they would have street patrols due to police inactivity. The EDL also claimed that local residents had been forced to keep quiet regarding the abductions.

The truth, however, is somewhat different.

DCI Paul Jeffrey of West Yorkshire Police denied the abduction attempts and said that a 10 year old girl had contacted the police after a van driver had tried to talk to her. The girl could not describe the driver and did not say he was of Asian appearance.

The EDL also claimed a similar incident occured in the Heckmondwike area, however the police said they have no record of the event, so it either did not happen or was not reported to police.

DCI Jeffrey said "We can categorically state no such series of crimes along the lines of what has be alleged have been brought tothe police's attention".

Hope Not Hate, 14 June 2012

Here are some excerpts from the discussion that the false report provoked on the Yorkshire EDL Dewsbury Division's Facebook page.

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A man who had been drinking set fire to a woman's hair and racially abused a passer-by, a court was told.

David Lee Matthews, 23, of Windsor Road, Shaw Cross, Dewsbury, caused a disturbance outside Dewsbury Bus Station.

Matthews approached Charlotte Allison, who he knew, and singed her hair with a cigarette lighter. He then hurled racist abuse at an Asian man nearby, Kirklees magistrates were told. Miss Carole Lawford, prosecuting, told how Matthews approached Ms Allison near Heron Foods in South Street and began abusing her.

He then saw Mohammed Imran nearby and shouted racist abuse at him. He chanted the name of the English Defence League and yelled: "I am racist and proud of it."

Ms Allison told him to go away but he continued to be threatening and said: "I am not a wife beater but I will smack you." Miss Lawford said the next thing Ms Allison knew was that she heard a sizzling noise and realised her hair had been burned.

Matthews admitted assault and racially aggravated threatening behaviour on March 27 this year. The case was adjourned until May 4 for reports and Matthews was granted conditional bail.

Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 14 April 2012

Via ENGAGE

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