STREET ATTACK USED AS REASON FOR EDL DEMO IN LEICESTER

This article is published in today's Leicester Mercury:

Street attack used as reason for EDL demo in Leicester

A vicious street attack by a gang of young women in Leicester provoked the English Defence League's decision to protest in the city.

The EDL, which says it was formed to combat Islamic extremism, issued an online video last week to link its proposed protest on Saturday, February 4, with the case of 22-year-old Rhea Page.

The assault on Miss Page and her partner in the city centre in June 2010 was widely reported in several national newspapers and on a number of web sites.

It was claimed that the sentencing judge had decided not to send the women to prison after hearing that they had acted out of character because at least one of them had been drinking.

As Muslims, one of the defence lawyers told the court, they were not accustomed to alcohol.

The Leicester Mercury was the only news organisation in court for the hearing last November.

In sentencing the women, Judge Robert Brown made no reference to their drinking or their religion.

Instead, he decided to suspend the sentences because he said Miss Page's partner had possibly used unreasonable force in protecting her, although he was not charged with any offence.

The judge said: "I can see there's a context in which there's a sense you felt you were the victim of unreasonable force."

Miss Page later criticised the judge and said the women should have gone to prison because of the attack.

Some critics of the authorities' handling of the case have claimed the women should have been charged with racially aggravated assault because one of the Somali women reportedly called Miss Page a "white bitch" once during the attack.

The Crown Prosecution Service, which determines which charges are brought against offenders, has also clarified its handling of the case.It said: "The CPS reviewed all the evidence in this case, including whether a racially aggravated offence should be brought on the basis that the comment 'white bitch' was reported to have been heard during the incident.

"However, this racist comment could not be attributed to any particular suspect and was not adopted by the group as a whole. There was no realistic prospect of conviction for a racially aggravated offence."

The women – sisters Ambaro Maxamed (24), Ayaan Maxamed (28) and Hibo Maxamed (24), all from East Park Road, Leicester, and their cousin, Ifran Nur (28), of Gotham Street, in the city – all admitted actual bodily harm and got six-month sentences, suspended for 12 months.