Tag: EDL

UK : Anders Behring Breivik was in contact with the EDL

Searchlight Press Release | Tuesday, 26 July 2011

Anders Behring Breivik was in contact with the EDL, supported their aims and was involved in the Norwegian Defence League, Searchlight can reveal.

Only months before he went on his murderous killing spree he exchanged several messages with EDL supporters using his internet pseudonym Sigurd Jorsalfare, the name of the 12th century King of Norway who led one of the Crusades.

In one message on the EDL forum, dated 9 March 2011, he wrote:

“Hello. To you all good English men and women, just wanted to say that you’re a blessing to all in Europe, in these dark times all of Europe are looking to you in surch of inspiration, courage and even hope that we might turn this evil trend with islamisation all across our continent. Well, just wanted to say keep up the good work it’s good to see others that care about their country and heritage. All the best to you all Sigurd”

Asked by EDL supporters if he was active in the Norwegian Defence League, Breivik replied:

“I was but, the site has been put down now. There was to be a demo in Oslo on the 26 of February but after the police security service put us on the “danger-list” the the internet site was sadly shut down.”

He went on to describe his hatred of society in Norway and specifically picked out the Norwegian Labour Party for his criticism.

“The biggest problem in norway is that there is no real free press, there is a left-wing angle on all the political topics so most people are going around like idiots. And offcourse with our norwegian labour party beeing in power for most of the last 50 years dont help. but i i think there is an awakening now atleast i hope so. Do some of you know the truth about what happened to the ndl, there was some clames that neo-nazis had hijacked the organisation, but on the ndl site i cant really say i noticed anything like that. So may guess is that there were some kind of police pressure to stop the movement. Anyone here heard anything?”

In another posting he attacked the British society and expressed his interest in joining an EDL demonstration:

“i’ve seen with my own eyes what has happened to england, i was in bradford some years ago, me and a friend walked down to the football stadium of bradford, real “nice” neighborhood, same thing in the suburbs of london. well thinking about taking a little trip over the sea and join you in a demo. would be nice with a norwegian flag alongside with union jack or the english flag, that is if a norwegian would be welcome offcourse?”

This message appears to confirm the rumour that Breivik once lived in the UK. His father was a diplomat and is believed to have been based in London for some time.

Breivik was told by EDL supporters that he would be most welcome, to which he replied:

“I hoped so:) it’s our common struggle against the islamofacists.”

EDL supporters were keen to have his support. An EDL forum member, username ‘Concerned’, replied: ‘Bravo sigurd admire your views and courage. no surrender and welcome.”

Breivik then went quiet. A few days later he shut down his facebook site, went offline and began the final countdown to his killing spree.

Friends

Breivik was Facebook friends with dozens of EDL supporters and even some BNP members.

Norwegian Defence League

Anders Behring Breivik was a supporter of the Norwegian Defence League and was known to Ronny Alte, from Tensberg, who created a NDL Facebook group with some friends. The group gathered more than 500 members, including convicted nazis and exiled Russians belonging to the banned Slavic Union.

One of the Russians is Vjoteslav Datsik, who walked into an Oslo police station in 2010 and applied for political asylum while waving a handgun. Datsik is in custody awaiting extradition to Russia, where he is wanted by the police after absconding from a mental hospital.

The group’s reputation was tarnished publically after the involvement of these nazis was revealed, but despite claiming they had been expelled Alte had difficulty explaining why his group still included Datsik, as well as the convicted nazi bank robber Werner Holm and violent nazis such as Johnny “Light” Olsen”, Morten Andre Serensen and Dariusz Arnesen, all previously connected with the now defunct Norwegian ‘Blood and Honour’ network.

Ronny Alte, who knew Breivik under the name Sigurd Jorsalfare, remains one of the administrators of the Norwegian Defence League sites.

In his internet exchanges with the EDL, Breivik makes it clear that he did not believe that there was any nazi involvement in the NDL despite the clear evidence to the contrary.

British links to the NDL

The English Defence League has close links with the NDL. The NDL facebook site is administered by Jeff Marsh, a leading EDL organiser and football hooligan. Marsh was once given a two-year prison sentence for stabbing two Manchester United fans.

