Scottish Defence League
The Scottish Defence League (SDL) is an offshoot of the English Defence League and was created in late 2009.
Glasgow Demonstration
The SDL held their first demonstration in Glasgow on 14-November-2009. The group claimed they were protesting against the "Islamification" of Scotland[1]. Around 70 people turned up at the demonstration and spend the day in a pub before being bussed out of the city by police[2]. A Scotland United counter demonstration in Glasgow Green attracted 1,500 people who marched from Glasgow Green to George Square in solidarity against racism[3].
There were five arrests during the demonstration, four for alleged breach of the peace and a fifth for racially motivated breach of the peace. Assistant chief constable Fiona Taylor said the demonstration involving about 70 people against immigration and Islamic fundamentalism had passed off "without any major incident"[4].
Casuals United Website
The SDL website is part of a "Casuals United" website which hosts the websites of the other Defence Leagues which are the English Defence League, Welsh Defence League and the Ulster Defence League[5]. The groups website is registered in the U.S. at webs.com[6]. The group describe themselves as:
- "an alliance of British Football Casuals of various different colours/races who have come together in order to create a massive, but peaceful protest group to force our Government to get their act in gear"[7].
The tagline on the groups website reads, "Uniting the UK's football infidels", and they make claims to be opposing Islamic Extremism and stopping Muslims who "wish to impose Sharia law upon us by stealth"[8].
The writing style used on the website is often incoherent, for example this passage comes from the section explaining who the group are:
- "We will exercise our right to peaceful protest however we see fit, and are growing all the time. Soon we will be big enough to influence our MP's and they will be unable to ignore us. We will support the English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish Defence Leagues, as well as March for England, with marches/demos but are A TOTALLY SEPERATE GROUP"[9].
This incoherent style is repeated in an announcement about the groups Glasgow demonstration of the 14-November-2009, the group announced:
- "Large groups of SDL were detained at both Perth, Dundee AND Edinburg were detained and prevented from travelling to Glasgow, and main English lads were visisted by Strathclyde police and warned off from travelling to Scotland. In a free country our grandfathers fought off the Germans to defend"[10].
See also
Contact
E-Mail: casualsunitedhq@hotmail.com
Notes
- ↑ David Leask, Far-right extremists contained amid anti-war marches, Scotland on Sunday, 15-November-2009, Accessed via Nexis UK 18-November-2009
- ↑ BBC News, Clashes after rival city marches, BBC News, 14-November-2009, Accessed 18-November-2009
- ↑ BBC News, Clashes after rival city marches, BBC News, 14-November-2009, Accessed 18-November-2009
- ↑ Helen McArdle, Five arrested at SDL's city demo, The Herald, 16-November-2009, Accessed via LexisNexis 18-November-2009
- ↑ Home Page, Casuals United, Casuals United, Accessed 18-November-2009
- ↑ Webs.com, Domain Registration, Register.com, Accessed 18-November-2009
- ↑ Who are we?,UK Casuals United, Casuals United, Accessed 18-November-2009
- ↑ Who are we?,UK Casuals United, Casuals United, Accessed 18-November-2009
- ↑ Who are we?,UK Casuals United, Casuals United, Accessed 18-November-2009
- ↑ Home, Glasgow a big Success, Casuals United, Accessed 18-November-2009
