UK PARADE FOR SOLDIERS MARRED BY VIOLENCE
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Wednesday, Jun 16 2010
Into the jaws of hate: Soldiers’ parade marred by Muslim extremists and far-Right
By Andrew Levy
Last updated at 12:40 AM on 16th June 2010
Screaming hate and brandishing vile placards, Muslim extremists and far-Right groups clashed yesterday in ugly scenes that marred a parade by soldiers.
Around 40 members of a group called Muslims Against the Crusades (MAC) arrived with inflammatory banners featuring slogans such as ‘Butchers return’ and ‘What are you dying for?
They were soon confronted by 100 people, some wearing English Defence League T-shirts, who shouted ‘scum’ and ‘Muslim bombers off our streets’.
Clashes: Police hold back Muslim protesters as they trade insults with English Defence League members while soldiers take part in a homecoming parade in Barking, Essex
The Muslim protesters shouted ‘murderers’ as troops from the Royal Anglian Regiment paraded through Barking
Police, who had received intelligence warning of trouble at the march in Barking, Essex, separated the groups behind barriers on opposite sides of the road.
But violence flared after 200 soldiers from 1st Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment – who lost five men in a recent tour of Afghanistan and had been granted freedom of the borough – marched past thousands of well-wishers.
MAC supporters shouted slogans such as ‘murderers, murderers’ and ‘British troops go to hell’, while the mainly white crowd opposite, some of whom are believed to have been BNP supporters, threw frozen pork sausages and chanted ‘scum’ and ‘Allah, Allah, who the f*** is Allah?’
The anti-MAC contingent then stormed the barriers and traded punches before around 100 officers, including some on horseback, broke up the mob.
The clashes came little over a year after Muslim extremists screamed ‘baby killers’ and ‘rapists’ at soldiers from 2nd Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment parading through Luton after a tour of duty in Iraq.
Members of the public who travelled to Barking yesterday to cheer the troops said they were ‘disgusted’ by what happened.
Police lead away the protesters from the Muslim Against the Crusade Group as they face jeers from English Defence League members
The homecoming ceremony was delayed by an hour after far right protesters hurled frozen sausages at the Muslim group
Charlene Byrne, 24, whose boyfriend Lance Corporal Scott Hardy was killed in an explosion near Musa Qala on March 16, said: ‘They should never have been allowed to hijack this. Not everyone supports what’s happening in Afghanistan – but they shouldn’t take it out on the soldiers.’
Alex Mitchelson, 18, whose brother has completed two tours of Afghanistan, said: ‘He would been disgusted by what happened here today. I had Muslim protesters racially abusing me as I walked by.’
The leader of Barking and Dagenham Council recently wrote to Home Secretary Theresa May asking her to ban MAC because he feared its extremist propaganda could cause violence.
Two men were arrested after police intervened during the violent clashes
Liam Smith acted after MAC posters about the protest, showing a bomber bursting through a flag of St George, appeared on the town’s war memorial. Previous leaflets depicted British soldiers beside a bloody puddle in the shape of a skull.
Mr Smith said: ‘We don’t want these people with their hate-filled agenda in our borough.’
The MAC members – one of whom allegedly spat at a soldier – left after police gave them safe passage to Barking underground station by forming a human wall.
One of the organisers, Abu Abbas, said: ‘The protest is not about the Anglian Regiment but all occupations in Muslim lands. They have gone over and killed civilians. We cannot accept this.’
But Barking and Dagenham Muslim councillor Manzour Hussain said: ‘MAC do not represent the vast majority of law-abiding, peaceful Muslim members of society who respect Britain’s Armed Forces and the work they do.’
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