OK so the EDL once again raised it’s rotten head above the sewer in Newcastle yesterday. All-in-all a totally uneventful day with the numbers on both sides (EDL and the counter-demo) roughly about even which in one respect is good and bad in another. Good in the respect that they only got at the most around 300 people which is a sign that once again they are on the decline (But be under no illusions, they are very much still there) considering one year ago they brought around two-thousand to Newcastle in the same week of Lee Rigby’s death. But on the flip side it is bad because it shows that we have not grown, we have stagnated.

One thing which totally stands out for me that day was a Northumbria Police copper basically confirming, vocally, whose side they are really on. I was watching the EDL slither into the park where their rally point was held and a young Italian lady enquired with a copper standing nearby her as to what it was all about. Although sounding initially pretty reasonable with “they’re a bit like the National Front” (Although not entirely accurate) and then it got a little urrrgh when he said “they are against extremists but with racist connotations”. What the copper said next sealed it when he said “they are against extremists, we (Meaning the police) are against extremists so we facilitate them to do this”. So blatant and open! I already knew this but for the copper to be so open about it is off the chart! It was not just a confirmation on police attitudes towards the EDL on the ground but also what sounded like an attempt to legitimise them with the ‘anti-extremist’ tag (The copper just said “against extremism” and nothing else).

I’m not racist but…

Earlier in the day though I walked past a couple talking to an EDL couple and heard the bloke from the non-EDL couple say to the EDL couple “I’m fully behind them but I’m not racist”. Right, so, he is fully behind a racist, bigoted organisation but he is not a racist? If he is not a racist or believes the EDL are not racist and generally bigoted then why does he feel the need to add the increasingly present “but I’m not a racist” line at the end? Go figure!