Britain First have released a carefully scripted video after losing a High Court battle with Bedfordshire Police which the group fears could “finish them”.
The injunction bars Britain First’s leaders Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen from entering Luton and any mosque in England and Wales for three years.
The video response shows Golding standing behind a pile of legal documents telling his audience the group was in a “no-win situation”.
Golding and his deputy, Jayda Fransen, are understood to have accepted the terms of the injunction in order to prevent incurring legal costs.
Referring to a similar case brought by the force last year that was eventually thrown out, Golding says: “It seems [Bedfordshire Police] have learnt from their mistakes and this time they have acquired the expert services of a top London legal firm.
“The bad news for us is this would inevitably ramp up the legal costs if we lost.
“When Jayda and I had a sit down to discuss this two-inch thick legal bundle it started to dawn on us what this case has the potential [to do to] our movement.
“I asked our legal representatives for a conservative estimate of what we potentially could be liable for if we fight this all the way and lose, and they said, in all honesty, anywhere between £60,000 and £100,000.”
Golding continues: “We are literally in a no-win situation being completely hammered into submission by the sheer weight of brute force of legal costs.
“Jayda and I as leader and deputy leader of Britain First are entrusted with keeping this movement alive and kicking and avoiding any big gambles which could lead to the destruction of this movement.
“Sometimes you have to live to fight another day. A good general realises when he’s outgunned and outmatched and thus outmanoeuvres his opponent and retreats to safe ground to regroup.”
Golding described emerging from the court battle “without paying a single penny” as a “kind of victory.”
Britain First had already admitted that the high costs of losing the case would mean the group was “finished”.
Golding also revealed that the group were only able to raise just £3,000 to fight the case, despite claiming to have 1.5 million supporters and the backing of “normal British people” across the country.
Golding says that money will now go to fight separate “spurious charges” brought against Fransen.
In January Golding and Fransen led a small contingent of activists through Luton handing out newspapers and confronting local Muslims in what anti-extremist charity Tell Mama said was aimed at “inflaming” tensions.
Golding was fined £450 for “wearing a uniform with political objectives” under the Public Order Act 1936, a law originally enacted to tackle Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists, also known as the ‘Blackshirts’.
Franson, 30, was also arrested and charged with religiously aggravated harassment over the incident.
The ruling extends an interim civil injunction against Golding and Fransen, and forbids them from:
(a) Entering any Mosque or Islamic Cultural Centre or its private grounds within England and Wales without prior written invitation.
(b) Being within a designated exclusion zone in the Bury Park area save unless that person remains at all times within a railway carriage travelling along the railroad adjoining Luton railway station.
(c) Causing, permitting, encouraging or inciting any person to enter or remain in designated exclusion zone in the Bury Park area save unless that person remains at all times within a railway carriage travelling along the railroad adjoining Luton railway station.
(d) Publishing, broadcasting, distributing or displaying, or causing or encouraging to be published, broadcast, distributed or displayed, any images or films showing any person or event, on a date after the making of this order, within designated exclusion zones in the Bury Park and Town Centre areas.
(e) Entering a designated exclusion zone in the Town Centre area save in accordance with paragraph 1 (g) below.
(f) Causing, permitting, encouraging or inciting any person to enter or remain in the designated exclusion zone in the Town Centre area save in accordance with paragraph 1 (g) below.
(g) The Respondents are permitted to enter a designated area in the Town Centre for the purposes of, and only for the purposes of, attending hearings at Luton Magistrates Court and Luton Crown Court at which they are required to attend as defendants in criminal proceedings. They are also permitted to instruct legal representatives to attend such hearings. The Respondents must give the Chief Constable of Bedfordshire Police advanced written notice of all such attendances by 5pm on the working day before the relevant hearing.
In a statement, Assistant Chief Constable Mike Colbourne told The Huffington Post UK: “Applying for such an order is not a decision we take lightly, however we decided to take action following a number of incidents where these parties came into areas of Luton and caused community tensions.
“Luton is an incredibly diverse and vibrant town and we will not tolerate any individual who seeks to cause disharmony or provoke tensions within our communities.
“I would like to be clear that we would never seek to ban demonstrations or peaceful protest, however we have a duty to protect our communities and will always act in their best interests.”