Tommy Robinson, AKA Chris Lennon, called for a public rally to support 'Free Speech' after he was prevented from speaking last week. Robinson wanted to deliver a speech that had been written in jail by a co-thinker who was detailed as he and a woman journalist were barred from entering the UK because of their opposition to Islamist. Robinson pointed out that for three hundred years people had been allowed to speak freely in the park. But now that was threatened because of government sensitivity to Islamists.
Saudi Arabian dictators who fund most of the violent Islamic Jihadi attacks around the world are free to come and go in the UK and say what they like. Saudi inspired Wahhabi Islamist 'preachers' are free to come to England and preach their advocacy of explicit violence while the government looks the other way. But people who have committed no violence, and are not advocating violence are not allowed to criticize the ideas of Islam, or the actions of Muslims. As the two foreign friend where expelled from the country, after three days locked up, Robinson was given the speech.
Online, on Youtube, on Twitter, on Facebook, Tommy Robinson called for a demonstration of support as he gave the speech on Sunday the 18th of March.
As Robinson and supporters where getting into a van to go to the park a nervous tension was evident. Early reports were coming in that there were already hundreds gathering in the chilly park where snow was still on the ground in patches and the trees where grey and bare. A number of police vehicles were around and perhaps a hundred police visible. The crowds of people where in winter coats with hands in their pockets. The police where in bright day-glo vests, but not in riot gear. In the van Robinson had the speech in his hand on a couple of folded sheets of white paper. He wondered if he would be arrested as soon as he set foot in the park. A camera man was videoing the scene inside the van and broadcasting live on Facebook and Youtube. Thousands of people were watching all around the world.
As they circled the park, police vans where parked and the crowd was growing. Perhaps two thousand people where there. Some Antifa were spotted, and a clot of about a dozen or more bearded Right Wing Muslims were in a small organized group shouting the Islamic battle cry "Allahu Akbar."
Robinson got out of the van with a tight group of six men around him to push through the crowd and prevent the Islamists from attacking. He carried a short step stool to stand on to face the crowd. The live-feed camera man was separated as the group moved through the tightly packed crowd.
The police did not arrest Tommy Robinson. The crowd was chanting 'Tommy, Tommy, Tommy, Tommy Robinson' in a rhythmic football style sing-song. There were two or three Union Jacks, an English flag, and an Israeli Star of David flag among the crowd. People chanted 'Free Speech, Free Speech!' There were only a few protest signs, perhaps five or six. They supported free speech. The crowd was overwhelmingly white, but there were some black people and other people of color. There were young people, but many were older adults. Perhaps 80% of the crowd were men. Hardly any children were there. At its height about two thousand people were in the park to support Tommy Robinson and Free Speech.
Near the edge of the crowd there was a clot of Islamists with beards. They had three leaders. At one point one leader told the Muslms to 'step back four paces.' Everyone did as he said. 'Nothing comes from disorganization,' the leader said. 'Do not do anything unless you are told by me, or the other two leaders.' The group was focussed and ready to fight. 'Allahu Akbar,' they shouted. The small clot of Islamists was mostly ignored by the crowd of two thousand, except for some arguments and a few shoving matches. On the other side of the crowd a Muslim had a small stand set up and was handing out free Korans. No one bothered him.
A group of about twenty police officers stood in the middle of the crowd in a circle facing outward. The police made no effort to separate the Muslim counter-protesters from the rest of the crowd. People said there were Antifa present, but they were not visible. Robinson set up the step stool and took out a smart phone to record and broadcast video. With no sound system he began to deliver the short speech. "I am writing this from jail...' Robinson again emphasized that for three hundred years anyone, including Karl Marx and Lenin had been able to come to the corner and speak, but now, because of Islamist objections people are losing their freedoms. 'I'm not here to talk about my politics today; I am here to support free speech.'
The crowd listened though from a distance he could not be heard. The camera man with the large camera doing a live fed was a distance from Robinson but could not pick up the sound with the remote mic. The short speech finished and Robinson thanked the crowd for coming out and supporting Freedom of Speech. He climbed down off the step stool and his security team. As the team pushed through the pressing crowd there was a report that an Antifa threw a punch and grazed Tommy Robinson.
Robinson and his crew got back in the van and drove away. People began to leave the park immediately as it was cold, and the point had been made. Numerous camera people were around from various official media and many independent media. There were plenty of people with their smart phones out recording video. One camera person asked different people where they were from and why they came to the protest. People had come from Birmingham, Scotland, and Wales. Everyone said that free speech was the issue.
One woman spoke to the camera man and pointed across the street. "That's the Brazillian embassy. A Lesbian community activist was machine gunned to death in Brazil recently, why doesn't Antifa go protest against that?' she said. Someone went by with a green Kekistan Alt Right Flag and held it up for the camera.
The Muslim dozen were taunting the crowd as it broke up chanting 'Allahu Akbar!' A group gathered to oppose them and sang, "Rule Britanian, Britanian Rules the waves, Brittons never, never shall be slaves." The Islamists laughed gleefully and chanted a song in Arabic. A woman said, "If you don't like this country, why are you here?"
Robinson's main camera man was waiting in front of the hotel for the van and was told to go to a different place. With a bright fireplace behind him as he sat comfortable at a large wooden table Tommy Robinson was pouring a Diet Coke in a glass and saying, 'This changes history. We did it.'
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