Opposing the “March for England” 2013

A few pictures and a video showing the huge and varied opposition shown to fascist scum who were pretending to march under the banner of St George in Brighton today. Links to independent reports from the day at the foot of the post.

A lot of people don’t like fascism

Fascists on the left anti-fascists on the right

Loud and clear

Bish

Bash

Bosh

More coverage here (Indymedia UK)

English Fascists Took Their First Beating of the Summer in Brighton This Weekend (Vice)

MfE battered and humiliated on the streets of Brighton (EDLNews)

Mobs and Coppers (SchNEWS)

March for england 2013 (Indymedia UK)

Brighton 24th April 2013 – Something For Everyone!!! (Anti-Fascist Network)

March for England Marches Nowhere! (Maletesta’s blog)

Picture gallery (AFA Ireland)

Manchester Monkey Business!

From Maletesta’s blog

Crivvens! Jings! And Help Ma Boab! The cheeky wee monkeys of the EDL staged a chimps tea-party in Manchester and behaved exactly the way their audience expects: they got drunk, got rowdy and made a mess whilst achieving nothing. At 11am a bunch of EDL turned up at Victoria Station and immediately started fighting with each other which set the tempo of the day, i.e., a protracted drunken brawl.

The EDL were marshalled in the Walkabout pub where it kicked off, with themselves and with plod. One group broke away to ‘take the streets back,’ i.e., went to a different pub then staggered about a bit before being taken back to the march. Our cameraman told us he ‘had just had a run in with some clowns at Brannigans. Camera took a dent but old bill lifted three of them… watch out there are random little gangs in search of soft targets.’

A few hundred counter-demonstrators gathered in Piccadilly Gardens for the usual tedious speechifying so we went for a mooch around. We arrived in Albert Square where the 2 demos were going to rally and found loads of bored cops standing in the sun. Both groups were to be shunted to the quiet end of town where they were positioned opposite each other with nothing but a no man’s land full of riot cops between them to inhibit the customary haranguing. The numbers seemed about even although an aerial shot shows a not great EDL turnout.

The counter- demo was jolly but nowhere near big enough to oppose an EDL ‘national.’ That the UAF held their conference on the same day was absurd: discussing what to do about fascism on the streets whilst several hundred fascists are marching on the streets is pointless. The counter-demo was multi-coloured and lively with union banners, sound-system and a drum group. It was like a party without a bar (but, luckily, toilets!).

Trade union banners, community groups, local politicians and anti-fascists were representing a broad section of the North West. Just who do the EDL represent? The silent majority? How do they know if they are silent? Twerps. We clocked a trampy looking ‘chav scrote’ spotter, with obligatory bad teeth and poor dress sense, who was taking photos with his phone, mainly of policemen’s backs it seemed. What he will do with the ‘Intel’ now is moot given Redwatch’s current problemettes.

Bye Bye Redwatch! Hello Prison!

Shortly after the counter-demo arrived, a large group of anarchists and anti-fascists were shepherded into the square which swelled numbers. One plod told us that there had been ‘an engagement’ earlier between anti-fascists and orangu-patriots. Tiny groups of EDL were either wandering about lost or mingling in the counter-demo offering their usual abuse, devoid of wit or sense, clutching Sainsbo‘s bags of lager. The EDL arrived just before 2 in their usual simian phalanx, wrapped in flags, soaked in lager, penned in and protected by the riot squad.

Anti-fascists had gathered in the south-east corner winding up the EDL until the chimps started rattling their bars and throwing their own poo around. They were an unimpressive herd of scrotes, pissed and angry, and a few missiles were thrown when anti-fascists goaded them then plod moved us out of view. Oddest banner of the day was ‘UAF are totally disturbed to defend peeedos.’ Jings! The counter-demo music totally drowned the EDL’s shouts and speeches out and then they tried to burn a Pakistan flag but failed embarrassingly. They had been chucking smoke bombs about previously.

EDL Angels: up for the crack!

We were getting some nice info all day via mobile and text, the best being the following. Sheffield hooly mob, the Blades Business Crew, were on their way to a ‘pre-arranged’ with Oldham’s Fine Young Cagoules but stopped off in the MCR. Plod boarded their coach and refused to believe that they were actually off to football as they ‘had no hats, scarves or rattles!’ Crivvens! There were also rumours that 2 factions of the EDL were going to have a sort out but they both bottled it.

