FASH ON PARADE

The BNP’s ‘Red White and Blue Festival’ (see SchNEWS 643 for last year’s bash) went ahead on a farm in rural Derbyshire last Sunday (16th) with activists forming blockades on access roads leading to the site. 

Despite some seemingly counter-productive leadership from UAF (Unite Against Facism) such as authoritarian organisers limiting protesters in their movements and ordering them to break lines in order to comply with the police, members of the protest credit the action with disrupting the smooth running of the day and preventing access for some potential attendees.

70 coaches carrying hundreds of protesters converged on the village of Codnor with others joining them there, bumping the numbers up into their thousands, making it the biggest anti-BNP protest so far. BNP head Nick Griffin later lodged a complaint with the police over the prevention of supporters reaching the ‘festival’, showing the demonstration achieved its main objective. Reports suggest the campaigners outnumbered the BNP supporters at the gathering 10-1, and the mood at the convention was uneasy as the speeches and chants from the rally drifted over the field where BNP sympathisers shivered in the shorts after buying golliwog mugs and Union Jack badges. It was definitely not your standard village fête. For pics and info see: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/08/436523.html

* More neo-nazis are planning to descend on Harrow Mosque on the Bank Holiday weekend (Saturday 29th) in protest against the proposed Shariah law court to be built on the site. Clashes between the right wing racists and anti-fascist groups are expected on the day and a heavy police presence is likely to be in attendance. There has been a call out for all concerned parties to unite on the day in support of the Mosque and its clientèle to protect these citizens against racist Islamophobia. See: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/08/436344.html