Violence has between anti-Islamist protesters from the English Defence League and riot police at a May Day march in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire
Demonstrators hurled coins, glass bottles, plastic flag sticks and cans at officers after the event.
Around 200 protesters burst through police lines and scuffled with officers armed with riot shields, batons and dogs.
Onlookers said there were no apparent serious injuries.
Around 1,000 members of the far-right group had marched to the town's Market Square, chanting and waving flags.
One onlooker said: "As the protesters came to leave the square members of the EDL thought they weren't been allowed out quickly enough and some began pushing and shoving.
"Soon missiles were been thrown and riot police had to be called in to calm the situation down.”
Local Area Commander Superintendent Richard List, of Thames Valley Police, strongly condemned the violence.
He said: "It is disappointing that the EDL has not continued to protest in a peaceful manner.
"Based on the experience of other towns, it was essential that the police, with the support of its partners, were geared up to deal with as many protesters as turned up.
"We made it very clear to the EDL at the outset that we would not tolerate any disorder on the day and that there would be a significant police presence.”
A Thames Valley Police spokesman said the violence lasted for only a "short period", adding: "EDL surged against police lines against wishes of their stewards. Officers contained them before allowing dispersal."
Around 75 members of the Unite Against Fascism group – who oppose the English Defence League – gathered in the town but later left.
The Telegraph
Saturday, 1 May 2010
BNP to fight every ward in Barking & Dagenham election
The British National Party has revealed it is fighting for every ward available on Barking and Dagenham Council, fielding a list of 34 candidates.
In 2006 the party became the opposition with 12 councillors in the area.
Now the party, which wants to remove illegal immigrants from council houses, wants to win full control.
Labour denied Barking was a racist stronghold, while the Conservatives called the BNP "inept". The Liberal Democrats said Labour was the problem.
Richard Barnbrook, a senior BNP figure, is the man hoping to become leader of the council.
Outlining his policies to BBC London, Mr Barnbrook said: "If we find Labour putting people into council stock that haven't got the right to be here then those people - I'm terribly sorry - will be removed from their council houses into flats in tower blocks."
In the party's manifesto it says school trips to mosques will be banned.
Mr Barnbrook said: "What I'm saying, there will be no school visits to other religions other than the faith [of] that child's own denomination."
The party's message has struck a chord with some traditional voters who feel disenfranchised with the pace of change in the area.
One told BBC London: "There are a lot of foreigners here. You go on the bus and you don't know what they are saying."
Another said: "They are all getting jobs, money and flats. People born here are trying to get jobs - but we can't."
'Frustration with Labour'
But other parties have rallied round - with the Christian Party removing its candidates to avoid splitting the Labour vote.
Christian Party member Paula Watson said: "There's an old African saying that says when two elephants fight its the ground that suffers - and the people of Barking and Dagenham will suffer."
The Conservatives rubbished the BNP's chances. Tory candidate Terry Justice said: "If the people that voted for them went to assemblies and listened to their ineptness then I'm afraid they wouldn't have any backing at all in this borough."
And Terry London of the Liberal Democrats said: "I don't think that really the BNP are the main issue - Labour is the issue.
"The BNP only got in because of the frustration with Labour."
But Labour hit out at the use of the race issue in electioneering. Jon Cruddas, Labour parliamentary candidate for Dagenham, said: "I don't like the stigmatisation of the community in that this is a racist capital - it's not.
"There are a number of big issues here in terms of housing, in terms of immigration.
"But we need to have a calm thoughtful way through that."
BBC News
In 2006 the party became the opposition with 12 councillors in the area.
Now the party, which wants to remove illegal immigrants from council houses, wants to win full control.
Labour denied Barking was a racist stronghold, while the Conservatives called the BNP "inept". The Liberal Democrats said Labour was the problem.
Richard Barnbrook, a senior BNP figure, is the man hoping to become leader of the council.
Outlining his policies to BBC London, Mr Barnbrook said: "If we find Labour putting people into council stock that haven't got the right to be here then those people - I'm terribly sorry - will be removed from their council houses into flats in tower blocks."
In the party's manifesto it says school trips to mosques will be banned.
