The English Defence League is a far right street protest movement which focuses on opposing what it considers to be the spread of Islamism and Sharia law in the UK. The EDL has been described as Islamophobic and has faced confrontations with various groups, including Unite Against Fascism (UAF) who I will also be able to photograph at a march the EDL take part in because they're always there to oppose them.
Tommy Robinson and Kevin Carroll who were co-founders of the organisation, have now left the group, with Robinson citing concerns over the "dangers of far-right extremism". He was replaced as leader by Tim Ablitt. Ablitt had previously been organiser of the South West branch of the EDL, before taking over from Robinson in October 2013.
The EDL formed after an Islamic extremist group called Al-Muhajiroun, held a demonstration against the war in Afghanistan in 2009 which then ended in a few of them getting arrested. The EDL formed through people such as football hooligans deciding something needed to be done about this, these hooligans found that a lot of different 'firms' and supporters had the same views as them and they joined together through common interest. They decided that Islamic extremists was a national problem which needed to be dealt with, so they put aside their football rivalries and joined together under the flag of the EDL. To this day a lot of the way the organisation acts in front of the media and the violence they can create, can be associated with their football hooligan routes. Even though the organisers and leaders say it is an established political party that should be taken seriously. They believe to have had between 25,000- 35,000 active members in 2011, but support has been on a bit of a decrease since then.There is a large association with the EDL and violence even though they try to complete their demonstrations peacefully this isn't always the outcome. Most of their conflict is with Unite Against Fascism or groups similar. This has led the police to spend anywhere between £300,000 to £1 million worth of tax payers money policing the event to make sure no trouble happens. It has been recorded that some journalists have had death threats from the group for painting them in a bad light. This suggests that I need to be incredibly careful when photographing the group, and making it clear to them why I am doing this project. A lot of the most violent EDL protests and marches were between the years of 2010- 2011, and they don't have as many incidents as they used to.