Wednesday 24 October 2012

EDL no show in Norwich

Earlier today Matthew Collins of HOPE not hate reported that:
Well known EDL thugs from Norwich are planning to attend a planning meeting tonight being held by activists meeting to discuss ways to counter the EDL's planned violent activities in the city.
The evidence he quoted was from Facebook comments where members of Norfolk EDL discussed coming along to the We Are Norwich public meeting that was held this evening.

Apparently two of those promising to come were from Lowestoft.  Only one was from Norwich. 

Nobody was much worried.  Our meeting was secure, thanks to the police, and in the end, as expected, no EDL dared to show up. 

Over a hundred other people did.  A hundred Norwich folk concerned about the threat the EDL poses, but determined to confront that threat.  Speaker after speaker denounced the way the EDL singled out individuals in our communities for insult, violence and worse; many reminded us of the historical consequences of such scapegoating; and speaker after speaker urged the importance of standing up together to challenge and thwart this latest crop of bullies from the far right.   

The meeting forged a greater commitment to keeping Norwich a city safe for all citizens. 

We Are Norwich is a broad coalition from many different backgrounds with all of us setting aside any differences to give one clear message:  the EDL is not welcome in Norwich.

100 people at the We Are Norwich meeting tonight. Fantastic contributions so far. Whose Norwich - Our Norwich!
United for peace in Norwich


3 comments:

  1. in response to your post, yes two members of the public from Lowestoft were intending to attend the meeting, they didn't however due to personal reasons. They too had discussed with the police before attending, and had not hidden the fact that they would attend. There was no intention of causing disorder but only to listen to the speakers you had appointed. Please note that it was actually requested that no other members of EDL attend.

    If the administrator of the Hope not Hate blog that posted the article yesterday raising concerns that 'EDL thugs' were planning an attack, had posted the comment we made in response you all would have been aware that the EDL were not attending!

    The reason for 2 people attending was that they had a particular interest, this being the speaker from Chapelfield Mosque. They have met with a prominent member of said Mosque regularly over the past year and have also attended twice to the breaking of fast during Ramadan and so, were interested as to the content of their speech, is this such a crime?

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  2. I saw some of the childish insults written on your site about We Are Norwich, as well as other rude comments.
    Then in public you present this plaintive hard-done-by whinge about wanting to attend?
    On your own horrid sites you display nothing but vulgarity and abuse.
    Then you post here telling me EDL members wanted to come to the meeting?
    Get a grip.
    Keeping this up will make your heads explode.

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  3. I too have seen rude, obnoxious and threatening comments from 'We Are Norwich' regarding the EDL but this is not a competition of who can say what!

    This is also not a "hard-done-by whinge" merely a statement detailing the reason of why 2 people wished to attend, again I ask why is this such a problem? Is it more the fact that 2 members would attend and not cause a problem, that they would actually want to hear your views? Is it that had they of attended peacefully that you would not be able to obtain bad press for the EDL?

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