The English Defence League emerged last year and has held demonstrations in a number of towns and cities against radicalisation. The EDL is turning parts of Britain into recruiting grounds for Islamic extremists. Many EDL demonstrations and counter-demonstrations have ended in violence, and Det Supt John Larkin says they have witnessed signs of radicalisation afterwards. EDL leader, Tommy Robinson, says: We're not the cause. The root cause of the problem is the Koran, it's Islam” The BBC was given exclusive access to the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit - housed in one of the most secretive buildings in the UK. Thousands of people will have walked or driven past the anonymous offices, somewhere in the West Midlands, without realising that inside lies a counter-terrorism hub. The West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit was set up six years ago, the first outside London. Its boss is Det Ch Supt Matt Sawers. He says: "We put together a small group of about 80 people, but some of the threats that started to present themselves meant that we needed to build up the numbers." Inside the brightly lit modern building, staff with police, military and intelligence backgrounds work in two broad areas. Besides detection, the next area is prevention. This unit aims to build strong links with communities to try to stop radicalisation taking place.
Reaction:
I think that The English Defense League is not a peaceful group that only wants to protect their people from Islamic extremists because during their demonstrations they act with violence, antisocial behavior and provoke British Muslims. The growth of the EDL is also having a real impact on the way ordinary Muslims are being threaten. A woman got on to a train which had a lot of EDL supporters recently and was badly abused, another man was attacked as he made his way home on the train. These are a few of the consequences.
