EDL splinter group to demonstrate in Lincoln

Re-post from East Midlands Anti-Fascists

EDL splinter group, the East Anglian Patriots (not to be confused with the East Anglian Patriotic Front or the People’s Front of East Anglia), have announced that they will hold a demonstration in Lincoln on Saturday 8th June at 1pm. They are protesting the building of a mosque on the site of a disused dairy because they don’t believe in freedom of religion.

Just in case there’s any dispute about whether or not the organisers of the demo are EDL or not, here’s what they are saying on Facebook:

Unsurprisingly, the promotional material for their event is littered with factual errors and half-truths. To start with they state that the mosque will cost £0.5m to build whereas the actual figure is close to £1m (and it’s going to be paid by the local Muslim community anyway, so why do they care?) The former EDL members twist the truth mercilessly by saying that “Local residents have objected but as usual their pleas have been ignored.” In actual fact, local residents group Boultham Residents’ Association initially objected to the plans on the basis of the increased traffic that would be brought to the area, but came out in support of the final plan, which included 68 parking spaces for worshippers. Lincoln Council only received five letters of objection, “mostly about concerns over traffic congestion”, while six letters were sent in which backed the project.

Chair of the Boultham Residents’ Association, Jean Flannery had some very positive things to say about the scheme that seem to demonstrate that local people are accepting and welcoming of the mosque and the Muslims who use it:

We need to move forward together. Now, our joint task is to foster understanding and acceptance of one another.

Misunderstandings may cause difficulties and anxieties but they can be corrected.

We already live and work alongside one another.

Individual and working relationships are the norm for many. We have our differences but we also share more similarities.

By far the majority of us surely wish to live in harmony. To my mind the way to accomplish this is to develop and expand relationships to fully include the wider community, in which we all share.

It seems that it’s the far right protesters who are riding roughshod over the desires of the local community and trying to impose their own agenda.

The invaluable piece of English heritage that will be destroyed by the mosque

“Our way of life, our faith, our very existence is under threat from this Islamic encroachment” the East Anglian Patriots’ poster shrieks hysterically, although it’s not at all clear how turning a derelict wasteland into a mosque is going to do that. The Lincoln Islamic Association has compelling reasons for needing a larger mosque, saying “We now have approximately 2000 Muslims in Lincoln and surrounding areas. Our current Mosque capacity is only 60.” The truth of the matter is the demonstrators are mostly anti-Muslim and racist people from out of town (Lincoln is not in East Anglia) who want to divide communities along lines of race and religion.

This demonstration and its politics of intercommunal violence should be resisted.

How to Run a Far Right Street Stall

Just a quick share from the AFA Ireland page!

Stall from the far-right ‘Die Republikaner’ gets a makeover in Kassel, Germany.

Tja, mal läuft es gut, mal läuft es scheisse…
Vor allem für Neonazis in Kassel.

what did they expect?

Newcastle Prepares to Counter the EDL

Anti-fascists in Newcastle are gearing up for a stream of human filth to trickle through the streets on May 25th when the EDL hold a national demo in their town. The EDL demo’s ain’t what they used to be, but it’s fair to say that about 300 hardcore hangers on and racists will probably show up to get pissed in a moving police kettle. As usual they are relying on the travelling support of far right extremists from all over the country. The pic below shows Southwest Frontline Firm’s current page banner. The people in  SWFF are the exact same people on the southwest EDL pages. It’s like each member has their own group -

You can’t get much further away from the north east then erm…the south west!! Sitting in a car for 6 hours each way is not how most normal people would like to spend their weekend, but hey…

South West FF – claim they are travelling to the North East on 25th

Things are already hotting up on Tyneside, it looks as though there is a local pub that is welcoming the fascists – The Rose and Crown are hosting a pre-demo meeting on the 11th May, they can be contacted here:  5-7 Newgate Street, City Centre, NE1 5RE Newcastle upon Tyne. 0191 261 2929.

Here’s the facebook event for it: https://www.facebook.com/events/510646138991834/.

And the pub bizarly has 2  facebook pages: https://www.facebook.com/rose.crown.923?fref=ts and https://www.facebook.com/TheRoseCrown

It seems one of the people who comments on both the pages and the event page is ‘Biffa Bacon’ (don’t worry not the real one). On one page he’s against the meeting, and on the other he’s all for it. Fascists tend to get confused when they try to lead double lives, wait till Fatha and Mutha finds oot Biffa!!

