Link to this page: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/656/11153
From The Socialist newspaper, 9 February 2011
EDL racists terrorise Luton
ON SATURDAY 5 February, the racist and hooligan English Defence League (EDL) marched through the centre of Luton.
A Socialist Party member who attended the counter-demonstration to the EDL sent the following report:
"An eerie silence fell over Luton town centre on Saturday. The few shoppers were vastly outnumbered by shop workers in the shopping centre; themselves vastly outnumbered by police from all over southern England.
Several thousand EDL supporters marched into St George's Square in the centre of Luton, surrounded by police. The town centre was divided into two sections by the police, with the EDL at one end and the counter-demonstrators at the other end.
The silence was broken by music from the counter-demonstrators, who were penned in by thousands of police. The counter-demonstration was comprised of members of the UAF (Unite Against Fascism), different socialist groups, Love Music Hate Racism, as well as a large number of trade union activists from Luton and the surrounding area.
Platform speakers while exposing the racist nature of the EDL, unfortunately didn't put forward a programme of action to fight the government's jobs and spending cuts which could unite all communities and prevent the socially divisive agenda of the EDL."
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In The Socialist 9 February 2011:
International socialist news and analysis
Socialist Party NHS campaign
Defend the NHS!: Fight the Con-Dem cuts
The madness of King George cuts
Anti-cuts campaigning
Scottish Anti-Cuts Alliance established
Stop attacks on disabled claimants
Liverpool: Jobs axe must be fought
No to the racist EDL! Unite to fight the cuts
Protesting against all of the cuts
Socialist Party news and analysis
Tommy Sheridan jailing: Political vendetta ends in draconian sentence
TV Review: Posh and Posher Why Public School Boys Run Britain
Socialist Party feature
'Struggle or starve!' 1932 - when Birkenhead workers beat the means test
Socialist Party youth and students
Young people march for a future
Tories have no solutions to youth crime
Police attack 'save EMA' protest in Leeds
Socialist Party workplace news
Unison self-destructs at TSA but unionism stronger than ever
Defending jobs at Leeds council
Ford challenged in legal bid: Pay the Visteon pensioners now!
Arriva Trains Wales - strike called off
Discussing an electoral challenge to service cutters
Socialist Party Marxist analysis
'In reality, Britain is facing a savage economic ice age'
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