UAF and EDL face off in Manchester

Was it a dead cat bounce? Certainly the presence of around 400 supporters of the English Defence League in Manchester at the weekend shows that although numbers attending the rallies have plummeted since the EDL glory days of 2010-11, on a good day and in the right area the EDL can pull together their splinter groups and still get out the numbers.

SchNEWS travelled up to Manchester to take a look. In many ways the event was a less inspired re-run of the EDL's last outing in the city in 2009, when at least the league had novelty value. Manchester cops had decided that the frank exchange of opinions between the UAF and the EDL would best happen in a pair of crowd-pens facing each other across a No Man's Land in Albert Square that were exactly too far apart to throw anything. So all the opposing sides could do was to try and drown each other with their respective sound-systems.

After three hours, the EDL were for the most part shoved onto busses and made their way home. The UAF marched the short distance to Picadilly gardens where the only significant action of the day occurred, as group of jeering EDL hanging around outside a Wetherspoons were driven back inside by a hail of bottles from the feistier elements of the UAF. Loitering autonomous anti-fascists had to make do with some inconsequential scuffling in Picadilly gardens after the march.

Anti-fascists shouldn't be dispirited – the EDL do well in cities that are big enough for no-one to really feel like they own the town centre. When they try to march through a samller town - such as Norwich, Walthamstow, Bradford or even Brighton – it's a different story. However it's clear that despite the relentless online mockery the EDL, though diminished, hasn't gone away.

Dates for yer anti-fascist diary:

March 9th - Swansea – to celebrate White Pride Worldwide the National Front have picked on this city for a demo. It looks like the counter-protest is gonna be massive. For more see Swansea Antifa on Facebook.

April 21st – Brighton – The EDL splinter group March for England is planning to tarnish the streets of our home-town once more. (Even after last years dismal effort) For more see Stop the March for England