Birmingham mosque counters far-right rally with a British-style tea party

The tea-party was open to people from all walks of life

The central mosque of Birmingham countered English Defence League’s [EDL] rally on Saturday afternoon with a “best of British” tea party.

In what was termed as a direct response to the far-right group’s event, the English-style tea party saw the mosque adorned with union flags, open to guests from all walks of life.

“We are just holding this event to show EDL that Birmingham is a peaceful city and we are all united irrespective of colour, race or religion,” said the Mosque’s chairman, Muhammad Afzal.



The event was attended by local Labour MP Liam Byrne who spoke to the crowd of about 300. “This is how we protest – by celebrating the quiet miracle of a normal life and the things that we love most about our city and our country.”

“Getting together as friends, getting together as neighbours, breaking a bit of Victoria sponge and having a cup of tea. That is a potent, powerful message that we will send to those who seek to divide us,” Byrne added.

The EDL event, on the other hand, was a small affair with an estimated 100 people joining in. Describing rally on their Facebook page, the group said it was responding to the Westminster attack last month.

[fbpost link="https://www.facebook.com/EnglishDefenceLeagueOFFICIAL/posts/1497662606933117"]

Despite heavy police presence, West Midlands police reported arrest of two – a man and a woman, after a fight broke out during the rally at Centernary Square.

“We have developed professional links with EDL organisers who recognise it is in the group’s best interests to protest and have their say peacefully. We will have a highly visible police presence on the ground and sufficient police resources on standby should there be any trouble,” the West Midlands police said in a statement.

EDL’s demonstration was condemned by leaders from the Labour, Liberal, Democratic and Conservative groups.



In a press release, the city council on behalf of the party group leaders, John Clancy, Robert Alden and Jon Hunt distanced itself from the event: “The English Defence League is not welcome in Birmingham. They will never be welcome in Birmingham. We would urge people to go about their normal everyday business. There is no place in our city for messages of hate. There is no place for intolerance and there is no place for violence or extremism of any kind.”

Meanwhile, Labour MP for Birmingham took to social networking site Twitter to condemn EDL demonstration:

Who looks like they have power here, the real Brummy on the left or the EDL who migrated for the day to our city and failed to assimilate pic.twitter.com/bu96ALQsOL

— Jess Phillips (@jessphillips) April 8, 2017

Many others joined the conversation:

Great turnout at Birmingham Central Mosque for the English Tea Party showing the diversity against the #EDL protest in Birmingham pic.twitter.com/9unzu9eUQO

— Waheed Saleem (@waheedsaleem) April 8, 2017

Is this how you challenge Islamophobia and EDL. Tea, cake and speeches at Birmingham Mosque #UAF pic.twitter.com/aUF9ZYl7g3

— davidrhughes (@davidrhughes) April 8, 2017

**PHOTO OF THE WEEK**
Enraged EDL racist stared down by amused, contemptuous Asian woman. #Birmingham
(via @AlexisTrust) pic.twitter.com/5kBdrrgvGf

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) April 8, 2017

https://twitter.com/westofcentral/status/850691259207385090

https://twitter.com/ibrownlad/status/850748379147771904

This article originally appeared on the Guardian