CITY BUSINESSES HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR, INSISTS EDL

This article is published in today's Leicester Mercury:

City businesses have nothing to fear, insists EDL

The English Defence League has told businesses they have nothing to fear from its supporters during next weekend's planned protest in Leicester city centre.

The EDL, which says it was created to combat Islamic extremism, plans to stage a protest in the city centre on Saturday, February 4.Leicester Unite Against Fascism hopes to stage a counter-protest on the same day.

Police are planning a major public order operation to "facilitate" peaceful protest and to combat any potential for a repeat of the violence which broke out when the EDL last staged a major protest in the city.

On that occasion, in October 2010, many businesses chose to close for the day and many premises near the protest site in Humberstone Gate East were boarded up.

Now, the EDL's local leadership has written an open letter, on Facebook, to city businesses to urge them to ignore "propaganda" it claims is being spread about its supporters' behaviour during protests.

It has passed a copy to the Leicester Mercury.

The EDL letter restates that the purpose of the march was to highlight the group's anger that, in a recent court case, four Somalian women "escaped jail for a savage street attack" on a white woman.It says: "It has come to our attention that many communities and businesses prior to our demonstrations are misinformed by certain groups or individuals as to our intentions, and many places of business are advised to close.

"We feel this is an attempt, merely to raise tensions and undermine our message.

"I would like to assure you there is no need to close because of an English Defence League demonstration.

"We have marched through many cities and towns across the country with zero disruption to communities and that is our full and only intention for February 4."

Chief Superintendent Rob Nixon, head of city police said: "We trust that EDL will fulfil their promises as set out on the letter.

"The police have a legal duty to facilitate peaceful protests.

"We take our role of protecting our communities seriously and there is a significant policing operation in place as a precautionary measure."

Martin Traynor, chief executive of Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce, said: "I'm encouraged by the police approach of trying to control this march. However, based on past experience and people's perceptions of them this will still have a detrimental effect on the city centre."

Suleman Nagdi, spokesman for the Leicestershire Federation of Muslim Organisations, said: "What we have seen in other parts of the country does not instil confidence in this letter.

"So, we welcome their undertaking but we have doubts this will be the case on the day.

"If violence does break out – and we hope it does not – will they blame a fringe group they have no control over?

"They are responsible for bringing people to Leicester on that day and they have to rein in any fringe groups."

Mayor Peter Soulsby said: "We are talking to business leaders about our plans for the day, and these discussions will increase next week as more details become available.

"The success of city centre businesses is vital to Leicester and we will do whatever we can to ensure they can operate normally before, during and after the demonstrations.