"Thank you, 'One Leicester'. We belong to you."

This is the text of a letter in today's Leicester Mercury which deserves to be reproduced here, without need for any comment from me.

Muslims: We Belong!

The EDL induced anxieties and nervousness in the Muslim community in the city.

The last few weeks and days were not easy, pressure continued to mount and everyone in the community was concerned to find constructive and positive ways to face this challenge.

In this difficult time, we were not left on our own. From the Bishop of Leicester to leaders of all faiths and no faiths, from the community groups to all the agencies, politicians, MPs, councillors, council officers and police, people engaged with us on supportive terms. The local media, including the Mercury, acted in a most responsible way in dealing with many sensitive issues.

Last Friday evening the peace vigil and multi-faith prayers at the St Martin's further demonstrated solidarity of unprecedented nature. The Hope Not Hate event echoed a message of unity, togetherness and "One Leicester". We were not allowed to feel isolated.

What we have experienced in the last few days is a genuine spirit of "Oneness" in Leicester: the unprecedented nature of engagements, partnerships and co-operation, we never experienced before. History will record this event with pride.

Leicester has shown the way forward and set a shining example of harmony and peace. On behalf of my community, I thank everyone of you for your support.

The Muslim community and its leadership faced this challenge with full of dignity, hope and optimism. This was only possible due to morale-boosting support and assistance from all of you.

I want to congratulate my community and its committed leadership for showing restraint and courage.

Our young people, at time full of anger and frustration, showed the admirable restraint and followed unanimous decisions taken by us all. Well done, all of you.

If the EDL had come to Leicester to learn about us on peaceful terms we would have treated them as our guests and offered them a curry treat of this wonderful city. The opportunity is missed. "One Leicester" defeated them in dividing the communities. We have come out stronger than before in our resolve. Thank you, "One Leicester". We belong to you.

Abdulkarim Gheewala
President, Islamic Education Trust, Leicester

There's also a full page "Thank You" notice from the Federation of Muslim Organisations in today's paper.

WE ARE ONE LEICESTER FESTIVAL

The day after the demonstration by the English Defence League and counter-demonstration by Unite Against Fascism, several thousand people gather in Humberstone Gate for the We Are One Leicester Festival. This major event in the life of our city has been organised by Leicester City Council and Hope Not Hate.

Undoubted highlight of today is a free gig by Billy Bragg, who includes a rousing rendition of "We Shall Overcome". Indie rockers Reverend and the Makers perform at the end of the day. In between these two sets, various entertainers and local worthies appear on stage to reinforce our pride in the city's diversity and our commitment to its unity. Chair of Leicester Council of Faiths, Cllr Manjula Sood, takes to the stage to speak on behalf of Leicester Council of Faiths:

Good afternoon One Leicester! It’s so beautiful to stand here and see all of you.

On behalf of Leicester Council of Faiths, I would like to say a big thank you to all of you. Yesterday we showed that we stood united and today is a remarkable day: Ten! Ten! Ten! Tenth of October 2010 when the whole city has come together.

On behalf of all the Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Jains, Bahá'ís and Buddhist communities and Jews, I would like to pass on their gratitude.

EDL is defeated yesterday, with a very strong message: you are not welcome here. There’s no room for them, even to stand there among us.

Our long and proud history of Leicester – of love respect, understanding, respect, our heritage; many cultures, beliefs, neighbourhoods –  have proved nobody can come and divide us. Our community cohesion cannot be challenged.

You can see her full speech (four minutes long) on YouTube along with a variety of other videos on a playlist there, offering extensive coverage of contributions from the stage and among the crowd.

Humberstone Gate is rammed this afternoon. There are many displays and activities put on by local community groups, local authorities and service providers from the city and county. Artists and performers are out in force too including some of my personal favourites, the stilt-walkers (photo above). There's a lovely touch of autumn sunshine and a palpable sense of relief that yesterday's events are behind us and togetherness about going forward.

Leicester Council of Faiths has space in the  marquee, where we set up one of our banners and hand out loads of leaflets. You can get a good look at it in a short video posted by pappukadri on YouTube (listen for Grace's distinctive shoot-out for her brother at 0:38). We have a good spot, near the front and next to the fellow blowing up the helium balloons - but the folk on our stall spend more time tying and tethering balloons than anything else!

I also get out and about with fliers for Leicester Speaks. We're kicking off that week of activities across the city with our launch event on this same spot tomorrow morning.

