PROPOSED ENGLISH DEFENCE LEAGUE MARCH IN BRADFORD

That this House notes that there were further arrests at the English Defence League (EDL) march of what were estimated to be between 350 and 500 EDL members in London on 7 September 2013 and that 3,000 police officers were mobilised to enable the EDL to march over Tower Bridge to Aldgate; further notes that there was a peaceful counter-demonstration in Tower Hamlets of some 3,000 to 3,500 people determined to defend the principles of community harmony; further notes that the EDL leader, Tommy Robinson, has now announced that the next national march by the EDL will be in Bradford on 12 October 2013; believes the only purpose of such a march will be to incite racial division, hatred and violence; and therefore calls on the Police and Crime Commissioner, the Chief Constable of West Yorkshire and the Secretary of State for the Home Department to ban the EDL from marching anywhere in the Bradford area.