“Our England Today” Protest at Preston KFC

The Lancashire Evening Post reports from Preston:

Up to 20 members of Our England Today waved placards and St George’s Cross flags at KFC in Deepdale Shopping Park, Preston, on Friday.

The restaurant is one of around 80 outlets across the country taking part in a trial following requests to provide halal food in parts of the UK.

…The group, mainly young men, some with children, said the protest was not an English Defence League (EDL) demonstration.

However it was advertised on an EDL social networking website page and a statement on their website said: “We would like to encourage “flash demos” at these restaurants”.

We also learn that “several of the group’s members were kicked off by retail park security staff for drinking cans of lager”. I blogged on the EDL’s dismay and outrage that Bacon Boxmasters are no longer available from some KFC stores here.

Details of Our England Today are scarce; adverts on Facebook were posted by a certain “Patriot Oet”, who does not share the EDL’s wish to maintain distance from the BNP:

This is the latest group of activists, that will be activley fighting to take back our country, Our England Today welcome BNP members and  friends, we are all in the same fight, God Save Our Country, also watch out for the facebook group.

Also:

This group supports Her Majesty and our heritage, we will stand and fight for our country, will you? Our England Today will peacefully protest against immigration, Islaminationm in fact any problem that threatens to undermine this once great country, your fathers fought and if not their fathers did, will you?

There is also a link to an uninformative website, which appears to be largely locked down but run by someone calling himself “ThePatriot“. Unsurprisingly, “ThePatriot” is a fan Crusader imagery, portraying himself as a black knight of some sort. There is a notice for a leadership meeting for 23 April, at which the leadership “will meet to make some decisions on the OurEnglandToaday [sic] clothing range, and discuss future events for the group”.

(Hat tip: Islamophobia Watch)

13 Responses

  1. I hope that several of the Group’s members were kicked off the Retail Park site because they were drinking Foster’s or Heineken or some other non-English beverage. What’s wrong with John Smith’s or Courage? We EDL chaps don’t want any foreign beer swillers at our demos! (Two things spring to mind. Are John Smith and John Courage still English (if they ever were) and should lager be made an Honorary English beer considering that it’s the (allegedley) favoured drink of the English “lout”?). What I say is, let’s demonstrate against the pubs that sell non-English beer. COME ON YOU ENGLISHMEN, go to your local pub and, if they sell any foreign beer, kick the barman in the Public Bar and walk out. Is this a p**s take? Of course it is, but don’t they deserve it?

  2. There is a video of ‘EDL’ supporters doing exactly the same thing in Norwich a few weeks back..

    • Well, I’m sure that really showed the girls behind the counter who’s in charge. The obscene gesture at the end was a nice way to round off.

  3. Felix Fettbruste is an undercover agent who has been working within the EDL. Here, he reveals the truth about their leadership: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKCauzkzh_Q

  4. Just waiting for the EDL to descend on Aylesbury… Whilst supportng their notional right to express any point of view however idiotic (actually, a minority consisting of 3% of the population are not on the brink of taking over the government on behalf of a view that only 1% of that minority hold), this poses a dilemma — do you feed the desire for significance of a bunch of yobs by mounting opposition that validates their silly world view, or do you just roll over and spoil 65,000 people’s right to that most English of all institutions — a wet bank holiday weekend? http://is.gd/bI0XO

  5. Hmm….this reminds me of those eesperate attempts on the part of frightened Democrats to portray tea partiers as ‘Far Right” demagogues.

    It has backfired in a spectacular way.

    Why hasn’t the author of this posting tackled the substantive issues surrounding this? Why the lack of courage? Does he not think that the imposition of islamic dietary restrictions on non-Muslims a tad excessive.

    Suppose KFC, in an aside to Opus Dei advocates, instituted a fish ‘n chips only day every single Friday in an effort to conform to Catholic dietary tastes?

    What would Bart’s bleat against those opposing such a relgiously inspired initiative be then?

    Oh! And while we’re on the subject of religious proscriptions and such, what does Bart think of south Park and Comedy Central’s capitulation to ‘halal’ tastes in humour?

    Dare ya to post even one Mo-toon!

    • You know, there’s this thing called the “free market”, and a concept I believe is called “supply and demand”. These may go some way to explaining KFC’s business decision-making processes without needing to resort to anti-Muslim conspiracies.

      As for the threats against South Park and the censorship that followed, as I think I’ve already indicated, this blog does not exist simply for me to express my opposition to widely-reported things that any other sane person would also oppose.

      I haven’t posted a “Mo-toon”; I find the threats against those who have to be objectionable, but I also object to the idea that someone has to post them in order to prove that they are in favour of free speech. I did post an anti-Islamic image of Muhammad here, though, as in the context it would have been evasive not to.

  6. “Suppose KFC, in an aside to Opus Dei advocates, instituted a fish ‘n chips only day every single Friday in an effort to conform to Catholic dietary tastes?”

    It is only on ‘Good Friday’ when Catholics eat fish these days, and that is optional. The requirement was and is to abstain from eating meat. Hence the popularity ona friday for consuming Butter Pies otherwise known as ‘Catholic Pies’ in Preston and in Lancashire.

    So rather than KFC maybe you meant Burtons.

    • Plenty of Catholics still eat fish on a Friday because they pretend it’s somehow not meat, in Poland, for example.

  7. The Catholic church dropped the requirement to abastain from meat in the 1970’s if you did not hear.

    Oh aye.. and the Poles could eat Duck. Swans, or any water fowl as they are not considered meat either. But that negates the fact that the majority of Poles consider themselves agnostic or athiests aye. As do the majority of Britons. Despite the askewed statistics to the contrary.

    Klingon till I die………………

    • The majority of Poles thing, I don’t know where you get the statistic but you should see the numbers that attend Mass. I would be surprised if what you say was right.

  8. “The majority of Poles thing, I don’t know where you get the statistic but you should see the numbers that attend Mass. ”

    My experience comes from traveling in Poland, personally knowing many Polish workers in the UK and from attending Mass. There are by far more Irish workers in the UK who regulary attend Mass than there are Poles

    Where does your experience and data come from?

    The Daily Mail?

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