BBC Radio Leicester covered the event on its website. Links to several examples of media coverage of today can be found on the web page, Uniquely Leicester.

As far as our small contribution to this big event went today, thanks to Barbara, Celia, Lucy (and Harry and Gracie) for helping.

PEACE VIGIL AT CLOCK TOWER

The Clock Tower is the location for a Peace Vigil at 1630, in advance of the demonstration by the English Defence League and counter-demonstration by Unite Against Fascism in the city centre tomorrow afternoon.

Cllr Manjula Sood, Chair of Leicester Council of Faiths, addresses the crowd (in photo above). You'll see that she's wearing the lime green that has been adopted as the visible expression of the city's united objection to the protest. This colour is much in evidence in the city centre this weekend. In the photo below, Liz Kendall MP (Labour, Leicester West) is in black with the green scarf. Documentary film maker, Lucy Bianca Peel, is on the far right (of the photo, not politically!)

The vigil has been organised by Hope Not Hate. You can read Nick Lowles' blog post about it. Photos by Citizens' Eye Community News Agency, used here with permission.

POLICE FEAR PROTESTORS PLAN TO ATTACK LEICESTER MOSQUE

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Police fear protestors plan to attack Leicester mosque

Police fear protesters plan to attack a city mosque before marching into the heart of Leicester's Muslim community.

Concerns were voiced by Chief Constable Simon Cole in a report to Leicester City Council about the planned march by the English Defence League on October 9.

The Chief Constable said that an intelligence and threat assessment indicated a "major threat" to public order.

His report said: "Intelligence dated September 8, 2010, indicated that the EDL intend to come to Leicester and attack a mosque before marching into the Highfields area, which represents the highest resident population of the Muslim community.

"This reflects previous intentions of EDL processions, such as that within Leicester, where actions were targeted to cause disruption to the Muslim community by provoking serious public disorder."

Leicester City Cabinet yesterday agreed to apply to the Home Office to ban the planned procession under the Public Order Act 1986.

However, the EDL, in a statement, rejected the police claims.

EDL event organiser Guramit Singh said: "We are coming to Leicester to peacefully demonstrate and we denounce attacks on any mosques.

We are here to fight militant Islam, not moderate Islam. The intelligence provided by the police is incorrect."

The EDL submitted an application to march through the city to police this week. United Against Fascism has applied to hold a counter-demonstration on the same day.

Up to 5,000 people could take part in the rival protests.

If the Home Office agrees to ban the EDL march, the group could still hold a static protest, which the authorities would be powerless to prevent taking place.

Muslim groups said they were concerned by the police intelligence reports.

Suleman Nagdi, chairman of the Federation of Muslim Organisations, said: "An attack on a place of worship is an attack on us all, the relationship and resilience among Leicester's faith communities is very strong and we are confident that this will not break our unity."

Ibrahim Mogra, associate Imam at Evington Muslim Centre, said: "The news of a planned attack is very worrying. There have been a number of mosques up and down the country that have suffered attacks at the hands of far-right groups. Everything possible needs to be done to prevent that."

Speaking after the meeting, city council leader Veejay Patel said the council was determined to secure a ban on the march.

He said: "The evidence we are now able to put to the Home Secretary shows overwhelmingly that this march will bring massive disruption – and possibly violence – to Leicester, and therefore it should not be allowed to take place."

The city's three MPs, who were present at yesterday's meeting, said in a joint statement: "The EDL cannot and will not affect Leicester's long and proud history of community cohesion which the city council, voluntary, community and faith groups, local public services and businesses have all worked hard to build and maintain."

After the meeting, Leicester East MP Keith Vaz said: "I have directly contacted the Home Secretary Theresa May to emphasise the strength of feeling here in our city. All three Leicester MPs will be lobbying her directly on this issue."

Leicester West MP Liz Kendall said: "It is a massive decision to attempt to ban a group's right to protest, but it's the only option available."

In a report on the proposed English Defence League march in Thursday's Leicester Mercury, we reported that campaign group Hope Not Hate was planning a counter demonstration.

We have been asked to point out that Hope Not Hate is, in fact, hoping to hold a peace vigil the night before the proposed EDL protest and is not planning a counter demonstration.

It is also involved in plans for a celebration of the city, which is scheduled to take place a day after the EDL event on Saturday, October 9. We are happy to clarify the situation.