EDL founder Tommy Robinson plans 'Draw Mohammed' contest for UK

Far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson has vowed to host his own "draw Prophet Mohammed" event in Britain in solidarity with victims of a gun attack after a similar event in the United States.

Robinson – real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – revealed the controversial plot in the wake of violence in Dallas at a Draw Mohammed event, attended by anti-Islam Dutch politician Geert Welders and organised by Pamela Geller, an outspoken critic of the religion with whom Lennon shares significant common ground.

Police in the US have raided the home of one of the suspects in the attack, during which two men were killed and a security guard was injured.

Speaking to IBTimes UK, Lennon claimed he was not shocked by the shooting at the Draw Mohammed event and revealed he wants to run one in Britain.

But a problem facing the founder and former leader of the English Defence League (EDL) is that he cannot do any such thing under the terms of his licence for his release from prison. As a result, no images of Islam's sacred Prophet shall be drawn until July at the earliest.

The stunt would be guaranteed to spark controversy and divide opinion, between those condemning it as gratuitously offensive and others defending it on grounds of free speech. Robinson has a significant – if nowadays somewhat diminished – profile as Britain's most famous Islamophobe.

"Pictures of Mohammed have been drawn for decades in this country and what I saw the press and politicians of this country do after the Charlie Hebdo massacre was a disgrace; they all said they stand for freedoms but nobody showed the picture," he said. "When I can, I will be holding the same event in Britain."

He denied the potential of raising tensions and insisted he was unfazed by the potential for uproar.

"It's not damaging to community cohesion, what's damaging is people who promote violence, who say we can only have violence if we accept Shariah law," he said. "I was not surprised by this [Dallas shootings] at all; this is reality. There is a percentage of Muslims who are willing to use violence and we can pander to it or we can stand up to it."

Lennon's political stable-mate Geller is one of America's highest-profile Islamophobes. In 2013, she was blocked from entering Britain to speak at an EDL event by Home Secretary Theresa May on the grounds she was "not conducive to the public good".

Since quitting the EDL, Lennon has worked with anti-extremism think tank Quilliam and was convicted of mortgage fraud. In the wake of the Dallas shootings, Geller has spoken of being at "war" with radical Islam in the US.

The event, which came under attack in a Dallas surburb, was a Mohammed art exhibition offering a $10,000 (£6,610) prize for the best cartoon of the Muslim prophet. Depictions of the 6th century AD holy man are forbidden in Islam.