
The women of Epping don't need Tommy Robinson's help
Even Robinson doesn't seem able to make his mind up about what to do. On Sunday, he tweeted: 'Hear you loud and clear, I'm coming to Epping next Sunday ladies and bringing thousands more with me'. By lunchtime on Monday, Robinson appeared to have had second thoughts, posting a video in which he appeared to backtrack. The far-right activist said that, despite people asking him to go to Epping, he thinks it 'may not benefit the cause'. He went on to describe the Epping protests – which erupted after the arrest and charge of an asylum seeker last week on suspicion of alleged sexual assaults in the town – as involving 'local families, local women, local mothers, local children'. He noted that his presence might give the authorities an 'excuse' to 'label it a different way'. Robinson might be desperate for attention, but he isn't stupid.
Many locals in Epping would certainly prefer Robinson stays away. Monday night's peaceful protest began with the striking sight of a line of women holding hands and chanting 'protect our kids'. They waved hand-made signs with slogans such as 'Make England safe again', 'I'm not far right – I'm worried about my kids' and 'deport foreign criminals'.
Orla Minihane is one local mum who is worried. A Reform council candidate, she found herself giving an impromptu speech on Thursday, as violent clashes were beginning between locals, counterprotestors from Stand up to Racism, and police. Speaking through a megaphone, Orla described the crowd as 'good, local, taxpaying people', who 'don't want trouble, don't want fights', but who oppose the presence of hundreds of strange, threatening men in their community.
When I spoke with Orla she made it clear to me that the community's concerns are not about race: 'I wouldn't care if they were from Iceland, blonde, blue-eyed and Christian. At the end of the day, they're strange men who nobody has checked'.
She described increasing fears in the Epping area over the past year, as women have reported being followed home and blatant shoplifting has soared. There have been reports of men approaching young girls outside schools. Yet the authorities seem reluctant to provide specific details about the men involved, adding to the suspicion and distrust felt by the local community.
For many locals, the arrest and charge of an asylum seeker this month was the final straw.
Reform leader Nigel Farage has said that most of the protestors in Epping are 'genuinely concerned families', before warning that politicians shouldn't 'underestimate the simmering anger and disgust…that we are letting in every week hundreds of undocumented young males from cultures where women and girls are not even treated as second class citizens'. Farage went on to say 'I don't think anybody in London even understands how close we are to civil disobedience on a vast scale in this country'.
Perhaps Tommy Robinson won't turn up in Epping. Or perhaps his love of the limelight will draw him there. If he does attend next Sunday though, it would likely mean significantly more violence. Stand Up To Racism have already announced a 'No to fascist Tommy Robinson' protest to begin in Epping next Sunday afternoon. If they, and Robinson's followers, attend in large numbers, large-scale disorder may be inevitable. This would be in no one's interests, and would harm the local campaign, likely allow the government to paint all opposition to migrant hotels as 'far right' and do nothing to make the women and girls of Epping safe. Let's hope Robinson stays away, and the peaceful, local voices are heard.

