EDL's Tommy Robinson to launch anti-Islam group

Tommy RobinsonReuters

Tommy Robinson, one of the founders of the English Defence League, is to launch a UK branch of the German anti-Islam group Pegida.

Alex Thomson of broadcaster Channel 4 revealed this week that Robinson is to return to politics by helping Pegida have another go at getting off the ground in Britain. The group, whose name stands for Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident, has tried before to set up a UK branch but with limited success. About 100 people joined a march to Downing Street earlier this year.

Robinson left the English Defence League in 2013 and went to work for The Quilliam Foundation, an anti-extremism organisation.

Channel 4 reported: "Robinson says that this group will be different from his last outfit - no alcohol-fuelled hooliganism, no racism, no anti-semitism and no homophobia. But he does want a five year ban on Muslim immigration to Britain."

Robinson spoke at a Pegida rally in Dresden last month. Pegida said on Facebook that Robinson wanted to "save our culture, save our country, save our future."

Pegida's aims include banning all Muslim immigration to the UK within five years and putting a stop to all mosque building and any foreign funding for British mosques.