On February 5th the English Defence League have announced they will stage their largest ever protest in Luton, which has a Muslim community in the tens of thousands. Counter organisations have also announced they will be there.
English Defence League in Luton, May 2009.
Serious civil disorder between both parties is a real possibility, and as a consequence Bedfordshire police have issued a blanket ban on alcohol sales in Luton from 12pm on the day of the protest.
Both left and right wing organisations have decided to use Luton as their battle ground, and while democratic protest is a right we all share, common sense should have prevailed in this case from the home office who have decided to allow a full march.
Of course there are problems in Luton, but these are issues for the local community to address and resolve. When the football 'causals' and the anti-fascists have all returned home it will be the people of Luton who are left to pick up the pieces, mend fences and clean up what is left of their already broken town.
The town of Luton is mostly known for three things. It’s former hosting of the Vauxhall factory, its hat industry, and its airport.
Today in the early 21st century two of its former important industries have declined and disappeared from the towns economic profile, it’s football team Luton Town FC, the ‘Hatters’ have shared much the same fate as their namesake industry dropping from the top flight to the non-league system in just 20 short years.
Its airport remains the only truly growth area of this once important town.
But something sinister has now given Luton national and international media recognition. In 2005 the 7/7 bombers set chose Luton as their staging point for a one way mission to attack London’s transport network causing 55 deaths.
- The 7/7 bombers embark on their mission from Luton station
This was not the first time the words ‘Luton’ and ‘Islamic Terrorism’ were joined in the same article, nor was it the last. A small minority of the town’s very large Muslim population had been preaching extremist doctrines for some time, but were usually kept under control by the wider moderate community.
A major point of contention came 18 months ago when the Anglian regiment of the British Army, known as the 'poachers' exercised their freedom of the town and parade their colours; during the parade a small group of extremists mounted a protest with an anti-war theme calling the soldiers “Baby killers” and “Butchers of Basra”.
In response to the protest, a peaceful counter protest organisation was set up called the “United people of Luton” which decided to mount a march in the town centre on St George’s day.
The UPL organisation marched, and there were disturbances including attacks on an Indian man who was simply walking the street unaware of any protest, and a takeaway shop was also attacked. The march was widely condemned by all sections of the Luton community.
The Luton march was the genesis of something more dangerous than a counter protest. Gangs of seasoned and veteran football hooligans, known as firms seized on the opportunity to come together and form a united front, which became known as the EDL.
The English Defence League are led by a former Cardiff city firm leader who was convicted of stabbing a Manchester United supporter, and a Luton town youth crew leader called Steven Yaxley, who goes by the pseudo name ‘Tommy Robinson’, the EDL have marched in towns and cities across the UK for over a year.
Most of these marches end up in confrontation with local Muslim communities and ‘anti-fascist’ organisations such as the government backed UAF, the Socialist alliance and the more militant 'ANTIFA' movement.
Because of these so called ‘peaceful’ protests in the past, entire city centres have had to be shut down, and the economic cost to local business and the tax payer is enormous.
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