Rotherham trial: far right activists in the spotlight

A jury’s been hearing how a far right organization called Yorkshire’s Finest was bent on targeting Asian families in Rotherham with violence.

Prosecutor Paul O’Shea told Sheffield Crown Court that the group was made up of veteran football hooligans with links to the English Defence League, British National Party and the former National Front.

He described Yorkshire’s Finest as racist activists with a history of involvement in extreme violence.

The jury was handed photographs from the group’s Facebook site, one of which shows a Union Jack with the words “We arrive, We …. …. up, We leave”.

The court was told the group looked for opportunities to carry out attacks on Asians and Muslims to give themselves a more militant image than other far right movements.

The jury was told the South Yorkshire town had hosted 14 far right demonstrations between August 2014 to September 2015 which had created an atmosphere of fear and anxiety.

The details emerged in the trial of 10 Asian men accused of violent disorder in allegedly attacking some members of the group at the end of a right wing extremist march through Rotherham in September last year.

The prosecution also revealed that police had intelligence that the leaders of Yorkshire’s Finest would be at the gathering but would avoid joining the march in order to carry out attacks.

The ten accused deny violent disorder and the trial continues.