Two homes in the area of Luton where many Asians live were attacked last night, a few hours after the racist English Defence League staged a demo in the town.

Smashed

The attacks left windows smashed and EDL grafitti sprayed on front doors on the edge of Luton’s Bury Park area.

Mr Iqbal who lives with his family in one of the homes that was attacked, told the Socialist Worker newspaper:

It happened at around 11.40pm. I was awake but about to go to sleep. I heard a crash and ran to the front of the house to find a brick had been thrown through a window. When I opened the front door, I saw someone had painted EDL on it.

I couldn’t sleep – I thought they may come back.

Mr Iqbal is a Muslim. The other house that was attacked belonged to a neighbour a few doors away – who is a Christian. There is a crucifix on the front of the house, which the bigots of the EDL seemed to miss, Socialist worker reported.

Thousands

During the day, thousands of local residents in Bury Park were joined by antiracists as they came out on the streets to defend the area.

The mobilisation – and the antiracist protest in the centre of town – were critical to ensuring that the EDL were not able to go on the rampage in Luton as they did last year .

The EDL is an organisation of racist thugs – with links to the British National Party and other fascist groups – that mainly targets Muslims.

EDL supporters have also shown their violence in other towns, such as Stoke and Dudley, where they attacked a Hindu temple as well as shops and homes.

Local UAF organiser Dave Barnes said:

Everyone in Luton needs to unite with Muslims against racist attacks, and drive the EDL and racism out of the town. The attacks show why it was absolutely correct to protest against the EDL in Luton on Saturday.

>> Read more about the protests against the EDL in Luton
>> Pics from the protests
>> More pictures and video