newcastle evening chronicle: Newcastle Evening chronicle

FAR-RIGHT thugs who stormed a Newcastle club in a display of violence were today behind bars.

Members of the English Defence League (EDL) turned up at the Tyneside Irish Centre looking to infiltrate a meeting of political rivals,

It turned out their targets – the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) – were not even in the building after the EDL group were spotted in a nearby pub and officials called the meeting off fearing trouble.

But that did not stop a pack of up to 20 thugs, many wearing EDL hooded tops, from forcing entry, attacking door staff and setting off a fire extinguisher inside the Irish Centre in scenes captured on CCTV.

Now six of the gang have been locked up while three others received suspended jail terms.