Report of anti-fascist demonstration 29 November 2008
James from Liverpool reports on an anti-fascist demonstration with real potential to force the BNP off the streets – if it wasn't for the treachery of anti-fascist leaders
James from Liverpool reports on an anti-fascist demonstration with real potential to force the BNP off the streets – if it wasn't for the treachery of anti-fascist leaders
Saturday 22 November saw the BNP mobilise twelve of their thugs from across the north-west to hand out the vile ‘racism cuts both ways’ pamphlet on Church Street in the centre of Liverpool. Eager to clear their name after having at least one officer exposed as a member of the fascist organisation Merseyside Police swooped in and arrested them.
The following week saw BNP outrage at the arrests, with articles on their website referring to the police as the Merseyside KGB, and more worryingly their call for a demonstration on the streets of Liverpool on November 29th. Despite short notice, Liverpool anti-fascist activists acted quickly and spent the intervening week organising a counter-demonstration to begin at 10am that morning, an hour before the BNP planned to arrive.
On arrival we were informed by Merseyside Coalition Against Racism and Fascism (MCARF) spokesperson, Alec McFadden, that earlier in the morning the Attorney General had, unsurprisingly, intervened to overturn the charges against the BNP members. Crowds continued to gather around the sound system that had been set up at the bottom of Bold Street. We listened to several speakers talking about the need to keep Merseyside free of fascists before it was announced by McFadden (shortly after 11am) that the BNP had not come to town and we could claim ‘victory’. It quickly became clear that this information had been supplied by the police to mislead us, and stupidly was passed on to the crowd by McFadden and Weyman Bennett, a leader of Unite Against Fascism and the Socialist Workers Party.
The announcement directly conflicted with information from those activists who had been walking around watching out for the fascists. It was clear from the police presence that the BNP were indeed still in town, and sure enough at 11.30am a group of us spotted around 50 of them marching (with a police escort of course!) from St. Georges Gardens to Church St. Immediately it became clear that we had been followed by the police, and as soon as we reached for our phones we were stopped and harassed.
Despite this setback, those thirty to forty activists who had remained after the premature declaration of victory managed to regroup and confront the fascists, who had by now begun leafleting. The police quickly and forcefully separated us and began reinforcing their lines between us and the fascists. Within half an hour the crowd confronting the BNP had swelled to between 200 and 250, most of whom were members of the public. As the crowd grew it became clear that the police were organising to break up our demonstration, whilst at the same time giving BNP photographers (among them known fascist psychopath Joe Owens) free reign to picture and video us. However, despite intimidation from the police and the fascists the crowd continued to grow in size and militancy, chanting "We know where you live! We know where you live!" and "One, two, one two three, how many cops in the BNP!" Alongside the standard battle-cry of "nazi-scum, off our streets!"
At this point Weyman Bennett returned, megaphone aloft (having conspicuously disappeared once it became clear a confrontation was on the cards) to do the police’s job for them. In a combined display of misjudged machismo, blatant opportunism and treacherous collaboration, Bennett assured the crowd "I’m a man who normally likes to settle things with his fists" before warning us that if we didn’t leave in five minutes we would all be arrested. Despite meeting vocal opposition from the crowd, Bennett continued to try and split us, telling the clique of UAF sycophants who had patronisingly hushed the crowd to turn their backs on the other demonstrators and do what the police told them. As he led people away a new unit of cops were moved in at the front of the three further lines that had been formed, and they began to forcefully disperse us.
After ten minutes of trying to hold off the police offensive, they managed to isolate those who had been agitating for us to hold our ground, we were read a section of the Public Order Act before being frog marched to where Bennett had obediently reassembled the demonstration (nearly a kilometre from the fascists) and released. At this point the crowd (now numbering around one hundred) had been completely hemmed in by the police, whilst the BNP marched back across town and held a rally on the steps of St. George’s Hall, declaring the they had "reclaimed the streets of Liverpool."
What we saw on Saturday was defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. At all points we outnumbered the fascists, there were many among us prepared to confront them and physically drive them off the streets of Liverpool, and we won the support of many members of the public. However, the incompetence of Alec McFadden and the treachery of Weyman Bennett left an isolated group of activists (including many young first-timers) to be brutally attacked by the police whilst bravely upholding the principle of No Platform.
