Tommy Robinson
had shouted, "You are enforcing Sharia law", at officers who held him
on suspicion of obstructing police as he tried to enter the London borough of
Tower Hamlets.
The EDL had previously announced plans to walk through part
of the capital before gathering outside Woolwich Barracks, near where Drummer
Rigby was hacked to death in broad daylight .
But the Metropolitan Police put conditions on the march
which demanded that it ended at Old Palace Yard, opposite the House of Lords.
As well as planning to lay flowers in memory of Drummer
Rigby, Mr Robinson and EDL co-leader Kevin Carroll, who was also arrested, were
walking to raise money for a young girl fighting cancer.
Sky Correspondent Tom Parmenter said: "They'd walked
six miles when they were arrested outside Aldgate East underground station. Police
had been tracking the walk across London and had regularly spoken to them about
their route.
Mr Robinson and Mr Carroll repeatedly asked if they would actually be arrested before another man approached the pair and assaulted Mr Carroll.
Parmenter said: "As police officers tried to deal with
the situation the EDL leaders continued to walk forward and then a senior
policewoman placed the pair under arrest."
The pair, who were wearing T-shirts bearing the words
"support our troops", were led into a police van in handcuffs while
complaining about their treatment. They were taken to Wandsworth police
station, in southwest London, and two other men were arrested over the assault.
At the start of the walk in Hyde Park, Mr Robinson had
said: "There's two of us doing a charity walk.
"They're
(police) saying it (Tower Hamlets) is a Muslim area but to me there is no
Muslim area, there are just areas of my capital city that if I have to walk
from A to B then you have to walk through."
Scotland Yard said the conditions were imposed because of
fears the march and the gathering would result in "serious public
disorder" and it had warned that a breach would lead to arrest.
The Met said it
had attempted to work with the EDL to facilitate the march and gathering and
offered them two alternative routes that avoided the London Borough of Tower
Hamlets, which is home to the East London Mosque.
Mr Robinson earlier replied to a tweet asking him what
weather he was expecting for Saturday: "I’ll be in a cell by lunch time so
won't matter. Ha ha"
Earlier this week, two American political activists who
founded an anti-Muslim group were banned by the Home Secretary from entering
the UK following reports they were to attend this weekend's march.
Pamela Geller and
Robert Spencer, who set up Stop Islamisation of America and run the website
Jihad Watch, have been forbidden from entering the country on the grounds their
presence would "not be conducive to the public good".
The police also banned the British National Party from
marching from Woolwich Barracks earlier in June and ordered it to move its
protest to Westminster.
Related posts at following links:
Two Muslim Thugs Beheaded a British Soldier in London
London's Tower Hamlet Turned into a Muslim Hellhole
Two Muslim Thugs Beheaded a British Soldier in London
London's Tower Hamlet Turned into a Muslim Hellhole