Mr Barnbrook said: "What I'm saying, there will be no school visits to other religions other than the faith [of] that child's own denomination."
The party's message has struck a chord with some traditional voters who feel disenfranchised with the pace of change in the area.
One told BBC London: "There are a lot of foreigners here. You go on the bus and you don't know what they are saying."
Another said: "They are all getting jobs, money and flats. People born here are trying to get jobs - but we can't."
'Frustration with Labour'
But other parties have rallied round - with the Christian Party removing its candidates to avoid splitting the Labour vote.
Christian Party member Paula Watson said: "There's an old African saying that says when two elephants fight its the ground that suffers - and the people of Barking and Dagenham will suffer."
The Conservatives rubbished the BNP's chances. Tory candidate Terry Justice said: "If the people that voted for them went to assemblies and listened to their ineptness then I'm afraid they wouldn't have any backing at all in this borough."
And Terry London of the Liberal Democrats said: "I don't think that really the BNP are the main issue - Labour is the issue.
"The BNP only got in because of the frustration with Labour."
But Labour hit out at the use of the race issue in electioneering. Jon Cruddas, Labour parliamentary candidate for Dagenham, said: "I don't like the stigmatisation of the community in that this is a racist capital - it's not.
"There are a number of big issues here in terms of housing, in terms of immigration.
"But we need to have a calm thoughtful way through that."
BBC News
Hamburg sees first May Day clashes (Germany)
In the night before May Day, clashes between police and leftist demonstrators in Hamburg left 14 people injured. In Berlin, however, the feared violence did not materialize.
Friday night's violence in Hamburg was centred around the city's Schanzenviertel neighborhood, where according to police some 150 left-wing demonstrators lit a bonfire in a street outside a youth centre, threw bottles and stones at police, and damaged a bank branch.
At least 14 people were injured in the clashes, including a passer-by who was taken to hospital after being hit on the head by a flying rock. In addition, thirteen police officers and three police dogs sustained injuries. Seven rioters were arrested.
Hamburg's Schanzenviertel neighborhood has been the scene of similar May Day clashes in recent years.
In Berlin, however, the night passed comparatively uneventfully, despite fears that the levels of May Day violence could be high this year. Berlin police reported that the around 4,000 people celebrating Walpurgis Night in the streets of the German capital did so relatively peacefully.
At Berlin's Boxhagener Platz in the Friedrichshain neighborhood, a few bottles and beer cans were thrown at police, but the large contingent of officers on the scene kept the situation under control. Several inebriated people were arrested but no injuries were reported.
The situation thus far has been markedly calmer than in 2009, when violence on the May Day weekend returned to the capital with a vengeance. Last year some 500 officers were injured and just under 300 people arrested.
For May Day itself, Saturday, police have prepared several large-scale operations aimed at heading off possible violence. A march by around 3,000 neo-Nazis is planned while some 10,000 left-wing anarchists are expected to gather in Berlin's Kreuzberg, an ethnically diverse, left-leaning neighborhood.
Police will try to keep the two demonstrations separate and are deploying 6,000 officers in the streets. Police reinforcements from other federal states have been sent to the capital.
The Local Germany
At least 14 people were injured in the clashes, including a passer-by who was taken to hospital after being hit on the head by a flying rock. In addition, thirteen police officers and three police dogs sustained injuries. Seven rioters were arrested.
Hamburg's Schanzenviertel neighborhood has been the scene of similar May Day clashes in recent years.
In Berlin, however, the night passed comparatively uneventfully, despite fears that the levels of May Day violence could be high this year. Berlin police reported that the around 4,000 people celebrating Walpurgis Night in the streets of the German capital did so relatively peacefully.
At Berlin's Boxhagener Platz in the Friedrichshain neighborhood, a few bottles and beer cans were thrown at police, but the large contingent of officers on the scene kept the situation under control. Several inebriated people were arrested but no injuries were reported.
The situation thus far has been markedly calmer than in 2009, when violence on the May Day weekend returned to the capital with a vengeance. Last year some 500 officers were injured and just under 300 people arrested.