We are sure the EDL and assorted fascists will be given an ‘appropriate’ welcome from a traditionally tough working class city like Newcastle, but just to help get the point across antifascists in the city have got a PDF leaflet you can download and print here: http://neanarchists.com/anti-EDL-may25th.pdf

Anti-Fascists Organising!

And a quick brain teaser to finish:

Q: If the Bournemouth EDL division takes a car to Newcastle, and Mikey Baylis and Jacqueline Bath are also going in a car together, and South Coast Casuals are taking their own car, as are South West Frontline Firm and the South West Alliance…Then how many cars will be going to Newcastle on the 25th may from the south west?

A: One – and it’ll probably only seat 3 of the fat twats comfortably.

Madrid: Mayday antifascist demo reportback – Comrades detained

As the Leeds EDL demo turned out to be the dampest of squibs here’s a repost from Contra Info – Translation counter infomation network instead. As far as i’m aware no AFN affiliates went to Leeds, as there is not a group there for us to support. If this is not the case please get in touch, or feel free to write a report.

Click on the Contra Info link above to see videos. Looks as though the fascist march was allowed to roam freely whilst the small group of antifa’s was kept under heavy manners from plod. Still, a good report. Solidarity with all antifascists!

Brief chronicle of the counter-demonstration in the neighbourhood of Chueca on May 1st

At 6pm on May 1st, various fascist organizations, every one cheesier than the last, called a demonstration that began in Tribunal, a central area in Madrid, very close to Chueca.

On the same day, at 5pm, an antifascist gathering was called in the Plaza de Chueca. The call was put out just a few days in advance, and it was unknown what response it would bring.

Well before 5pm, there was already a large police deployment in Chueca, and the antifascist gathering was surrounded from the beginning. The strategy seemed clear: To wear out the counter-protesters and keep them there until the fascist demonstration would be over. But the shouts, good humor, resistance, and dignity didn’t wear out, and the comrades stayed united and combative while surrounded by police for two hours. Around the edges various groups went around and around without being able to join the gathering, but waiting the whole time for the group of their comrades and the fascists.

There were two encounters that we know of with unsuspecting Nazis. In the first, two of them who were arriving late to their demonstration along Fuencarral street (a main pedestrian street, very commercialized and filled with people and cops) ran a flat 200 meters trying to escape a group of antifascists, but had such bad luck that further down they ran into another group. One of the Nazis was hit in the face with a helmet that a compa graciously offered him. They were rescued by a police patrol, but it was priceless to see a Nazi with an ACAB patch on his jacket begging for protection from the pigs. The other was the Nazi who appears in the pictures (or disappears, because he blends in with the boys in blue he likes so much). He was given a good scare, but of course he was saved by the arrival of a van from the anti-riot squad. As you can see from the pictures, they got along well. He opened the door to let the cops out, and got right in…

Where is the Nazi?

When all those who were in the gathering in Chueca got out after being frisked, having their IDs checked and (for many) being photographed, some of them met up with other groups that were outside the cordon and headed to Tribunal, where there was a scuffle with the police and two comrades were held. Since it looked like they were going to be detained, the rest barricaded the street and pulled stones from a dumpster to throw at the cops.

The cops charged hard, shooting rubber bullets and chasing the demonstrators, detaining one person; we don’t know if this person was with the group or not. The two comrades who were held earlier have been released, but other detentions were added to the tally in the Plaza de Jacinto Benavente, far from the gatherings and long afterward.

Solidarity with the detained.
Against the system, democratic or fascist. For anarchy.

From the Terraces to the Streets!

Aston Villa Ultra’s, Brigada 1874, got creative last night whilst watching their team destroy Sunderland 6-1. Sunderland are still managed by Italian fascist Di Cannio…. Good result all round!

A couple of weeks back we asked if anyone had any photo’s of antifascist ‘street art’ in their area, here’s what we got! No jokes about Rolf Harris please!!

Old Trafford

Plymouth

Falmouth

Fareham

Brighton

Portsmouth

Bristol

Plymouth

Brighton

Ancoates 

Bournemouth

 

 

All Hail St Edmund!

We’ve all been waiting for the fascist scum to announce a return to Brighton for another lesson in failure, and here it is! Brought to you by the South East Alliance (SEA)….

Saint Edmund S Day!

The far right are not well known for their sharp minds, but this is dumb even for them. Looks like they have learnt nothing about  issuing on-line threats that they can’t back up, the use of violent imagery to attract the cops, or about getting kicked around on the streets. Oh well, what ya gonna do?

