Detective Superintendent John Larkin from West Midlands police said EDL marches and counter-demonstrations often ended in violence, with evidence they end up pushing some members of the community toward radicalization.

“In some areas, we have evidence that once they have gone ... there’s fertile ground for those groups (to say) ‘this is the way white Western society sees us,’” he told BBC Radio.

“And that’s a potential recruiting carrot for people and that’s what some of these radicalizers look for — they look for the vulnerability, for the hook to pull people through and when the EDL have been and done what they’ve done, they perversely leave that behind.”

He said it was especially true if high-profile demos ended in the destruction of Muslim property or violence against community members.

The EDL has held numerous demonstrations and marches against what it calls Islamic extremism in Britain since the group emerged last year.

Another is planned for Preston city center in Lancashire on Nov. 27 against the expansion of a local mosque. Police say it is likely to attract a counter-demo from Unite Against Fascism.

Further demos are planned in Harrow against Halal menus in schools on Jan 15 and in Luton on Feb 5 against the “Islamification of England and in support of free speech.”

A founding member of the EDL was charged with assaulting a police officer last week during a Remembrance Day protest in London where a group calling itself “Muslims Against Crusades” set poppies alight.

The Home Office said the government condemned all those who “create distrust and divisions between communities, and remains determined to stamp out racism and extremism.”

However, it said it had no power to ban lawful demonstrations.

Officers interviewed by the BBC also said they were concerned about youths being radicalized in prisons — a problem flagged up by security experts in a report for the Royal United Services Institute in the summer.

EDL leader Tommy Robinson said it was “ridiculous” to blame his organization for home grown radicalism.

“9/11 was our fault? 7/7 was our fault? there’s been 17,000 terrorist attacks since September 11th — I guess they’re our fault,” the BBC quoted him as saying.

The West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit was set up six years ago, the first outside London. Its best-known success came in 2006 when it foiled a plot to kidnap and behead a serving British Muslim soldier.