Yahoo News Dozens Held Amid Protests Over Woolwich Death
Fifty-eight anti-fascist campaigners have been arrested in central London after protesting at a rival demonstration by the British National Party (BNP).
There were scuffles as activists clashed outside the Houses of Parliament in the wake of soldier Lee Rigby's killing in Woolwich last month.
Around 300 Unite Against Fascism (UAF) members gathered in Parliament Square to block the BNP from marching to the Cenotaph.
Fierce shouting from both sides spilled into violence and dozens of police were required to break up the disorder. One BNP activist suffered a large cut to the nose.
Scotland Yard said 58 people from the UAF protest were arrested for alleged public order offences after they refused to move to their pre-arranged protest pen in Whitehall.
The BNP group of around 150 people cheered as those arrested were handcuffed and led onto "Special Service" red double-decker London buses to be driven to police stations.
The disorder came despite calls for peace from police and the family of Drummer Rigby, who was hacked to death in what officers are treating as a terrorist attack.
The BNP had planned to march from Woolwich Barracks, but were banned from doing so by Scotland Yard, amid fears that their presence could lead to unrest.
BNP leader Nick Griffin told Sky News: "The family have made a very dignified plea that people should not use Lee Rigby's tragic death as a reason to attack other people and we agree with that 100%.
"We're here to make a political protest to draw attention to a political problem.
"Because if people stick their heads in the sand, if people continue to believe the lie - one that Islam is a religion of peace and two that our involvement in wars like Afghanistan and Iraq isn't causing problems - then more lads will die like Lee Rigby."
The English Defence League (EDL) held events in towns and cities across the country following the soldier's death.
And rival protests by the Scottish Defence League (SDL) and anti-racism campaigners took place in Edinburgh's Old Town.
The SDL held a protest outside the Scottish Parliament, while Unite Against Fascism (UAF) organised its own counter-protest.
Police, who were at the scene in large numbers, kept the two groups apart with barriers in the city's Horse Wynd, in front of the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Two people were arrested.
Meanwhile, Labour leader Ed Miliband joined celebrities and thousands of others in signing a letter to a newspaper in protest at far-right groups using the death of Drummer Rigby for their own agenda.
In the letter to the editor of the Daily Mirror, they wrote: "The EDL and Islamic extremists are more similar to each other than to us.
They share a violent, hate-fuelled desire for conflict and war, and we will not let either group tear our country apart."
