Bolton Council is to write to Home Secretary Alan Johnson urging him to ban a planned rally by the right-wing English Defence League.

The Bolton News can reveal that the EDL has set a new date for the controversial rally after the last planned protest in the town was postponed be-cause it clashed with a Hindu festival.

The council wants the event banned on grounds of public safety. The original protest was due to take place on March 6, but the EDL received information that far-left groups were planning to hijack the rally.

The organisation, which protests against Islamic extremism in the UK, has now set a new date of Saturday, March 20.

But Bolton Council hopes Mr Johnson — who is the only public official with the power to ban a static protest — will listen to its plea to stop the event amid fears violence could break out.

A council spokesman said: “EDL’s intention to come to Bolton is bad news for the town. Many previous events held by EDL have had violence and disorder associated with them and the majority of local people of all faiths and backgrounds feel strongly that the approach of the EDL is to divide communities and try to impact on community cohesion.

“Given the risk of violence, the council, businesses and the local community are united in opposing the EDL’s intention of coming to our town and we will be writing to the Home Secretary urging him to ban the event on public safety grounds.”

But David Johnson, EDL divisional organiser for the North West, said: “There is widespread support in Bolton as it is. I believe there will be a big turnout of local support on the day, as well as people from all over the country.”

Mr Johnson predicted the rally would attract more than 4,000 people — more than the organisation’s protest in Stoke in January.

Mr Johnson also said he was “sceptical” about figures obtained in a poll on The Bolton News website which showed that about 34,000 readers wanted the previous rally to be banned, while only 4,000 people were in support of it.

He denied that the EDL was trying to whip up racial hatred, claiming it had members who were from a range of ethnic and religious backgrounds.

“The EDL is non-racist, non-violent. It is not a race issue. We are a one-policy protest group and that is to fight extremism,” said Mr Johnson, who accused far-left groups of “whipping up” tensions.

Chief Superintendent Steve Hartley, head of Bolton police, said: “We have received notification of a planned protest in Bolton on Saturday, March 20.

“GMP is committed to facilitating peaceful demonstrations while protecting the local community and we are mindful that given the nature of the protest, some people may feel vulnerable.”

He added: “We want to ensure people feel reassured and any criminal or public order offences will be dealt with robustly.

“We would also warn anyone who would want to exploit this demonstration by behaving in a criminal or anti-social manner that such behaviour will not be tolerated.

“We were already well into the planning phase before the cancellation of the March 6 event. We will now continue that process and will draw up a response to the event which we will share with our partners.”

Last month, Stoke-on-Trent City Council had to pay more than £10,000 — mostly in managing the roads — following an EDL rally.

In October, 44 people were arrested during a protest by the EDL in Manchester city centre. Protesters made Nazi salutes and sang patriotic songs during a stand-off with Unite Against Fascism (UAF).

However, the EDL claims other racist groups, such as the BNP and Combat 18, have been joining its demonstrations to cause trouble.