Tameside Council seek to ban English Defence League rally

February 22, 2012

In response to a plan by the to hold a march next Saturday, the leader of Tameside Council, Kieran Quinn, has said the council will be requesting that the  ban the EDL from marching through the town of, near the city of Manchester.

Councillor Quinn described the EDL as a "hate-filled group wishing to come to Hyde to try and incite hatred".

The EDL march was started in response to an attack on February 4 against two 17-year-old males in Hyde, Daniel Stringer-Price and Kavan Brown. The teenagers claim they were attacked by a gang of Asian men, and the police are investigating it as being a racially-motivated crime. Daniel's mother, Cheryl Stringer, has said she does not want the EDL rally to be held: "The EDL have decided to do this and it's go nothing to do with us whatsoever. We don't want this march to go ahead. It's not going to change anything – it won't make anything better it will just cause more problems."

Peter Fahy, the Chief Constable of, said that the police were concerned "that there could be a threat to peace and order". Fahy went on: "The attack was an awful crime but I'm not sure we need outsiders coming in, and clearly the fear is that they are just exploiting the situation."