Reports and thoughts from Saturday’s anti-fascist actions

7 07 2015
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Hundreds of anti-fascists drown out 23 Nazis in a cage on Whitehall

Saturday was a very busy day for anti-fascists as the full spectrum of far-right racists took to the streets of Britain. The targets of their hatred were Jews and Muslims. And Jews and Muslims stood up to oppose them, together with local people, trade unionists, and anti-fascist and anti-racist groups who all joined forces against the far-right.

The events of Saturday are very instructive in showing where the far-right and its opposition is currently at in Britain.

In Sheffield we had an EDL national demo. The EDL was once by far the largest far-right street movement in Britain. On Saturday they pulled about 200 people on to the streets, which shows the extent of their decline. In Stockton-on-Tees, a demo called by the EDL splinter group the North East Infidels brought out a whole coalition of groups to the right of the EDL who got almost the same numbers as the ‘official’ EDL – about 150.

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Update on anti-fascist mobilisations this Saturday

1 07 2015

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UPDATED Thu 23.30

This Saturday 4th the AFN will be mobilising in different locations across the country to oppose multiple far-right threats. Join us on the streets to show the fascists how isolated they are!

The situation with some of these fascist demonstrations has changed since our last post.

  • Westminster: Oppose the Nazis – meet at 12.30 – junction of Richmond Terrace and Whitehall: Facebook event
  • Sheffield: Stop the EDL march – meet at 13.00 – Hallam Square: Facebook event
  • Stockton-on-Tees: Unite against Islamophobia & oppose the North East Infidels – meet 12.30 at Old Town Hall: Facebook event

For continuing updates on the situation with all these mobilisation keep checking our twitter feed.

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Mobilise! Upcoming Antifascist Events

16 03 2015

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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.

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Stop the fascists in Rochester and Sunderland: Sat 15th November

13 11 2014

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It’s another busy weekend for anti-fascists as Saturday sees dual demos in the south and the north.

Rochester

Meet: 12.30, Rochester station ME1 1HQ

Facebook event

In Rochester the BNP splinter group Britain First are back for another dose of humiliation in their increasingly bizarre election campaign.

Rochester and Strood has been a focus of national attention since the sitting Tory MP triggered a by-election by defecting to UKIP. He hopes to keep his seat while becoming Farage’s second MP.  Britain First have jumped into the ring and are running  their deputy leader in the election too, mostly in an attempt at self-publicity.

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Berwick says ‘Nae Nazis!’

8 07 2014

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A brief report and some pics on opposition to the fascists marching in Berwick-upon-Tweed on Saturday

The fascists were an unholy alliance of the Scottish Defence League – long-known for being a smaller and nastier franchise of the more well-known English brand – and the North East Infidels – also a split from the EDL, who left to be free to be more racist.

They joined forces to bring their unwelcome message to the streets of Berwick. But the combined might of the fash of two countries appeared to equal about 40- 50 people. They had laughably decided the excuse for this outing was the call to ‘Ban the Burka’ – why this message was to be directed at the people of Berwick in particular remains a mystery. Mainly we suspect to provide the racists with an excuse to don their favourite masks and balaclavas.

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Stand up to the SDL & Infidels in Berwick this Sat 5th!

3 07 2014

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by North East Anti-Fascists

On July 5th, the Scottish Defence League and North East Infidels with their North West branch as well and other minor groups such as the EVF – the same extremist Nazi nutjobs who’ve caused Tommy Robinson to quit as EDL leader – are coming to BERWICK for yet another piss-up.

That’s the same drunken thugs who’ve previously pelted people in Sunderland with beer bottles and fireworks, while their Nazi chums in the North West Infidels have targeted the Unite trade union offices and a PCS picket line in Liverpool.

The stated objective of the fascists is to ‘Ban the Burka’ which would be funny if it wasn’t so serious, of all the things going on they focus on this irrelevance.

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Boro community rejects the racist EDL

1 07 2014

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This Saturday saw the people of Teesside take to the streets to oppose a national EDL demo in Middlesbrough.

Our previous posts have covered in detail the supposed rationale behind the EDL demo (‘grooming’ appears to have overtaken terrorism as their current favourite thing to blame all Muslims for). Sterling work was put in by North East Anti-Fascists and Teesside Solidarity Movement to create a broad-based local opposition to the fascists.

On the day about 200 anti-fascists gathered. There had been a call out to dress in red and to bring red banners and flags to go with the organising theme ‘We are Boro’. Red being the colour of Middlesbrough FC and the traditional colour of workers’ solidarity.

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Stand together against the EDL in Middlesbrough this Saturday!

27 06 2014

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Assemble 11am, Ayresome Gdns, Linthrope Rd, Middlesbrough

The EDL have called a national demonstration in Middlesbrough for this Saturday 28th June. Teesside Solidarity Movement and North East Anti-Fascists have been working together with other local anti-fascists including Unite and Unison in a broad coalition to organise a response.

Last year in the immediate aftermath of the Lee Rigby killing the EDL got 2000 at their national demo in Newcastle. Middlesbrough won’t see numbers anything like that – the EDL have splintered and shrunk massively since last year, with continuous pressure from anti-racists and anti-fascists as well as the defection of the leadership, huge internal arguments and entire ‘divisions’ leaving en masse, unhappy with the new leadership.

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Report on Newcastle mobilisation against the EDL

19 05 2014

A brief reflection on yesterday from North East Anti-Fascists:

The English Defence League’s mobilisation in Newcastle yesterday was choreographed around the theme of their latest bogus non-campaign to tackle Asian grooming gangs. It goes without saying that we feel the exploitation of this issue and the use of emotive images of children, leading the observer to consider sexual abuse to be quite sickening. Sickening, given that the fascists use this issue to spread fear, hatred and division, sickening, given that (thankfully) this represents zero and nil campaign in reality, sickening in the lack of consideration for the survivors and victims, evident in the careless treatment of this issue. North East Anti-Fascists have already highlighted examples of sex offenders within the English Defence League/fascist spectrum and have speculated on the use of this issue as cover for abusive behaviours within its own ranks.

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We’ve always been united! Stand against the EDL in Newcastle Sat May 17th

12 05 2014

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For Latest info: North East Anti-Fascists

This coming Saturday 17th May, North East EDL plan to hold a demonstration in the West End of Newcastle under the pretext of protesting about ‘Muslim grooming gangs’.

It’s a regional EDL demo, but in these days of declining numbers for the EDL, the difference between ‘regional’ and ‘national’ demonstrations has tended to become a bit irrelevant – the numbers they get on the day having more to do with whether they are stronger in one area than another.

Hence the recent EDL demo in Rotherham getting significantly more numbers than when they held ‘national’ demos in Exeter or Slough, places where they have little presence.

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