Anti-Racist Counter Demos Summer 2024

[ddraig]

That's STUR swappie MO sadly and very frustratingly

 

[magneze]

On a large group on WhatsApp you can see everyone else's number

Signal requires a number but doesn't show it to anyone else. You can also edit various setting so you and your number is hidden from everyone, even if they have you saved in their contacts.

Signal no longer requires a number.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Apparently there's a protest outside the Reform party HQ, 83 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0HW on Saturday 10 August at 2.30pm

A protest has been planned for Saturday afternoon to take place outside the Reform UK headquarters, with the organisers accusing Mr Farage of “inciting and making excuses for racist and fascist rioters.”

“A pogrom has been unfolding across the UK involving surging racist attacks of extreme and vicious violence,” they said. “Join the protest at Reform UK on Saturday 10 August at 2.30pm as part of the National Day of Protest against the far right.”

Farage reaches out to Musk as he rages about ‘open borders’ media conspiracy

The Reform UK leader is facing protest outside his office at the weekend after claims he ‘peddled conspiracies’ over Southport tragedies

www.independent.co.uk

More protests being added here, inc. in Brixton -

Stop the Far Right – National Day of Protest Saturday 10th August

For protest taking place on other days click here Legal support Full list of stop the far right national day of protest events. Check back for updates

standuptoracism.org.uk

 

[Larry O'Hara]

Don't know if this was people's experience at other mobilisations, but Stand Up To Racism were all over this, and being the annoying bastards they always are. At the end of the Finchley demo they tried to get everyone to walk with them and disperse when there were still fascists about. It seemed more like they'd had a chat with the cops and agreed they'd take everyone with them, but only about half the crowd went. They've not got the same mic/crowd discipline as most of the (for example) Sisters Uncut and affiliated demos I've been to who keep the crowd informed through regular 'mic checks'.

Have heard something similar happened in Plymouth earlier in the week which ended up putting the counter protest in danger because of reduced numbers.

There seemed to be another miscellaneous left group (maybe fight racism! fight imperialism!) who were trying to whip up the crowd into shouting 'labour party! racist party! and drawing links between SUTR and the LP. For most people who aren't that interested in these small groups it all seemed like quite embarrassing interpersonal beef.

Classic SWP/SUTR: stand behind police lines, chanting police protect fascists, averse to any actual confrontation. Goes all the way back to the founding of Red Action/AFA…

 

[belboid]

Don't know if this was people's experience at other mobilisations, but Stand Up To Racism were all over this, and being the annoying bastards they always are. At the end of the Finchley demo they tried to get everyone to walk with them and disperse when there were still fascists about. It seemed more like they'd had a chat with the cops and agreed they'd take everyone with them, but only about half the crowd went. They've not got the same mic/crowd discipline as most of the (for example) Sisters Uncut and affiliated demos I've been to who keep the crowd informed through regular 'mic checks'.

Have heard something similar happened in Plymouth earlier in the week which ended up putting the counter protest in danger because of reduced numbers.

There seemed to be another miscellaneous left group (maybe fight racism! fight imperialism!) who were trying to whip up the crowd into shouting 'labour party! racist party! and drawing links between SUTR and the LP. For most people who aren't that interested in these small groups it all seemed like quite embarrassing interpersonal beef.

It's a tricky one, sometimes. SUTR officially 'called' a lot of the demos, along with Trades Councils, even tho most people turned up because we knew there would be a demo and didnt give a toss who called it. They then turn up and stick the yellow bibs on their (largely pensionable) stewards, who everyone ignores for the vast majority of the demo. They only assert themselves when it's time to leave. And that is a tricky call to make. You can't wait too long, or people will drift off - and be at bigger risk of being jumped if they do so in ones and twos. It's really hard to hang around until you are sure all the fascists have left, because who the fuck really knows when all the fascists have left?

On the two Rotherham demos, the SWP did lead the demonstrators away when some wanted to stay, but I think they were pretty much right on both occasions. On Sunday, it was just dangerous, staying would have put people at risk of taking a kicking without being able to offer much defence to the fascists' main target. On Wednesday, well, there was just obviously no one there. There was no point hanging about in an otherwise empty road. Some wanted to stay because they saw a couple of possible 'spotters' (and there certainly were a couple of pairs of threesomes of fash looking you men about), but what were the sp[otters spotting? There definitely wasn't a large gang waiting around the corner for us to bugger off, so why stay?

In both cases where they did fuck up was in just assuming that they were the leadership ('but we called it!') and insisting everyone do as they said without any attempt at discussion and agreement. That led to a separation between groups which could well have gone badly wrong on Sunday. Thankfully it didnt.

 

[hitmouse]

The major serious counterprotest I know of this weekend is Crawley on Friday night:

Fascists have called a demo this Friday (9 August) outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Crawley.

