Tiresome rabble

Since it began staging its intimidating demonstrations four years ago, this far-Right rabble has made few converts to its dubious cause and its presence on the streets is usually as unwelcome as that of the equally extremist counter-demonstrations which tend to accompany it.

It is entirely typical of the EDL that it should try to reap advantage from this week’s court case which 
saw six Birmingham Islamists admit plans to stage a terrorist attack on 
an EDL rally in Dewsbury last year.

It is equally characteristic that it should try to exploit a situation in which community tensions are already running high, in this case a contentious application to turn a former pub in the Leeds suburb of Alwoodley into an Islamic community centre.

In some ways, of course, 
it is gratifying that the threat of the far Right in Britain has dwindled to the point where it now amounts to little more than a group of angry men shouting incoherently in the street, electoral support for the British National Party having largely collapsed.

Indeed, the more that legitimate concerns about immigration and integration are addressed by mainstream political parties and made the subject of proper, civilised debate, the greater the likelihood that extremism’s unsightly rump will be consigned to the margins.

While those margins remain so ugly, however, these developments are of little solace to communities such as Alwoodley, or to the police who must strive to keep order while allowing the demonstrations to proceed in the cause of free speech.

For the harsh truth is 
that free speech is a cause little valued by either side 
in this brutal confrontation and, while the law strives 
to be fair and impartial to both sides, it is viewed only with contempt by those whose prime aim is to foster hatred and violence.