GLA members call for Met Police to classify EDL as ‘extremist’

The Greater London Authority has issued a press release informing us that several members of the London Assembly have written a letter to the head of the Metropolitan Police, Bernard Hogan-Howe, urging him to revise the force’s view that the English Defence League is not an extremist group. The signatories are, Murad Qureshi; Jennette Arnold OBE; Dr Onkar Sahota; and Navin Shah. The move comes following the recent arrest of a number of EDL members by the police force, as well as the Home Secretary’s recent decision to ban the EDL from marching in East London following a request from the Metropolitan Police- the second time such a ban has been issued for the London area.

The letter reads:

“We welcomed the Government’s decision last week to ban the planned EDL march through Waltham Forest and other nearby boroughs.

“In the past, these marches have been organised and attended by EDL members who have no connection with the local community and they have led to disorder and tension on the streets within a community which otherwise live and work together without trouble or contempt for each other.

“In light of past experiences of EDL marches and this recent ban, we urge you to revise the Met’s view about the status of the EDL… back in September 2009, the then Met Police commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson told the MPA that the EDL　”are not viewed as an extreme right wing group in the accepted sense”. Last year, it was reported that Adrian Tudway, head of the national domestic extremism unit at Scotland Yard, stated in an email to a Muslim organisation that “in terms of the position with EDL, the original stance stands, they are not extreme right wing as a group”…These sentiments…are wholly inconsistent with the EDL’s recent actions and the reaction by the local community to their presence.

“The recent arrests by the Met Police and the request to ban the march last week were both based upon intelligence led investigation; it is clear, therefore, that the perception of the EDL as a non right wing organisation is misconceived. This misconception should be put right, and we hope that recent actions by the Met police and the Home Secretary should pave a way forward to restating the Met’s views on the EDL. We believe this is the time to draw a line in the sand from past statements made by or on behalf of the Met on this subject and we seek your reassurance that such statements will not be made under your watch in the future.”

Murad Qureshi has commented: “Members of the EDL are disrupting our communities and promoting violence and racist ideology. They are obviously a far-right group, bent on causing as much trouble in our diverse communities as possible.

“It is disgraceful that people such as the EDL who don’t even live in London and have to travel from outside the city are allowed to come to our neighbourhood to promote their evil racist ideology. We must stand together and recognise the EDL for what they are, an extremist far-right group.”

Although the EDL publicise themselves as an organisation that is only opposed to ‘radical Islam’, its indiscriminate hatred for Islam and Muslims is evident in the nature of its activities, such as for example, their regular protests against Muslim places of worship and their targeting of ‘Muslim paedophiles’. The organisation’s notorious protests have often been marred with arrests including for racial and religious abuse, whilst its Facebook page regularly attracts comments of a similarly abusive and inciteful nature. The leadership of the organisation has also on numerous occasions illustrated its disdain for Islam and Muslims in general, such as Stephen Lennon’s past comments that the Qur’an “legitimises the rape, prostitution and abuse of our daughters”. Or a statement he made when the EDL held a protest in east London that “…every single Muslim watching this video on YouTube, on 7/7 you got away with killing and maiming British citizens…the Islamic community will feel the full force of the EDL if we see any of our citizens killed, maimed or hurt on British soil ever again”. Another senior figure and co-founder of the EDL, Kevin Carroll, who is also standing for election as Police and Crime Commissioner in Bedfordshire, recently referred to  Muslim pilgrims as “****ing backward savages”.