For May Day itself, Saturday, police have prepared several large-scale operations aimed at heading off possible violence. A march by around 3,000 neo-Nazis is planned while some 10,000 left-wing anarchists are expected to gather in Berlin's Kreuzberg, an ethnically diverse, left-leaning neighborhood.
Police will try to keep the two demonstrations separate and are deploying 6,000 officers in the streets. Police reinforcements from other federal states have been sent to the capital.
The Local Germany
Police file charges against chapter of outlawed Hungarian Guard
An investigation found the "New Hungarian Guard Movement" - which changed its name to avoid being identified with its banned predecessor - amounted to a continuation of the Hungarian Guard's activities, said Eva Kelemen. The Hajdu-Bihar county chapter of the new movement in the east of Hungary has been implicated.
The Hungarian Guard Movement is the uniformed wing of the radical nationalist Jobbik party.
The investigators argued that the organisation "in its accessories and value system can be regarded as synonymous [with the outlawed Hungarian Guard], its activities helping the banned organisation live on."
The police declined to state what particular incident had triggered the legal action, but Edit Pocsai, Deputy Prosecutor-General for Hajdu-Bihar county, told MTI that the charges were raised as the consequence of a demonstration attended by Guard members in Debrecen, also in eastern Hungary, on October 22 last year.
Poiltics Hu
BNP claim 'window of opportunity' from Brown bigot slur
The BNP has said the incident in which Gordon Brown called a pensioner a "bigoted woman" has opened a "window of opportunity for the party".
Mr Brown apologised over his comments caught on tape about Gillian Duffy.
In an e-mail to supporters, BNP leader Nick Griffin said his party would appeal to working class voters who have been offended by the comments.
Meanwhile, he has admitted manifesto claims that Britain is the most densely populated country in Europe are wrong.
In the e-mail, Mr Griffin revealed the party's funds were "stretched to the limit" and called for donations to fund newspaper adverts in key areas such as Barking and Dagenham, Stoke-on-Trent, Leicestershire, Manchester and Barnsley.
He wrote: "Our activists are already at full stretch and we have no spare finances to fund extra campaign material, so what we want to do is to raise enough extra funds to place newspaper adverts in a whole range of key target areas up and down the country."
Meanwhile, Mr Griffin admitted on BBC Radio 4's World At One claims over how heavily populated Britain was were wrong.
He said: "In fact it's England and Wales. England and Wales are more overcrowded than anywhere in Europe except for Malta," he said.
"It's a fault in the manifesto. I blame the proof reader."
He also said he could not tell if a caller to a BBC radio phone-in was British because he could not see what he looked like.
He told the man, who said three of his grandparents were born outside Britain, that he could class himself as "civically British" but not "indigenous British".
BBC News
Mr Brown apologised over his comments caught on tape about Gillian Duffy.
In an e-mail to supporters, BNP leader Nick Griffin said his party would appeal to working class voters who have been offended by the comments.
Meanwhile, he has admitted manifesto claims that Britain is the most densely populated country in Europe are wrong.
In the e-mail, Mr Griffin revealed the party's funds were "stretched to the limit" and called for donations to fund newspaper adverts in key areas such as Barking and Dagenham, Stoke-on-Trent, Leicestershire, Manchester and Barnsley.
He wrote: "Our activists are already at full stretch and we have no spare finances to fund extra campaign material, so what we want to do is to raise enough extra funds to place newspaper adverts in a whole range of key target areas up and down the country."
Meanwhile, Mr Griffin admitted on BBC Radio 4's World At One claims over how heavily populated Britain was were wrong.
He said: "In fact it's England and Wales. England and Wales are more overcrowded than anywhere in Europe except for Malta," he said.
"It's a fault in the manifesto. I blame the proof reader."
He also said he could not tell if a caller to a BBC radio phone-in was British because he could not see what he looked like.
He told the man, who said three of his grandparents were born outside Britain, that he could class himself as "civically British" but not "indigenous British".
BBC News
German court ruling paves way for release of Eichmann files
A German court has found no legal basis for keeping the files on infamous Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann secret. Chancellor Angela Merkel's office had argued the files could hinder Germany's foreign policy.
