Robinson supporters demand his release at tense protest
Tommy Robinson’s supporters have demanded his release from prison during a tense, heavily policed
protest in central London. The demonstrators, chanting “we want Tommy out” as they gathered in Oxford
Circus, were separated by a line of officers and vehicles from rival groups of anti-racist and anti-fascist
activists.
The pressure group Stand Up To Racism claimed that the 300 to 400 Tommy Robinson supporters were
outnumbered by around 800 counter-demonstrators. Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-
Lennon, was sentenced to nine months imprisonment at the Old Bailey last month after he was found in
contempt of court. He will have to serve just nine-and-a-half weeks, meaning he will be released in
September.
Three injured as car ploughs into crowd at cemetery
Three men were injured when a car ploughed into a crowd of mourners leaving a funeral in Belfast. One of
the three – who were all rushed to hospital – was said to have been seriously hurt. Police arrested another
man after the collision. Ambulance, fire crews and police were called to the scene after the collision around
noon.
Two cars and a van were badly damaged. The extent of the injuries of those being treated is not known.
Father Patrick McCafferty told the BBC: “People were standing around in shock, people are stunned.
They’re bewildered something like this could happen, just literally after the funeral had been completed. It’s
unbelievable.” UTV reported that a local councillor described the scene as “carnage” and believed the crash
was caused by “death drivers”.
Hotel evacuated as 50 firefighters tackle blaze
A Holiday Inn has been evacuated after the building went up in flames. Emergency services were called at
around 4.30pm on Friday to the hotel in Walsall, West Midlands, and more than 50 firefighters arrived to
put it out. The building was almost completely destroyed by the fire but no one was reported injured.
Neil Griffiths, the incident commander for West Midlands Fire Service, said: “Because of the height of the
fire, we’ve had over 50 firefighters with specialist equipment in use. What we are trying to do is restore
everything back to normality. We want to find out what the cause of the fire is and any future investigations
we can do over the next few hours. We are going to be here for a considerable amount of time due to the
size of the building.”
Two men arrested over drug deaths
Two men have been arrested on suspicion of Class-A drugs offences after six people died in Essex within
two days. Detectives have been investigating the suspected drugs-related deaths of three men and three
women at the end of last month.
All the victims died in neighbouring towns within 10 miles of each other – Canvey Island, Benfleet, Leigh-
on-Sea and Westcliff-on-Sea, a suburb of Southend. Health chiefs warned people not to buy drugs for fear a
bad batch could be responsible for killing users.
A 26-year-old from London and a 29-year-old from Grays, Essex, were arrested in Barking on suspicion of