Two men have been arrested over suspected race hate offences after an English Defence League rally in Walsall.
A 22-year-old from Walsall and a 28-year-old from Wolverhampton have been charged with racially aggravated public order offences, following the far-right anti-Muslim group’s demonstration on Saturday.
Around 20 people, draped in St George flags, had gathered around Yates’s bar in Leicester Street, at the cenotaph in Bradford Place, and in Gallery Square, near Walsall Art Gallery at around 1pm.
The protests are thought to be connected with the killing of soldier Lee Rigby in London last Wednesday.
A West Midlands Police spokeswoman said: “The 22 and 28-year-old were bailed to appear before Walsall magistrates on June 18. A third person arrested was later released without charge.”
Tensions are running high in some areas of the UK following the slaying of Drummer Rigby in front of shocked passers-by in Woolwich.
Shortly before his arrest, one of the two murder suspects, Michael Adebolajo, 28, was filmed by a member of the public saying he had carried out the attack because British soldiers killed Muslims every day.
The Muslim Council of Britain called for calm, condemning the "barbaric act that has no basis in Islam".
But several protests by the EDL have followed, including one on Friday evening when members, joined by EDL leader Tommy Robinson, blocked Birmingham New Road in Wolverhampton.
