Alison Chung, Sky News Online
Clashes erupted between police and hundreds of members of the English Defence League during a planned protest in Nottingham.
Hundreds of officers surrounded around 500 EDL supporters in the city centre.
Police on horseback used batons and those on the ground used dogs to contain the violence.
A Nottinghamshire police spokesman told Sky News tempers flared this afternoon when some protesters tried to move from the site of their protest.
"Prior to the protest we engaged with the organisers to agree on where they would meet, but there were a few who were determined to go where we didn't want them to go, although they eventually complied," he said.
"We feel we had the proper planning in place and as far as we're concerned it went very successfully."
Officers arrested four people, including one who was taken to hospital after being bitten by a police dog.
During the protest, some EDL supporters shouted: "We want our country back", and waved placards which read: "Protect Women, No To Sharia" and "No Surrender".
The EDL claims it is not a racist organisation and has no links to the BNP and it is making a stand against the threat of Islamic extremism.
A spokesman said they had planned the demo for today as the Mercian Regiment were holding a homecoming parade in Nottingham following a recent tour of duty in Afghanistan.
The Unite Against Fascism group had also organised a counter demonstration in response to the protest.
It is a sorry sight when people are angry over such a small minority group who pose an incredibly small realistic threat to them and their way of life.
Eleven men were arrested and a policewoman was taken to hospital Saturday after violence broke out at a far-right group's demonstration against Islamic extremism in central England, police said.
The 29-year-old policewoman hurt her arm while policing a cordon at the protest by the English Defence League in the city of Nottingham, but no one else was seriously hurt in the skirmishes, Nottinghamshire police said.
About 500 members of the EDL, a marginal group which has staged a number of demonstrations against radical Islam in recent months, sang the English national anthem and football songs as they gathered in the city.
Many of them had their faces covered with scarves and hooded tops as they chanted: "We want our country back" and held aloft placards saying "Protect Women, No to Sharia (law)" and "No Surrender".
A counter-demonstration by Unite Against Fascism, who claim the EDL are a racist organisation, took place nearby, despite police requests that they move.
Concerns about immigration and Islamic extremism in Britain were highlighted by the success of the anti-immigration British National Party (BNP) in European elections this year, where they secured their first two MEPs.
I was in the city centre on saturday, but I wasn't in the square where the demostration was taking place. There were lots of police around, and the trams and buses were heavily disrupted.
I was looking at myself talking to myself and I realized this conversation...I was having with myself looking at myself was a conversation with myself that I needed to have with myself.
That video has music being played so I doubt they'll watch that. The difference in that protest to the EDLs is that nobody is there to challenge those demonstrators.
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Re: Anti-Islamic Demo Turns Nasty In Nottingham
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