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?

Call-out to oppose the EDL in Manchester – THIS SATURDAY!

Whit a weekend. We saw 20 odd EDL turn up in Cambridge, all clutching beer cans and arguing with each other to the massed amusements of anti-fascists everywhere and then some local ‘chav scrotes’ attacked the entire Doncaster division, i.e., some bloke from Donny. We also saw the scab outfit NWI attempting to attack an anti-cuts meeting in Manchester.

Although it is clear that the EDL is on the brink of collapse and the fragmentation caused by their inability to get on with each other has created a bunch of tiny groupsucles who hate each other, it is essential that all anti-fascists get to Manchester on the 2nd March to demonstrate and in a show of strength and solidarity:

‘If you can’t beat them when they are weak, how can you expect to beat them when they are strong?’

At the moment the EDL are claiming the march for their own and promising that ‘Manchester [is] the peoples demo for the people by the people and whatever you hear we are marching there’s no kettles and no pens.’ Really?

The EDL are going to go through Manchester not totally surrounded by plod for their own safety? Jings! Meanwhile, the Cagoules Unlimited and the Infidel-boys are claiming it is a North West Alliance march and they should all unite but not with the EDL:

‘There will be no infighting. We sent a message at Cambridge by staying away, now we turn out and send another message. We wont stand by and see one or two twats destroy our movement from within.’

Who gets up on the platform to speak on the EDL regimental bugle will be interesting. It will be worth turning up for just to see them fighting each other.

Manchester anti-fascists

Stand Against The EDL In Manchester – Saturday March 2nd

Meet-up: 11am onwards, Piccadilly Gardens, Central Manchester

The EDL are coming to Manchester. They aren’t what they were, but they have not gone away. Their leader, Stephen Lennon, a violent repeat offender who has made jokes about the Oslo massacre, is soon to be released from a prison sentence for immigration offences!

Countless balls-ups and splits may have reduced them, but they’re no less riddled with nazis and fascists, who they’ve actively courted to the Manchester demo.

The far right has splintered in recent times – many hardcore groups like North West Infidels will be lurking at this event, spouting hatred and looking for trouble.

Stand up to the lying bullies, bigots and fascists in Manchester!

Last year the EDL and other far rightists were humiliated in Brighton, London, Bristol and elsewhere.

Make sure Manchester lives up to our proud traditions!

For more visit the website of the newly founded group, ACA Manchester.

EDL and Infidels fail respectively

Fresh from having their main website hacked again last night the ever persistent flotsam and jetsam of what was “Britain’s biggest street movement” (according to themselves) arrived in Norwich today for a so-called ‘national demonstration’ numbering around 150 if that.

The people of Norwich were out in considerably larger numbers (*an estimated 1,500 according to mainstream press reports) to give the bedraggled ‘leaderless‘ boneheads the rousing welcome that they deserved by letting the racists know in no uncertain terms that the hatred spread by the EDL was definitely not welcome in the city as the video below clearly shows.

Arrests were made as boneheads tried to attack locals. Scuffles with anti-fascists also took place. *Mainstream report here

Meanwhile EDL neo-nazi splinter group the ‘infidels’ were out in West Ham having an equally shit day.

Meanwhile, the weekend before in Liverpool…

Taken from alertaantifasciste

“With NWI calling a national callout ‘against IRA marches in Liverpool’ (code name for spreading anti-irish racism, especially since february ) various antifascist groups set about organising counter demoes, fash facebook pages and blogs kept pumping out about people coming from far and wide to the demo and keeping meeting places secret.

On the day however only roughly 20 of the fash turned up, this was met by a joint mobilisation of antifascists who outnumbered them 3-1, as the fash settled comfortably into their police protected protest area near the town hall another 20 antifascists turned up and stood amongst the fash, the fash then backed off and stood looking uncomfortable until police moved into to move the antifascists to their proper place.

Unsurprisingly the fash became suddenly more vocal once the police safety was reinforced, but this just further added to their humiliation, one fascist was keen to remind antifascists that ‘the police are on our side not yours’ roughly translated and taking the events into consideration i believe this meant ‘These police wont let you get us’ the police had several attempts at kettling antifascists, which didn’t seem too effective and many managed to break the line.

Far right poster boy and jail bird Liam Pinkham bumped into a group of militant antifascists and recieved a taste of his own medicine, for his first demo since his release from prison this should really make him question his involvement in politics all together.

last night was a really successful night for antifascism in Liverpool, everyone played to their strengths, there was a counter demonstration that massively outnumbered the fascist mobilisation, and sizeable groups were scouting and looking for fash outside of the demo.

The only group which refused to turn up was the Socialist Party in Liverpool, who really need to question their morals, having witnessed them sharing church street with fascists and ignoring the fascists all together to talk about the NHS, how can they refuse to stand with other antifascists AGAINST fascists?”

Fash yesterday giving it the ‘big un’ from the safety of a pub (great choreography with zee fingers) .. (CTRL and + for closer view in firefox)

The aftermath as told by EDLNews.