Far right extremists hold another anti-Muslim demonstration

Monday, 10 August 2009 16:40

There’s some coverage (Guardian, Daily Mail) in the papers today about the riots that erupted in Birmingham city centre on Saturday afternoon when far right extremists clashed with anti fascist campaigners.

Casuals United, a medley of far right extremist groups, including the English and Welsh Defence Leagues, staged a further protest in Birmingham, which descended into violence, much like the first such protest in Luton some months ago.

What is striking is the scant level of attention the incident has aroused, in contrast to the protest held by the 20 odd members of al Muhajiroun in Luton. Whither the indignation at displays of reprehensible behaviour on our streets, fomenting hate between Britain's diverse communities?

The Daily Express pretty much buries the news in a small column on page 5, '35 held in race clash’, while a quarter of a page is devoted to another, related, item of news, ('£45m war against extremism ‘is soft on Muslim youths’), disclosing the government’s plans to put far right extremism on a more even footing with other forms of extremism under the ‘Preventing Extremism’ agenda.

The Daily Express features a poll on the same page of the paper asking:

What sort of extremists is the paper alluding to when the poll is placed in the paper (on the same page as the story on the broadening of the preventing extremism remit) and the disparity in press coverage on types of extremism?

'The Stirrer’ in the Birmingham Mail asks why the march was allowed to go ahead in the first place, and why there hasn’t been any ‘forthright condemnation of this protest from figureheads in the church and politics’?

It’s a question worth asking. Would a protest that explicitly targeted other ethnic or religious communities in Britain be similarly treated?

The Guardian reports that far right extremists plan to organise further protests ‘against a sharia court at Harrow central mosque’ and in Luton, "home of some of the most unsavoury al-Qaida supporters in the UK".

Which begs the question of why the clashes have been referred to as ‘race riots’ when the target of Casuals United’s actions are clearly Muslims and Islamic institutions?