All the EDL
The EDL had a pitiful turnout in London on Saturday, with a mere 50 of them on their national demo. They didn’t get to march to Parliament as they had intended and were harrassed and heckled by anti-fascists along the way.
EDL leader Ian Crossland had gloated and joked online about the murderous racist attack on worshippers at Finsbury Park mosque and the hate preachers at the EDL rally stayed true to form.
There’s a lot going on this weekend for Antifascists. Here, we’ve rounded up the main demonstrations, and what’s going on.
September is shaping up to be a VERY busy month for Antifascists. There are going to be three (!) AFN actions, alongside several other non-AFN Antifascist demonstrations. The refugee crisis has pushed the far-right into a frenzy of activity and it is our social duty to combat them.
Meet 10.30am outside Dudley Council House, Priory Road, DY1 1HF
This Saturday 13th in Dudley there is an attempt to launch a new right-wing street movement. The awkwardly-named All Football Fans/Firms March Against Islamisation (AFFFMAI) appears to be an attempt to copy the emergence last year of the German HoGeSa (Hooligans Against Salafism), which itself was copying the EDL.
It seems unlikely that this will ‘break the mould’ of the far-right and far more likely that it will be all the same old faces under a different banner.
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.
The Anti Fascist Network is all about getting out of our armchairs and on to the streets, so here’s a run through of what’s coming up. How will anyone know you oppose fascism if you don’t get out there and say so!
First up in March is an EDL national demo in Manchester on Saturday the 7th. The local UAF are organising a counter demo. It’s Piccadilly Gardens at midday. Read the rest of this entry »
AFN groups hooked up with Birmingham UAF, Birmingham Strong Justice4ALL, unions, community groups and many others under the ‘We Are Birmingham’ banner this Saturday 11th. People came out despite the rain to demonstrate in Victoria Square together, making clear we reject the EDL’s vile and divisive message. Everyone seemed to enjoy the live music and a chance meet new people. One topic that came up a lot was the Nobel Peace Prize awarded yesterday to Malala, a Pakistani schoolgirl and activist now living in Birmingham. Read the rest of this entry »
Join the demonstration – 3pm, Sat 28th June, Markfield Park, off Crowland Road, South Tottenham.
On Saturday a group of Polish neo-Nazis from the group Zjednoczeni Emigranci (ZE – United Immigrants) attacked the small ‘Music Day’ festival in Markfield Park in Tottenham, North London assaulting a Jewish man and stabbing another Polish man. This pre-planned and unprovoked attack on a family music festival was carried out by a group of about 40 fascists and involved throwing glass bottles, stones and flares. Several other people were injured.
The individual who was stabbed purely through luck suffered only superficial injuries. One member of ZE has been arrested for religiously aggravated common assault in connection with the assault against a Jewish man.
The anti-fascist mobilisation against the South East Alliance demonstration in Cricklewood this weekend was a resounding success. Approximately 200 anti-fascists confronted a mere 40 far-right marchers and prevented them from completing their march, forcing them to turn around and go back the way they came.
The SEA is an even more right-wing splinter group of the EDL that exists in an alliance with all the other tiny far-right splinter groups. Therefore the small number of far-right nationalists in North London on Saturday contained many familiar unpleasant faces from the English Volunteer Force, Casuals United, the March for England etc. Research by London Anti-Fascists correctly anticipated many of the unpleasant characters who would be there.
In Swansea on Saturday extreme right-wing National Front “White Pride” demonstrators numbering about 40 were opposed by a crowd of 100-200 anti-fascists. Swansea for some reason seems to have become the unfortunate venue of choice for this neo-Nazi celebration. Last year the demo was followed by a Blood and Honour gig at the Valley Commandos Motorcycle Club (which drew much larger crowds than the demonstration). This included dressing in Klan uniforms and a mock-lynching of a golliwog, for which Christopher Philips got himself imprisoned.
Anti-Fascist Network 