Town Hall chiefs meet the Home Secretary
6:18am Friday 12th March 2010 in News
TOWN hall chiefs have met with Home Secretary Alan Johnson to lobby him to ban the planned English Defence League rally in Bolton later this month.
Bolton Council chief executive Sean Harriss and Labour council leader Cllr Cliff Morris took the opportunity to speak to him face-to-face in Salford yesterday about their concerns over the rally, which is due to take place in Bolton town centre on March 20. The meeting was set up by Bolton North East MP David Crausby Earlier this week, a letter signed by political and faith leaders was sent to Mr Johnson urging him to ban the rally on the grounds that previous events had attracted violence and disorder.
Yesterday, the Home Secretary promised a full response and set up a meeting between a delegation of political and faith leaders from the town and police minister Alan Campbell next week.
Mr Harriss said: “At the meeting, we will do all within our powers to persuade the minister to ban the demonstration on grounds of safety and public order.
“In the meantime, we will continue to work with local organisations, communities and businesses to prepare for any potential demonstration, in order to minimise disruption and pledge the council’s commitment to community cohesion.”
