THURROCK MP Jackie Doyle-Price used a speech at the Grays Sikh Temple on Sunday morning to launch a scathing attack on the members of the English Defence League (EDL) after racial incidents on Grays High Street just twenty four hours earlier.
In her speech, Ms Doyle-Price praised the work of the Sikh community in spreading peace and a sense of community in Grays and Thurrock.
She said: ” We live in a country where freedom and tolerance are cherished. We thank you for the work that you do including raising nearly £2,000 for the Tsunami appeal in Japan.
“The events of yesterday around the corner will not be tolerated. They will not be allowed to push their extreme form of nationalism into the faces of the people of Thurrock.”
The MP was around the corner in Grays High Street when the incident took place. Shoppers and residents were shocked as members of the EDL upended a stall run by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. A member of the EDL then produced a lighter and according to the members of the muslim community threatend to burn a copy of the Koran that was on the stall.
The MP’s sentiments were echoed by deputy leader of Labour group and councillor for Grays Riverside, Valerie Morris-Cook. She said: “The EDL can crawl back to wherever they came from. They came for confrontation and to spread bile and hatred.
“Well they can take it from me. They are not welcome, so pack up your bags and leave Thurrock alone.
The police are continuing to sift through CCTV images and their own video to identify the alleged perpetrators.
Hmmm, strange how the Labour councillors condem the EDL for their nationalist views concidering that they got into bed with the BNP councillor to take control of the Council, surely this is double standards 🙂
Lambo…. You’ve gone too far now suggesting that Labour councillors are hypocritical…. YT will be handing over your email address etc to the Labour Party so that you can receive a visit and be “re-educated”.
But then again, I agree completely… Labour complain bitterly when the Independants etc get in to bed with the Conservatives but, when the boots on the other foot… “Oh No, it’s all in the name of democracy”…
Editor’s Note: Re Lab getting into bed with BNP to take control, don’t think it quite worked out that way.
Think the mosaic of Concerned Cons etc helped them lurch into power.
…unlike the Conservatives who discussed not standing candidates in Tilbury so the BNP win and deprive Labour of seats, and then denied that they had ever discussed this, unfortunately having the conversation placed in their group minutes, that they then claimed were fake.