Anti-Muslim group picks a fight in British Muslim neighborhood, and gets one

[KamaAina]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/02/05/anti-muslim-group-picks-a-fight-in-british-muslim-neighborhood-and-gets-one/

The video was filmed on Jan. 23 in the multicultural British town of Luton, 30 miles north of London. The town, a former industrial powerhouse that is today known for its budget-flight-focused airport, has become a magnet for both Islamist and Islamophobic extremists. It’s often the canvas upon which hate groups unfurl their provocative displays.

And so it was when Britain First came to town for the fourth time in two years for what it termed a “Christian Patrol.”

The group -- a far-right rival of the homegrown English Defense League -- specializes in anti-Muslim street theater, while dressing itself in the garb of a devoutly Christian organization. Members wear dark green paramilitary-style uniforms, and march with oversized crosses through Muslim-majority areas, or even through mosques.

Although the demonstrations are small, the group has won “huge support on social media and has created a climate of fear amongst Muslim communities,” according to the anti-extremist organization Hope not Hate.

[FLPanhandle]

1. So they basically walked through a part of their own town and country

Wow. Britons trying to walk in their own country. The fact that simple act caused yelling and fights is very telling what mass immigration of people will do to a country.

[KamaAina]

3. Klansmen basically walk through parts of their own towns and country

and that simple act causes yelling and fights.

[mwrguy]

2. This kind of intimidation will not work

Muslims are not so easily cowed.

Also, England has some good laws regarding hate speech, iirc.

[gratuitous]

4. Casting about for something to do now that The Troubles in Ireland have ended?

Jeez, ya pasty yobbos, go find something constructive to do with your time and energy.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

5. I don't think I would describe Luton as a "Muslim neighborhood"

I think I saw some fried chicken restaurants advertised as halal, but otherwise.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. There is a large Muslim population, especially in that area

The Biscot ward, containing most of Bury Park, is 64.6% Muslim. Luton overall is 24.6%. The other ward that Bury Park is in, Dallow, is 61.6% Muslim.

https://www.luton.gov.uk/Environment/Lists/LutonDocuments/PDF/Planning/Census/2011%20census%20data/BISCOT.pdf
https://www.luton.gov.uk/Environment/Lists/LutonDocuments/PDF/Planning/Census/2011%20census%20data/DALLOW.pdf

[grossproffit]

6. Luton is very well known.

[youtube]

[/youtube]

[pampango]

7. "a slick propaganda job by the virulently anti-Muslim group Britain First" ('far-right, fascist')

Britain First is a far-right, fascist and British nationalist political party and movement formed in 2011 by former members of the British National Party. The party is led by a former BNP councillor Paul Golding, and was founded by Jim Dowson, an anti-abortion campaigner linked to Ulster loyalist militants.

Britain First campaigns primarily against immigration, multiculturalism and what it sees as the Islamisation of the United Kingdom, and advocates the preservation of traditional British culture. The group is inspired by Ulster loyalism and has a vigilante wing called the "Britain First Defence Force". It attracted attention by taking direct action such as protests outside homes of alleged Islamists, and what it describes as "Christian patrols" and "invasions" of British mosques, and has been noted for its online activism. It has contested elections to the House of Commons, the European Parliament and the mayoralty of London, but has not held any elected posts.

Britain First's stated aim is to protect "British and Christian morality", and is "committed to preserving our ancestral ethnic and cultural heritage" while it also "supports the maintenance of the indigenous British people as the demographic majority within our own homeland", that "Genuine British citizens will be put first in housing, jobs, education, welfare and health". The party self-styles itself as "loyalist".

Britain First has described climate change as "another leftwing (sic), anti-capitalist fraud foisted on us". It also campaigns against Islamism, immigration and abortion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britain_First