Join us in opposing them.

In recent days we have seen huge far-right riots across English towns and cities, sparked by years of anti-migrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric and demonisation by the mainstream media, the political class and racist grifter “Tommy Robinson”. Mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers have been attacked and set on fire.

We are calling on all antifascists from London and the surrounding areas to make plans to oppose the far right in Crawley this Friday.

Arrive and leave in groups, act responsibly, look out for each other and never back down to fascist aggression.

5pm, Friday 9 August at Holiday Inn Express Gatwick-Crawley, Haslett Avenue East, Three Bridges, Crawley, RH10 1UA.
Nearest train station: Three Bridges.

Called by autonomous antifascist committee (London)

Supported by BLM UK, AFN, LAF, PLAN C

Other than that, I think this weekend is all generic anti-racist demos rather than ones called in response to a specific immediate thread, could be wrong though. Brighton meeting point for Crawley is apparently 4pm.

Sounds like there might also be something happening in Penzance on Saturday?

 

[BristolEcho]

Yeah I'd heard about Penzance too and it's being taken a little bit more seriously.

 

[danny la rouge]

MOBILISATION: BATHGATE

Location:
Arnold Clark, Blackburn Rd, Bathgate EH48 2EQ. Time: 18:00

There has been intel that facists will gather on this road to target vulnerable refugees/asylum seekers. Bathgate has been a hotspot for facist activity and therefore we are asking people who are able to mobilise safely to this location.

Simultaneously, there will be people mobilising in a planned counter protest in Paisley.

If you can make it to Bathgate, please consider doing so. Share with comrades and friends and do not go alone.

Follow advice on group description.

Take care of each other and stay safe.

 

[danny la rouge]

MOBILISATION TODAY:

Location: PAISLEY
Postcode and location will be made available nearer the time.

Time: 17:30

DO TAKE: COVID masks, plain comfortable clothing, bustcard, water and snacks

DO NOT TAKE: Identification, anything illegal.

Leave your phone at home if you can.

If you cannot leave your phone at home:

• turn off face id/ finger id.
• delete messaging apps
• delete images or messages you want kept private
• turn off lock screen notifications

Please try and arrive/leave with friends. Look after each other. If you see anyone alone make sure they have support.

5 key messages :

• No comment
• No personal details
• Under what power
• No duty solicitor
• No caution.

Support each other, we are there to protect the community not to escalate. Stay disciplined.

Solidarity always

 

[hitmouse]

Sounds like a total victory in Crawley tonight, Brighton Antifascists reporting numbers like 700-1000 vs 10.

Other things spotted from a brief trawl of social media:
Portsmouth debrief:

* Post-Action Report from Pompey *

Thank you to everybody who came out to show solidarity with the UK’s migrant population, oppose the fascists, and stand with us this Wednesday.

According to media releases, Portsmouth had the highest turnout of fascists across the country. This is a terrifying precedent and we hope people will continue to mobilise with us against these fascists in future.

Fascists occupied the space outside the Shell Garage on Mile End Road, and created a roadblock on the M275 with flags.

We marched towards them, but it quickly became apparent that we were outnumbered.

Fascists began to approach from the rear, and attempt to pen us in. The decision was made to evacuate to ensure everybody got out of there safely.

We moved everybody back to a safe position and got everybody home with no injuries, no arrests, and very little in the way of harassment though we were followed by spotters to our evacuation point.

It also seems an unknown group of teens in masks entered Wingfield House to cause disruption, and online response is claiming they were “antifa”. They were not affiliated with our group, and this incident occurred after we had already left the area.

No injuries.
No counter-protestor arrests.
Everybody got home safely.

We always need more numbers in Portsmouth, but the turnout was fantastic and thank you once more to those who turned up and took a stand. We are receiving an incredible show of solidarity from other antifascist groups nationally, and we congratulate them for their fantastic response in their respective regions.

We'd also like to shout out the evac crew. We couldn't have gotten out of there without them, and they just prove that there are so many roles to play in active antifascist resistance.

Legendary performance. We cannot overstate how grateful we are to these people.

We welcome messages from anybody who wishes to work with us in future.

¡NO PASARAN! REFUGEES ARE WELCOME IN PORTSMOUTH!

For Newcastle, there's also a call to prioritise the West End instead of town (do have more thoughts about Newcastle that I'll try to share in a bit):

DEFEND THE WEST END FROM THE FASCISTS:

On Wednesday evening the community came out in their thousands outside the Beacon to defend the West End from the threat of fascist attacks.

This Saturday 10th August, the fascists are planning to assemble at the Monument in Newcastle and have threatened to march to the West End.

There are a number of groups that have called a counter demo to oppose the far right this Saturday from 9.30am at Grey’s Monument.

