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.
“VANDALS have defaced a giant UK Independence Party election billboard in Worcester so it reads like a BNP advert.
The sign, at the bottom of Newtown Road and one of four UKIP posters in the city, was scribbled over in ink and paint so it read like an advert for the far-right British National Party.
Bosses decided to take it down over the weekend and have hit out at the perpetrators. Carl Humphries, UKIP organiser for Worcester and Mid-Worcestershire, said: “I can tell you now we have strict ruling over any BNP members who want to join our party.
“We ask prospective members to fill out a form and if they either belong to the BNP now or used to be a member, they have no chance whatsoever with us. It’s a shame but we have always anticipated bits of graffiti going on any political sign, it’s the way it works sometimes.”
At the moment, the party’s other three adverts in Sherriff Street, Midland Road and next to Shrub Hill Station have not been targeted. Meanwhile, party organisers have come in for criticism after activists printed a leaflet asking people to vote on the wrong date for May’s elections.
The by-election has been sparked by Councillor Steve Brown resigning from both County Hall and the district council in order to run his own publishing business. UKIP has circulated a leaflet around the ward asking people to vote on Sunday, May 5, in error.
The leaflet has been put through doors with a silver sticker covering it up. Councillor Lucy Hodgson, who is standing for the Conservatives for the Chase County Hall seat, said: “There was this silver sticky tape stuck over the date – we were surprised it had gone out like that.”
Mr Humphries said he “could not believe” the mistake had been made, but insisted UKIP was still getting a positive reaction on the doorstep. The leaflet was laid out and printed before party members realised the typing mistake.
“The reaction on the doorstep is positive, that’s what our focus is,” said Mr Humphries. UKIP is standing 42 candidates next month.”
“As reported by EDL News & Malatesta, the EDL Christmas address this year from Kev Caroll was a complete fucking joke. One of the highlights for anti fascists was when he slagged off all the other break away groups, pissing off a lot of potential supporters and splitting an already fragmented far right.
The splits are very visible to see with groups of ‘Infidels’ (both North West and North East) saying they will no longer attend the EDL Manchester outing on the second of March.
Some ‘Infidels’ are even suggesting they have their own demo’s the same day, but we can’t imagine they would be able to get anything near the sort of numbers they would need, It will probably turn out to be a flash mob… in a pub… ordering beer… in protest…at something.
Whilst it’s easy to laugh at these public tiffs that seem to be becoming more frequent, It does look like it’s only the leaders & organisers of the splinter groups who seem to get upset as all they want is to be their own little Hitlers.
The average EDL supporters are also in an ‘Infidels’ group (or two) , and also display Casuals United images all over their facebook pages, for these people who are the remaining hardcore of travelling fascists, they will go to the biggest nationalist event of the day, and do not seem too fussy who’s name they march under, as long as they get to shout abuse and piss people off, and if they are really lucky get into a scuffle with the cops/reds/locals.
For example the poster below is doing the rounds on many of the EDL & ‘Infidel’ sites. We already know that March For England (MFE) organiser Dave Smeeton is furious as he has lost all control over this event, and he has asked that EDL stay away, but if this is the biggest nationalist event happening on the 21st April we can almost guarantee it will bring out every lowlife from MFE to the National Front, and every misfit in between, and the same will go for Manchester in March.
Not an MFE Poster
Luckily work is already underway to meet and greet our travelling fiends, and in a place like Brighton, no matter how many fascists get bused in they will always be outnumbered by a town sick to death of the fascist scumbags targeting them.
In northern towns like Manchester we usually see the EDL either equaled or just outnumbered by counter protesters, and that is usually following a call out from UAF.
There is still a lot of work to be done to get the majority of locals out, who like any normal person despise fascism, but feel it is ok to leave it for someone else to deal with, or perhaps are put off by politically motivated opponents of the EDL. Either way there’s a lot of work to do, but hey, it’s a new year!
