Once again the place we love to call home, Luton, gets to be in the news. The homecoming parade through the town earlier today by the 2nd Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment, back from a tour of duty in Iraq, hit the headlines because of a protest by a small group of Muslims opposed to the war in Iraq.
I spent three hours in central Luton this lunchtime, watched the march and some of the parade and demo, and managed to be inside the area where police were keeping protestor groups apart for the 90 minutes their stand off lasted. And to be honest I am not happy with what I read on the news.
The news that is being reported by pretty much all the British national press is this. The Royal Anglian Regiment held a homecoming parade in Luton with about 200 soldiers marching through the town at lunchtime, led by a military band, to a parade in the centre of town, where they were greeted by the Sikh mayor, the Duke of Gloucester and veterans. A large number of people welcomed them along the route and many followed to the parade on St George's Square. Along the way they encountered a noisy demonstration by a number of Muslims opposed to the Iraq war (actually a number of reports do not say they were Muslims, but rather "dressed as Muslims") with placards calling the soldiers "cowards, killers,extremists", "baby killers", "butchers of Basra". A lot of locals "watching the parade" opposed them vocally, some attacked them; later a number gathered and had to be held off; two were arrested for public order offences.
For example: Two held during parade protests on the BBC; Muslim extremists shout abuse at British soldiers during home-coming march in the Telegraph; Two arrested after protest at soldiers' homecoming parade in Luton in the Guardian; Abuse hurled at Our Iraq Boys is the expected headline in the Sun; and Muslim anti-war protesters abuse British soldiers as 'baby killers' during homecoming parade. All read pretty much the same except with the expected editorial flourishes of the Mail (tending towards Islamophobia: strong focus on pictures of agressive Muslims demonstrating including a group of "burquared" women) and the Sun (nationalistic: "our boys"). Both papers reinforced the poluar image of Luton as hotbed of extremism and source of terror. To complete the round up, the local newspaper Luton Today has a couple of reports with personal interest stuff: VIDEO: Soldiers applauded by proud Luton crowd and VIDEO: Protestors disrupt soldiers' homecoming march .
But what else was going on that didn't get reported? Well, first of all in a town with a Muslim population of over 30,000 there were 15-20 demonstrators. OK they made a lot of noise, and the statement on their placards were offensive - nothing can remove that, and i do not write to defend them. But don't let the popular image of Luton be reinorced by these few.
Next, take a look at the video on the Luton Today site: VIDEO: Protestors disrupt soldiers' homecoming march. Look at the behaviour of the white protestors, both their words and the assault on the Muslim demonstrators directly and later their threatening behaviour as they trapped the Muslims in an alley and then they shouted at each other for the best part of 90 minutes until the police had managed to contain them and create a situation where they could lead the Muslims away safely. The reports above consistently refer to them as part of the crowd watching the parade. Many were, but I am not so sure that is an adequate way of describing them all.
Some were there with a definite purpose. Google "Royal Anglian March in Luton" and you soon find right wing blogs whose language about the Muslims protesting is as ugly as that we find so offensive of the anti-war demonstratring Muslims. ( I have a policy of not linking to these sites as I do not want to raise their google profile any higher, but they are easy to find.) The British National Party's site is caught in an interesting dilemma in that they oppose the war in Iraq, yet seek to get past that by support for the soldiers defending their nation. They speak of the "Islamification of this country" , "the inevitable consequence of the colonisation of this country by Third Worlders”, and "“Luton is well known as a heavily Muslim colonised town". The language of the article is relatively restrained; the same cannot be said of the comments which seem to promote action. Go further in the blog world and you come across, for example, "stormfront", a white pride site. A discusson thread "Disgusting hate of our soldiers returning to Luton from Iraq" clearly has chat relating to people planning to attend the march in response support the troops but also in response to a circular alleged to have been circulated by Muslims calling people to oppose the march. A pro-English anti EU site Daily Referendum has copies of that circular. Finally Dunstable blogger Lionheart has written "Our British Lions mocked in the streets of Luton by Moslems".
This may not have been a formal demo from the right, but there were definitely those who were intentionally to stir up opposition to the Muslims. And there was enough anger on the streets at those Muslims to cause them to gather together.
A military band with stirring music, marching, flags, speeches, the salute are all designed to convey pride. When the music chosen is "Rule Britannia" whose lyrics are unashamedly nationalistic, it swells that pride. That causes two responses: some are revolted and stirred to anger at that pride and all it represnts; others are stirred to defend the honour of their nation. And a march that was meant to honour the men cannot be separated from the cause they represented. It was quite frankly a red rag to the proverbial bull.
I am deeply saddened at what has happened today in my town. It has reinforced a stereotype that is unnessessary. It has stirred anger in some Muslims, including many who did not want to march but who feel once exposed to the anger of the white population. And it has inflamed anger against Muslims in a significant part of the community, which will strengthen the right wing.
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