Whilst it is important to not let the fascists take an inch of our city, we are aware that the far right’s target is likely be the West End community.

We will be joining the local community to once again defend the West End , assembling 11am this Saturday at Newcastle General Hospital field on Westgate Road.

* The demo in defence of the West End has not been called by any particular organisation or group but by the local community *

Bournemouth counterprotest on Sunday:

 

[Wilf]

Re Newcastle, I just saw on my phone the cops say they are 'encouraging' the protest to move from the Monument to the Bigg Market/Newgate Street area. It wasn't clear, but I'm assuming they are trying to get the fash over there and the rest of (probably) still at the Monument. SUTR site still says meet there (Monument) at 9.30.

Found the link:

Top cop says 'huge' police presence will be on Newcastle's streets on Saturday

Ch Supt Steve Wykes said "every deployable" officer would be used to prevent disorder in Newcastle on Saturday

www.chroniclelive.co.uk

 

[krink]

Re Newcastle, I just saw on my phone the cops say they are 'encouraging' the protest to move from the Monument to the Bigg Market/Newgate Street area. It wasn't clear, but I'm assuming they are trying to get the fash over there and the rest of (probably) still at the Monument. SUTR site still says meet there (Monument) at 9.30.

Found the link:

Top cop says 'huge' police presence will be on Newcastle's streets on Saturday

Ch Supt Steve Wykes said "every deployable" officer would be used to prevent disorder in Newcastle on Saturday

www.chroniclelive.co.uk

The Newcastle Unites demo is now at Newgate Street far from the fash who are going to the Bigg Market. Some others are going even further away to stand around up where they were on Wednesday night. This apparently will "stop the far right" as per their posters. It will do no such thing of course. So sad so predictable and reminds me why I stopped getting involved.

 

[hitmouse]

Crossposting/copying a post from the fast-moving mega-thread:
Obviously we're a long way off now from where we were a week ago, and so I reckon the odds are that Newcastle will probably be fine as well, but what happened in Manchester last Saturday is that the fascists called their protest for 10, counterprotesters mobilised from 9 to get their pitch (and then marched off, so didn't even hold it), and then by about 12 or so SUTR had declared victory and called their mobilisation over, which meant that there were sharply reduced numbers to take on what was now a group of fascists that had actually grown as those who'd previously been in the pub or wherever slowly turned up.
So I hope whoever's organising things in Newcastle is thinking seriously about how to prevent a repeat of that, and to have enough people in the right place at the right time to both seize the pitch early doors and have people around to counter a potential second wave of fascists later in the day.

Although krink's post above isn't the most encouraging on that score.

 

[zedr]

Sounds like a total victory in Crawley tonight, Brighton Antifascists reporting numbers like 700-1000 vs 10.

Other things spotted from a brief trawl of social media:
Portsmouth debrief:

For Newcastle, there's also a call to prioritise the West End instead of town (do have more thoughts about Newcastle that I'll try to share in a bit):


Bournemouth counterprotest on Sunday:
View attachment 437435

Any sense of numbers from Pompey? have deleted instagram so can't go trawling!

 

[hitmouse]

Any sense of numbers from Pompey? have deleted instagram so can't go trawling!

Not from that post, BBC reckons around 200 fascists, doesn't give a number for the counter. Oh, and Portsmouth local news says about 100 fash, while "Counter-demonstrators arrived in their numbers". Helpful!

Just spotted there's also a Southampton report:

* Southampton Action Debrief *

On Wednesday evening, at 7pm sharp, a crowd of anti-fascists of all stripes and belonging to many different organisations assembled at the Peace Fountain in East Park, Southampton, an hour before fascists had called for a riot to begin with an attack on an immigration lawyer’s offices just over 200m distant. Numbers were large from the beginning, with several hundred gathered at the start to hear some speeches on the situation, how the demo would run safely and effectively, and broader anti-fascist points.

Police had a presence in the area but did not intervene at any point within the crowd to gather information, nor to stop a small number of fascists from approaching and filming. The intent of this was to intimidate the gathering and gather intelligence on the more involved antifascists but with the numbers so starkly against them and with many effectively blocked, the fascists appeared to be the more intimidated party, a state of affairs which was characteristic of the night.

At roughly 7:30pm the crowd set off, marching across the park to the Cenotaph, crossing the road, and proceeding along the north edge of Watts Park while chanting. Numbers continued to swell throughout this and peaked at somewhere in excess of 500, one of the largest demos in Southampton for many years. Upon arriving at the target location (Grosvenor Square) the crowd completely occupied the road and pavement surrounding the building, before halting to face off against a small group of fascists clad in England flags and attire. A relatively small number of police formed a line between the two groups, mainly tasked with demarking the limits of the crowd.

