London, March 21: Police in northwest England said Saturday they had arrested 74 people following violent clashes between right-wing and anti-fascist demonstrators.
Thousands of people joined a rally in the city of Bolton organised by the English Defence League (EDL), which has held numerous protests in recent months against what they called “Islamic extremism” in Britain, but what critics say was a manifestation of Islamophobia.
A counter-demonstration was organised by Unite Against Fascism (UAF) and police blamed these protesters for most of the violence, noting that at least 55 of those arrested were from the UAF and nine from the EDL.
“Today in Bolton we have seen groups of people, predominantly associated with the UAF, engaging in violent confrontation,” said Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan of Greater Manchester Police.
UAF spokesman Anindya Bhattacharyya denied the anti-fascist group was behind any violence, saying: “The police attacked a peaceful demo.”
At the peak of the protest there were 2,000 far-right protesters in central Bolton, and about 1,500 anti-fascists, police said.
A previous EDL rally in Manchester last year turned violent, resulting in 44 arrests and 10 injuries.
Other EDL rallies have also resulted in violence, and in September 2009 Communities Secretary John Denham compared those behind the anti-Muslim protest to the 1930s British Union of Fascists.
“If you look at the types of demonstrations they’ve organised… it looks pretty clear that it’s a tactic designed to provoke and to get a response and hopefully create violence,” he said.
They “have among them people who know what exactly they’re doing.
“The tactic of trying to provoke a response in the hope of causing wider violence and mayhem is long established on the far-right and among extremist groups.”
—Agencies