European Defence League

[1] The group was set up in October 2010 and held its first demonstration that month in Amsterdam, Netherlands, at the trial of Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders.

[8] The concern for a clash reached the point to which the mayor decided to move the demonstration to another location, a decision the DDL wanted to fight in court[9][10][11] but later reconsidered and refrained from doing so.

The group was eventually led by Lena Andreassen for about a month until she was dismissed by EDL appointed liaison officer Steve Simmons following a failed demonstration that was held on 9 April 2011.

Alte said that the group is not far-right or racist and that the NDL seeks to gather people of all races to fight for democracy and freedom of speech, which he said is threatened by "the ideology Islam."

[19] Alte resigned abruptly both as leader and member of the NDL on 19 April 2012 over a dispute with the rest of the organisation's leadership related to its connection with Anders Behring Breivik.

Other sources claim that Ronny Alte was removed from his position after refusing to follow advice from the administration team of the NDL.

[24][25] According to the British anti-fascist Searchlight magazine in a 26 July 2011 press release, the NDL's Facebook page was administered by Steve Simmons who was appointed European Liaison Officer by EDL Leader Tommy Robinson aka Steven Lennon.

[25] In December 2009 Anders Behring Breivik, the convicted perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks, proposed a group similar to the English Defence League in a forum post.

[20] Breivik writes that he sees this as the only way to stop left-wing radical groups like Blitz and SOS Rasisme from harassing Norwegian cultural conservatives.

[36] On 28 February the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) announced it was watching the NDL, which it defined as an "extreme right group.

It judged that online activism, particularly in social media, could cause a rise in xenophobia, and that this in turn could lead to polarisation within and between extreme political movements.

A local Tromsø newspaper iTromsø wrote that a soon-to-resign sergeant in the Home Guard Task Force was "central" in the effort there,[43] although Andreassen denied that he had been given any special role.

[24] Following the failed demonstration, Ronny Alte, a high school teacher from Stokke, Vestfold, was announced as the new leader of the NDL.

[19] On 11 March 2012 Norwegian tabloid Dagbladet wrote that during 2010 and until the spring of 2011 the leadership of the NDL was infiltrated by members of the left-wing anti-racist group SOS Rasisme.

These infiltrators were also able to acquire very central positions, wrote speeches for the official spokesperson and may even have played an important role in establishing a working organisation.

[56] On 4 August 2011, TV 2 revealed that Håvar Krane, a mayoral candidate in Kristiansund for the marginal, right-wing Democrats party[57] who had served as the leader of the NDL for three weeks during an early transitional period,[58] had talked about his desire of "putting a Glock in the neckhole" of Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and "blocking all the exits with Molotov cocktails" during the government cabinet's Christmas dinner.

[59] The secretly recorded informal conversation between Krane and Kaspar Birkeland, another member of the Democrats party and mayoral candidate in neighbouring Ålesund,[57] had taken place during a meeting in Oslo organised by the Stop Islamisation of Norway group in February 2011.

[60] According to TV 2, an investigation in late August of the electoral lists for the 2011 local elections revealed that eight politicians, representing five different parties, had been members of the NDL's Internet forum.

[61] In addition to Krane and Birkeland, also Magnar Tanem, candidate for mayor in Oslo for the Christian Unity Party had been a member of the forum.

Alte claimed that he had wanted to distance himself from Breivik as much as possible but that the rest of the "admin" community had told him not to talk to the media.

[22] The Norwegian Defence League, in cooperation with SIOE Norway, held its first successful public rally in Stavanger on 23 June 2012.

Lars Johnny Aardal, deputy leader of the NDL, said that it was published "to show the extent of Islam and Muslims in Norway".

"[64] The Scottish Defence League (SDL) founded by Ryan Boag Jr is active in Scotland, although some activists in the country identify primarily with the EDL.

[67] The SDL held a static protest[68] in Pollokshields on 27 July, the birthday of local Kriss Donald, the white victim of Scotland's first-ever race murder in 2004.