Soon after putting money in a bucket to give Tommy Robinson a Christmas present in prison, it was depressing to hear of the release on bail of hate-preacher Abu Qatada. Jordan wants Qatada for questioning regarding very specific terrorism charges, whereas Tommy, head of the English Defence League, is in Wandsworth Prison, held on nebulous charges of conspiring to cause a public nuisance.
The bucket went round while the EDL was in Norwich to bear witness to our support for Dr Alan Clifford, banned by Norwich City Council from sharing a market stall in the city centre after one complaint about a ten-year-old pamphlet he wrote called Why Not Islam which the police saw fit not to take further.
One speaker at the national rally, called Julia, shared the stall with Revd Clifford and recalled being surrounded by thugs, one bearing a red flag on a pickaxe handle, who objected to her English flag. Beforehand, two students had asked her to remove the flag, which she flew to advertise charitable fundraising for St George’s Day Parades.
Unlike the police, who tackled the troublemakers, Norwich City Council continues to act not on pragmatic but on ideological grounds. Most recently, it misinformed stallholders that the EDL were coming to smash up the market, so it was cheering to see some stallholders had seen through their propaganda and remained open.
Norfolk Constabulary were great, clearing so-called "antifascists" from our way when they tried to block our progress to stop ordinary Norfolk residents hearing what we stand for themselves. They also quickly put a lid on our opponents throwing missiles, trying to goad us into a response and feed their narrative that we are thugs.
It has to be said, though, that while Tommy Robinson is in jail and Abu Qatada walks free, justice in Great Britain remains in the dock.
Gerry Dorrian
300 words
Click here to go to Open letter to the Christian faith leaders of Norwich on 300 Words
How strange that someone (unnamed, of course) should complain about a ten-year-old pamphlet written by Dr Clifford. Nobody, after all, is compelled to read the content of such pamphlets. If the individual who objected had simply ignored it, this would have been better for all concerned. It is a pity that we currently possess a number of ridiculous laws that muzzle free speech and expression to such an extent.
ReplyDeleteWell said! According to Dr Clifford the person who complained had just issued a prolonged anti-Semitic rant, which Norwich City Council didn't want to know about.
ReplyDelete