Paul Pitt & Dave Smeeton the ‘brains’ behind South East Alliance

Certinatley not the brains of SEA – Micky ‘the clown’ Bayliss, snapped here trying to get it on with the winner of  The Portsmouth Fascist Beauty Awards 2012 – Kessa Grove.

To be fair maybe they have learnt that Saint George was from the middle east, so they have picked a saint who hopefully has not got any foreign skeletons in his closet – Edmund - beautiful English name that! (although Edmund was born in Nuremberg – seems a bit more fitting)! It seems however that the South East Alliances own followers question the wisdom of their leaders:

maybe they hope the antifascists will all be at work on a Wednesday.

Feel Free to join the facebook campaign for smashing the reds here: https://www.facebook.com/events/135856863266854/

Or network socially with the lads and lasses at the South East Alliance here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/South-East-Alliance/429609677092867?fref=ts

Fearsome looking badge!

Owww…Not the face!!

 

 

 

 

 

Final Say on Deluded ‘Casuals’ Tall Tales

It’s all getting a bit tedious now. We asked ‘casuals united’ to provide evidence of them getting anything other than completely humiliated on Sunday, but surprise surprise Cilla, they can’t. They put out this fantasy tale (a few days too late): Make believe - This refers to the incident included in a post we published on Monday: Eye Witness account

Lets have a quick look at the photo they provided: 

Casuals Say: “One of our girls was arguing with them and they went for her, about seven of them. “

What Really Happened: The girl in the grey was not anywhere near the scrap – the loudmouth fascists and the subsequent action were to the left of this shot – perhaps why they are all looking left?  At the time it kicked off the girl in the grey had sensibly retreated. One fascist lunged into the crowd of Anti-fa’s and was quickly swamped. To be fair the fascists were massively outnumbered by Antifascists – but hey, they chose to go to Brighton!

Casuals Say: “They’d (antifa) rather go for a girl than a fella”

What Really Happened:.  They have already admitted in previous posts that one of them took a golf umbrella to the ‘mouthy girls head’. They change that slightly in the latest blog post claiming – “the ginger bint with them was immediately taken out as the lads piled in to defend their sister”. – there was no sister to defend – the girl in the grey had moved out of the scene – a fat bloke who was earlier mistaken for J Marsh lunged straight at the nearest girl he could see with a Golf Umbrella and hit her around the head (not very British – play the game!! ) He was quickly stopped by her friends, one of who’m lamped him on the top of his bonce with something in a bag, it put him straight down and as he scrambled around on the floor trying to find his weapon he took a few more kicks from what was now a swirling mass of limbs.

Casuals Say: “This is the one fight of the day that they have not mentioned”

What really happened: We reported this on monday.

Also, The baldy guy on the right of the picture you may recognise from photo’s in previous articles about this  - he took a kicking on the seafront a bit earlier in the day, maybe he’s the boss of the  ’Suicide’ squad:

Suicidal more like

Another screen  grab I’ve seen on ‘SlateEDL’ (but can’t find now – look yourself!) claims he must be tough as he came back for another scrap. He in fact did not get involved in the second scrap at all. He argued throughout the whole thing with an antifascist to the right of the action begging them to throw the first punch so he could claim ‘self defence’?!?! The antifascist replied ‘You go first’ and walked toward him – he backed off until the police arrived and he was safe. Punches thrown by Mr Suicide in his second fight: Zero.

So they have no evidence of anything, other than a terrible story it took them 2 or 3 days to dream up. I think we’ll put this to bed now – It’s always good to enjoy a victory, especially after all the threats from the far right, but there’s nothing to be gained by bragging. Lets start looking forward to the next one!! Also see article from Brightons own Schnews.

See you on the streets.

 

 

Shits & Giggles!

Click here for that funny video of Hitler talking about what went wrong in Brighton (probably the best one of these we’ve seen!)

MOBS AND COPPERS..an anti-fascist day out by the seaside.

I’ve just been seeing some grade A bullshit about the MfE march on Sunday from ‘Casuals United’…Stories about 1 ‘lady’ beating up 7 antifa, and 8 casuals beating up 70 opposition. Are these people so fucking deluded they write blogs about what happened in their dreams? Whatever – Lies make any movement look weak. If Casuals United can provide any evidence in the form of pics we will gladly print them (not fake ones set in Marshy’s back yard tho!) Based on what happened at the weekend I’d wager that the antifascist movement has more casuals than ‘casuals united’ and all the other dumb EDL splinter groups put together.