This is a story we hear time and time again about the "leaders" of the anti-fascist movement who limit their no-platform policies and radical rhetoric to reliance on the racist police and courts of law. The reason is simple - their strategy is to limit action to what is acceptable to trade union leaders, Labour and even Tory MPs. REVOLUTION fights both within and outside of groups like MCARF, UAF and Searchlight for a community and working class anti-fascist organisation. We put forward our strategy to a demonstration in Leeds with enormous success – proving in practice the kind of anti-fascist movement we must build.
The following week saw BNP outrage at the arrests, with articles on their website referring to the police as the Merseyside KGB, and more worryingly their call for a demonstration on the streets of Liverpool on November 29th. Despite short notice, Liverpool anti-fascist activists acted quickly and spent the intervening week organising a counter-demonstration to begin at 10am that morning, an hour before the BNP planned to arrive.
On arrival we were informed by Merseyside Coalition Against Racism and Fascism (MCARF) spokesperson, Alec McFadden, that earlier in the morning the Attorney General had, unsurprisingly, intervened to overturn the charges against the BNP members. Crowds continued to gather around the sound system that had been set up at the bottom of Bold Street. We listened to several speakers talking about the need to keep Merseyside free of fascists before it was announced by McFadden (shortly after 11am) that the BNP had not come to town and we could claim ‘victory’. It quickly became clear that this information had been supplied by the police to mislead us, and stupidly was passed on to the crowd by McFadden and Weyman Bennett, a leader of Unite Against Fascism and the Socialist Workers Party.
The announcement directly conflicted with information from those activists who had been walking around watching out for the fascists. It was clear from the police presence that the BNP were indeed still in town, and sure enough at 11.30am a group of us spotted around 50 of them marching (with a police escort of course!) from St. Georges Gardens to Church St. Immediately it became clear that we had been followed by the police, and as soon as we reached for our phones we were stopped and harassed.
Despite this setback, those thirty to forty activists who had remained after the premature declaration of victory managed to regroup and confront the fascists, who had by now begun leafleting. The police quickly and forcefully separated us and began reinforcing their lines between us and the fascists. Within half an hour the crowd confronting the BNP had swelled to between 200 and 250, most of whom were members of the public. As the crowd grew it became clear that the police were organising to break up our demonstration, whilst at the same time giving BNP photographers (among them known fascist psychopath Joe Owens) free reign to picture and video us. However, despite intimidation from the police and the fascists the crowd continued to grow in size and militancy, chanting "We know where you live! We know where you live!" and "One, two, one two three, how many cops in the BNP!" Alongside the standard battle-cry of "nazi-scum, off our streets!"
At this point Weyman Bennett returned, megaphone aloft (having conspicuously disappeared once it became clear a confrontation was on the cards) to do the police’s job for them. In a combined display of misjudged machismo, blatant opportunism and treacherous collaboration, Bennett assured the crowd "I’m a man who normally likes to settle things with his fists" before warning us that if we didn’t leave in five minutes we would all be arrested. Despite meeting vocal opposition from the crowd, Bennett continued to try and split us, telling the clique of UAF sycophants who had patronisingly hushed the crowd to turn their backs on the other demonstrators and do what the police told them. As he led people away a new unit of cops were moved in at the front of the three further lines that had been formed, and they began to forcefully disperse us.
After ten minutes of trying to hold off the police offensive, they managed to isolate those who had been agitating for us to hold our ground, we were read a section of the Public Order Act before being frog marched to where Bennett had obediently reassembled the demonstration (nearly a kilometre from the fascists) and released. At this point the crowd (now numbering around one hundred) had been completely hemmed in by the police, whilst the BNP marched back across town and held a rally on the steps of St. George’s Hall, declaring the they had "reclaimed the streets of Liverpool."
What we saw on Saturday was defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. At all points we outnumbered the fascists, there were many among us prepared to confront them and physically drive them off the streets of Liverpool, and we won the support of many members of the public. However, the incompetence of Alec McFadden and the treachery of Weyman Bennett left an isolated group of activists (including many young first-timers) to be brutally attacked by the police whilst bravely upholding the principle of No Platform.
This is a story we hear time and time again about the "leaders" of the anti-fascist movement who limit their no-platform policies and radical rhetoric to reliance on the racist police and courts of law. The reason is simple - their strategy is to limit action to what is acceptable to trade union leaders, Labour and even Tory MPs. REVOLUTION fights both within and outside of groups like MCARF, UAF and Searchlight for a community and working class anti-fascist organisation. We put forward our strategy to a demonstration in Leeds with enormous success – proving in practice the kind of anti-fascist movement we must build.
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