EDL leader gets suspended jail term

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The founder and leader of the English Defense League, has been sentenced to a suspended jail term in yet another proof for the inherent violence in the group.

British far-right group chief Stephen Lennon from Luton was found guilty for head butting another EDL member, Alan McKee, at a gathering in Blackburn in April.

The Preston magistrates' court gave him a 12-week prison term, suspended for 12 months, based on evidence from two officers who had witnessed the assault.

McKee himself refused to give evidence probably for fear of bullying by Lennon's inner circle within EDL.

The far-right group, which has its roots in the English hooligan subculture, has repeatedly turned its rallies across England into violent chaotic clashes with the police officers and local residents.

There have also been reports of EDL members assaulting and raping people during the rallies, yet the group's members have so far escaped prosecution due to what is attributed to their bullying nature -- effectively preventing victims from taking legal action -- as well as officials' leniency toward them.

In yet another example of such leniency, the Preston court rejected a request by the Crown Prosecution Service (PCS) and the Lancashire constabulary to impose an anti-social behavior order against Lennon.

The order would have banned him from organization of rallies outside Bedfordshire or participating in them, in effect banning him from involvement in the EDL.

Almost all cities where EDL members have recently descended upon have sought full bans on their rallies but to no avail as the Home Office has refused to impose a blanket ban on such gatherings.

According to experts, officials are sympathetic toward EDL despite its violent, provocative and racist nature because the group promotes Islamophobia, which is in line with the policies pursued in Britain.

“Unlike the 1970s, when the National Front was embracing anti-Semitism, there are now sections of the media and the British establishment that are relatively sympathetic towards Islamophobia.
It is not difficult to look through the media and find quite hostile views towards Islam and Muslims,” said Matthew Goodwin, a Manchester University academic and expert on far-right extremism.

This is while Goodwin's remarks reported by Guardian back in May 2010 were well before the latest wave of EDL acts of violence on the streets of British cities.

The Blackburn rally for which Lennon was found guilty cost the police £500,000 and officers arrested 13 people during the incidents.

Witnesses told the Preston court that Lennon has directly or indirectly led 70 such violent rallies across Britain.

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