EDL Recruiting in Reading

EDL Reading, a photo by rdgmck on Flickr.

Sad to say that the EDL were recruiting in Broad St Reading this afternoon.

In this picture they were trying to tell a Christian who was evangelising on the street, that they were an "honourable" organisation and that they never threatened anyone. As someone who has received a number of threats from the EDL some of them violent I had to intervene at this point.

The chap on the right of the photo went on to tell me that he had nothing against muslims as he had lived in Pakistan but was against those muslims who wore burkas and were plotting to take over the country.

We argued in a light hearted way for a bit, when he also admitted that he was also protesting against the decision in decision in Belfast to only fly the Union flag from the Town Hall on certain days. He also told me he was against the Poles coming over to the UK in droves.

This arguement./discussion went on for a while and it looked to me that they packed up and went home, or at least moved on. They were not happy at being challenged in the street.

So what should the ordinary person in the street do when they see the EDL campaigning in Reading Streets. It is probably best to simply walk on by and ignore them. Perhaps if you are of a Christian bent, they should be prayed for, perhaps. If you believe in free expression, you should express your opinion of racism to them?