# EDL march in Manchester

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edl-march-in-manchester/823354>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 22, 2018, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edl-march-in-manchester/823354 "2018-10-22T21:28:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2018, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edl-march-in-manchester/823354/1 "2018-10-22T21:28:50Z")

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The EDL (a racist organisation) held a march in Manchester, one of the UK’s bigger cities. The turnout was… underwhelming. 🙂

[The Poke](https://www.thepoke.co.uk/2018/10/22/edl-march-manchester-could-entertaining-thing-ever-done/) has the story and some of the funnier reactions.

We don’t have much truck with racism over here.

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**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2018, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edl-march-in-manchester/823354/2 "2018-10-22T21:39:26Z")

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> [@Quartz](#):
>
> We don’t have much truck with racism over here.

:rolleyes:

Stranger

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**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edl-march-in-manchester/823354/3 "2018-10-24T17:52:53Z")

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That photo looks like a Klan march I saw when MLK Day became a national holiday. About 2000 counter-protesters jeered a solid phalanx of Atlanta police officers, Georgia State Troopers, and GBI agents, over whose heads could occasionally be seen the tip of a pointy white hood.

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**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2018, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edl-march-in-manchester/823354/4 "2018-10-26T18:28:16Z")

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Hysterical if the constabulary could have ‘escorted’ them over an open manhole cover. I have to say, if I wanted to march out my unpopular and inflammatory beliefs, I’d be a little put out to be surrounded such that I could not be identified. After all, aren’t marches and parades all about showing oneself off? This setup makes it hard to be identified, and it makes the racists look like they can’t take care of themselves.

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**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2018, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/edl-march-in-manchester/823354/5 "2018-10-27T06:41:55Z")

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I thought the EDL no longer existed since Tommy Robinson/Steven Yaxley-Lennon (convicted mortgage fraudster and violent soccer hooligan) found it more advantageous to [build up his YouTube martyrdom, and hobnob with well-funded American Islamophobes](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/25/tommy-robinson-and-the-far-rights-new-playbook) and [parliamentary expenses fiddlers](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/6692856/UKIP-leader-Lord-Pearson-claimed-100000-allowances-for-3.7m-London-home.html).

How does a man sent to prison for a mortgage fraud in 2014 end up [living in a £950k mansion in 2018](http://guerillawire.org/politics/tommy-robinson-fans-taken-for-mugs/)?

PS. To American readers. Apparently he’s hoping to get back into the US, despite having previously also been convicted there of illegal entry on someone else’s passport. I assume anyone with any sense would want to encourage the US authorities not to turn a blind eye to this as a result of blether about his right to free speech or of alt-right contrarianism.