In April 2011 the NDL held a demonstration in Oslo. Speaking at the event was Tower Hamlets-based EDL activist Darren Lee Marsh. Marsh has been a steward on EDL demos and is close to the EDL youth leader Joel Titus. He also claims to be a member of UKIP. Marsh’s facebook friends include several EDL organisers, including Jack Smith (the London EDL organiser), Paul Prodromou (aka Pitt) (the Essex EDL organiser), and Guramit Singh, who was the EDL’s press officer until recently.

Shared ideology

In addition to their contact, Breivik and the EDL both share the same ideology and worldview. There are numerous references in Breivik’s 1,500 page book and internet postings to Fjordman, a Norwegian anti-Muslim blogger and writer. Fjordman is a strong supporter of the EDL and an acquaintance of Alan Lake, the Christian Fundamentalist who helped set up and funded the EDL.

Breivik is also influenced by other anti-Muslim bloggers and websites, several of which openly back the EDL. These bloggers and websites push the idea that Western Europe is under threat from Islam and that unless drastic action is taken we will be taken over by militant Islam.

EDL and violence

The EDL claim to be a peaceful organisation but its actions and views of its supporters prove otherwise. Here is a selection of comments made by leading EDL supporters in recent weeks:

Dave Davis: “Ratkoa Mladic is our friend. He killed 8,000 Muslims.”

Bill Baker: “know [sic] we need to kill or be killed and no mercy for anyone once it kicks off. Die or leave is the only choice they should have.”

Bill Baker: “If our Government won’t act against Islam and terrorism then we must arm and protect ourselves.”

North West Infidels: “East Belfast is up in flames, our loyalist brothers certainly know how to riot. Imagine [if] we could that against militant Islam.”

Roger Firth: “Something has to happen mate (and I don’t give a shit if the old bill are clocking this). For too long we have let ourselves be penned, while this scum do as they please, patriots being arrested, well today was the final straw, time to get violent.”

Hope Not Hate

July 27, 2011
Scotland Yard called in over Breivik’s claims he met ‘mentor’ in UK

Europol ask for information because gunman wrote of visiting London for secret far-right gathering in 2002

A woman places flowers on a police car in Oslo after a memorial march to mourn the victims of Friday's bomb and shooting. Photograph: Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters

Vikram Dodd and Matthew Taylor

Police attempting to piece together Anders Behring Breivik’s links to far-right groups in the UK and Europe have written to Scotland Yard asking for more officers to help with the investigation.

A specialist unit has been set up in The Hague to trawl through a database of known high-risk, rightwing extremists and assist the Norwegian police as they examine evidence from Breivik’s 1,500-page “manifesto” published online hours before he launched one of the worst mass killings in peacetime Europe.

Rob Wainwright, director of Europol, told the Guardian he had written to the Metropolitan police’s new head of counter-terrorism, Cressida Dick, asking for more officers from Scotland Yard after Breivik boasted of his links to far-right groups in the UK.

“What we’ve seen is an active extremist scene across European countries, including the UK,” said Wainwright. “There are some signs the extreme right have been more active, especially on the internet. They are more sophisticated and using social media to attract younger people.”

There are up to 50 officers already assigned to the specialist unit in The Hague, including a small number of detectives from the UK.

Breivik’s alleged links to the UK emerged in his manifesto, which details his years of meticulous planning prior to Friday’s attacks. The document was signed “Andrew Berwick” (an anglicised version of his name), written entirely in English, and datelined “London, 2011” – although security services and police say there is no further evidence at this stage to suggest it was written in the UK.

In the manuscript Breivik describes his “mentor” as an Englishman he identifies as “Richard”, and says his journey into violent extremism began at a small meeting in London in 2002 where a group of like-minded extremists met to “reform” the Knights Templar Europe, a military group whose purpose was “to seize political and military control of western European countries and implement a cultural conservative political agenda”.

The group’s name is a reference to the medieval Christian military order involved in the Crusades. It has no connection to the Knights Templar International, a long-established organisation aiming to build “bridges throughout the world for peace and understanding”, and which has issued a statement deploring Breivik’s “senseless acts of terrorism”.

