There will be serious repercussions in terms of community relations if this ban goes ahead,

There will be serious repercussions in terms of community relations if this ban goes ahead. Our members are all for political expression, not for violence.

We have a lot of support among the Muslim community in Britain and it will be seen by the Muslim community as stifling legitimate political dissent.

This huge demonstration will send a clear signal that although Muslims are ready to hear and respond to criticism, we will not remain silent over cheap insults in the name of 'freedom of speech'.

This is a blurring of the margins of people who are engaged in non-violent political speech, an attempt to bunch them in with extremists and terrorists,

Even though the party has been open to intellectual debate and even though the prime minister said he wanted a battle of ideas, it became apparent that this government could not face the party through such avenues and resorted to such draconian measures.