Until we have heard from the kiddies at ‘casuals united’  here’s a repost from schnews:

“One guy went straight over the barricade into them – he was knocked down but everyone followed and soon the fascists were hiding behind the police” – eyewitness account of the the arrival of the South East Alliance into the March for England pen.

Another year, another March for England, another victory for the anti-fascist massive. Around 100-150 dregs of the EDL with the assistance of 700 police to march 400 yards along a cordoned off seafront and back. Turn-out against the march was huge with an estimated 2,000 counter-protestors turning out inside the police organised cordon re-inforced with a 200 strong black block roaming around the perimeter.

Photos (see below) of the event show the extent to which Brighton stood up for itself well against the various EDL splinter groups that make up the March for England. The far-right pulled out all the stops for this one with march organiser Dave Smeeton hitting the road to drum up support for the event. The basic message was: Last year they caught us by surprise – this year we must get the numbers and show the ‘commies’ who’s boss. Fascists travelled from around the country to be in Brighton and the day showed just how dispirited the remnants of the English Defence league are.

THEY GO WHERE WE WANT

A large number of old EDL faces were spotted on the day but the likes of Shane Calvert, Jeff Marsh and Liam Pinkham just can’t attract a following any more and are reduced to making idle threats on the internet. Fascists had promised a weekend of carnage, but in the end Jeff ‘Casuals United’ Marsh @wegowherewewant was reduced to tweeting on Saturday that the Casuals ‘totally owned Worthing’ which is a nice way of spinning the fact that they were too frightened to come fifteen miles along the coast to Brighton for the night.

Meanwhile Brighton’s anti-fascist coalition was busy building in the town itself conducting daily street stalls and plastering the place with stickers and flyposters. It was obvious by contrast that the March for England have no base in the town and no grass-roots support.

ALL BETS ARE OFF?

Sussex police claimed that they were putting in place the biggest public order operation in the force’s history and the barrier erected along the seafront was expensive but in the event nothing prevented fash and anti-fa from settling their differences.

Plod had originaly annnounced that the MfE were to be bussed into their start point from one of the train stations. In the event they were simply allowed to walk through town in small groups – unsurprisinglySchNEWS started hearing of small punch-ups erupting throughout the North and South Laines. The first real flashpoint came when groups of EDL started to get to the startpoint of their demo while waving flags. One group was immediatley chased into a bookmakers on St James St while anti-fascists fought with the police to get at them. They were only rescued by the arrival of mounted cops. Meanwhile the South East Alliance were trying to sing their way badly into the cordon while being pelted with bottles.

Eventually march organisers decided that sufficient numbers had arrived for the march to begin. The MfE began their dismal cordoned off trudge at 1p.m – realistically police presence and preparation meant that there was little chance of blocking the route. However the MfE had to run the gauntlet of 2,000 jeering opponents, comprised of trade unionists, the Unite Against Fascism crowd, the Green Party and hundreds of ordinary Brightonians.

BATTERED FASH

Meanwhile groups of fash and anti-fa played hide and seek in through the South Lanes. Groups of fash were continually sent packing, retreating behind police lines. A few anti-fascists got thumped but the opposition came off far, far worse. The militant block eventually made its way to the proposed end point of the march and waited there to bait the march. This was when the hardcore racists headed up by Steve ‘Sugar Plum Fairy’ Sands, launched their ill-fated kamikaze attack. Badly disguised as black block a handful of them began throwing punches at the masked up youth but were rapidly overwhelmed and were only just rescued by police after a proper pasting.(insert your own“ got a tasty smack in the mush off the lads/ claret all over the shop” type hooooligan narrative here). By the way Sands has pent the last two years bragging on facebook about ambushing anti-fascists during a 2010 demo in Brighton…best served cold eh?

TALE OF TWO MARCHES

The fash were marched back to the start point and police organised coaches began to arrive to cart them off to less fashionable parts of the country. A few hundred antis remained to see them on their way but the majority marched back through town under a rainbow flag and behind a banner marked ‘No Pasaran’. No cordons, no police, with the chant “Whose streets, our streets” ringing true. One particiapant told SchNEWS “This was a moment of true Brighton unity – we didn’t need cops to protect or facilitate our march because this is our town”. Video link

The above does not represent the whole story of the day which was often confusing and fragmentary with pockets and bursts of activity occurring across the whole town until late in the night. Anti-fascist coalitionStopMFE have put out an appeal for accounts of the day.

Altogether thirteen anti-fascists were arrested and although arrest support was provided if you need support or think you have important witness evidence then please contact stopmfe@ymail.com

Brighton 24th April 2013 – Something For Everyone!!!

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?