In his manifesto Breivik said the gathering in London was “not a stereotypical ‘rightwing’ meeting full of underprivileged, racist skinheads with a short temper”. Instead, he claimed those present were successful entrepreneurs, “business or political leaders, some with families, most Christian conservatives, but also some agnostics and even atheists”.

Breivik said the handful of far-right activists had travelled to London from across Europe, and most had not met each other before. He did not name those present, but claims two of them, including the host, were English, as well as one French, one German, one Dutch, one Greek, one Russian and one Serbian.

“They obviously wanted resourceful, pragmatical [sic] individuals who were able to keep information away from their loved ones and who were not in any way flagged by their governments.”

At 23 years old, Breivik says he was the youngest person at the meeting, and had first been put in contact with others in the group by a “Serbian crusader commander”.

At the end of the sessions, he says, he was “ordinated as the 8th justicar knight for the PCCTS, Knights Templar Europe” – the name he uses to sign off the last entry in his diary before carrying out Friday’s attacks.

It was at this meeting that he also claims to have struck up his friendship with his mentor. Breivik says he and “Richard”, who took the pseudonym in reference to Richard the Lionheart, had a “relatively close relationship”.

According to the document, the meeting in London was followed by two larger events held in “Balticum” which attracted people from all over Europe. He says there was a high level of security at the gatherings, adding that those attending were told not to communicate to people outside.

“Some of us were unfamiliar with each other beforehand, so I guess we all took a high risk meeting face to face … electronic or telephonic communication was completely prohibited, before, during and after the meetings. On our last meeting it was emphasised clearly that we cut off contact indefinitely. Any type of contact with other cells was strictly prohibited.”

Breivik also boasted about links to the UK far-right group the English Defence League. He mentioned the group several times in the manifesto and claimed he had “spoken with tens of EDL members and leaders … [supplying] them with processed ideological material (including rhetorical strategies) in the very beginning.”

The EDL – which has staged a series of street demonstrations, many of which have turned violent, since it was formed two years ago – issued a statement on Sunday condemning the killings and denying any links with Breivik. It added that the league was a peaceful organisation which rejected all forms of extremism.

In the closed court hearing on Monday, Breivik claimed he belonged to an organisation with two more cells that remain at large, although he did not give more details. Wainwright, the Europol director, said police were working flat out to try and establish whether Breivik had help from far-right groups and activists in the UK and across Europe.

“We’re pursuing a number of lines of inquiry. It is difficult to tell if he had active support from outside Norway,” he said.

www.guardian.co.uk, 25 July 2011

July 26, 2011
EDL Jewish division leader Roberta Moore quits

By Jennifer Lipman, June 29, 2011

The hardline activist at the forefront of the “Jewish Division” of the extreme right-wing English Defence League has announced that she does not wish to be a part of it any longer because of Nazi elements within it.

Roberta Moore, who has led the Jewish Division since it was launched more than a year ago, was accused earlier this month of being a divisive figure in the EDL.

Ms Moore had attempted to co-ordinate her efforts with those of the far-right American Jewish Task Force, whose leader Victor Vancier has been imprisoned for terrorism offences. The move, in February, was heavily criticised by the EDL leadership.

In a statement which she posted on Facebook, the Brazilian-born Ms Moore said she had been offered work on “an international level” elsewhere and so had decided to step down from the Jewish Division.

Although she described the EDL as “doing a fantastic job” she said the party had been hijacked by elements who wanted to use it “for their own Nazi purposes”.

Ms Moore said she still supported the EDL leaders and “all the genuine patriots out there who struggle to get their voices heard” but added that she no longer wished to be a part of it.

“I sincerely hope that the leaders will get the strength to squash the Nazis within,” she said.

“They will destroy this movement if allowed to remain.”

Mark Gardner, from the Community Security Trust, said: “This latest development shows, yet again, why Jews should not be involved in such circles.”

www.thejc.com, June 30 2011

July 1, 2011
Extremists in UK urge racist thugs to hurl pork at Muslims

Right-wing websites and blogs in Britain have urged racist thugs to attack Muslims with pork in an attempt to force them out of the country.

