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ANTI-FASCISTS are set to mobilise in Westminster tomorrow against a rally in support of former English Defence League (EDL) leader Tommy Robinson.
The racists are demanding the release of Mr Robinson from jail, with him having been jailed for contempt of court.
Stand Up to Racism co-convener Weyman Bennett said that, following Mr Robinson’s arrest, hundreds of his supporters marched through the streets of Leeds shouting Islamophobic slogans and carried out arson attacks on a mosque and a gurdwara.
“Wherever support for Robinson grows, hatred and violence follow,” Mr Bennett said.
In the trial of the Finsbury Park terrorist murderer Darren Osborne, it emerged that he had regularly read material by Mr Robinson and Britain First before his hate attack.
Notorious Dutch racist Geert Wilders has said he plans to come to Britain to support the rightwingers.
Stand Up to Racism co-convener Sabby Dhalu said: “Anti-racists will not allow Robinson to be used as a ‘martyr’ to build the kind of far-right street movement that has become a factor in many European countries.
“We will oppose the kind of mobilisation we saw at Charlottesville in the US a year ago, where the same kind of ‘free speech’ activists who are now backing Robinson held violent protests that led to the death of [anti-fascist] Heather Heyer.”
A statement backing the Stand Up to Racism protest has been signed by shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, leading trade unionists from the CWU, PCS, NEU, TSSA and Aslef unions, and campaigners from Finsbury Park Mosque, Jewish Socialists Group and Stand Up to Trump.
The counter-demonstration will begin tomorrrow at 2pm at Whitehall.