(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - EDL leaders claim that they are not hate preachers against Islam as a faith, that they are opposed to racism and that their group is a "multi-ethnic, multi-religious movement”.
EDL spokesman Trevor Kelway for one has insisted the 'league' is not a racist group and that he himself has replaced the former EDL spokesman because that individual is lamophobic.
However, Islamophobia has proved to be an indispensable part of the EDL chanting and their members' activities with the latest on the group involving two such cases.
Calderdale Magistrates' Court has heard that a 40-year-old EDL supporter, Andrew Ossit, broke out into an anti-Islamic ranting in Halifax town center as 60 other co-supporters chanted other slogans.
Ossitt admitted before the court that he used threatening words to cause harassment, alarm and distress while also acknowledging that he was involved with religiously aggravated harassment.
His lawyer confirmed that Ossitt chanted “you burn the poppies, and we will burn the mosques”, but complained that “he has been singled out from that demonstration” and that “there should be 60 or so EDL stood next to him” before the court.
Ossitt's case is a telling example of the lenient treatment of EDL supporters by British officials as the court let him get away with a £100 fine along with £85 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.
The prosecution was surprisingly keen to point out that the big charge was to “reflect” the fact that Ossitt committed an act of “religious aggravation.”
This comes as another EDL member has admitted she was part of a group which led a spray paint attack on a mosque.
The 19-year-old Charlotte Davies told the Durham Crown court that she admitted to conspiracy to commit the graffiti attack on the Nasir Mosque in Hartlepool in November that the prosecution said constitutes racially aggravated criminal damage.
She did not formally plead guilty and will wait until October for a ruling.
Muslims have repeatedly called on the government to ban the group as a racist movement, warning officials of the threat EDL poses to Muslim communities and holy places.
During the unrest that rippled across Britain earlier this month, the Islamic Human Rights Council (IHRC) warned that far-right groups, especially the EDL, seek to use the situation to burn down mosques and stage a race war.
The London-based campaign group, which is a consultative partner of the UN Economic and Social Council, said EDL and other far-right groups are rallying support for such moves through messages on Facebook and Twitter.
IHRC chairman Massoud Shadjareh said they are especially worried because the edl threat is apparently being taken lightly.
“We are deeply concerned that the threat of far-right violence in these days is not being taken seriously,” he said.
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