Saturday saw anti fascists across the world answer the call from Greece Antifa for a show of solidarity. So far reports of solidarity demo’s happening have been received in Greece from London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leeds, Bristol, Cork, Dublin, Derry, Barcelona, Ossona, Manresa, La Garriga, Bilbao, Lyon, Brussells, Berlin, Copenhagen, Vienna, Tampere, Warsaw, Vilneous, Moscow, Chicago, New York, Montreal, Toronto, Sydney, Canberra, Buenos Aires, Oslo, Cologne, Nicosia, and Paris.
All in all a good day for anti fascism, especially in London where around 200-300 gathered in the cold outside the Greek embassy (Sorry to those reporting much higher numbers, but the AFN does not exaggerate or lie, this is a figure that many involved in the network thought was about right).
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UAF did a good job getting their supporters out, but unfortunately treated them to speakers including Labour MPs Jeremy Corbyn and David Lammy – like the Labour party doesn’t give immigrants a kick when it wins them votes! London groups aligned with the anti-fascist network seemed pleased with the local antifash turn out, and they were joined by a couple of other groups who made the trip through the snow. One group of Antifascists who arrived fashionably late stumbled upon the ‘British friends of Golden Dawn’ holding pen (holding all 12 of them) and whilst out of the UAF kettle attempted to engage the dipshit fascists in a bit of light banter – shortly after this the Nazi’s were marched off to a tube station by the old bill in a shower of snowballs as the antifascists were put into the appropriate kettle to join the solidarity demo.
Pretty much everything Antifascists do is reactive to what the opposition is doing so it was great to have show of solidarity, requested, and answered by antifascists. The fact the scum only managed to get 12 out to counter the demo is encouraging, as was the turn out from Londoners. To be fair there were apparently a couple of fascists waiting in a pub nearby, but they decided to stay there rather than making arses out of themselves like their mates. The classic quote of the day came from one of the Golden Dawn Supporters – “We’re not fascists, we’re Nazi’s”. Fucking insane!!
Dead behind the eyes – half of Londons Golden Shower brigade
The Edinburgh demo was almost identical, with 8 or so assorted fruit loops including SDL members showing up to stand on the sidelines and look dejected.
Edinburgh’s Friends of Golden Dawn looking lonely
The SDL did not fare much better in Pollokshields (Glasgow) on Sunday when a planned demonstration to use the anniversary of the death of a Scottish lad to try and stir up some hate attracted about 15 nutters and was told where to go. The turnout may have been low however, that may be due to the deceased being of catholic descent and the SDL getting confused about which side they are on. Militant antifascists and local antifa casuals also stayed away due to the organisers of the counter protest working with the police.
All in all a fucking terrible weekend for the fascists in the UK. If there does seem to be a lull in their fortunes it could provide a perfect opportunity to build a stronger, and more organised movement for the future.
Here’s some more reports from Saturday: Schnews – Wessex Solidarity – Athens Antifa
And one from Sunday in Glasgow: ISG
Anti-Fascist Network 