“You asked for it”– “you sowed the wind, now you’ll reap the whirlwind” , “no women and kids this time” “We are coming back to Brighton IN NUMBERS and you dirty lefty child abusing cunts will be dealt with” – These were just a handful of the online threats made by EDL supporters in the wake of the humiliation of EDL splinter group March for England on April 22nd.
The EDL’s football hooligan division, Casuals United, had been boasting on their blog that they would be returning to Brighton in numbers and strength to take revenge on local people. Six weeks previously, hundreds of locals stood side by side against right wing racists who had tried, and failed, to parade around the city under the banner of ‘March for England’.
Weirdly, Casuals United named 2nd June the day for their action, but decided to keep the details quiet. They were obviously caught between the stools of either keeping the whole thing completely offline and having tiny numbers or advertising it and having to deal with police and anti-fascists. In the end they plumped for calling the whole thing a ‘social’, as if coming to Brighton, the South Coast’s biggest tourist town, and buying a pint while in disguise was an achievement of some sort.
Brighton anti-fascists decided against an extensive counter-mobilisation on the grounds that the Casuals weren’t going to pull the numbers and a big call out would simply be crying wolf on their behalf.
Nonetheless on the Saturday around a hundred anti-fascist activists assembled in Brighton’s main shopping area, Churchill Square. This was to support the Brighton Uncut Great Brighton Street Party and the regular Palestine Solidarity campaign stall. They anticipated the arrival of some kind of flash mob as the fash gathered in Hove and around Palace Pier. (Well, most of them – two were nicked at Hove train station for cocaine possession). However all we saw were EDL spotters, at least two using their wives as cover. Police numbers were huge so the spotters were just politely encouraged to fuck off.
FASH BANGS
By 3pm the stalls and street party were winding down – co-incidentally this was exactly as we received reports that the fash had stopped skulking in pubs and in an astounding display of both Dutch and Colombian courage had sallied out of the pubs into Kemptown* to throw bangers around and make homophobic remarks. It was presumably at this point that well-known local EDLer Stephen ‘Sugar Plum Fairy’ Sands got nicked for letting off fireworks – something we all no doubt enjoyed when we were fourteen but possibly a little immature at 44.
*the thriving heart of Brighton’s gay community™
In response anti-fascists set off for an impromptu march down North Street, towards Kemptown behind a large ‘NO FASCISM’ banner. After dealing with a police roadblock and attempted kettle most of the anti-fascist crowd made it down to the Old Steine where the first face-to-face confrontations with the Casuals occurred. Mostly due to the numbers of cops these were confined to slanging matches but there was at least one exchange of blows. There were skirmishes along Old Steine and in Pool Valley bus depot. Anti-fascists were arrested and four were held for public order offences and one (ridiculously) for assault of a police officer.
The whole time this was happening more local people joined the mobile protests. Brighton Anti-fascists distributed a leaflet to explain their actions:
“Fascism grows if we let it. We are here to challenge the racism, Islamophobia and fascism of the EDL, Casuals United and the March for England. This has no place in our city or anywhere else.”
By 4pm police rounded up the majority of the Casuals, (around 35 of them) and marched them to the station where they were forcibly placed on a train and dispersed out of town. They were harangued by anti-fascists the whole way. A few more were arrested at this point for ‘racist chanting’. By the end of the day the fash had taken thirteen arrests meaning that even if we take their inflated estimate of a turn-out 100 at face value then one in seven of them were nicked. The spread of towns they came from means that this really was an attempt at a national mobilisation… oh dear.
In an effort to save face Casuals United have said that the vast majority of their supporters stayed hidden and undercover – moving around in small groups. Unfortunately for them, travelling to the City-by the Sea with all their racist and homophobic baggage meant that they did, in the end, reveal their true colours.
CASUAL LIES
For those disappointed by the end of this year’s season of Game of Thrones there’s always the mystifying fantasy world of Suzy from Casuals United.
Their fantastic account of the weekend started with spotting “loads of UAF” up at the train station.
Actually there was no demo so we’re guessing that some of the idiots just ran into the crowd heading up to the Fatboy Slim effort at the football stadium and jumped to conclusions.
