PROTESTERS gathered outside the Oxford Union on Wednesday night as co-founder of the English Defence League (EDL) Tommy Robinson gave a talk.

Oxford Mail:

Protestors gathered outside the Oxford Union

This was the third time that Oxford Union had tried to host a talk by Mr Robinson. The first was cancelled due to security reasons and the second was postponed because Mr Robinson was recalled to prison at the end of October.

The former EDL leader, who quit the organisation in October last year, said he was unable to say everything he wanted because probation officers had listed topics he couldn’t speak about, under threat of being recalled to prison.

He said: “I regain my freedom of speech on July 22, 2015 [when his licence period ends]. I would be happy to come back and speak to you freely then.”

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Oxford Union had been criticised for their decision to host the former spokesman and leader of the EDL in a protest letter signed by 200 people.

Outside the Oxford Union there were 20 protesters from the Socialist Workers Party, Unite, Unison and Unite against Fascism.

Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Lennon, was sentenced in January to 18 months in prison for mortgage fraud.

He was released in June under licence, but was recalled to prison for 28 days towards the end of October. The Oxford Union said that four days before the talk, Mr Robinson had been spoken to by probation officer about what he was free to talk about.


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