It all seemed a bit pointless and plod had stage-managed it well: both sides could hurl abuse out of the earshot of shoppers. There were almost as many sight-seers as cops and plod seemed remarkably relaxed on our side. For the EDL, it was the same routine: get kettled in a pub, start infighting, move to demo site and back again. Some had set off from a Leeds pub at 8am so no doubt were in a bad way by 2. The baboons of the EDL are now a leaderless body but, unlike intentionally leaderless anarchists, they need leader to give instructions on how to eat their bananas correctly.

It was not a remarkable day for the EDL, there was no coup, no coordination, not much publicity and they just looked as clueless and daft as ever. We met friends old and new which was great and thanks to all of them for a cracker of a weekend. And at £2.10 a pint who can complain?

Further reading Game Over for the EDL?

Game, set and match? The EDL, Walthamstow and Westminster

It’s been a terrible few weeks for the English Defence League and this weekend appeared to be the icing on their shitecake. After the successful blockade and buggering of the racist rag-tag bunch when they attempted to march through Walthamstow in September, the discredited leadership decided upon a ‘rematch’ to settle the score. From the very beginning this was doomed to failure, with Tommy Robinson getting nicked along with 52 others on Saturday 20th, whilst allegedly on route to an east London mosque in the back of a removals van.

A few days before the ‘rematch’, a ban was put in place prohibiting all marches in four London boroughs for 30 days – in anticipation of ‘serious public disorder’ if the EDL march went ahead.*

Despite the promises to EDL supporters that they would no longer liaise with the police, the remaining ‘leaders’ agreed to a static demonstration outside Parliament instead.

EDL threatening to turn up in numbers in Walthamstow. On the ground they were a no show.

Here’s a report from a local anti-fascist on events in London on Saturday 27th October:

“We joined up with others from a near-by group early in the morning and set about a spotting mission to see what we could see.

“After making the journey up to Walthamstow and having a mooch about it was obvious that the EDL weren’t calling anybodies bluff and definitely hadn’t made an appearance (despite what they were saying in the run up). The Unite Against Fascism/We Are Waltham Forest demonstration was just starting to gather. It attracted over 200 people and defied the march ban put in place days before.

‘We Are Waltham Forest’ protest in Walthamstow

“Heading back down to central London and checking in at a few of their favourite drinking holes, there wasn’t even a whisper. A small group was seen entering the tube tailed by a group of police twice their number. At the same time reports were filtering through that only 50 EDL supporters had gathered in a pen at Westminster, heavily outnumbered by journalists and police. Around 25 anti-fascists made an attempt to get to them, but their advance was stopped by the large numbers of police present. One EDLer was nicked during the scuffle.

EDL’s ‘national’ demonstration at Westminster

“Half expecting some of the rowdier (and more stupid) elements to head east to either have a pop at the East London Mosque or the London Anarchist Bookfair being held in Mile End, we headed that way. Nothing to report, apart from thousands of people having a jolly time at another very successful bookfair.”

The picture is plain for everybody to see; the EDL only managed to muster between 50-80 people (total) to a ‘national’ demonstration, one that had been billed as ‘the come back’ at that. This is in comparison to the estimated 100,000 who marched against cuts in London the weekend previously, and the thousands who attended the London Anarchist Bookfair on the same day.

The EDL are nosediving into insignificance, something that even the remaining die-hards are fast realising. It’s at times like these when anti-fascists need to make a concerted effort to drive them into the ground- for good! Previously far-right groups have faced dwindling opposition as they’ve gotten smaller and smaller, allowing them to re-organise and re-emerge later on.

Whilst Saturday proved to be another major set back for the EDL and their divisive and reactionary ’cause’, anti-fascists could have had a much bigger impact. If 1/10 of the people attending the Anarchist Bookfair had chosen to get out on the streets, the day would have ended very differently for the EDL. Lets not give them room to breath. See you on the streets!

Westminster – another far-right flop

Here are a few other reports from the day: 1, 2, 3

*For the record – we do not believe in banning marches nor do we believe that the state can be used to oppose fascism. The ban equally covers possible marches by anti-fascists, trade unionists or any others wishing to protest or get a message across. Opposition to racist or far-right groups can only come about through a truly democratic and grassroots position. To rely on state repression is to undermine the principles of self-organisation and direct democracy that we believe in, and to put our  faith in an institution far more destructive and divisive to the working-class than the fascists currently are.