BNP rally ‘closed down’ in Glasgow

“Scores of trade union activists and anti-fascist campaigners have prevented the racist BNP and Scottish Defence League from holding what they described as a ‘national rally’ in Scotland.

BNP leader, Nick Griffin, had been due to attend an outdoor rally in Glasgow city centre.

In the event, three members of a small, breakaway fascist group turned up.

They were confronted by more than 200 counter-protesters and following an hour-long stand-off with police, they left the area.

Speaking at a rally immediately afterwards, deputy general secretary of the Scottish TUC, Dave Moxham told supporters: “Our job is to say that whenever fascists raise their heads, we will tell people – ‘you are not part of a proper democratic discourse, you are the enemies of a proper democratic discourse.’

“What they [BNP leaders] believe is that at a time of economic crisis, at a time of strife overseas, that this is their time. And they cannot believe that over the last couple of ears they have failed to get any traction in Scotland for their hatred.”

The rally was supported by a number of unions, including Unite, UNISON and the EIS teachers’ union.

Scottish National Party MSP Humza Yousa told  demonstrators: “This was a great victory for the voices of hope, the voices of tolerance, against the voices of those who try to divide us.

“We are proud of being the ‘chapati and chips city’; the city of bhangra and bagpipes.

UnionNews will post a film report on the demonstration and rally later.

Watch our Twitter feed @UnionNewsUK for updates.”

source

*Update July 29th “BNP chief’s terror in clash with protesters”

An Update

The blog has been a bit quiet recently, so we thought we would give a brief update on what’s been going on.

There is very little activity from the far-right in the Three Counties at the moment, and therefore little activity from us. None of the local EDL divisions seem to be doing anything any more, not even attending national demos. There also appears to be very little from any of the remaining local branches of the BNP, Worcestershire BNP seemingly the only ones who still exist. They stood a candidate in the local elections in May and very occasionally do a publicity stunt or table-top leafleting session, but apart from that it’s been all quiet from them as well!

We will continue to monitor the activities of fascist and far-right groups in the region and we welcome any information that people can give. From now on we will only update the blog with local news or to advertise or report on anti-fascist activities and events elsewhere in the country. We give our full support to the newly formed Anti-Fascist Network, and we’ll continue to attend call-outs and events when and where possible. 

For us, militant anti-fascism isn’t a means to an end in itself, and as individuals we also focus our time on other areas of class struggle and revolutionary politics. We are active in community projects, alternative media projects, workers unions and a whole host of other social, environment or animal rights struggles. We believe that as long as capitalism exists, inequality and division will exist. For working class solidarity, social revolution and a fighting anti-fascist movement – 3 Counties Anti-fascists.

The so-called “Master race” in Liverpool today

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Reports: Liverpool echo and Liverpool Antifascists

Protest against the EDL – Bristol (14 July 2012)

Decent report from Standing Stone’s blog on yesterday’s events in Bristol and an updated report from EDLNews “EDL Bristol demo decends into gay bashing and racism“. Post demo reports continue at Bristol indymedia.