Today, anti-fascists from across the country stood in solidarity with locals from around Dover to oppose neo-nazis and assorted far-right rejects who decended on the town, once more openly flying fascist flags and seig heiling.
The pathetic fascist turnout.
2016 is only a few days old and already it looks set to go off with a bang. Several far-right groups have already announced protests and the AFN is gearing up for a busy year.
This coming weekend sees a whole range of antifascist mobilisations in different parts of the country. See you on the streets!
Friday, March 20th
Bolton
Justice4Bolton, a community group, will be rallying in Victoria Square, Bolton, at 12:30pm on Friday. The group exists to seek justice for the antifascists arrested at a protest against the EDL in 2010. Friday is the 5 year anniversary of that protest.
So far this weekend has seen two far-right events in the UK: a nationalist rally in Glasgow’s George Sq celebrating Scotland’s “No” vote, and a national EDL march in Central London.
On Friday night, loyalists, British nationalists and fascists gathered in George Sq, central Glasgow to celebrate the “no” vote. The rally started peacfully enough but soon descended into violence as members of the far right chanted “no surrender”, waved Ulster Unionist flags, nazi saluted and attacked “yes” voters. There are multiple reports that the Scottish Defence League, National Front and Britain First were in attendance, although this has not been confirmed. There are, however, multiple confirmations of far-right chanting and nazi-saluting. It seems very probable that far right groups were out in force last night.
There have been demonstrations across Greece and all over Europe since the murder of Pavlos Fyssas by Golden Dawn Nazis in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Over 350 people attended the solidarity demonstration at the Greek Embassy in London today – largely composed of Greeks from various political tendencies (anarchist, Syriza, leftists, KKE and others). A contingent from London Anti-Fascists and South London Anti-Fascists also joined the demo with a “Solidarity with Greek Antifa” banner. The cops initially refused to let people stand on the side of the embassy which was quickly ignored. Two people were arrested as cops were getting aggressive and unfortunately couldn’t be de-arrested due to the number of police (they were supported at the police station and hopefully will be released by tonight). As the crowds grew the road was taken by hundreds of people as a sound system playing the songs of the murdered anti-fascist was blasted out.
Solidarity – Αλληλεγγύη
“Zero tolerance for neo-Nazis” – “The blood of Pavlos flows, revenge calls”
The Metropolitan Police arrested over 280 anti-fascist activists, local community members, and passersby in East London on 7 September, as up to 700 English Defence League supporters were allowed to march over Tower Bridge and rally at Aldgate without encountering any mass opposition.
A large community demonstration was restricted to Altab Ali Park, well out of sight of the EDL’s march route and rally point. A bloc of around 600 within the demonstration, coordinated by the Anti-Fascist Network (AFN), attempted to hold a march to get within sight of the EDL’s route and present a visible opposition, which was then blocked and kettled by police. Despite police attacks the front of the AFN bloc did manage to get within sight of the EDL march, meaning the only political opposition the racists saw on the day was a direct result of the AFN mobilisation.
Sarah Smith from London Anti-Fascists said:
“The number of people who joined the Anti-Fascist Network bloc on the day shows that there is a real mood for forms of anti-fascism that go beyond static rallies where mainstream politicians and religious leaders spout liberal platitudes. The 600 people who attempted to march with AFN on Saturday shows that a moderate, ‘respectable’ anti-fascism based on deference to the state and the political status quo is no longer the only show in town.”
Anti-fascists, independent legal observers, and people who were just passing by were detained on the street for over six hours before the police announced their intention to make mass arrests. Arrestees were taken to police stations on the outer extremities of London — including Colindale, Sutton, and elsewhere — mostly under the pretext that they had committed an offence under the Public Order Act. Their alleged ‘crime’ was to march down a street the police didn’t want them to march down.
Some arrestees were held for up to 15 hours in total. Were it not for the work of arrestee support groups, many of those detained would have been thrown out of police stations in the middle of the night on the outskirts of London with little way of getting home. Most have now been released with highly restrictive bail conditions preventing them from opposing the EDL and other racist groups.
Tony Dixon from the Anti-Fascist Network said:
“These mass arrests, following a similar operation at an anti-BNP demonstration in May, show how the state is using political policing to criminalise protest and intimidate people out of taking political action. Only the tamest, most moderate forms of protest are sanctioned; anything else is met with police violence, kettling, and mass arrests.”
Val Swain of the Network for Police Monitoring (NetPol), added:
“Carrying out mass arrests on any demonstration is an excessive and draconian measure. In this case it was clearly not necessary to prevent disorder – many, if not most of the arrests were carried out after the EDL had left the area.
“In this case the police have taken 286 sets of names, addresses, fingerprints and dna. It has been a highly effective data gathering exercise. They have also imposed bail conditions preventing all of those arrested from participating in future protests – even though they have not been charged, let alone convicted of any offence. The police have had a successful operation to disrupt, deter and prevent anti-fascist protest.”
Notes for editors:
– The Anti-Fascist Network is a network of independent anti-fascists and anti-racist groups from across Britain, fighting the far right on the basis of direct action and working-class politics.
– The Anti-Fascist Network can be contacted on afncontact@riseup.net
Brilliant to see thousands turn out yesterday to tell the EDL to fuck off once again from London. They had a shit turnout, no local support and didn’t go where they wanted. Many hundreds joined the AFN in a bold attempt to block the EDL’s route, despite massive police odds – and we came pretty close. Insane policing resulted in 286 anti-fascist arrests, mostly from the AFN bloc. But we won’t let arrests deter us from physically confronting the racists. The EDL draw their power from the streets and that is where we have to confront them, despite the risks. Nothing can take away from the absolutely fantastic comrades who stood defiant and proud against the EDL.
Great solidarity shown with prisoner support at police stations across London throughout the night and from GBC / LDMG. If you were arrested or witnessed arrests or police abuse, write it down while it’s still fresh in your mind, let GBC know you’re out and how to contact you. Supporting each other is a collective responsibility especially after a mass arrest like yesterday, so think about what you can do – fundraising for legal costs and anti-fascist prisoner support is always worth doing.
Massive respect and appreciation to everyone that joined the counter-protests – it was great to stand with you. See you at the fantastic anti-fascist benefit party at ULU on the 12th of October or see you on the streets.
Other reports of the day:
