Organisers of London protest against anti-Jewish hatred demand that far-right leader stays away, after he claimed to support it
Organisers of a march against antisemitism billed as Britain’s biggest since the second world war have demanded that the far-right leader Stephen Yaxley-Lennon stay away.
Yaxley-Lennon, who uses the name Tommy Robinson, has claimed to support the aims of the march through central London due to be held this Sunday.
Continue reading...Extremist organisations and football hooligans have been urged to gather at Cenotaph in central London
Far-right groups, from football hooligans to so-called “migrant hunters”, are seeking to mobilise supporters to turn up in central London on Armistice Day to oppose the pro-Palestine march.
Evidence from social media and closed chat forums suggests there has been a push from a range of extremist organisations to get their supporters out.
Continue reading...The BBC has been asked to clarify if any efforts are made to “deliberately invite or attract” members of far-right groups to the audience of its flagship political programme, Question Time.
Baroness Warsi and Labour MP Debbie Abrahams have written to the BBC’s director general Tony Hall, asking him to consider also introducing a new code of conduct for panelists and the audience, and to stop sharing inflammatory videos from the show on social media.
Continue reading...Far-right activist will serve 10 weeks after being found guilty of breaching reporting ban
Tommy Robinson has been given a nine-month prison sentence – of which he will serve about 10 weeks – after he was found guilty of contempt of court at an earlier hearing.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, broadcast reports that encouraged “vigilante action” and “unlawful physical” aggression against defendants in a sexual exploitation trial, according to the judges who found him guilty last week.
Continue reading...Police promise robust response after fracas in Oldham at European campaign stop
Police have warned there will be arrests after two police vehicles were damaged during a disturbance at a Tommy Robinson campaign event.
Footage posted on social media showed clashes between supporters of the campaigner, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, and counter-demonstrators in Oldham, Greater Manchester, on Saturday afternoon.
Continue reading...As the far-right activist fights to become an MEP, the Guardian learns new details of his modus operandi and support network
A drone hovers high above the crowd on a Wigan housing estate. About 300 men, women and children are gathered before a mobile billboard on a sun-drenched spring evening. A cheer erupts when the main speaker arrives.
Waving a St George’s flag, Tommy Robinson wants the crowd to send a deafening message to “treacherous politicians” and vote him into the European parliament on 23 May. “I am one of you,” he shouts across the estate. “They don’t breathe the same air as us. They do not care about us. But I can guarantee you: I am one of you.”
Continue reading...Danyaal Mahmud says he’s worried about his family after protest against far-right candidate went viral
It was a bright but chilly Thursday morning when Danyaal Mahmud set off from Blackburn to Warrington in Cheshire for a meeting with an occupational health therapist. The 23-year-old works as an apprentice customer services adviser and had never been to a march before.
By the end of the afternoon, Mahmud had become the poster boy for protest; a clip of him throwing a milkshake over Tommy Robinson’s head has been shared as the viral sensation of the week.
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