Saturday, August 10, 2019

Racist clash in central London


By New Worker correspondent

Fascists and racists were out on the streets of London last weekend demanding the release of the former leader of the English Defence League (EDL), who is currently in Belmarsh prison. Scuffles broke out with the police along the march as racist thugs attempted to break through police lines to attack the anti-racist demonstrators.
Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who goes by the name of Tommy Robinson, was jailed for contempt of court after live-streaming defendants outside Leeds Crown Court during a criminal trial on the sexual exploitation of girls in Huddersfield. The former EDL leader failed recently in the European elections to become an MEP in the North West, due to a large, broad-based campaign by anti-racists, of which Stand Up To Racism (SUTR) was central.
Although hundreds turned up to join the racist march, the degenerates were easily outnumbered by supporters of SUTR, the Anti-Fascist Network and the London Anti-Fascist Assembly who rallied in Regent Street to counter the “Free Tommy” rabble.
SUTR Co-Convenor, Sabby Dhalu, said: “Today showed that all the work done by anti-fascists to challenge and expose Tommy Robinson, from counter-demos to election campaigns has a major effect. As Boris Johnson positions himself at the head of a Trump-like movement in Britain, it’s vital we continue to unite against fascist groups and the bigotry that emboldens them.”
This was also stressed by Weyman Bennett of SUTR, who said: “Tommy Robinson has a history of promoting fascist organisations including the British National Party and English Defence League. Days like today show the true nature of his supporters – racist and Islamophobic to the core. Last year they mobilised around 15,000 on the streets of London, now they can only bring out tiny a fraction of that. We stopped Robinson when he was in the EDL. We stopped him becoming an MEP. We’ll stop him again from building the racist street movement he craves.”

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