Home Secretary bans EDL march

[dipsydoodle]

The original on this subject, using that exact headline was The Independent last Friday : http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/home-secretary-bans-edl-march-2344538.html

By Saturday PressTV had changed the title to "Britain enacts blanket ban on protests" : http://www.presstv.ir/detail/196108.html

Note how "march" was changed to protest and the headline conveys UK rather than a minor section of Greater London

The PressTV headline then was used in LBN here on Saturday : http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4976202#4976483

As , apparently , is often the case it would seem that many reponses were to the headline rather than the content of the post........so what's new. My comments are clearly visible on the LBN post.

The oddity is that Theresa May banned marches for 30 days but not assemblies i.e. static protests.

For anyone outside of the UK who needs to understand the Public Order Act and what it replaced its here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Order_Act_1986 Assemblies are also covered by the Act

Section 14 - Imposing conditions on public assemblies
provides police the power to impose conditions on assemblies "to prevent serious public disorder, serious criminal damage or serious disruption to the life of the community". The conditions are limited to the specifying of:

the number of people who may take part,
the location of the assembly, and
its maximum duration.

Assuming the public , given common sense , would stay well clear of the subject of this post , serious public disorder can presumably be ignored and if so police presence of any signficance might be in doubt.

Both the EDL and Casuals have decided they will hold a static protest.
Once again , for non UK Du'ers go here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Defence_League and for Casuals United here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casuals_United

Obviously Unite Against Facism will out in force too :

Counter-demo crucial as EDL confirms it will go to Tower Hamlets.

The leader of the English Defence League has confirmed that the organisation of racists and fascists intends to go ahead with its planned demo in Tower Hamlets on 3 September.

EDL leader Stephen Yaxley Lennon (AKA “Tommy Robinson”) told BBC London his group would “still show up” in the multiracial, multicultural London borough, despite the home secretary’s ban on marching. He said:

We’ll have a static demonstration and we’ll have our voices heard,” he told BBC London.

http://uaf.org.uk/2011/08/counter-demo-crucial-as-edl-confirms-it-will-go-to-tower-hamlets/

I'll let you do your own search on Tommy Robinson and Luton MIGs. top boys. I'd also already mention before at the time of the looting that word had gone out to "all firms" via the Casuals network.

It would be difficult for May to ban the static protest too due to the Human Rights Act. In effect two teams will be there on Saturday one of which has a known propensity for ultra violence normally restricted between themselves but now united.

So - the question is did Theresa May do the right thing to help avoid the possibility of some serious head busting and was missing out "assembly" an innocent mistake ?

[dipsydoodle]

1. Guardian rant here

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/30/let-english-defence-league-march

NB that is an editorial : not news.

[dipsydoodle]

2. EDL planning static London demonstration after marching ban

The English Defence League plans to demonstrate in London despite a 30-day ban against marching.

The far-right group has told the Metropolitan Police it wishes to go ahead with a "static" protest in Tower Hamlets, east London, on Saturday.

It follows Home Secretary Theresa May's decision to impose a ban on marching in six London boroughs.

More than 3,000 officers will be available amid fears of violence and clashes with opposition groups.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14755798

She'd added in City of London 31st August http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14734499