Dudley: EDL peaceful – 25 arrests, mostly of Antifa

Reports from those who were there are that the EDL demo in Dudley today was peaceful and good natured. The estimated attendance from two men I know to be reliable is between 600-750. The police don’t say less. The local paper the Express and Star puts the number of counter demonstrators at 50. The police say that there were 30 arrests for public order offences. I am told that these were mostly from Antifa. What I don’t know is if these 30 arrests were from the 50 said to comprise the counter demonstration, or whether 50 is the number left, after the arrests were made.

This video is of Antifa trying to break through police lines in order to reach the EDL march. As you can see this incident was probably the cause of a proportion of those 30 arrests

Council leader Councillor Pete Lowe said: “We have worked closely with police in the build-up and throughout today, and thankfully this afternoon’s operation ran smoothly. We will continue to liaise with our police colleagues over the coming days as we recognise events like this can lead to an increase in community tension. . . but despite the fact the operation ran as well as could be expected we must not lose sight of the fact that local businesses have been hit hard. The reality is that the fear and anxiety caused by these kinds of protests meant that the majority of businesses did not open on what would normally be their busiest day’s trade. We have said all along that the EDL is not welcome in Dudley borough but there are no legal powers to stop them holding a protest. However, we support our local people and local businesses and we will be looking to help them make up for this lost trade by holding a family day in the town next Sunday (February 15).”

Councillor Lowe and Ian Austin MP are oblivious to the fact that the violence and arrests were not caused by the EDL. But ’twas always thus. 

Update – Midland Antifa FB page – on their own admission 27 of the arrests were of their members