In the morning they came across “some unwashed anarchist scum on the beach in sleeping bags”..ermm do you mean homeless people? So much for the Soldiers off the Streets campaign.
Later, despite “not seeing a Commie all day” the Casuals apparently beat loads of us up.
“Ten people were arrested during these scuffles, mostly ours as several Anarchists were knocked out. A lot of ours then went to the police station to make sure those arrested were ok.”
In the last analysis Suzy is still defiantly pretending that there were hordes of undercover Casuals in town but rather gives herself away with the last sentence “I know some people had genuine reasons not to turn up, but some people said they were going, didnt say they werent and didnt turn up. They should be ashamed and next time they say anything it will be treated as the shit it is.” Temper, temper dear.
The fascists present in Brighton on 2nd June will of course know that this is BS of the highest order and will perhaps begin to lose faith in their organisations and then hopefully, their politics.
Today saw the fascist menace repelled both in Hamburg, Germany and Brighton in the UK. In Hamburg it is reported that 10,000 turned out to oppose a march staged by 500 neo-nazis, an event which saw 700 anti-fascists detained by police. There is a timeline of today’s events in Hamburg here (google translated) plus a video/report here from Russia Today.
Meanwhile Schnews give the lowdown below on today’s events in Brighton as well as a timeline report of the day’s actions posted here (indy uk)
“Casuals United, the football hooligan wing of the EDL, made complete tits of themselves in Brighton today (2nd). In response to their humiliation at March for England the fash thought it would be a good idea to come back in even smaller numbers to have a go at the “rabid hordes of commie UAF gays” that passes for the population of Brighton.
Far right websites, blogs and Facebook pages are already attempting to claim that antifa either a) didn’t turn up, b) ran away, and/or c) attacked patriots unprovoked. In reality the knuckle draggers managed to skulk about in a few pubs (including Belushis, The Saint James & The Amsterdam) while around 100 antifascists stewarded the UK Uncut demo and Palestine Solidarity stall near Churchill Sq. Once the stall had packed up around 3pm the antifascists mobbed up and headed towards Old Steine to confront the racists.
Police halted the majority of the march halfway down North St, meaning only around 30 made it to the bottom of St James Street, where small groups of fash were skulking around making homophobic remarks. A spirited fistfight broke out, though the police waded in before a decisive outcome was reached.
The cops then rounded up most of the EDL and marched them to the train station, with antifascists haranguing them all the way. Many of them then left town with a few others heading back into town to find a pub to defend from Sharia Law.
Antifascists then regrouped for a well earned pint, while others headed to Hollingbury police station to pick up arrested comrades. So far at least 5 antifascists and 5 fascists have been nicked today.
A more complete & concise roundup of the day’s events will be posted in the near future.
“It has been advertised on facebook and the casuals united blog page that the buffoons of the EDL/ MFE and casuals united are due to assemble in Brighton this weekend for the queen`s jubilee, clearly these idiots cannot define patriotism between crude abusive racism, The last time any fascist group invaded Brighton they were smashed off the streets by anti fascists and locals(members of the LGTB community) and this weekend will be no exception.
It is obvious that the pathetic fascists cannot admit defeat, they have no support in Brighton and they are clearly travelling to Brighton to cause trouble, let`s make sure that the nazis are removed from the streets just as MFE were.
We need a strong anti fascist counter protest on june the 2nd to remove these idiots from Brighton on a long term basis, if we allow these fascists platform then clearly they will continue to spread their poisonous message around multi cultural Brighton. we cannot allow this.
We urge all concerned anti fascists to be in Brighton on the 2nd of june.”
Quote of the day – “Well who thought it was a good idea to organise these two demonstrations on the same day? Surely it was obvious there would be problems” – random Brighton theatre-goer/by-stander
Yesterday’s counter-protest against the March for England exceeded all expectations. Although the fascists did march they did so inside a mobile police kettle continuously surrounded and occasionally bombarded by counter-protestors. Their march route was cut short and for once the chant “Police protect the fascists” was 100% accurate.
