A expanded piece based on yesterday:
Police have arrested 33 people during a demonstration against Islamic fundamentalism and counter-protest by anti-fascists in Birmingham, BBC News Online reports.
The demonstration was made up of football fans who called themselves the English and Welsh Defence League and Casuals United.
The counter-protest was organised by campaign group United Against Fascism, West Midlands Police told the BBC.
The riot came after the Defence League and Casuals United clashed with Asian men backed by United Against Fascism activists. The conflict took place in front of shocked shoppers at the Bull Ring shopping centre, Robert Booth and Alan Travis wrote on the Guardian.
The English Defence League, described itself as “a mixed race group of English people, from business men and women, to football hooligans”. They gathered outside Waterstone’s bookshop in a planned demonstration against militant Islam.
On the other side, United Against Fascism mounted a counter demonstration, telling its supporters that “everyone in the area should come along and show these thugs that their brand of vicious racism is not wanted in Birmingham or the West Midlands”.
According to the BBC, three people were injured in the disturbance in the city centre, and West Midlands Police said a “post operation investigation” was under way.
The police also said it expected the number of arrests to increase as photographs and video images are studied.
A police spokesman told the BBC that anyone found to be taken part in acts of criminality during the protests will be prosecuted.
There was one report of criminal damage to a vehicle, but more reports expect to emerge soon.
Resident, Gary Nichols, witnessed the disturbances on Saturday evening from his city centre flat and told the BBC he was unable to go outside for about two and a half hours.
“It was very disheartening,” he said, “I’ve never experienced anything like it before in the three years I’ve lived here.”
“It started off with a group of white guys who were chanting ‘England, England’. I thought they were just football fans, but then a large group of black and Asian people turned up and it all kicked off.”
He the added: “You have people burning the Union Flag, people were being kicked – some of them weren’t anything to do with the protests”.
Superintendent Matt Ward, from the West Midlands Police, said on the police website there had been similar protests against Islamic fundamentalism in July, involving 70 to 90 people.
He said July’s protest had been “vocal” but peaceful.
However, interestingly, the riot in Birmingham’s city centre was rarely covered by other UK publications apart from the BBC and the Guardian. Even in the BBC report, it did not clarify the injured ones’ race, and most probably the “lack of media coverage” aims to protect and promote “social cohesion”.
Some bloggers have subsequently made comments online saying this type of incident indicates that multiculturalism in this country does not work well. Different races in Birmingham appear to not particularly get on with one another.
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