ED-E’LLO! Police escort EDL flashmob at Town Hall

Police were called to Sheffield city centre after a flash-mob was started by the EDL.

The English Defence League’s Sheffield division staged a surprise demo outside town hall yesterday evening, holding banners protesting against “Islamic Studies in English Schools”. 

The demonstrators appeared at around 6pm on Wednesday evening to march around town. Police escorted the protestors through the city centre before standing guard outside the Bankers Draft in Fargate, where EDL-ers stopped to watch the footie and continue their raucous evening.

EDL marched from Fargate to town hall, then back again.

Anti-fascist groups have claimed that the police were allegedly “kettling” protestors, who were holed up in the pub for the evening.

One spokesman for the EDL said: “we were directed back to a pub then we were penned in for a few hours”.

Police were called to the scene to monitor the progress of the march and dispersed protestors from the pubs and city centre at around 7pm.

South Yorkshire police told the Tab: “Officers will be reviewing CCTV footage to ascertain whether any criminal offences occurred during the march. No arrests have been made.”

They added that allegations of kettling did not add up, as protestors began the evening at the Bankers Draft and returned shortly after marching through town.

They said: “English Defence League members marched from the Peace Gardens, onto Fargate and to the Town Hall steps. They then proceeded back on to Fargate, down towards Castlegate and into the Bankers Draft pub.

“Officers were deployed to police the march and dispersed the individual members from the pub and out of the city centre at around 7pm.”

Eye-witnesses have said that EDL members abused several passers-by.

#edl came to #Sheffield today and were screaming scum in my face . #racist

— Aamina (@enlghtnyourself) March 5, 2014

The group’s Facebook page “Yorkshire EDL Sheffield Division – Phoenix Rising” claims that around 20 demonstrators came out to protest, but were met with opposition from about 200 anti-fascist protestors.

In a statement to the Tab, an EDL spokesman claimed that there had been no opposition from “traditional” Sheffield residents. He said: “not a single local resident (by this I mean of traditional English heritage) had anything but praise for us.

“we had a high level of opposition from the usual muslim population but they do as they always have and jump straight on the ‘you are a bunch of racists’ bandwagon”.

The EDL also slammed students for their participation in counter-protests. They said that they recieved a lot of opposition from “Sheffield Hallam university who have a network who always oppose anything we are associated with”.

Photo: @resistancerprt EDL supporters were allegedly kettled in the Bankers Draft by police

Students were largely outraged by the demonstration. Nick, 23, graduated from Sheffield last year and was heading to the station when he came across the EDL outside the Bankers Draft. He said: “They were pretty drunk and were shouting at a lot of people in the street. They shouted at some children too. It doesn’t exactly make you proud of the city.”

Meanwhile, twitter users continued to be upset by both the EDL and the police presence.

#EDL now kettled in Banker’s Draft pub by police #Sheffield

— Matthew Reeve (@ruskinite) March 5, 2014

I’m glad I went to work to pay my tax today. So that sheffield police can escort pissed #edl scum through my streets and let them abuse folk

— angela green (@ang4575) March 5, 2014

Did you see the EDL last night? Let us know what you think in the comments