The detailed guide on how to taunt Muslims has been posted on websites including those of the English Defence League (EDL) and the English Nationalist Alliance (ENA).

The hatemongers suggest touching shop door handles, bus seats and taxis with pork and announcing on Facebook where this has been done.

They reckon that the tactic will push many Muslims to leave the UK, believing that they will go to hell if they make contact with pork.

However, a spokesman for anti-fascist group One Million United said that the attempt was ‘sick’.

“Muslims do not go to hell if they touch pork products. We can only suspect this bizarre idea came from EDL assumptions and guesswork.,” The Daily Star quoted the spokesman, as saying.

“There is nothing stated anywhere that they will face Allah’s wrath if they touch pork products. If the EDL are expecting Muslims to scuttle off, panicking the second a trotter lands near them, they will be disappointed,” he added.

ENA spokesman, Billy Baker, said that “his group does not condone such threats. We do not advocate racism or violence. Our site is visited by extremists who post inflammatory comments. Our site moderators do our best to get rid of them as soon as we can,” Baker said. (ANI)

, 22-08-2010

August 27, 2010
Protesters and police clash in Nottingham

Police have clashed with members of the English Defence League during a protest in Nottingham, with 11 people arrested.

Some 300 demonstrators from the EDL marched through the city centre shouting: “We want our country back.”

Earlier there was a stand-off between the EDL and Unite Against Fascism, who held a counter protest in the city.

Mounted police held back demonstrators with batons and punches were thrown at police. One female officer and a protester suffered minor injuries.

Many of the EDL demonstrators had their faces covered with hooded tops and scarves and shouted anti-Islamic slogans.

‘Kicked police dog’

Other protesters had Union Jacks and St George’s flags which they either waved or wrapped around their shoulders as a police officer shouted instructions at the crowd from a helicopter circling overhead.

Some of the group waved placards with slogans such as “Protect Women, No To Sharia” and “No Surrender”.

The EDL insists it is not a racist organisation and has no links to the BNP and is simply standing against the threat of Islamic extremism.

A spokesman said they had planned the demonstration for Saturday as the Second Battalion the Mercian Regiment was holding a homecoming parade in Nottingham following a recent tour of Afghanistan.

The EDL and UAF exchanged hostile words in the city’s Old Market Square but large numbers of police officers managed to keep the rival demonstrators apart.

Nottinghamshire Police said they had deployed more than 700 officers, including some drafted in from Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, the West Midlands, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and Humberside.

The force said a 29-year-old Nottinghamshire officer received an arm injury while policing the cordon and was taken to Nottingham’s Queens Medical Centre for treatment but the injury was not thought to be serious.

One of the 11 men arrested on suspicion of minor public order offences was also taken to hospital, with police saying it was believed he kicked a police dog, which then bit him.

The BBC’s Ben Ando said the arrests came when a small number of EDL protesters clashed with police who were containing them near the city’s main railway station.

‘Anti-British’

Thousands of Christmas shoppers gathered to watch 500 troops from the Mercian Regiment parade through the city in the morning.

The homecoming parade followed a six-month tour of duty in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan, where the regiment lost five soldiers and dozens of its men were injured.

A 43-year-old EDL member, a serving soldier who did not want to be named, said: “We came here to support our lads, and the UAF and other militants have turned up.

“I think it’s disgusting. I look at their protest and there’s a Pakistani flag flying with a Muslim symbol. Their protest isn’t against the EDL, they’re protesting against the troops and it’s anti-British.

“They haven’t got one Union Jack or St George’s Flag. I’m not a fascist, I’m not a Nazi but I am British.”

Michael Vickery, from the UAF, said: “It’s not good enough not to have any kind of a response (to the EDL presence) because basically, if we don’t have a protest then it’s letting them come into town and say ‘this is our place for the day’, which it isn’t, it belongs to everyone in Nottingham.”

After the rally missiles were thrown at a breakaway group of the EDL but no-one was hurt.

The EDL marchers were led to the railway station by police and began boarding trains back to their homes at around 1630 GMT.

