UAF and EDL protests in Nottingham

Well, I figure that if you're going to have strong opinions on something, it's your duty to observe relevant things first hand. So that's what I did today, where the English Defence League were holding a rally in Nottingham, ostensibly to protest against Islamic extremists, and the 'Unite Against Fascism' group with their various affiliates were holding a counter-rally to "stop the fascist EDL marching in Nottingham".

I could say a lot but I'll keep it to bullet points. I didn't get to see the main EDL rally as that part was mostly off-limits and kept well away from the centre of town or the UAF gathering, but I did see the clashes in the city centre in the Market Square.

Apologies to anybody annoyed by my observations; you can comment below. However, I just say what I see. Also note that when I say UAF or EDL I am talking more about the 2 broad divisions since it's impossible to know if anybody is officially affiliated or not.

• The UAF, instead of gathering at a time similar to the EDL's planned rally at 1pm, instead gathered in Market Square (against police request) at 10am, to coincide in both time and location with the homecoming parade for the 2nd Battalion of the Mercian Regiment from Afghanistan. Why?
• The UAF and their associated groups was mostly the typical Socialist Worker and student group, but there were actually what seemed to be a fair few Communists there also.
• The UAF didn't make much attempt to addess any stated EDL policies or aims, just tried very hard to portray them as Nazis or fascists or as being associated with the BNP.
• Although both sides were provocative, the ones being verbally aggressive and offensive were the UAF side. The EDF were mostly chanting "Eng-er-lund, Eng-er-lund, Eng-er-lund" as you'd expect from an organisation formed by football supporters.
• Missiles were thrown from the area of young Asian men towards the EDL. These were mostly sticks from holding up flags and placards, but also included plastic bottles and cans. Missiles going the other direction were much fewer in quantity.
• I didn't see a single 'Seig Heil' gesture. The people I saw in the square do have a penchant for putting both hands in the air, the significance of which is lost on me. I did see one EDL guy with a raised fist though (1:05 in the last video below, on the far right - no pun intended), which bizarrely is a symbol with left-wing connotations. And one of the EDL people seemed to have a Northern Ireland Unionist flag. He might have just mistaken it for an England flag...
• I only saw one non-white person on the EDL side; a black girl, who was with her white boyfriend.
• At least 4 police forces were in attendance: Nottingham, Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, and West Yorkshire. Policing seemed very even-handed to me, and even when I was kettled for just over an hour they were very polite and apologetic about it. The police horses were well-behaved, although the police dogs went mental whenever anybody else walked a dog past (which was quite often among the ranks of the socialist types).

Videos I filmed, for the interested:

UAF people up by the Castle
Me and Allan rather ominously positioned between 2 police lines
The UAF supporters march back down along Friar Lane towards the Market Square
Trouble starts to flare as young Asian males face off against the EDL skinhead types
Cheering, taunting, missiles being thrown, etc (and more of that)

I have pictures too, but I'm bored of this for now. I'll put them up later.