It followed the Israeli attack and murder of peace activists on a convoy to Gaza. The EDL chanted racist and islamophobic abuse and attacked one of the stalls, physically assaulted protesters and threatened further violence. The Palestine demonstrators held their ground and did not retaliate. In doing so we forced the police to finally remove the EDL. The peace demonstration continued for another 45 minutes afterwards growing to 100 people having drawn the support of the wider public. The message is clear the EDL will not be divide or intimidate us in our city and Nazis are not welcome here.
Clearly it is a worrying development that the EDL feel confident enough to attack Palestine demonstrations but the events on Saturday clearly show their actions carried no resonance with the wider public and we should not allow them to intimidate us. Unity and numbers are the key to defeating the far right and we should continue to hold our activities without fear, actively unite all of our communities both over the question of Palestine and through Unite Against Fascism.
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Geoff Dexter
Birmingham Ramallah Twinning Initiative.