MPs George Galloway and Mike Wood have called on West Yorkshire police commissioner Sir Norman Bettison to call off the English Defence League march on Saturday, June 30.
In a joint letter the MPs instance the trouble caused in Cleckheaton and beyond in the last EDL demonstration in March and raise concerns that this time it may be much worse.
'This history of trouble, attacks and arrests must dispel any claim the EDL has a legitimate right to march and it also demonstrates the potential for trouble to spill out into Spen Valley, Batley and indeed Bradford as all these places are on the way back from Dewsbury, should the same hard core venture out on the 30th,' the letter says.
The text is printed below.
To the Chief Constable, Sir Norman Bettison
Dear Sir Norman,
We write to you as two members of parliament for multicultural areas close to Dewsbury where the English Defence League plans to demonstrate on Saturday 30th June. We are extremely concerned that the racial abuse, the disorder and the violence that almost always accompanies demonstrations by the EDL will also occur in this one and that there will then be spillover effects in places such as Batley and Bradford.
The last EDL demo in the area was in March in response to an alleged attempted abduction of a young woman. It was held in Cleckheaton but a hard core (from Bradford as it happens) then moved on to Dewsbury, attacking property in Heckmondwike and people in Dewsbury. Arrests were made and there was the potential for serious disorder which was only narrowly averted after they tried to ‘storm’ the Savile Town area of Dewsbury. The police say this was a small scale demo yet the potential for trouble transpired to be substantial. This was also described as an exercise by the EDL to show they could behave so as not to jeopardise permission for the larger demos they planned for later in the year such as the one in Dewsbury on Saturday week!
This history of trouble, attacks and arrests must dispel any claim the EDL has a legitimate right to march and it also demonstrates the potential for trouble to spill out into Spen Valley, Batley and indeed Bradford as all these places are on the way back from Dewsbury, should the same hard core venture out on the 30th.
We understand that the police commander locally is willing to let the EDL assemble in the town centre. We would ask you to reconsider this decision and to consider taking all possible measures to prevent the EDL from raising racial tension across West Yorkshire and in particular in Dewsbury, the Spen Valley, Batley and Bradford.
Yours sincerely,
George Galloway, MP for Bradford West
Mike Wood, MP for Batley and Spen
