The Far Right and Protests in Birmingham

A blog called Watching Them has some screenshots from far-right websites concerning “anti-Islamic extremist” protests in Birmingham. First, a discussion on the neo-Nazi Blood and Honour forum, where one poster announces:

if anyone is interested there is an anti sharia law march by the English Defense League in Birmingman town centre on August the 8th.

Hopefully will be a good day our as the last on the 4th was.

A respondent says he will be there, and a couple of others say they might come. I blogged on the 4 July protest here.

Second, a posting to the website of the British Freedom Fighters, dated 4 July:

The EDL organised a great event in Birmingham today, the BFF went along to do there bit.Read the messages on you tube, the EDL was told they will not go to birmingham by the muslims, well the EDL went and so did the BFF..

The recent Searchlight report I blogged here mentions the presence of “Mike Heaton, ‘Wigan Mike’, the violent leader of the small but crazy British Freedom Fighters”. Back in April, Edmund Standing dug out some photos of the BFF on a day out –  they can be seen here, skinheads swaggering along a street and doing Nazi salutes. The BFF site also has a short embedded video taken in Birmingham on 4 July, in which a group among the crowd of protestors chant and discuss whether they should “fucking do” some Muslims they have seen.

Of course, as I’ve stressed before, anyone who organises a protest may find unsavoury elements showing up to offer unwelcome “support” on the day, or to take over the event for their own purposes. It should be noted that the organisers of these protests have been keen to stress their rejection of racism, and that the neo-Nazis despise attempts by Paul Ray (who has some qualified pro-BNP views) to link opposition to Islam with support for Israel.

BFF

(Hat tip to a reader)