{"id":5190,"date":"2011-03-11T13:19:03","date_gmt":"2011-03-11T13:19:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tat.reddaisytrading.co.uk\/index.php\/2011\/03\/11\/sikh-disgust-at-edl-speech-let-off\/"},"modified":"2016-01-07T12:59:15","modified_gmt":"2016-01-07T12:59:15","slug":"sikh-disgust-at-edl-speech-let-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2011\/03\/11\/sikh-disgust-at-edl-speech-let-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Sikh disgust at EDL speech let-off"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u2018It\u2019s Double Standards\u2019, says anti-EDL Sikh group<\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

BRITISH Sikhs have reacted with fury at the failure to charge a spokesman for the English Defence League with causing religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress following an Anti-Muslim speech in Peterborough last year.<\/strong> <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Self-styled EDL leader Guramit Singh was arrested in December following the speech he made at a protest to over 1,000 supporters in Peterborough.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

A video of the speech \u2013 in which he insults Islam, the Prophet Muhammad and Allah \u2013 is widely available on the internet. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

But Cambridgeshire police said they were dropping the case following \u201cadvice from the Crown Prosecution Service.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The police decision not to proceed further with his case comes only days after the uproar in the media when Emadur Choudhury, an Islamist extremist, was fined \u00a350 after burning poppies during Remembrance Day last year.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Balwinder Singh Rana from \u2018Sikhs Against the EDL\u2019 said the decision not to charge Guramit Singh \u201csmacked of double standards.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, while the media was right to protest against the lenient treatment given to Choudhury for causing an offence to the memory of the fallen soldiers, I think now they should show the same vigour in demanding that Singh should not be allowed to get away for insulting a whole community,\u201d he told The Asian Today. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cThis smacks of \u2018double standards\u2019 on behalf of the justice system in this country. \u201cGuramit Singh, by fronting the racist EDL, has only brought shame and embarrassment to the Sikh Community, but most of the community is united in condemning his actions.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Sikh groups and religious institutions across the country have united to condemn the EDL through a joint statement.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Varinder Singh, organiser of the \u2018Sikhs Against the EDL\u2019 and a signatory of the joint statement said: \u201cIt\u2019s a real shame that an individual like Guramit Singh can get away with saying just about anything and bringing our community into disrepute.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that this incident has clearly exposed the EDL for its true fascist nature. I also feel immensely proud seeing the Sikh community unite against the EDL and hold individuals such as Guramit accountable for their actions. Already we have had many organisations approach us to open and engage in interfaith dialogue with them.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking ahead I think another generation of anti fascists will emerge out of this who will continue to promote pluralism in our local communities.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Related Articles:<\/strong><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Just Say No: How British Sikhs are Fighting the EDL Recruitment Drive<\/a><\/div>\n

\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018It\u2019s Double Standards\u2019, says anti-EDL Sikh group BRITISH Sikhs have reacted with fury at the failure to charge a spokesman for the English Defence League with causing religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress following an Anti-Muslim speech in Peterborough last year. Self-styled EDL leader Guramit Singh was arrested in December following […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}