Last year the police successfully kettled most of the anti-fascists, allowing the MfE free rein through the city. They took full advantage of the opportunity to hand out racist abuse and attack alternative looking types. Brighton anti-fascists were determined to avoid a repeat.
Aware that the cops plan was to push the march straight down the road from the railway station to the sea front, the anti-crowd was encouraged to spread themselves thinly along the route. This prevented a pre-emptive kettle.
The MfE were due to start their procession at midday, but due to the geography of the area no-one in the counter-demo had a direct view of their meet-up point at the station. A strange High-Noon quiet settled over the town centre as the counter-protest shuffled and waited, watching police movements for a clue as to what might happen. Numbers gradually built up, serenaded by the bizarrely soothing tones of dub from a punk- soundsytem.
For a while it looked as if the cops were going to throw the towel in and refuse to allow the MfE out of the station. At half-twelve jogging lines of cops and the arrival of horses let everyone know that the fash were on the move.
One eyewitness at the station told SchNEWS “From where they were mustered, they could only see a tiny part of the counter-demo, mainly the UAF contingent. They were very cocky. As soon as they turned the corner and saw the opposition their faces fell”. By this point there were around 500 anti-fascists on the streets.
The nationalists had only mustered around 100, a third of what they had predicted. Yesterday SchNEWS reported that “there was little if any English Defence League insignia actually on display”. Since then we’ve been told that EDL banners and an Essex Infidels flag were unfurled at the station. In reality this was a moot point as the main body of march consisted of known EDL faces, including virtually all of Brighton and Portsmouth EDL with the addition of various unsavoury characters such as Jeff Marsh of Casuals United. Despite the presence of a few token women and kids the march was overwhelmingly male, bald and fat.
It didn’t take long after the march set off before the first few antis were in the road behind a banner. From then on the march became a rugby scrum as the cops used horses, truncheons and pepper spray to force the MfE through. Every time the cops broke through an anti-fascist line, another would form ten or twenty metres down the road.
BATTLE OF CHURCH ST
The pressure only intensified as the police decided to abandon the planned high-profile route and try to smuggle the nationalists down the back-streets. Anti-fascists got ahead of the game and running around the side got in front of the march on Church St to build barricades. Fascists and police came under attack with bottles. It was at this point that some-one set a bin on fire, irritating everyone, right and left, with the acrid smoke.
What was totally remarkable was the level of solidarity for the counter-demo by folk from all walks of life in Brighton. There was no support for the MfE. Pensioners and kids shouted abuse at the fash. The UAF stood shoulder to shoulder with Antifa punks.
Eventually the MfE, numbering around a hundred ended up in their pre-prepared pen, – unfortunately for them so did almost the entire counter-demo. They then had to put up with two hours of being jeered at by the surrounding mob before cops rushed them back to the station to be dispersed.
Their march was dogged every step of the way but as they were leaving the crowd was happy to let the cops rush them along. Anti fascists went on to enjoy a pint in the sunshine.
MARLBOROUGH LIGHT-WEIGHTS
Despite the usual online japery the few EDL who tried to make a stand outside the cordon were quickly seen off. Joel Titus, self proclaimed leader of the EDLs youth wing was spotted skulking with a crew of half-wits in the Marlborough pub, one of the few bars that would serve them on the day. A handful of anti-fascists were able to send them packing. Virtually no other pubs would serve the MfE and they failed to maintain a presence in town after they were dispersed.
Is this the end of the March for England in Brighton? Watch this space!
Final word to Brighton Anti-fascists “Brighton showed the racists today that their brand of hatred isn’t welcome in our city. Brighton has always historically seen off the fascists, in the the thirties , the seventies and now today. Big thanks to all who turned out! – Up the punks!”
As far as SchNEWS knows no-one on our team got nicked- If you were arrested and require support then please contact stopmfe@ymail.com
3 Counties Anti-Fascist Alliance (3CAFA) 
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