I agree. This march should be banned. It is nothing to do with free speech but is purely intended to upset and provoke people and cause trouble. It is the equivalent of shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theatre.

This Government have talked up their liberal credentials a lot. Banning free speech does not sit with their ideology. One of the redeeming features of the coalition

Defeat the EDL with reason, not with authoritarianism.

Instead of banning EDL marches why don't we just ban radical Islam from our shores then there would be no need for the EDL.

Is Bradford still part of the UK?

If yes, then stop acting like a facist to deny others the legal right of peaceful protest.

If no, then perhaps the EDL have a point.

peacebeuponme

This Government have talked up their liberal credentials a lot.

Yeah with blanket spying on benefit claimants.

" People, young and old, white and Asian, Christian and Muslim, have got involved. What I have witnessed is real people power in action".

Take note Mr Cameron this is what true 'big society' is all about - the fight again injustice not a tool of deception to serve a political ideology.

We all know why they the EDL are doing this - they can make their points if they want to elsewhere they don't have to do it in Bradford - this isn't freedom of speech it's the incitement of racial hatred and division and shouldn't be allowed.

English people have every right to demonstrate in English cities, so long as they comply with the law.

Or are some cities truly now no-go-areas to the English (unless of course they comply with the UAF's pro-Islamist worldview)?

There are very good arguments against having an EDL march, but a policy of localism is not one of them.

I agree. This march should be banned. It is nothing to do with free speech but is purely intended to upset and provoke people and cause trouble. It is the equivalent of shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theatre.

It is nothing of the kind and the only reason you do not like it is because they do not share your political viewpoint. Were you this vociferous regarding the number of radical Islamists who have been protesting in various places in the UK with no curtailment of their words?

I had the misfortune of witnessing an EDL march in Luton a few weeks ago.

Honestly, you are ascribing way too much credibility to them.

They were basically a mob of drunken chavs tanked up on strong cider and Special Brew. Bedfordshire police allocated a whole two, yes two, mounted officers to keep them under control as well as a few foot officers.

Banning their march would fuel the paranoia that drives people into the hands of the EDL. A violent counter-protest would also benefit the EDL's aims too.

Let them march and then let them crawl back into their flea-infested holes so they can kill their brains with alcohol.

People should be able to march for whatever they like, so long as they are not inciting violence. Hatred is no cause for censorship or the banning of marches.

Let the EDL march and make an arse of itself. The key is that the people of Bradford respond to it with dignity: by ignoring it as best they can.

English people have every right to demonstrate in English cities, so long as they comply with the law.

Like in Wooton Bassett you mean?

robbo

I don't hold out much hope that, ultimately, they will be much different to Labour when it comes to civil rights. However, banning a protest this early in their Government would be a little to obvious I think.

Regardless, it would be a bad idea. I'm amazed at how often banning something is suggested by supposedly liberal, fair-minded people on this site.

Perhaps people in Bradford could try and get their heads round this concept: "I disagree with what you say, but I defend your liberty to say it." Funny thing that, liberty.

The freedom of speech doesn't mean that you can say anything you want anywhere you want. There's no doubt that EDL is inciting racial hatred. As such, it should be banned and suppressed.

EDL represent the views of most British people.

Do they arse.

I'm no fan of the EDF but

5% of all adults in our city

Seriously?
So 95% of adults in Bradford don't even care enough to sign a petition?
What if the EDF got 10% of the adults in Bradford to sign a petition supporting their march, wouldn't you end up looking pretty silly?

To imagine that an otherwise legal protest could be banned on nothing more than the say-so of 5% of the population heralds a very worrying precedent.

Gah, EDL, not EDF. They're the French electricity company.

I'm afraid we either believe in free speech, even for those that we despise the most, or we do not believe in it at all.

Let these rainless thugs march, and let them show themselves for what they are, brainless thugs.

CarefulReader

The freedom of speech doesn't mean that you can say anything you want anywhere you want.

It means exactly that.

It doesn't mean you might not get a smack round the chops for saying it though.

The EDL are a racist group led by a convicted criminal who is a former BNP member, their raison d'etre is hate and violence. They should be banned from marching as they are liable to cause violence. This is not curtailing their free speech, the vermin can peddle their filth from their website and spout their lies whenever they like, however British citizens are entitled not to have their windows smashed, homes and places of worship atttacked as they were in Dudley.

These people are an alliance of old school racists and thick football thugs.

And can we please get some more banning and suppression on CIF? If I want to read right-wing "thoughts" and jeering, there are plenty of other places I can go.

Personally I think the EDL deserve a damn good dunking with the icy bucket of reality to wake them to the racist bigots they truly are.
Equally, I think the same of radical Muslim clerics like Choudary.

By the way Mr Singh, I take it you will be foremost in promoting the of banning protests calling for the death of cartoonists who are foolish enough to not give a religion its fair due, protests calling for the deaths of British troops and the British public, protests against Tamil rebels or corrupt African dictators.

In fact, why not just ban any and every form of free speech - clearly the public cannot be trusted to use their own God(s)-given intelligence to discern a muppet from someone worth listening to.

Doggy5
11 Aug 2010, 11:17AM

EDL represent the views of most British people. I say well done for marching and protesting against Islam, which is incompattable with our values.

If anyone should be banned it is the facsist UAF, who are Labour's storm troopers. The only violence at these demos is always by the UAF.

I see this is your only post on CiF. Are planning to contibute to any of the other non-race related threads?

Oh dear. The chickens of New Labour's demented immigration policy are coming home to roost.

Oh to be in England, in summertime, close to the edge.