A German court said Friday the government had no legal basis to keep under wraps secret files on Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi architect of the Holocaust, potentially paving the way for their release.
"After examining the files, the Federal Administrative Court has decided that the decision of the chancellor's office to block them is unlawful," the court said in a statement.
Following a lawsuit by a freelance Argentinian journalist, the court ruled as "invalid" the government's argument that releasing archives on Eichmann would jeopardize Berlin's foreign policy.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's office had also argued that publishing the 3,400-page files could endanger relations with foreign intelligence agencies.
However, the court also said it would give Merkel's office a chance to present further arguments against the publishing of the files, which were compiled during the 1950s and 1960s.
Israeli agents kidnapped Eichmann, one of the main executors of Adolf Hitler's "final solution" - the plan to exterminate the Jews - in Buenos Aires in 1960.
He was taken to Jerusalem for proceedings in an Israeli court, where he was caged in a special bullet-proof glass enclosure.
Eichmann was convicted of crimes against humanity and hanged in 1962.
DW-World
A German court said Friday the government had no legal basis to keep under wraps secret files on Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi architect of the Holocaust, potentially paving the way for their release."After examining the files, the Federal Administrative Court has decided that the decision of the chancellor's office to block them is unlawful," the court said in a statement.
Following a lawsuit by a freelance Argentinian journalist, the court ruled as "invalid" the government's argument that releasing archives on Eichmann would jeopardize Berlin's foreign policy.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's office had also argued that publishing the 3,400-page files could endanger relations with foreign intelligence agencies.
However, the court also said it would give Merkel's office a chance to present further arguments against the publishing of the files, which were compiled during the 1950s and 1960s.
Israeli agents kidnapped Eichmann, one of the main executors of Adolf Hitler's "final solution" - the plan to exterminate the Jews - in Buenos Aires in 1960.
He was taken to Jerusalem for proceedings in an Israeli court, where he was caged in a special bullet-proof glass enclosure.
Eichmann was convicted of crimes against humanity and hanged in 1962.
DW-World
COUNCIL OF EUROPE PUSHES BOSNIA TO CHANGE CONSTITUTION
The Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly, PACE, warned Bosnia on Thursday that it must urgently take measures to change its constitution, notably to end discrimination against minorities, or face serious consequences.
“Bosnia and Herzegovina must urgently launch an institutionalized process for preparing a comprehensive package of amendments to the Constitution – in particular to end the discrimination in elections to some bodies,” the PACE said in a resolution unanimously approved Thursday. The assembly warned Bosnia that its failure to reform the constitution could lead to a number of measures being taken against it, including suspending its delegation from PACE or suspending its voting rights. Bosnia's constitution, part of the Dayton peace agreement which ended the country’s 1992-95 war, allows only Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims), Croats and Serbs to run for the parliament and the presidency. Under the peace agreement, the country was divided into two highly autonomous parts – Serb dominated Republika Srpska and Bosniak-Croat federation. The two are linked by weak central institutions. Serbs from the Federation and Bosniaks and Croats from Republika Srpska are also banned from running for the posts reserved for their respective ethnic groups in the central institutions. Last December, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Bosnia’s constitution discriminated against minorities by barring them from running for highest offices based on their ethnic identity, ordering that it be changed.
The binding decision was issued in response to a complaint filed by Dervo Sejdic, an official of an umbrella body for Roma in Bosnia, and Jakob Finci, Bosnia's ambassador to Switzerland and the leader of the country's Jewish community. The international community has pushed Bosnia to adopt necessary changes before it officially calls general elections planned for October 5, but the country’s bickering ethnic leaders have failed to agree on the model for or the extent of changes. PACE said on Thursday that the adoption of amendments before the calling of the elections on May 5 was “rather unlikely”. It said there was a serious risk that the elections will be held “in violation of the European Convention of Human Rights and its Additional Protocols, as well as of the judgment of the Court.” As a result, the democratic legitimacy of the members of the presidency and deputies in the central parliament will be questioned. However, PACE said that the constitutional reform process must continue after the elections. “If, after the election, there is a continued persistent failure by Bosnia and Herzegovina to honor its obligations and commitments, the Assembly could – as a last resort – recommend the country’s suspension from the Council of Europe,” it said in a statement.