Nottinghamshire’s Assistant Chief Constable Ian Ackerley said the force had faced a series of complex events but had achieved “a successful outcome to a very challenging day”.

BBC

December 6, 2009
Racist Terrorism on rise, Businessman bankrolls ‘street army’

By Nick Lowles

A middle-age, respectable looking man has emerged as a key figure behind the English Defence League. Alan Lake, a 45-year-old businessman from Highgate, North London, sees the EDL as a potential “street army” willing to be deployed against what they claim is rising Islamisation of modern Britain.

Lake, who claims to have made money through computers, runs a series of intranet services for far-right groups across the world. Addressing an anti-Islam conference in Sweden last month, organised by the far-right Swedish Democrats, he told delegates it was necessary to build an anti-Jihad movement. He spoke of the need for “people that are ready to go out in the street” and boasted that he and his friends had already begun to build alliances with “football supporters”.

“We are catching a baby at the start of a gestation,” Lake later told The Guardian. “We have a problem with numbers. We have an army of bloggers [on the far right] but that’s not going to get things done.

“Football fans are a potential source of support. They are a hoi polloi that gets off their backsides and travels to a city and they are available before and after matches.”

In addition to funding materials and publicity, Lake has established a website that he hopes will become a clearing house for the EDL and like-minded organisations. He says that people in the movement must choose their roles. Some can debate on forums, some can be experts on the Koran. He is, however, quick to distance himself from fascist organisations and one of his only demands of the EDL in return for his funding is that it distances itself from groups such as the British National Party.

Indeed, Lake appears to want to build alliances with all groups who might fall foul of the strict Islamic code, including lesbian and gay organisations, other religions and ethnic groups and supporters of free speech.

Lake wants the message to be short and easy. At the Swedish conference he announced a manifesto based on four freedoms: free speech, democracy, equality in law and cultural tolerance, with no exemptions for any ideology or religion.

He also stressed the urgency of the issue, claiming that within 40 years Muslims would be in the majority.

Lake’s offer to finance the EDL appeals to the Luton division, who remain at the EDL’s core. What began as a local reaction to the protest by a handful of Islamic extremists at a parade by the Royal Anglian Regiment in March has mushroomed into a national network that has increasingly been under the media spotlight due to several clashes in cities around the country.

Violence has already occurred in Luton, Birmingham and Harrow and further EDL events are planned for Manchester, Leeds, Swansea and Glasgow.

The EDL is run by 15 key people across the country who co-ordinate activists via email and social networking sites, such as Facebook. The group lacks a coherent message or vision, and even within its core, the EDL means different things to different people. Indeed, none of the 15 so-called leaders appears to have actually met all the others.

The EDL seems to have become an umbrella name for a number of existing anti-Islam groups, such as the Birmingham-based British Citizens Against Muslim Extremists, the Welsh Defence League and March for England.

While the group will claim to be open to anyone it remains centred around the football hooligan network and in particular gains support from the football gangs of Luton, Aston Villa, QPR, Southampton, Bristol Rovers, West Bromwich Albion and Wolves.

It has become apparent that some in Luton EDL have become uneasy over being linked to the BNP and far-right politics. For some this is a genuine aversion, while others might have been persuaded of this by Lake, who appears acutely aware of its negative impact on the group.

However, it is also clear that some other EDL leaders, in different parts of the country, have no problem with being linked to rightwing groups. The newly formed Scottish Defence League has known fascists at its core, while the Swansea Division shares many of its followers with the Swansea Jack hooligan group, which in turn supplies activists to the local BNP.

At the EDL protest in Birmingham fascists and rightwing extremists were clearly visible, some happily giving Nazi salutes. They included Chris Renton, a BNP supporter from Weston-super-Mare, who runs their website.

As publicity about the EDL continues, the group is likely to grow across the country. New units will form and new activists will take to the streets. Whatever Lake’s wishes it is unlikely that he will be able to direct EDL philosophy and actions too tightly. By its very nature and its core activity – taking to the streets – the EDL will attract people not averse to violence, particularly around the football hooligan network, and hardcore racists keen to use the group to spread racial hatred.

Hope Not Hate

November 19, 2009