The Tories though approve of thuggish footsoldiers that can be called upon when needed. Their house paper the Telegraph once commented on the football hooligan element of English society and how they were once useful as soldiers. The Tories may well be keen to keep such groups for activation at a later date. Many Neo-Conservatives in the US talk of the Bosnian war as a solution to fast-breeding Muslims. That war had most of the atrocities carried out by similar football-thug groups who had been given weaponry and a free reign. If the Tories succumb to Neo-Conservatism (which it may well do if Sarah palin wins the next election) then they may wish to keep that option available.

Whilst I do not support any extreme group..........

I do recall the Serbs in Kosovo organising such demonstrations back in 1989.
In what was once their own country.................

rainless, brainless, whatever.....

We are calling on the home secretary and West Yorkshire police to listen to the will of the people of Bradford and stop this march of hate.

But a petition of 10,000 represents only 10% of the city, doesn't it? And even if 100% had signed, how can you justifiably ban a peaceful protest (if indeed it's peaceful? I haven't read much about the previous EDL protests, but I was under the impression that imported counter-demonstrators were the main instigators of violence.)

The underlying problem is that today's multiculturalism is a zero-sum game. The more that other cultures are promoted, the less power English culture has, and vice versa. So thanks to official multiculturalism there is almost no way to be pro-English without at least indirectly being against the rapid expansion of immigrant communities. The way to stop the EDL, then, is to end multiculturalism, make religion a much more private matter, and for immigrant communities to assimilate.

peacebeuponme
11 Aug 2010, 11:18AM
robbo

I don't hold out much hope that, ultimately, they will be much different to Labour when it comes to civil rights. However, banning a protest this early in their Government would be a little to obvious I think.

Regardless, it would be a bad idea. I'm amazed at how often banning something is suggested by supposedly liberal, fair-minded people on this site.

Funny, I could have sworn there used to be protestors outside parliament, who were moved on with force as soon as the Con-Dems got in.

Ah, I see, free speech is only to be the province of racists.

i agree the edl are a bunch of knuckle dragger's but this is still (just) a democracy and by that light they do have the right to march where they wish.

and I wouldn't be to sure that everyone from Bradford is on your side. it will be interesting to see how many locals are on the march.

or how many join the equally offensive uaf who seem to be on a par if there performance in Nottingham was anything to go by.

knowing who supports what will at least tell you how far you have come in repairing race relations in your city.

good luck

rickyatgosport

Instead of banning EDL marches why don't we just ban radical Islam from our shores then there would be no need for the EDL.

If there weren't any British Muslims around, they'd just find another cohort of people they didn't like.

The EDL is a racist, anti-Muslim organisation

Is it?
Why have they got black and Asian members?
And what is wrong with being anti muslim?
Religions have no special rights that demand everyone else has to share their beliefs.

'The chickens of New Labour's demented immigration policy are coming home to roost.'

I bet you would blame gay-bashing on, 'Labour's demented gay policy,' wouldn't you?

Knock the chips off your shoulder.

There were similar calls to ban Moseley's fascist rallies before World War II, but they were rightly ignored in peacetime.

It was the evidence from the Olympia Rally of the ugly truth about this organization which lost Moseley any support he had from the general public, politicians and press.

Had they been banned, the Moseleyites would just have claimed martyrdom and been far more dangerous underground.

According to arguments normally advanced on Cif it matters not if everybody in Bradford, with one exception, signed the petition. That one would still have the right to march. The right to free speech, no matter how offensive or misguided that speech might be, trumps all. Even when that right to free speech has the sole aim of silencing the words of others.

It is not so simple though because the marchers are not calling themselves the Bradford Defence League, they are calling themselves the English Defence League and Bradford is a minute part of England. Therefore 10,000 Bradford voters are but a drop in the ocean. You need to seek other petitions from other parts of England to back you up.

I wonder if we are building up to Ulster type sectarianism. Marches by the EDL, marches by radical Muslims, counter marches by fundamental christians and ant-racists? Will it become so common that we will have our own 'Marching Season', I hope not but I'm not that confident. If two Christian sects can hate each other for so long then a heady combination of different faiths, faithless people and right and left wing political stances could prove a recipe for a far more complex set of 'troubles'

@Quest2008,

Wow, your personal ideology must be really secure. Or are you being sarcastic?

Let's just close CiF comments altogether shall we, that way everyone who disagree with anyone else will have been banned.

Rather than banning the EDL march wouldn't it be better if these 10000 people held their own counter march.

I doubt the EDL has 10000 members.

Oh, and you might like to include the not-god-botherers-any-variety community.

I hold no brief at all for EDF - they do not strike me as particularly attractive people.

But I would defend their right to hold a legal demonstration in the UK. That's what free societies do.

By seeking to ban them, you show yourself to be even less liberal than they are: it's a very slippery slope. Just ignore them.

GermanicusRex

It is nothing of the kind and the only reason you do not like it is because they do not share your political viewpoint. Were you this vociferous regarding the number of radical Islamists who have been protesting in various places in the UK with no curtailment of their words?

The reason why I do not like it is that it is purely mischievous and designed to provoke hurt, racial conflict and trouble. As I've already said shouting "Fire!" in a packed theatre is not freedom of speech. Yes, I'd agree with banning radical Islamists from marching in somewhere like Wooton Bassett. No curtailment of their words? I seem to remember some Radical muslims ended up with prison sentences for the slogans on their placards and the words they shouted. Don't try to paint me as some kind of radical Islamist sympathiser btw because I'm very much not. I believe the EDF and people like Anjem Choudary are two sides of the same coin.