Balkan Nights
“Bosnia and Herzegovina must urgently launch an institutionalized process for preparing a comprehensive package of amendments to the Constitution – in particular to end the discrimination in elections to some bodies,” the PACE said in a resolution unanimously approved Thursday. The assembly warned Bosnia that its failure to reform the constitution could lead to a number of measures being taken against it, including suspending its delegation from PACE or suspending its voting rights. Bosnia's constitution, part of the Dayton peace agreement which ended the country’s 1992-95 war, allows only Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims), Croats and Serbs to run for the parliament and the presidency. Under the peace agreement, the country was divided into two highly autonomous parts – Serb dominated Republika Srpska and Bosniak-Croat federation. The two are linked by weak central institutions. Serbs from the Federation and Bosniaks and Croats from Republika Srpska are also banned from running for the posts reserved for their respective ethnic groups in the central institutions. Last December, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Bosnia’s constitution discriminated against minorities by barring them from running for highest offices based on their ethnic identity, ordering that it be changed.
The binding decision was issued in response to a complaint filed by Dervo Sejdic, an official of an umbrella body for Roma in Bosnia, and Jakob Finci, Bosnia's ambassador to Switzerland and the leader of the country's Jewish community. The international community has pushed Bosnia to adopt necessary changes before it officially calls general elections planned for October 5, but the country’s bickering ethnic leaders have failed to agree on the model for or the extent of changes. PACE said on Thursday that the adoption of amendments before the calling of the elections on May 5 was “rather unlikely”. It said there was a serious risk that the elections will be held “in violation of the European Convention of Human Rights and its Additional Protocols, as well as of the judgment of the Court.” As a result, the democratic legitimacy of the members of the presidency and deputies in the central parliament will be questioned. However, PACE said that the constitutional reform process must continue after the elections. “If, after the election, there is a continued persistent failure by Bosnia and Herzegovina to honor its obligations and commitments, the Assembly could – as a last resort – recommend the country’s suspension from the Council of Europe,” it said in a statement.
Balkan Nights
CLASHES FEARED AHEAD OF NEO-NAZI AND LEFT-WING LABOR DAY MARCHES (Germany)
Police in cities throughout Germany are gearing up for potentially violent clashes between rival extremists as neo-Nazis and far-left activists prepare to hold rallies as part of the Labor Day holiday on May 1.
In recent years, May 1, or Labor Day has seen violent clashes between far-right and far-left groups in some of Germany's major cities. This year the skirmishes are expected to intensify as extremist groups step up efforts to coordinate marches and counter-demos in cities like Berlin and Hamburg. "They meet here on May 1 in Berlin and it's like a contest of violence," said Olaf Sundermeyer, who co-authored a book on Germany's far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) and is an expert of the neo-Nazi movement. "First of all you have the official political arm of the right-wing movement, the NPD, and then you have the movement that is not organized party-wise," he told Deutsche Welle. "And this movement is not on the rise or decline, but is developing itself from within. It's going to a more radical side and is trying to copy the methods and strategy of the left-wing movement in Germany." Sundermeyer goes on to describe the far-right neo-Nazi movement as filled with "angry, young men." "And everywhere in the world, when angry young men gather together for extreme, fundamentalist ideas you have a lot of violence, a lot of power inside … and they try to channel their anger by following extreme right ideas," he said.
