# English Defence League The **English Defence League (EDL)** was a British anti-Islam street movement founded in Luton in **June 2009**. It grew out of local football firms after an Islamist group protested a March 2009 homecoming parade for the Royal Anglian Regiment. [[Tommy Robinson]] was its co-founder and de facto leader, with his cousin Kevin Carroll as co-leader. It peaked in 2010–11 with regular demonstrations around the country. Its stated target was "Islamic extremism," but its rhetoric and actions targeted Muslims generally, which placed it in the international counter-jihad movement. Robinson and Carroll quit on **8 October 2013**, at a press conference arranged with the Quilliam think tank, saying they could no longer keep extremists out. By 2023–24 the group was widely treated as defunct, though people identifying with it took part in the riots that followed the July 2024 Southport stabbings. ## See Also - [[Tommy Robinson]] · [[Islamophobia]] · [[Musk UK Campaign]]