Dover was sketchy to say the least.....
AFN write up
So, what actually happened in
#Dover today?
Around 200-250 fascists attempted to march to the port to demonstrate against refugees and for a closed border. The AFN and locals opposed them, drawing around 150 people in a militant bloc.
We took the initiative early on by occupying the fascists meet-up point in the Castle Pub before their march had a chance to set off. Despite coming under sustained attack from bricks and bottles, antifascists held their ground and put flight a few groups that came looking for a fight (grabbing a couple of trophies in the mean time).
The police kettled us, attempting to move the fascists onto their march route. We broke out of the kettle, and re-occupied their route. Riot police kettled us again, and held us while they marched the fascists on to their rally point in the port. Antifascists then marched unopposed and un kettled through the streets of central Dover, back to Pencester Park.
The day should be a wake-up call to all those involved in the
#RefugeesWelcome movement- Fascists can still mobilise in numbers and have the capacity for a huge amount of violence. Unless we recognise and combat this threat now, it may soon be very difficult, if not impossible, to organise refugee and migrant solidarity actions without the threat of far-right attack. Although it is really great that thousands of people marched across the country to show that refugees are welcome, it does show that our movement is not yet taking the threat of fascism seriously. Many people would rather go on a pointless, feelgood bimble through central London than physically make sure refugees and migrants are always welcome here by combating violent racists.
A special shoutout to
Folkestone United for being so awesome and supporting us throughout the day!