Oldham Violence against Tommy Robinson 2019. Sentences finally publicised.

I don’t expect readers to remember May 2019 when Tommy Robinson was standing for election to the European Parliament as candidate for the North West. He wasn’t elected but he did receive 39,000 votes which is a record for an Independent candidate considering his campaigning was attacked by malign influences at every turn.

One of the worst incidents was at the Limeside Estate in Oldham, one of the towns around Manchester which are included in the conurbation of Greater Manchester. The estate is (or was then but a lot happened in the last 5 years) mostly a white working class community. But as Tommy tried to make his speech there was violence from young men calling themselves the Muslim Defence League, many of whom had travelled from Yorkshire, especially Halifax.  I posted this. And this, although the video has been taken down; I wonder why?

It took the police 6 months to make arrests.

Now I know that shortly after those arrests were made the world was hit with a global pandemic. And I know the courts have a backlog. And we are used to the reporting ban on the Muslim gangs raping and prostituting young girls. I hadn’t realised there is now a similar ban on reporting generalised public violence.  This is the Manchester Evening News last night; again, why report court news on a Sunday evening? 

Note how they first concentrate on criticism of Tommy’s campaign and previous history, then the attacks on the police before having to admit how much of the violence was instigated by the Muslim Defence League. 

The Manchester Evening News can reveal 24 people have now been taken to court and convicted for their roles in the shameful disorder that followed his arrival. The legal process has been lengthy and complex, but sentences have now been handed down.

Many hundreds of people gathered as Mr Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, arrived in Oldham to make a speech on a stage as he campaigned to become an MEP in the European Elections of that year.

There was an organised ‘counter demonstration’ by a group calling itself the Muslim Defence League.

A court heard a police officer asked one man who was in charge, but was told: “No one is in charge. If Tommy’s there we will kill the b******’. Mr Yaxley-Lennon was said to have arrived by car at just after 5pm.

Groups of predominantly Asian men then began to gather at the junction between Seventh and First Avenues.

Remarkably, no one was seriously injured, but police went on to identify 27 separate criminal offences had been committed and a wide-ranging investigation began, taking in video footage filmed by officers themselves as they walked through the crowds, clips submitted from the public and CCTV.

Barrister Henry Blackshaw, prosecuting at one of a number of court cases held since, said: “Violence occurred between two opposing groups of people . . .One group, he said, comprised of predominantly white supporters of Mr Yaxley-Lennon . . . Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court heard a second group was made up largely of Asian men ‘there to protest against Tommy Robinson and his supporters’.

He detailed Mr Yaxley-Lennon’s previous convictions (plus his very brief flirtation with the BNP and foundership of the EDL) and said: “It is fair to say that Mr Robinson’s reputation certainly preceded him to Limeside.”

The court heard people were encouraged via social media to attend in opposition to him. One Facebook page – the ‘Halifax Pakistanis’ – contained a statement saying: “Stand up to Tommy Robinson and his thugs, Oldham 18th May Werneth Park 0L8 4AG, 3.30pm.”

One man in a group of Asian males was heard by a police officer to say ‘if Tommy’s there, we will kill the b*****d’, the court heard. Mr Blackshaw said Asian males threw bricks and bottles over their heads at the others and police officers were hit by missiles.

He said: “Another resident on Second Avenue heard Asian males shout ‘white b******s’ and ‘we sell smack to you all’ and ‘we sell smack to your mums’. He saw the males were obscuring their faces with balaclavas, masks and bandanas.”

Police launched Operation Woodville in the aftermath. The M.E.N. can reveal 24 men have now been convicted and sentenced, with a 25th outstanding. A warrant has been issued by a judge for his arrest.

Seven men pleaded guilty and were sentenced for violent disorder in January 2023. Details can only be revealed now due to legal reasons following the completion of numerous linked criminal cases.  Those 7 men have typical white European/British names.

Subsequent court cases followed.

Mohammed Ahmed, 32, from Oldham, pleaded guilty to violent disorder. He was jailed for eight months, suspended for 12 months. Amaan Khan, 23, of Chester Street, Oldham, pleaded guilty to violent disorder and was jailed for eight months, suspended for 12 months.

Zeeshan Khan, 21, of Worcester Street, Oldham, pleaded guilty to violent disorder and was jailed for eight months, suspended for 12 months. Atiq Urrehman, 32, from Edilom Road, Crumpsall, Manchester, pleaded guilty to violent disorder and was jailed for nine months, suspended for 12 months.

Mohammed Rahman, 36, from Stockfield Road, Chadderton, Oldham, pleaded guilty to violent disorder and was jailed for nine months, suspended for 12 months, with 60 hours of unpaid work.

Milad Sarwar, 24, from Coniston Avenue, Oldham, pleaded guilty to violent disorder and was jailed for nine months, suspended for 12 months. Rameez Ahmed, 32, from Ronald Street, Oldham, pleaded guilty to violent disorder and was jailed for nine months, suspended for 12 months, with 60 hours of unpaid work.

Mubasher Khan, 29, of Worcester Street, Oldham, was jailed for nine months, suspended for 12 months. A warrant was issued for the arrest of Majid Khan, 34, of Worcester Street, Oldham, the Crown Prosecution Service said after he pleaded guilty.

Kamran Ali, 31, of Savoy Street, Oldham, was jailed for 10 months, suspended for 12 months.

Faraz Ahmed, 36, of Fredrick Street, Oldham, was jailed for three years and three months for an offence of arson in an unrelated case and was jailed for 12 months, consecutively, for the violent disorder, making a total sentence of four years and three months.

Salman Ahmed, 26, of Tamworth Street, Oldham, was jailed for 10 months, suspended for 12 months. Mohammed Zeeshan Khan, 25, of Cotton Mill Crescent, Oldham, recieved the same sentence.

Hadir Ali, 29, of Lee Street, Oldham, was serving a sentence and was jailed for seven months, to run consecutively to his current sentence.

All seven admitted violent disorder.

Haroon Hussein, 43, of Essex Street, Halifax, West Yorkshire, admitted violent disorder. He was jailed for 23 months, suspended for 24 months. Hussein was said in court to have ‘set up and contributed to’ the ‘Halifax Pakistanis’ Facebook page. He recorded himself walking to and around Limeside and gave a running commentary on the events he saw and in which he participated, it was said.

Hussein was also heard chanting and encouraging those around him to chant ‘Nazi scum’, prosecutors added.

Abdul Nazir, 31, of Hardy Street, Oldham, admitted a public order offence. He recieved a 12-month conditional discharge. Amaan Ul-Haq, 23, of Frederick Street, Oldham, admitted violent disorder and got a 12-month community order. Anwar Hussion, 26, of Melbourne Street, Chadderton, Oldham, admitted violent disorder and also got a 12-month community order.

Judge Bernadette Baxter, sentencing a group of five men on Monday, hit out over the ‘large scale violent disorder’ and referred to Mr Yaxley-Lennon as a ‘divisive and controversial figure’. She is sentencing 5 out of a group of nearly 20 Muslim men for violent offences but has to get in and blame the victim.