Large crowds assembled in east London to oppose a demonstration by the far-right English Defence League on Saturday. There were frequent angry confrontations. At one stage EDL members chanted "You're scum and you know you are" to foreign tourists, while an Asian man singled out for abuse shouted back: "I'm as English as you are."

Hundreds of residents and anti-fascist campaigners converged on Whitechapel Road close to the East London Mosque, a target for members of the EDL, amid a police presence of around 3,000 officers, some in riot gear. Muslims accuse the EDL of fostering hate against them through claims that a gradual "Islamisation" of Britain is taking place.

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