Leicester police announce routes for EDL and LUAF marches
The routes for two marches planned by the EDL and LUAF in Leicester city centre on Saturday have been announced.
Police and the council have reassured people in Leicester that they have the right experience to deal with the two marches planned by the English Defence League (EDL) and Leicester Unite Against Fascism (LUAF).
Chief Superintendent Rob Nixon, Leicester policing commander, said: “We know that there will be some people looking at the march routes who immediately feel concerned and these are not feelings we take lightly.
“Clearly, there will never be one route that is perfect for everyone but please be assured that our joint agreement on these routes draws heavily on experience of dealing with these kinds of large scale events.
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“We have used our experience of policing football and rugby matches, the disturbances in the summer and the last protest in October 2010 in the planning for next Saturday and are putting together a policing plan to ensure that there is as little disruption as possible to normal city centre business.
“Both the EDL and Leicester UAF came to us with a plan of where they would like to march. These were both carefully risk assessed and it was this which formed the basis of any negotiations with the event organisers. There has been lots of dialogue between the organisers, the police and the city council to get to this point.”
Leicester’s City Mayor Peter Soulsby said: “None of us want these marches to take place, but looking at what happened in Leicester and other cities last year, we believe the marches will cause less disruption than the static demonstrations of October 2010.
“We will need to make some changes to bus routes and traffic flow while the marches are taking place, but we are aiming to get the city back to normal as quickly as possible once they have ended.
“Our city wardens will be in the city centre this week, giving out information on changes to bus services and traffic diversions. And our website will have regularly updated information about our plans for the day.
“Our priority is to ensure that people can go about their business safely, with the minimum amount of disruption on February 4th, and we are working very closely with the police to achieve this.”
The EDL will begin their march at St Margaret’s Pastures. They will then walk along St Margaret’s Way, onto Burleys Way, turn right onto Abbey Street, right again onto Belgrave Gate before heading down Church Gate and back towards St Margaret’s Pastures.
Leicester UAF will begin their march on Welford Place, heading along Pocklingtons Walk and right into Millstone Lane, leading onto Horsefair Street and Halford Street. They then turn right for a short distance on Charles Street before heading right along Belvoir Street and back to Welford Place.
Both groups are being asked to arrive at the assembly points from 11am. The marches are scheduled to begin at around 12.30pm and it will depend on the numbers involved as to how long it takes them to complete the route. However, both groups have been informed there is no provision for any static protests on either route but they may hold a static demonstration at the finish points.
Chief Superintendent Nixon added: “We are in the process of speaking with all the affected businesses directly on the route and are continuing to engage with people locally. There is sure to be some disruption to the city while those involved in the processions are marching through, however, it is the intention of both the police and the city council that it should be business as normal at all other times.”
To help ensure everything runs smoothly on Saturday the police have used section 12 and section 14 of the Public Order Act to impose conditions on both protest groups.
These stipulate the timings of the marches and the designated assembly points. Both groups have also been informed that there is no provision for a static assembly on the march route but they can hold a static demonstration at the finish point for a limited length of time. Any person taking part who knowingly fails to comply with the conditions is guilty of an offence for which they may be arrested.
The city council and the police have also taken on board feedback from local people and businesses who felt that because members of the EDL had the opportunity to drink prior to the event in October 2010 this was a significant contributory factor to the disorder that then took place.
To prevent this they are asking licensed premises not to open between 8am and 1pm on February 4 and will also use powers under the Licensing Act if necessary.
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Comments
by kevBradford
Monday, February 06 2012, 8:29PM
“Brilliant turn out for the EDL and a **** poor one from the dirty uaf.”
by CGC50
Thursday, February 02 2012, 1:30PM
“I remember in December 2010 a man called Buckley was found guilty of racially aggravated harassment. He had been arrested because of his behaviour at the October EDL demonstration in Leicester. In evidence it was shown that he had attended the event knowing that there would be a chance to shout and scream abuse at Asian people - in statements it was evidenced that Buckley had stated that he attended the event with that intention in mind. In mitigation, his defense let it be known that Buckley had "an alcohol problem". Buckley was given a suspended sentence.”
by CraigLesta
Wednesday, February 01 2012, 8:02PM
“@kevBradford
Well we could all pick and choose individual cases where they let off this group or another or were unduly harsh on one group, but that doesn't give us an idea of the bigger picture. Overall, a greater percentage of non-white people get custodial sentences than white and those sentences are longer. This is true for black, Asian and 'other' BME groups:
http://tinyurl.com/7y4allk”
by Red_Ned
Wednesday, February 01 2012, 6:08PM
“kevBradford - are you suggesting that "white woman" shouldn't have gone to prison?
Actually, many, many people commit assaults without going to prison. Each case is individual. It's one of the great aspects of British justice. A system you would replace with....what?”
by Belfry
Tuesday, January 31 2012, 6:40PM
“A couple of people are right, there have been scuffles with the EDL when the anti-racist protestors arent there, so what do they do? They fight amongst themselves instead. Blackburn is a perfect example where their 'leader' Stephen Yaxley-Lennon headbutted a former soldier and a girl was knocked out after being hit by a thrown bottle.
Bradford they had a punch up with each other as they did in Dudley and Preston.
Let them have a static demo, I hear they are getting used to car parks, and let them kick **** out of each other there!”
by danny24htid
Tuesday, January 31 2012, 6:29PM
“he Editor of a Leicester Paper Wrote This 2 Weeks Ago - I think hes blind and very stupid
"The English Defence League is heading to Leicester in two weeks' time to protest against the UK's "two-tier justice system" which it claims treats Muslim offenders more leniently than others.
If this claim was true it would, of course, be utterly outrageous. Any justice system which operated such double-standards would be manifestly unfair and would quickly lose public trust."
ERRRR HELLOOOOOOOO - He's just answered his own debate, silly fool - NS”
by Anti_uaf
Tuesday, January 31 2012, 6:27PM
“Anti fascism is the new fascism.
Ban the uaf, because if they had their way we would all be unwashed, not working and taking money for the state and have no culture of our own.”
by Red_Ned
Tuesday, January 31 2012, 2:51PM
“QUOTE ask Donalds or Parkers family or the dozens of other Muslim racist murder attacks, or Muslim paedophile grooming gangs that you never hear about in the liberal leftie newscomics END OF QUOTE
Are you joking? These things have been reported in every single newspaper, on the BBC, and all around the internet all the time. It's utterly ridiculous to think "you never hear about" them. This level of self-delusion which is truly worrying.”
by marz10
Tuesday, January 31 2012, 2:39PM
“pazaparry
Islam hasn't got anything to do with people's evil actions - whatever evil they do is from their own evil selves.”
by CraigLesta
Tuesday, January 31 2012, 2:30PM
“In case you hadn't noticed there's a population of millions of Muslims in this country, and all you can point to are a handful of cases. On the other hand there are only a couple of thousand EDL max and I wonder how many of them have criminal records? Here's one from earlier this week: http://tinyurl.com/83v2a5h
The EDL's spokesman for the day, Jeff Marsh, has been sent to prison for stabbing two rival football fans. The LGBT division leader, Liam Woods, who said he's looking forward to smashing up Leicester, has a conviction for drug dealing. Former EDL leader Richard Price is a convicted paedophile and the top boy himself, Yaxley-Lennon, has a conviction for beating his partner.”