So how did Saturday go?

More than 30 people were arrested yesterday after thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in rival race protests in Manchester.

Supporters of the English Defence League, an alliance of football supporters and far-right activists, were involved in skirmishes with police and a number of counter demonstrators from Unite Against Fascism in Piccadilly Gardens, near the city centre.

Police issued a stern message to troublemakers. Chief Superintendent Gerry Donnellan, of Greater Manchester Police, said: "If people come to Manchester to protest they are legally entitled to do so. If you are going to come to Manchester and think you can get away with shouting racist, inflammatory remarks, you can expect us to respond."

The EDL denies it is racist and insists on its website that it is a "multi-ethnic, multi-faith organisation".

The Guardian

It was a very good turnout, and for 90 minutes or so, we managed to prevent the EDL entering Piccadillly Gardens and staging their rally. There were thousands of police there, and they pushed us back with horses and dogs, but even so, when they did finally manage to clear a space for the EDL to meet, it was only a small proportion of the gardens. There were five lines of police between us and them and, to be fair, the police did a good job of preventing any violence. We shoved against the police lines a bit, because it's expected more than anything, but on the whole the atmosphere was tense but peaceful.

When the first batch of EDL supporters were marshalled into the gardens they looked genuinely shocked by the size of the opposition to them. People had driven many miles to stand up against them. But when their numbers swelled, you could see them getting more confident. And, despite all the bravado, you are actually quite glad of the police. Because while our rally was made up of whites, blacks, Asians, young and old, men and women, students and pensioners; the EDL were almost exclusively young white males. And you could tell they would relish a real confrontation.

You could also tell some were genuinely shocked we were branding them Nazis. They insist, as it says above, that they are a multi-ethnic, multi-faith group, and they are merely opposed to Muslim extremists. There were banners saying 'Patriotism is not Racism'. But they can't see the flaw in their stance; it is not up to a group of white males to decide what is the acceptable face of multi-ethnic Britain. That can only be agreed through the full involvement and consent of all groups who make up our society. The EDL, by not having any black or Asian members only prove that they have no real interest in genuine debates on multiculturalism and religious and cultural tolerance.

So. Altogether now!

We are black and white and Muslim, and we're Jews,
And there are many, many more of us than you.
We don't want your racial war.
We will smash you to the floor!
We are black and white and Muslim, and we're Jews.

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Other news from the weekend. UP!!!! Go and see it! What a fantastic movie! The first ten minutes alone is worth the admission. An absolutely beautiful story; a love story, and a story of what happens after love. Just magical.

Vietnamese Noodle Bar on Saturday evening - inspired by the fact that the part of Piccadilly Gardens we occupied in the afternoon had the crucial take away within our police cordon, doing a roaring trade! Note to demo strategists - always occupy the ground with the Noodle Bar. Anyway, the food was excellent at our evening's choice. Lovely rice paper rolls, and spicy hot bowls of fish and noodle soup. Yum!

Finished off the evening watching 'In Bruges', a dark comedy about a couple of hitmen hiding out in the Belgian town of the title after the hit went wrong. Absolutely pant-wettingly hilarious, but such a seam of darkness running through it. Must try to be drunk next time I watch it, so I laugh even harder....



And a nice Sunday dinner at my parents to round the weekend off. I got rather drunk...but not as drunk as my Dad. He claimed he was trying to cure his bad back - it seemed to be working.

Love to all

L x