Fascist and/or police intelligence gatherers were present and aggressively surveilled the antifascist crowd with high quality cameras as is typical, highlighting the need to effectively bloc up. As the evening progressed one fascist managed to slip around through a side street and approached the counter-demo but was easily tackled and arrested on suspicion of affray (now charged with assaulting an emergency worker in addition). Olympic gymnast, he was not.

The presence in Grosvenor Square continued, extremely noisily and with high energy, until 8:15pm at which point a withdrawal was announced and the crowd made its way back to the Peace Fountain, where final remarks were made and instructions given on how to leave safely (in groups). Over the next half an hour anti-fascists drifted away. The victory was absolute – fascists never had the opportunity to reach any kind of critical mass, with their small numbers even less effective as they failed to gather and appeared visibly demoralised. Our side were highly effective, relatively disciplined given the short time to organise and inexperience of most taking part, and successfully disrupted the attempt by fascists to gather.

It is notable that the community which brought so many out for this demo, having been gripped by fear over the day before the planned fascist riot, is in much higher spirits and enjoys greater confidence as a result of the strong showing and visible rejection of the attempt by racist scum to riot in our city. Many have heard remarks from neighbours, coworkers, loved ones, and friends, particularly those facing the threat of racist and Islamophobic violence, that they feel reassured and more hopeful following this action. We showed that we can keep ourselves safe in the streets, that the numbers were on our side in this case. But winning the battle, and in particular a relatively “easy” battle like this one, does not mean winning the war – high vigilance going forward is needed and antifascists must build on this victory to turn one successful night into a rejuvenation of the movement against fascism.

 

[hitmouse]

Just seen this from the NE anarcho group:

 

[Wilf]

Fucking trots, defeat from the jaws of victory.

 

[hitmouse]

Fucking trots, defeat from the jaws of victory.

Yeah, that sense of triumph and us all being on the same side was nice for the ten minutes or so while it lasted.

 

[Wilf]

The Newcastle Unites demo is now at Newgate Street far from the fash who are going to the Bigg Market. Some others are going even further away to stand around up where they were on Wednesday night. This apparently will "stop the far right" as per their posters. It will do no such thing of course. So sad so predictable and reminds me why I stopped getting involved.

Just heading off to Newcastle now. The SUTR site still has it as 9.30 at the Monument. Presume it's still 'us' at Newgate Street and them at the Bigg Market?

No idea how many fash there will be, but like hitmouse I have a bad feeling about today's set up, in the sense of random skirmishes taking place (given the 2 locations and also some people, possibly from both sides, still going to the Monument).

 

[BristolEcho]

Just heading off to Newcastle now. The SUTR site still has it as 9.30 at the Monument. Presume it's still 'us' at Newgate Street and them at the Bigg Market?

No idea how many fash there will be, but like hitmouse I have a bad feeling about today's set up, in the sense of random skirmishes taking place (given the 2 locations and also some people, possibly from both sides, still going to the Monument).

Good luck!

 

[Wilf]

Good luck!

Just got a sneaky Greggs on ,route in case the fash haveburned them out in town!

 

[StoneRoad]

Good Luck ...

{for other reasons, not a lack of support for counter-racism protesting, I'm going to the west coast via Carlisle}

 

[hitmouse]

Hadn't seen this report from Plymouth till now:

https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2024/08/06/report-from-plymouth/

 

[hitmouse]

Early in the day yet, but this looks promising (via NEAG):

 

[hitmouse]

Chronicle has a liveblog here if anyone wants to follow it - does sound like it might be about 40/50 fash vs about 300 anti if that's accurate, although numbers may change:

Newcastle protests - 'Pride' after Geordies' 'peaceful display of unity'

Northumbria Police had extra public order and anti-social behaviour powers in place as crowds gathered in the Bigg Market and on Newgate Street - live updates from the scene below

www.chroniclelive.co.uk

 

[ska invita]

my headcount makes it about 4-500 counter

 

[Wilf]

Chronicle has a liveblog here if anyone wants to follow it - does sound like it might be about 40/50 fash vs about 300 anti if that's accurate, although numbers may change:

Newcastle protests - 'Pride' after Geordies' 'peaceful display of unity'

Northumbria Police had extra public order and anti-social behaviour powers in place as crowds gathered in the Bigg Market and on Newgate Street - live updates from the scene below

www.chroniclelive.co.uk

Yes, numbers about right, though probably 400 plus in Newgate when I left about 40 mins ago. I'll do a report when not on phone but the anti fash demo was pretty much what you'd expect for an SWP dominated event.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Few hundred at the SUTR thing in Exeter. No sign of any fash at all.

 

[danny la rouge]

Paisley and Bathgate report 450 & 150-200 anti fascists, respectively. Co-opted by SUTR, who claim small numbers of fascists. Other sources say none.

 

[BristolEcho]

Apparently they didn't turn up in Penzance either.