Why is the EDL so greedy for humble pie?

The EDL was humiliated yet again last Saturday, when only a paltry 40 members turned up to demonstrate in Cambridge.  The national press hardly seemed to notice whilst anti-racist commentators tried not to laugh.

Some members of the broad coalition called We are Norwich took the EDL threat to civil society seriously enough to join other activists in Cambridge in protest against the racists of the far right EDL. 

Concerned students and citizens from Norwich gathered under the We are Norwich banner together with members of trade unions, Norwich Pride, and Norwich Unite Against Fascism.  They joined Cambridge groups against the EDL, including CUAF, Muslims, and fans of the English Disco Lovers (the good EDL). 

All were determined to defy the EDL merchants of hatred and division.

Despite the humiliation of being so vastly outnumbered the EDL vowed to return to Cambridge in bigger numbers.

How much more embarrasment can the EDL swallow?

Photographs by Ann Nicholls/Look, See, Click Photography:

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From Cambridge News by Raymond Brown:

The English Defence League has vowed to return to Cambridge in bigger numbers – despite a low turnout and several arrests.

Its rally on Christ’s Pieces on Saturday ended early after only about 40 members turned up.

More than 400 officers were drafted in to police them and a counter-demonstration by Cambridge Unite Against Fascism which had more than 500 people in its ranks, according to police.

EDL members said they were furious, claiming they were “penned in” during attempts to protest against a planned mosque in Mill Road.

EDL members were heckled by passers-by and began to fight among themselves as their stewards tried to eject a man who had a “banned” Nazi banner.

When counter-protesters marched past, with the two groups separated by a police “no-go zone”, one EDL member broke through but was quickly stopped by police.

A spokesman for the group’s East Anglia Division told the News:

We are not thugs or extremists. We are the silent majority but we have been penned in like pigs while the police allow the lefties to march through the city.

But we will be back in bigger numbers. The leaders are planning a national protest here in Cambridge. All we want to do is have a peaceful protest against a mosque that is not in keeping and will cause no end of traffic problems as it holds 1,000 but has just 80 parking spaces. We are not against Muslims. We are anti-Islam.

Tourist Vic Synott, 50, of Ayr, Scotland, came across the EDL chanting “we are the famous EDL”.  He said:

They are just showing themselves up by their behaviour. They are a disgrace.

EDL speakers hit out at MEP Richard Howitt for branding them “extremists”.

The Euro MP told the counter-marchers the party had sent him a note “adorned with Nazi swastikas” and accusing him of being “a traitor to civilisation and democracy”.  He added:

There is only one group that represents everything in our society which is uncivilised and undemocratic. The traitors to Britain’s traditions of tolerance, fairness and respect – the true traitors – are the EDL themselves. They are a joke.