Slightly upset about "erosion of free speech". English Defence League march in Newcastle, May 2010

Far-right, la nouvelle vague

Anti-Muslim group the English Defence League, that includes Sikhs, Jews and gays in its ranks, is federating with other European movements that are part of a new wave far right. In October, they plan to march in Amsterdam, in defense of their hero, the immigrant baiting Geert Wilders.

Published on 1 September 2010 at 08:47
Gavin Lynn  | Slightly upset about "erosion of free speech". English Defence League march in Newcastle, May 2010

The English Defence League (EDL), the anti-Muslim 'street army' composed largely of football hooligans that burst onto the front pages of British newspapers in the last year as a result of its often violent protests, is to hold a rally in Amsterdam in October, EUobserver has learnt.

The EDL is to demonstrate in support of Geert Wilders, the Dutch anti-immigrant firebrand, with a recently launched French Defence League and Dutch Defence League, modelled on the English group, to join them along with other anti-Islamic militants from across Europe.

Formed in 2009, the EDL has held over a dozen often rowdy marches and demonstrations in cities across Britain over the last year. Protests that attracted only a couple hundred militants at the end of last year are now bringing thousands out. On Saturday (28 August) a rally in Bradford, West Yorkshire, home to the second-largest community of south Asians in the UK, turned ugly when members clashed with police and pelted anti-racist activists with bricks, bottles and smoke bombs. Thirteen were arrested, according to media reports.

Anti-racist watchdogs call the EDL one of the most worrying developments on the far-right scene in the UK since the 1970s and the days of the National Front, an openly white supremacist and neo-Nazi political party. The group now appears to be meeting with some success in exporting its novel brand of nativism to the continent, a combination of anti-Muslim vitriol, aggressive street marches and attempts to rope in football hooligan gangs by holding rallies around the same time as matches. Read full article at EUObserver...

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