Soldiers heckled during homecoming parade in Barking

Soldiers returning from Afghanistan have been heckled during a homecoming parade in east London.
A group of protesters gathered in Barking town centre as members of the 1st Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment marched through the streets.
The demonstrators also brandished placards opposing the war.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said two people had been arrested for public order offences.
One witness said: "There were about 25 to 50 Muslim protesters carrying placards with things like 'Muslims Against Crusades' and 'British Soldiers Go To Hell'.
"Then there was a counter-protest of about 100 guys barracking them."
Barking and Dagenham councillor Liam Smith said the march was unaffected by the protest.
He said: "I'm glad the actions of a vocal minority failed to spoil what was a proud day in the borough's history and one we will remember for all the right reasons in years to come.
"The Royal Anglians are our local regiment. We are proud of them and the difficult and dangerous job they do, and as today's turnout for the parade showed, so are the people of Barking and Dagenham."
Muslim anti-war protesters attempted to disrupt another parade in March last year when soldiers from the 2nd Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, known as The Poachers, paraded in Luton town centre.


Source (vith video): http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/10324027.stm

In a democracy, these sorts of protests must be allowed, but it always turns my stomach to see crowds jeering war veterans upon their return. Still, I don't know if The EDL is much better than the Muslim protesters in the long run.





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Free speech, as repulsive as it is. But if anyone flips the coin, it's racism and hate.

Pretty disgraceful behaviour. If these people hate the country in which they live, they are more than welcome to leave. Our troops are doing a difficult job in difficult circumstances and overall they are doing a good job. I take my hat off to them.

The_Amber_Spyglass wrote:Pretty disgraceful behaviour. If these people hate the country in which they live, they are more than welcome to leave. Our troops are doing a difficult job in difficult circumstances and overall they are doing a good job. I take my hat off to them.

You sound just like the right here in the USA regarding the same things happening here a few years back. But our protesters were just leftists, not Muslims.

But yeah, i find it insane the way some protest things. Not that i want them to stop, but some of the lawlessness i can do without. It's those people who hurt their own cause because they paint a broad brush of them and others who may share their opinion.

Though I agreed and still agree that it was right to go into Afghanistan, I think that we should never have gone into Iraq for practical and legal reasons. Regardless what any of us think of those wars, we cannot blame the troops unless they do something to bring shame upon either themselves personally or their regiment.

That's right. They're doing as they're ordered to do. The ones like the Abu Ghraib bunch deserve all the scorn. People like that.