Fighting far-right extremism
This year, far-right extremists have organized marches in Berlin, Hamburg, Rostock and a handful of other cities. However a collection of moderate left-wing groups and political parties has also united behind a common cause: to disrupt the neo-Nazi rallies. As many as 10,000 counter-protesters from the Social Democratic Party, the Left party, the Green party and various trade unions are expected to turn out in Berlin to defy the far-right groups, who are expected to number between 1,000 and 3,000. Sebastian Wehrhahn works with the Mobile Advisory Team Against Right-wing Extremism in Berlin, which will have a presence at the counter-rally on Labor Day. The non-partisan organization monitors the activities of the right-wing scene and encourages people to take part in action against fascist movements. Wehrhahn says organizations such as his has had success in disrupting the activities of neo-Nazi groups in the past. "If we look at Dresden on February 13, we have a very good example of how a collective strategy of all-Democratic actors can lead to the success that the biggest right-wing extremist march in Europe couldn't take place," he told Deutsche Welle. "So we do have examples where alliances like this could make a great impact." Wehrhahn says he expects thousands of people taking to the streets of Berlin on Labor Day, "making a clear point for a democratic and open Berlin against right-wing extremism. And I very much hope not to see neo-Nazis marching through Berlin."
Far-left violence
But many of those who turn out on Saturday will also belong to the far-left scene, which has also been known to resort to violence to get its point across. Last year in the Berlin suburb of Kreuzberg more than 400 policemen were injured when left-wing demonstrators threw stones and bottles at them, leading to more than 200 arrests. In Hamburg, a heightened police presence is expected after previous Labor Day clashes between far-left and far-right groups ended in running street battles with police cars being torched and scores of arrests being made. The motto for May 1 demonstrations this year is "End the Crisis - Abolish Capitalism." "We're rallying against this society, which is based on profit, competition and property," said university student Bernd, who is a member of a left-wing group called Anti-Fascist Revolution Action Berlin. "We want a society in which people economize in solidarity and plan their lives together." According to Bernd, the state is inherently violent and therefore demonstrators are free to choose their methods of protest. He said this does not necessitate acts of violence but that he does not distance himself from violent means. "If police are attacked on May 1 then it's because they're standing there as a symbol for the capitalist implementation of competition and ownership," he said. "But the militancy that can be witnessed during May 1 demonstrations is also always a political statement."
DW-World
Fighting far-right extremism
This year, far-right extremists have organized marches in Berlin, Hamburg, Rostock and a handful of other cities. However a collection of moderate left-wing groups and political parties has also united behind a common cause: to disrupt the neo-Nazi rallies. As many as 10,000 counter-protesters from the Social Democratic Party, the Left party, the Green party and various trade unions are expected to turn out in Berlin to defy the far-right groups, who are expected to number between 1,000 and 3,000. Sebastian Wehrhahn works with the Mobile Advisory Team Against Right-wing Extremism in Berlin, which will have a presence at the counter-rally on Labor Day. The non-partisan organization monitors the activities of the right-wing scene and encourages people to take part in action against fascist movements. Wehrhahn says organizations such as his has had success in disrupting the activities of neo-Nazi groups in the past. "If we look at Dresden on February 13, we have a very good example of how a collective strategy of all-Democratic actors can lead to the success that the biggest right-wing extremist march in Europe couldn't take place," he told Deutsche Welle. "So we do have examples where alliances like this could make a great impact." Wehrhahn says he expects thousands of people taking to the streets of Berlin on Labor Day, "making a clear point for a democratic and open Berlin against right-wing extremism. And I very much hope not to see neo-Nazis marching through Berlin."
Far-left violence
But many of those who turn out on Saturday will also belong to the far-left scene, which has also been known to resort to violence to get its point across. Last year in the Berlin suburb of Kreuzberg more than 400 policemen were injured when left-wing demonstrators threw stones and bottles at them, leading to more than 200 arrests. In Hamburg, a heightened police presence is expected after previous Labor Day clashes between far-left and far-right groups ended in running street battles with police cars being torched and scores of arrests being made. The motto for May 1 demonstrations this year is "End the Crisis - Abolish Capitalism." "We're rallying against this society, which is based on profit, competition and property," said university student Bernd, who is a member of a left-wing group called Anti-Fascist Revolution Action Berlin. "We want a society in which people economize in solidarity and plan their lives together." According to Bernd, the state is inherently violent and therefore demonstrators are free to choose their methods of protest. He said this does not necessitate acts of violence but that he does not distance himself from violent means. "If police are attacked on May 1 then it's because they're standing there as a symbol for the capitalist implementation of competition and ownership," he said. "But the militancy that can be witnessed during May 1 demonstrations is also always a political statement."
DW-World
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