We were appalled at the events of Sunday evening.
Never again must we see the sight, in our town, of a 200-strong rabble fighting police on the central dual carriageway in a bid to reach Bury Park; terrified customers barricaded within a restaurant; Asian shops with windows smashed or students assaulted.
We extend our thoughts to those who were assaulted, intimidated or had property damaged as a result of the actions of the lawless majority on that march. We also commend the actions of police on the ground who, with severe provocation, contained the disturbances with minimum force.
The Asian community showed admirable restraint under tremendous provocation and thanks must go out to community leaders who exercised great leadership under duress.
However, the truth is that these events could have been entirely avoided. Intelligence from the internet quite clearly showed that there was a large contingent that cared nothing for honouring troops, laying wreaths or handing in petitions. They intended to travel to our town in order to cause the very same trouble that we saw on Sunday evening.
However, the truth is that these events could have been entirely avoided. Intelligence from the internet quite clearly showed that there was a large contingent that cared nothing for honouring troops, laying wreaths or handing in petitions. They intended to travel to our town in order to cause the very same trouble that we saw on Sunday evening.
In trying to appease demonstrators, the authorities tried to negotiate with groups such as "March for England" and in doing so gave the green light for all manner of individuals with a grudge or grievance to attend. March for England then realised this for themselves and pulled out, meaning that there was no-one on the day who could exercise leadership for the gathering or be held accountable.
This resulted in three different groupings entering Luton on Sunday. Two were relatively dignified and peaceful but numbered no more than fifty. The third bolted from the form-up point in Manor Park right from the very start and were responsible for the confrontation with both police and community.
In the aftermath of these events we call for the following :
1) An urgent assurance from the authorities that no further parades of this kind be allowed, particularly given the fact that a spokesperson for the demonstrators has identified 31st August as the next date for disturbances.
2) Police to use the full force of the law to mete out justice to those responsible for violence, threat and criminal damage
3) The Council to review their procedures for considering the merit of parade applications, incorporating a far stronger consideration of impact on community cohesion.
1) An urgent assurance from the authorities that no further parades of this kind be allowed, particularly given the fact that a spokesperson for the demonstrators has identified 31st August as the next date for disturbances.
2) Police to use the full force of the law to mete out justice to those responsible for violence, threat and criminal damage
3) The Council to review their procedures for considering the merit of parade applications, incorporating a far stronger consideration of impact on community cohesion.
In stark contrast, Monday’s International Carnival – with 100,000 participants instead of 200 – provided a far more positive and accurate representation of our town of Luton than events the previous evening.
Peace, harmony and tolerance are values worth defending and we call upon all within the town to work towards this end.
This is an inaccurate and narrow minded view of Luton and doesn't reflect the feelings of the majority of people. Luton is a place with so many problems to tackle. Drug problems, guns and knives, gang problems which are magnified because of Luton's diverse cultures, and extreme race hatred, which in fact lies mostly with extremist Muslims because of their beliefs (won't integrate with non-muslims) and not non-muslim people (who generally integrate better and are far less prejudiced)
ReplyDeleteI definitely understand the feelings of those on the march even though they probably put too much blame on the ethnic contingent for our problems, but it was good to see people standing up for England for a change, and if only the government would address our issues instead of worrying whether their moat had been cleaned at the weekend, we might start to rebuild our country and then maybe restore some sense of pride.