Anti-Fascist Network

We’re sure everyone is now aware of what a dismal day the fascists had in Brighton yesterday. The residents of Brighton again turned out to tell the scum to fuck off home, and militant antifascists made sure the trip out was as unpleasant as possible. As a lot of the info that’s circulating is kinda similar – here’s a first hand account from a militant antifascist, the comments are his own and do not necessarily reflect any person or group aligned to the Anti Fascist Network . The photo’s are taken from the AFA Ireland facebook page, most are by a photographer called Guy Smallman who is not connected too us. The group StopMFE are collating a load of accounts at the moment so we’ll re-post that when it’s out as hopefully it’ll be pretty concise,  what follows is only what the author saw.

The AFN banner makes an early appearance at the start while things remain calm.

The locals and some UAF (totaling around 1000) had lined the beach side of the sea front to get a good view of the marching dregs while about 200 militant anti-fascists and some more ‘up for it’ citizens stayed on the town side just behind a big hotel on the corner, controlling most of that area. It was already clear to most people (as the fascists bragged about it on facebook like they do everything) that a lot of the extreme right & groups such as Casuals United would not be joining the march and would be in the pubs awaiting chances to attack anyone who opposed the march and looked vulnerable. As the march on the front stuttered to a slow start a few brave (read suicidal) fascists tried to enter the area controlled by antifascists, from behind! They were swiftly dealt with – there’s a great video of that scumbag from the North West, Liam Pinkham, running off up an alley way on the Vice website.

A group of about 6 were chased by around 70 antifa onto St James Street – they narrowly managed to get inside a betting shop and get the door locked, as antifascists tried to kick through the door the master race were shitting themselves. Luckily for them the police showed up on horses.

Minor scuffles continued as now and again a fascist trying to infiltrate the Anti’s would be outed, or try their luck running the gauntlet. The crowds that were not on the seafront did not really notice that the March had finished, as it was out of view and quiet – it was only the shouts of ‘fuck off’ from the locals that let us know the march was coming to an end. At this point the UAF leadership tried to get the anti’s to get involved in a celebration march up to the station, they set off with their banner only to realise that only about 10 people were following, unlucky!..Maybe stop trying to tell people how to protest eh?! An impassioned plea was made from a female member of Brighton antifascists that we should stay put and occupy the space till 3pm, so that the fascists were not allowed to be dispersed into the town, and would have to be carted off in buses. The mob stayed until the buses went, and it was only following another speech from the top of a railing that the crowd agreed to move up to the clock tower “We dont want them on our streets, we don’t want them in our pubs, and we don’t want them in our town” (something like that). With that the victory parade started with the streets being taken over – note to the far right – this is going where we want, when we want, at least that phrase got used effectively eh? can we keep it? eh? Some shoppers looked bemused behind their camera phones as the mob made it’s way up to the station, with others cheering and cars tooting in support.

This was not the victory march written about here, there must have been two – Here young people are celebrating with the flag of the International Brigades from the Spanish Civil war

It was at the station a mate said he had just gone to a shop down the road, as he came out two fascists shouted something, you can imagine what happened next, his words were “they shat themselves, they won’t be doing that again”.

One of Smeetons Lookouts (from Portsmouth) got a few slaps at the station.

As antifascists waited at the station reports were coming in of gangs of fascists walking through town and enjoying the pubs…. not today. Again Antifasicists moved off, heading back towards the seaside to find a group small group, possibly CxF, who got safely behind the plod before trying to have a fight. They were escorted away in a moving kettle about 4 cops deep all around with vans all around them – it must have been at least 5 cops for every one fascist.

Groups of Antifascists had been split by the police and now in different groups set off towards the beach, presumably to meet up with each other, although unfortunately they kept coming across groups of fascists. The young group that I was with met about 8 or so scum near the old pier, clearly coked up to the eyeballs, with sticky white shit around the sides of there mouths they were incoherently screaming about being English, and being patriots, and that we were traitors. A brief standoff ensued and just when you thought it was going to pass the fascists lunged into the crowd with flailing arms. One of them who looked liked Jeff Marsh (but then a lot of them have very fat faces) was hitting a young antifascist girl around the back of the head with a brolly, he was soon relieved of the brolly and flailed around holding his head as the blows rained in. Needless to say the fascists couldn’t finish what they started. By the time the cops turned up they had taken a good shoeing, and as the antifascists began to back away one came back for more, hardly able to stand, he was put on his arse again, this time by a late arriving piggy who cuffed him. After a bit of a standoff  with the police and a lot of ripping the piss out of the battered ‘patriots’ and the confused and pale looking brolly guy, anti fascists dispersed into the back streets as quickly as they appeared.

Here’s someones snaps from a separate beach incidents:

Bish

Bash

Bosh

-One commentator on the photo’s from AFA Ireland puts it well – ‘a stone island jacket and a pair of prada gutties might make you look hard but they’re no help when you’re getting a doing. fair play to the brighton black bloc’

Another antifa said he had come face to face with March for England Organiser Dave Smeeton in a side street, skulking around with fellow old gimmer Mickey Bayliss (see last post) and a few assorted numpties from Essex and Portsmouth, who it turns out had been trying to mingle with militant antifascists during the march. This was soon after the shitty march had ended, and at the opposite side of antifascist area – can it be that Smeeton organised the march only to leave it to go drinking with his racist buddies? Probably.

So the main ‘family friendly’ march of  200 drunk middle aged bald men passed off with rowdy but mostly peaceful opposition from 1000 local people, and based on the above snapshot of events it appears that anti-fascists really did give the guys who made the pre-match threats a good hiding. The far right were issuing threats up until the morning of the demo that they were going to smash the reds off the street. Again and again Brighton shows these muppets  the door – the facebook pages of the EDL are extremeley quiet today, with those that dare mention the day blaming the police for not protecting the fascists enough…Maybe next time be careful what you wish for eh?