On Sunday a number of anti-fascist leafletters from Nottinghamshire Stop the BNP chose to let the people of Notts villages know what is going on in the BNP. One group of 6 people decided to leaflet Brinsley.
After an hour of leafletting, a fast travelling BMW pulled up alongside this group of leafletters. In an agitated state one of the car occupants jumped out and ran after one and then another of the leafletters shouting 'you have 10 mins to get out of Brinsley'. Initially the leafletters were bemused by this. Was there going to be nuclear strike on Brinsley?
The fat little driver of the car made a little clearer that they were not concerned about our safety but were in fact making a threat that in 10 mins they would get a heavy squad down to deal with us.
By that time of this incident the leafletters had pretty much finished so they decided to go back to their vehicles. (Because of the atmosphere of intimidation created by the BNP in Brinsley, we generally provide outside people to leaflet.)
The BMW had driven away presumably to try and co-ordinate an attack. Another vehicle had it appears been following the leafletters as well. When they got back to their car they found that a way out of the cul-de-sac had been blocked by this other vehicle driven by a woman, allegedly broken down. After the leafletters remonstrated the woman was pressurised to move her 'broken down' vehicle.
By this time our agitated BNP (real BNP?) thug was back. It was 5 minutes now we apparently had.
Whether anyone would have turned up, it would have been interesting to see. Whether the BNP (real BNP?) would have provoked a punch up on the doorstep of their ever so respectable councillor Sadie Graham, that also would have been interesting to know. Although we decided not to wait to find out on this occasion.
But some things are clear.
1) These 2 petty thugs were probably attached to the BNP opposition around Sadie Graham. The BNP are hardly likely to defend Graham's patch. Despite being asked the thugs didn't want to reveal the side they were on in the internal BNP dispute.
2) The fact that this method of trying to silence any opposition is as much a part of the BNP opposition as it is the BNP.
3) The division in the BNP which is providing such wonderful insights about how the BNP works and the politics and characters of their leaders gives us powerful political ammunition that worries the BNP and Graham's opposition.

I feel another leafletting session coming on.