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Harrow Festival of Unity ahead of anti-Islam protest (From Harrow Times)
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Harrow Festival of Unity ahead of anti-Islam protest
11:50am Friday 6th November 2009
ANTI-FASCISTS will hold a unity festival in the face of protest threats by an anti-Islam group.
Unite Against Fascism (UAF) is arranging political speeches and entertainment on Saturday, November 21, ahead of a planned rally by Stop Islamisation of Europe (SIOE) on December 13.
Sarah Cox, of Brent and Harrow UAF, said: “It's fundamentally about bringing the borough together in unity to show, as it showed before, there's no section of the community that welcomes that kind of bigotry.
“We want to show that we stand together.”
SIOE, a group of self-proclaimed Islamaphobics, plan to protest outside Harrow Central Mosque, in Station Road, and UAF will hold a counter-demonstration the same day.
The two groups went head-to-head on September 11 after SIOE planned a 9/11 rally in the same spot, and the stand off lead to violent scenes.
The anti-Islam campaigners blame UAF for the violence, while UAF blame SIOE for stirring up hatred causing emotions to bubble over for some people who turned out to defend the mosque.
Referring to SIOE, Ms Cox said: “These people cannot be allowed to march without people showing them how unwelcome they are. Otherwise they just get more confident.
“They come back for more. They come back after dark.”
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Your Say YourHarrow
DimSum, Harrow says...
8:07pm Thu 12 Nov 09
Don't tell us HARROW IS UNITED !!! United on what ? Social security handouts ?
Protesters gathered outside Harrow Central Mosque on September 11.
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Anti-Nazi, Harlesden says...
3:53pm Sun 8 Nov 09
May I add another correction to your report? It is not true that "the two groups went head-to-head on Septmber 11th". Mr Gash, who appears to have been the sole representative of SIOE, was arrested for his own safety and his supporters from the English Defence League and British National Party were unable to get anywhere near the Harrow Central Mosque because of the large number of people, the vast majority of whom were local, who turned out to show their solidarity with the Mosque and their determination to defend and celebrate Harrow's united community. The small groups of EDL and BNP supporters were surrounded by police at various locations around Harrow and then escorted away to the stations.