London celebrates far-right no-show

Saturday's mass celebration, which organisers We Are Waltham Forest and Unite Against Fascism said was attended by more than 1,000 people, took place just days after the Home Office accepted a police request to ban all marches in Waltham Forest amid fears they could erupt in violence.

The EDL was humiliated in Walthamstow last month when anti-fascists comprehensively routed it as it tried to stage a "national" demonstration in the "heart of Islamic extremism."

This time - in a protest the EDL dubbed "the rematch" - they didn't even make it into the borough. Instead the 30-day ban across much of east London forced a handful of EDL supporters to hold a static demo outside Parliament.

The rag-tag mob shouted for the release of their leader Tommy Robinson - currently in prison facing charges of entering the US on a false passport - before setting fire to a hijab.

But there was a more jubilant atmosphere in E17, where politicians and union leaders lined up to praise the EDL no-show as a victory for the community.

"The EDL are in a very weak and isolated position at the moment and all the signs suggest they will continue to get weaker," UAF joint national secretary Sabby Dhalu told the Morning Star.

"While their leaders are getting arrested support for our movement has grown considerably, including from many MPs."

PCS deputy general secretary Hugh Lanning said: "The EDL wanted to come to Walthamstow to intimidate Muslim and other communities including trade unionists.

"They have been given a resounding no. Let's celebrate this victory together and united."

Comedian and local resident Ava Vidal saw it as an "insult that the EDL targeted our area."

The Show Racism the Red Card patron said: "They were never going to convert people with their Islamophobic, racist hatred - it was a deliberate provocation.

"All those who stood up to the far-right should be proud of their unity. It is the key to defeating fascism."

Elsewhere hundreds of anti-fascists in Rotherham dwarfed a National Front demo with their own celebration of multiculturalism in the town.

The 40 NF members were overwhelmed by more than 250 anti-fascists.