Friday, September 2, 2011

Interfering with a democratic right

It's a democratic right to protest in this country as it's a democratic right to counterprotest. It's not however a democratic right to march as the idiots in the UAF found out when they called on the home secretary to ban the EDL march in Tower Hamlets and subsequently found their march banned as well. However the anti-democratic antics of the left have gone much further and their fantasy world where everyone "must" oppose the "knuckle dragging fascist/racist EDL" (their view, no-one else's) in that they have managed to secure funding and other aid from trade unions despite the fact this isn't an employment issue.
The Londonist.
Opposition groups including Unite Against Fascism are organising a counter demonstration Their website reported that the RMT had threatened to stop work on health and safety grounds if a planned muster at Liverpool Street station went ahead, which has to be one of the few occasions when Londoners might actually support a walkout. They are also calling on two Euston pubs to stop EDL members using their premises as meeting points.
I very much doubt other than in the fantasy world that much of the left inhabits that any Londoners would welcome the communist lead RMT calling a strike or a walkout on a busy Saturday in London, it really shows how much out of touch they are from reality to even express such views. I can't help wondering if the RMT remember just who set off the tube bombs and yet they have their leadership trying to stop those who seek a solution to the problem as opposed to just appeasing the problem. As it is, the EDL are not using Liverpool Street (it doesn't seem to have occurred to the imbecile left that the EDL will be coming from all over the place in all directions), nor are they using pubs in Euston, still it's typical of the left to try and deny struggling pub owners the right to make money hand over fist in these hard times.
The far-right group originally intended to march through the London boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Newham, Islington and Hackney but a 30-day ban was imposed after an appeal from the Metropolitan Police over public order concerns.
No they didn't that route is sheer guesswork from you, simply setting out the areas in which the ban is in force.
The decision to ban the march has been criticised by freedom of speech campaigners – Liberty’s legal director James Welch said:
‘The police and home secretary must realise how serious it is to ban marches in a free country.’
The Met points out that it wasn’t an easy decision to make:
‘We have not sought this power since 1981 – which shows how we do not take this lightly. As far as Saturday is concerned, both parties have requested a static demonstration and we will be negotiating with them suitable locations with the aim of minimising disorder.’
Yet the EDL would not have been the ones causing the trouble, it's the opposition to the EDL who cause the trouble by stirring up hatred and suspicion within the communities where the EDL intend to march. Police officers have admitted that the EDL are disciplined and obey instructions unlike the UAF and other groups who oppose the EDL and only come for a fight.
I'll leave the final word to the EDL though...
‘Placing a ban on the EDL march gives out completely the wrong message. It suggests that it is the EDL, and not the extremism that we demonstrate about, which needs to be kept in check.’

3 annotations:

WitteringsfromWitney said...

"Police officers have admitted that the EDL are disciplined and obey instructions"

Well, hell QM, we can't have an orderly march can we? The MSM wouldn't have any copy!

Anonymous said...

When all is said and done the EDL are preferable to the UAF. The left are beside themselves with rage that a genuine, organic working class organisation can emerge that is not in thrall to left wing idealogy. it sticks in their craw that the EDL has done it all without State support or funding or sychphantic support from the msm. Regardles of what the EDL does or does not believe, the left will move heaven and earth to destroy the EDL. It is not of them and if for no other reason, that is reason enough to use every means to smash it. isi€

wiggiatlarge said...

Good to hear John Humphrys putting the usual BBC slant on Radio 4 this morning ,with the opening line "far right organization" holding a protest meeting today ,not as with anyone else adressing them by their name.Theres an agenda here to as anonymous says to smash the EDL for no other reason than it stands for something the mainstream parties cant or wont address,whatever one thinks of them they are far less odious (if odious at all) than several other groups who for whatever reason never seem to get a bad press whatever they do.