Far-Right group filmed on 'patrol' at East End mosque

 
“British resistance”: Paul Golding in a still from the video of Britain First’s “Christian Patrols” through the East End
6 February 2014
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Police have held an emergency meeting following claims supporters of the far-Right are inflaming racial tensions in the East End in the wake of so-called Muslim Patrols.

Former British National Party councillor Paul Golding was filmed apparently confronting Muslims in Whitechapel as part of a vigilante campaign.

Shot by members of his far-Right Britain First organisation on Friday, footage showed "activists" handing out leaflets advertising their so-called Christian Patrols — allegedly in response to the self-titled Muslim Patrol group that previously operated in Tower Hamlets.

Last December, three members of the Muslim group — including 19-year-old white convert Jordan Horner — were jailed for harassing, intimidating and assaulting people in East London while claiming to enforce sharia law.

Golding is the former head of publicity for the BNP and is currently on police bail for allegedly harassing hate preacher Anjem Choudary.

He was part of a 15-strong group in two cars stationed in Brick Lane — the "heart of Muslim East London".

Members approached passers-by, at one point telling a group: "If you want to live here, you abide by our rules."

Later, Britain First members were filmed drinking beer and smoking cigarettes outside the East London Mosque during Friday prayers, apparently to "draw out" Muslim Patrol members.

The footage ended with them holding a banner by the doors to the mosque, which read: "We are the British resistance." They used a picture of murdered British soldier Lee Rigby and the caption: "The day Lee Rigby was murdered, thousands of patriots were born... the fightback has begun."

On its website, the group states the campaign will be ongoing. Their actions have been widely condemned and the group reported to police, who yesterday held an emergency meeting with community leaders and council officials about the issue.

A spokesman for the East London Mosque said it was "shocked" by the "fringe neo-Nazi" group.

Dilowar Khan, executive director of the mosque and the London Muslim Centre, said: "Efforts to intimidate and marginalise our community have been relentless. However, we take comfort in the support given by our partners in the community... We will not let those who espouse hatred damage our wonderful community relations."

Matthew Collins, spokesman for anti-racism and anti-extremism organisation Hope Not Hate, said: "It is just one set of extremists trying to antagonise another set of extremists. But in fact they harass normal people."

And Bishop of Stepney The Right Reverend Adrian Newman said: "There is no place for vigilante patrols, Christian, Muslim or any other faith."

But Golding, who is standing against BNP leader Nick Griffin in the upcoming European elections, insisted he was acting for the "silent majority".

He said: "If there was no Muslim Patrol there would be no Christian Patrol.

"We are patriotic, we are British and we are upholding the law... We are not a racist organisation."

A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan police said it was aware of the video but no arrests had yet been made.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in