EDL rampage as journalists attacked in Dudley
A shop in Dudley is boarded up in anticipation of violence at the English Defence League protest. Image © Jonathan Warren/jwarren.co.uk 2010
Entering the town of Dudley yesterday was like entering a ghost town, an almost militarised ghost town. More than half the roads in the town centre were closed, with police manning the roadblocks. As we made our way to where the English Defence League rally was due to be held we walked past rows of boarded up shops. The marketplace that should have been doing a roaring trade on a normal Bank Holiday weekend was empty.
EDL supporters assemble on the dual carriageway outside Dudley. Image © Jonathan Warren/jwarren.co.uk 2010
The EDL were assembling on a dual carriageway just outside the town centre, both sides had been closed to allow them to gather on one side, with police vans lining up alongside them on the other. When we arrived at around midday there were around 200, mostly local, protesters. None were wearing the customary EDL hoodies and a handful of police stood by, whilst more sat in their vans, watching.
Coaches from around the country bring EDL supporters to assemble on a dual carriageway outside Dudley. Image © Jonathan Warren/jwarren.co.uk 2010
Over the next two hours their numbers swelled, with coaches arriving from all over the country, they arrived in convey, each led by several police outriders and two or three police vans behind. As each set of coaches arrived the chants grew louder, along with the usual ‘E, E, EDL’, ‘I’m English ’til I die’ and ‘Muslim bombers, off our streets’ I also heard the chants which the EDL website asks not to be sung at protests ‘Allah, Allah, who the f*ck is Allah?’ and ‘Allah is a paedo’.
EDL stewards break up a fight between EDL protesters. Image © Jonathan Warren/jwarren.co.uk 2010
Eventually the EDL numbered around 3000, stretching back nearly half a kilometre along the A461, surrounded by a line of police. At one point EDL stewards at the front of the march had to hold the EDL back as they tried to push forwards, shortly after they also had to dive in to stop a fight between the EDL. Meanwhile photographers and journalists standing in front of the march, behind the police lines, had glass bottles and coins thrown at them whenever they got close.
Chris Renton, bottom left, leads the EDL march into Dudley. Image © Jonathan Warren/jwarren.co.uk 2010
Standing at the front of the march with a shaved head and EDL Bristol Division hoodie directing the stewards, was Chris Renton. Renton, alias John Sheridan, who was listed on the leaked BNP membership list as an activist runs the EDL website and Facebook groups. He has also been accused of hijacking the EDL by organisers of the early protests in Luton.
Police wait as a EDL stewards break up a fight between EDL supporters as they march into Dudley. Image © Jonathan Warren/jwarren.co.uk 2010
As the police slowly marched the EDL along the dual carriageway towards the car park where they were due to hold their rally they stopped numerous times as fights broke out at the front of the march. EDL stewards quickly moved in to break up the fights, whilst the police patiently stood and waited for them.
The EDL were marching into the carpark next to where the new Mosque was due to be built when I heard an unfamiliar chant ‘If you build your f*cking Mosque we’ll burn it down’ which one of my colleagues caught on video (1:10).
English Defence League protesters attempt to break out of barriers that police set up around the protest area. Image © Jonathan Warren/jwarren.co.uk 2010
Not long after the EDL had filed into the carpark for their rally they attempted to pull down the metal fencing surrounding the protest area. Police quickly deployed batons, riot shields and helmets to hold back the surging crowd. EDL stewards again tried to calm the crowd and put the damaged fences back up. The fixings that had been used to hold the fences together were thrown by the crowd at the police and stewards.
An English Defence League steward covers a photographers lens and tells him to stop taking photographs. Image © Jonathan Warren/jwarren.co.uk 2010
As we documented what was happening we too came under attack, an EDL member not in the pen pushed two photographers over who were photographing the EDL attempting to break out. As they got back to their feet he told them to watch their backs. An EDL steward also came up to a colleague, put his hand over his lens and quite forcefully told him to leave. It’s clear that the EDL did not want any witnesses to their violence.
English Defence League protesters jeer police from behind a fence that they have just pulled down. Image © Jonathan Warren/jwarren.co.uk 2010
As the rally finished and the police began to march the EDL back along the dual carriageway to the coaches, another part of the fencing was pulled down and there was a tense standoff between the crowd and a handful of police in riot gear. Bricks, bottles and parts of the destroyed fencing flew overhead. Officers moved round from an intact part of the fence to where the fence had been pulled down to stop the EDL from running out. An eerie female voice announced over the police tannoy ‘Disperse immediately or batons will be used’.
English Defence League protesters break out of the fencing surrounding the protest area. Image © Jonathan Warren/jwarren.co.uk 2010
Minutes later the crowd broke through another part of the fencing. There were no police to stop them and hundreds of EDL ran out across the carpark, quickly pulling down a second fence before heading towards the town centre. A small group of police sheepishly followed the crowd at a distance as hundreds of EDL ran into the deserted town centre.
Police in riot gear follow English Defence League protesters as they run through Dudley town centre after breaking out of their protest area. Image © Jonathan Warren/jwarren.co.uk 2010
Making our way through the town, lines of riot police blocked off roads, forcing the rampaging EDL to find other routes. We stuck close to the police following behind the EDL. The mob started to split off into smaller groups, going down side streets and alleyways that the police had yet to block off.
Eventually the remaining hundred or so EDL were contained by police, just a street away from where the UAF were holding their rally. A police helicopter buzzed loudly overhead, presumably still tracking the smaller groups of EDL that had broken off.
English Defence League supporters retreat behind a line of police as protesters shout anti-fascist slogans at them. Image © Jonathan Warren/jwarren.co.uk 2010
Just as we arrived at the UAF rally there were chants of ‘Nazi scum off our streets’ as a crowd of anti-fascists were surrounding the leader of the EDL youth division, Joel Titus and several others. They quickly retreated behind a line of police, but no sooner than they had walked around the corner, a few dozen local youths ran behind some houses to block them off.
A car window smashed by local youths in Dudley. Image © Jonathan Warren/jwarren.co.uk 2010
The youths threw bricks and lumps of mud at Titus and the other EDL members before they retreated again behind police lines. UAF stewards tried to stop them from throwing missiles and to return to the UAF rally, but to little avail. The youths then went on a short rampage of their own, running down the street, smashing car windows. Their frustrations vented they heeded the stewards and went back to the rally.
A masked English Defence League protester in Dudley. Image © Jonathan Warren/jwarren.co.uk 2010
Riot police had now surrounded what was left of the UAF rally and people had begun to disperse. We walked the hundred meters or so back down the street to where the EDL were being contained by police, they seemed to have had their fill as well, stood in the middle of the street drinking and smoking. One man was wearing a bloodied England shirt, holding a bandage to his head from what must of been a serious blow to the head.
Shops in Dudley town centre are boarded up in anticipation of violence from the English Defence League protest. Image © Jonathan Warren/jwarren.co.uk 2010
With the EDL contained by the police again we made our way back through Dudley, the streets still deserted, but now littered with broken bricks and glass.
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Jonathan Warren is a freelance photojournalist. View more images from Dudley
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