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The Guardian
26 minutes ago
- The Guardian
How violent protests in Epping are being fuelled by disinformation
Enjoying beers in the afternoon sunshine on Epping High Street, the three local men were adamant about recent events in the town. Not only had Essex police used their own vans to 'bus in' antiracism counter-demonstrators last week to Epping, insisted one of the men, but masked undercover police officers had been among the 'lefties'. 'They were masked up and looked like foot-soldiers. Anyone who works in security will also pick up on how they were standing. If you looked you could see they held their hands together to give a discreet thumbs-up sign,' said the man, reluctant like so many other local people to go on the record, but who gave his name as 'Steve Davis'. The only problem with this analysis was: it appeared to be entirely wrong. Essex police has 'categorically' denied that it bussed in antiracism protesters. The suggestion of state-sponsored 'false flag' provocateurs – a frequent trope advanced on niche corners of social media at times of tensions on the streets – was also dismissed. The denials have often come too late to stop the conspiracies taking hold. They have been eagerly spread by the Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, and also carried on the front page of the Daily Telegraph. Disinformation has been one of the most alarming characteristics of the violent protests in Epping, whose focus has been the use of the Bell hotel to house asylum seekers. Local people have continued to turn out for the protests, which were sparked after an asylum seeker was charged with sexual assault – but far-right activists have played a key role in promoting them online. Activists from groups including Homeland, Patriotic Alternative and the neo-Nazi White Vanguard movement have been present. Online misinformation and disinformation originating on niche corners of X has been amplified – seemingly without attempt to corroborate whether it are true – by politicians such as Farage and commenters from the GB News channel. Video clips of Stand Up to Racism protesters being taken out of Epping last Thursday in police vans, after they were surrounded by groups of men who threw projectiles at them and the police, were quickly repurposed on social media – and presented as if they were images of protesters being transported from Epping station. In fact, as Essex police has confirmed, the Stand Up to Racism protesters had made their way on foot from the station earlier in the day, while police escorted them on foot to enable them to exercise a right to protest. By Friday, however, rightwing commenters such as the ex-GB News presenter Dan Wootton were also misrepresenting the footage. 'They actually escorted people in police vans,' Wootton told the viewers of the online show he set up after leaving GB News. On Wednesday, Farage posted the same footage on X, saying: 'This video proves [police] transported leftwing protesters to the Bell hotel in Epping' and calling for the resignation of the Essex police chief constable, Ben-Julian Harrington. The force issued a statement saying this was categorically untrue, while Harrington made pointed comments in a press conference where he urged commenters to be responsible for what they said online, adding that it had 'real-world consequences'. Farage modulated his language after he was contacted by the Guardian on Wednesday, saying the police were 'escorting and bussing masked thugs to and from the protest', but his original tweet remains on X. Later on Thursday, and in a tweet shortly after 10pm on Wednesday, Farage went on GB News to say he had received a call from a police officer who was in charge of the operation to say he was wrong. 'If I was slightly out on accuracy I apologise but I think the gist of what I was saying was right,' he said. By then, however, the misinformation had spread like wildfire and done 'real damage', according to Lewis Nielsen of Stand Up to Racism. 'It is a complete lie to say, as Farage has claimed, that Stand Up to Racism protesters were 'bussed in'. We are mobilising antiracists, trade unionists, campaigners and faith groups against the far right in Epping,' he said. Yet more conspiracies – some outlandish, others more minor but corrosive – continue to circulate. They include unsubstantiated accusations that asylum seekers staying at the hotel are routinely shoplifting in Epping. Other claims – accompanied by pictures of the Stand Up to Racism protest – include one that Epping police has been paying protesters £40 'for three hours' work. It was among conspiracy theories being disseminated in online spaces including the Epping Says No! Facebook group, which has more than 1,600 members. Its administrators include activists from the far-right Homeland party, Adam Clegg and Callum Barker. The claims of undercover police officers being among the antiracism protesters have been accompanied by clips and pictures zeroing in on pictures of some of those protesters. The claims were also denied by Essex police, which has been trying to combat what it calls 'myths' in videos fronted by an assistant chief constable. The force specifically picked out the claim that there were 'police decoys in the crowd encouraging violence', rebutting it on its YouTube channel. Nielsen also denied the claim: 'It is categorically false that the police are involved in Stand Up to Racism protests, or play any role in organising them. If anything our protests – like others – have faced police repression in recent years.'


Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Britain must reject Corbyn's poison
The return of Jeremy Corbyn to the frontlines of British politics is all too predictable. It is no less unwelcome for being foreseen. Mr Corbyn's statement launching his new party criticised 'the great dividers', and proclaimed that his 'movement is made up of people of all faiths and none'. That he made these comments without any apparent sense of English irony speaks to his lack of self-awareness; few in Westminster have done more to spread division. Mr Corbyn's supporters may claim that Nigel Farage's Reform is stoking division by drawing attention to the failure of the British state to guard its borders. This is nonsense. Concerns about immigration are shared by many millions, and Mr Farage has been clear in disavowing Tommy Robinson and his ilk. Under Mr Corbyn's leadership the Labour Party was investigated for anti-Semitism by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. He is a man who once referred to members of Hamas and Hezbollah as his 'friends', although he subsequently attempted to backtrack. He was arrested outside the Old Bailey in 1986 after joining a protest to 'show solidarity' with terrorists including the Brighton bomber. The most divisive contests and disgraceful scenes of the last election did not take place where Reform candidates were jousting with the Conservatives, but in the fights between pro-Gaza candidates and their Labour opponents. Mr Corbyn's obsessive attacks on Israel, including his backing for a complete arms embargo promises to further inflame this issue. As with the rapid rise of Mr Farage's Reform to now lead in the polls, Mr Corbyn's support speaks to a broader failure of Britain's established parties, and the ossification of our politics. While it is understandable, however, that many voters are frustrated with the visible decay of the British state, Mr Corbyn's toxic brand of Left-wing politics would only deepen the crisis we face. Confronted with a mountainous debt burden and an out-of-control welfare system, Mr Corbyn's answer is to further tax 'the very richest', and nationalise energy, water, rail and mail. It is an agenda which would put the final nail in Britain's coffin, and smother all hope of recovery for decades to come, repeating the very worst economic policy errors of the 20th century in some of the least favourable circumstances imaginable.


Metro
2 hours ago
- Metro
Pastor and wife took $3,400,000 from congregation in scam attributed to God
A pastor and his wife have been busted for a multi-million dollar cryptocurrency scam that they claim 'the Lord' instructed them to do. Eli and Kaitlyn Regalado, who founded the online-only Victorious Grace Church, were indicted by a Denver grand jury on Tuesday for the operation they ran taking advantage of their faith community from January 2022 to July 2023. The Regalados solicited nearly $3.4million from investors to buy INDXcoin, which they created and marketed, according to the Denver District Attorney's Office. They allegedly used their faith-based connections to find investors and promised them 'exorbitant returns', stated the office. In reality, just a small portion of the proceeds went to the business venture, according to the indictment. 'The Regalados spent at least $1.3 million on personal expenditures, including a home renovation that they have allegedly claimed 'the Lord' told them to do,' stated the office. Meanwhile, INDXcoin had no value and investors lost virtually every thing they put into it. The married couple have been indicted on 40 counts of securities fraud, racketeering and theft around the scam. 'These charges mark a major step forward in our work to hold the Regalados accountable for their alleged crimes and to bring a measure of justice to the victims,' stated District Attorney John Walsh. Walsh commended the 'outstanding work' of his investigators and prosecutors and officials from the Colorado Attorney General's Office and Colorado Division of Securities, that led to the indictment. Colorado Securities Commissioner Tung Chan's office in January had alleged that Eli 'took advantage of the trust and faith of his own Christian community and that he peddled outlandish promises of wealth to them when he sold them essentially worthless cryptocurrencies'. But the Regalados argued that INDXcoin was a 'utility coin' to join faith-based communities instead of a security, and for that reason did not need to be licensed or registered. Eli attacked Chan in a YouTube video posted on July 4, 2024. 'You are a liar, liar, liar. I hope you get back in the office after your holiday and you see this and you see what you've done,' said Regalado to Chan. 'Shame on you. You're a crook.' The pastor claimed that they tithed $290,000 to their church and also provided $245,000 to other churches. 'It's our church. Where else are we going to tithe?' Eli said. More Trending 'That's where God had us in our assignment.' The Regalados were expected to appear in court on Thursday. They were indicted two-and-a-half years after a south London preacher was found guilty of fraud after selling 'plague protection oil' as a fake cure for the coronavirus. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Father charged with murder after boy, 15, killed in e-bike crash in Middleton MORE: 'Ring of steel' around 4-star hotel in London after anti-migrant protests MORE: Uncle 'threw one-year-old niece down three-storey rubbish chute'