Teenager locked up over Walsall EDL disorder
A teenager has been locked up for his role in a riot that saw demonstrators clash with police in Walsall town centre.
The 16-year-old from Brownhills, who cannot be named for legal reasons, broke wooden pieces of pub garden furniture which thugs then hurled at police during a march by the English Defence League.
Officers were injured during ugly scenes that brought the town centre to a standstill, with businesses forced to close and buses and taxis suspended on September 29 last year.
More than 500 EDL supporters descended on the town, with hundreds of people also joining a counter protest by the Unite Against Fascism group on the same day.
The youth, who admitted one count of violent disorder, was joined by his mother and father at Walsall Magistrates Court.
He was given an eight-month youth detention training order. He is expected to spend four months in a youth detention centre.
