Bradford Sees Off Non-Event by EDL

On Saturday 28th August in Bradford a number of interesting events occurred - many of which happen most Saturdays (though some, mercifully, not occurring so often).

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To begin with, we can report that around the city various worthies were packing up their goods in preparation for a relaunch of the Treehouse cafe. A long-standing fixture on Bradford's activist scene (originally as the Fair Trade Cafe) the Treehouse will be re-opening later in September with added Yorkshire Zapatista Solidarity Campaign  outlet, retail organic and fairly traded goods from a re-located Olive Branch (until recently operating out of Shipley), Fair Grounds trading selling their handmade, recycled, ethical products, a permanent home for the Eight-Nozzled Elephant food coop/buying group, and the return of the legendary Treehouse cafe.

Meanwhile Bradford Youth services ran a number of useful initiatives throughout the city and further afield, including running bus trips to destinations like Alton Towers and Flamingo Land, as well as opening up for football in Little Horton and elsewhere.

At Infirmary Fields a multi-cultural festival with stalls, two stages, cake, street artistes and local musicians was generously supported by the council, and passed off with smiles all round.
 
Closer to the town centre, the 1in12 Cafe attracted some unwarranted attention from The Law when both ends of the street were blocked off by lines of police and vans [pic]. Luckily they soon realised they were outmatched in the coffee and donuts face-off and made a tactical retreat when the likely duration of the impasse became clear.

Unluckily they promptly ran into some visitors to the town calling themselves "The English Defence League", whose purpose in coming to Bradford seemed at first to only involve beer and projectiles.

The EDL, it eventually became clear, had come to Bradford to cause disruption and division. Bradford is a multi-cultural city with half  of the working-age population identifying as minority ethnic groups. It is also a poor town and, as such, has been seen ripe for outside groups to further their racist agenda.

This was clearly to be seen from the text of banners with slogans such as "No More Mosques In Britain" and "Stop The Paedophiles Invasion Of England"  (?!).

Scuffling with the Police in the new Temporary Urban Garden, wasting Police time and trampling the recently grown wild flower meadow, the English Defence League had their "static demonstration" and were then successfully repelled from the multi-cultural city of Bradford.

The people of Bradford, asian youth, imams, anti-fa, socialists, and ordinary citizens of Bradford united to ignore the trouble-makers who invaded their city.

Attached Files

Interview1

Interview2