Tag Archives: Casuals United

Heavy manners in Tower Hamlets

The EDL are being very quiet about their latest failure this morning. Yesterday a pitiful 600 of their foot soldiers turned up for their latest “big one”, a demonstration that never had a chance of getting to Tower Hamlets. “Top boy” Tiny Tommy was arrested (to be debriefed by his handlers no doubt) at the end of the demo and several of the cannon fodder were nicked for carrying offensive weapons and fighting the police. Over a thousand people attended an anti-fascist rally at Altab Ali park and several hundred marched off in defiance of police restrictions. A group of over 100 actually made it to the EDL’s route before being kettled. Despite all of their macho bravado, the EDL were easily contained by the police but anti-fascists were much more effective.

AFN

The EDL is obsessed with the London borough, home to the East London Mosque and a large Muslim population. The last time they tried to go to Tower Hamlets, in 2011, they had 1,500 marchers on their side. Locals and anti-fascists made sure that they did not pass. This time the police drafted in a massive 3,000 officers to make sure that everything was locked down and resorted to the extremist tactic of arresting all 240 anti-fascists who were kettled near Tower Bridge and on Commercial Road. The charge? Disobeying the police!

Meanwhile, some fascist Leicester Casuals were also getting nicked. They’d decided to venture into the belly of the beast, the “no go area for whites” they’re always fantasising about and trying to control their terror as they passed the East London Mosque. Apparently, all the Muslim youth did was “chomped at us in some far away bongo bongo language” which they reckoned was a massive show of cowardice. Clearly disappointed that no one gave a fuck about them they were relieved to be bundled to safety by the police.

It was also a bad day for Craig Elliot, leader of the Leicester EDL who provides the sound system for EDL demos. He was arrested and held till midnight although he was cautious about saying what for. That will be one to look out for in the coming months.

In summary then, it was a very bad day for the EDL. The “Rigby bounce” has already been squandered, probably because more ordinary people who were duped into coming to their events have worked out what a bunch of racist losers they are and moved on. The turnout was very poor for a much-hyped national demo. They failed to go to Tower Hamlets for a second time. A much bigger and better organised anti-fascist movement turned out to oppose them and did a better job of challenging the police lockdown. The leadership were put under more police pressure with strategic arrests and late night chats in the cells. The EDL ship has no direction and is floundering.

Well done to the Anti-Fascist Network, South London Anti-Fascists and London Anti-Fascists for their great work in mobilising for the day! Solidarity with all anti-fascists arrested under police state laws! And great work by the Green & Black Cross who did some late night legal support for the arrested comrades.


Casuals United confirm that they are fascists

Us anti-fascists have heard no end of whingeing from the 10 men and a dog who are Casuals United over the years, usually starting with “But we’re not fascists!”. The latest example was when failed far right kingpin, Tony Curtis AKA Tone the Moan, leapt to the defence of the Casuals godfather, Jeff Marsh, claiming that he’s against people with extreme right wing views. Well, no one needs to pretend that these muppets aren’t fascists anymore because Leicester Casuals United have kindly confirmed the fact for us.

CasualsUnited Fascists

This just confirms what anti-fascists have been saying for ages about the March for England in Brighton this weekend – that it is a fascist mobilisation against ‘lefties’ with a not very convincing patriotic disguise. In case you need more evidence, here’s something the Anti-Fascist Network found on Facebook:

MfE

Travel down with your local anti-fascist group and make sure that these fascists look very silly indeed.


Far right demonstration in Nottingham on Saturday

Far right activists, led by Casuals United and Tony Curtis of the English National Resistance, will be holding a demonstration against a Muslim conference in Nottingham this weekend. They will be protesting outside the East Midlands Conference Centre at 1pm on Saturday 30th March.

Demo organiser Tony Curtis: Hate speaker?

Demo organiser Tony Curtis: Hate preacher?

In response to our previous article asking why they were coming, they have now seen fit to reveal that they are protesting the invitation of Haitham al-Haddad to speak at the conference. Previously they just told their followers to blindly follow their command to oppose the “hate preachers” and none of them asked questions. Blind obedience seems to be as alive and well in the far right as it was in the days of “just following orders” 1930s Germany.

The decision to oppose al-Haddad is not unreasonable, given that he has reportedly described Jews as “the enemies of God, and the descendants of apes and pigs” and believes in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. He has said that should a woman refuse to sleep with her husband, “angels will curse” her and has written in favour of the prohibition of musical instruments. That he is speaking at a family event and passing on these bigoted ideas is very disturbing.

But it is the utmost hypocrisy for former EDL members to be protesting this man. After all, Tony Curtis has supported the NWI recently, even though leader, John “Snowy” Shaw also believes in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and extreme anti-Semitic ideas. Why is Curtis protesting a Muslim hate preacher but not the hate preacher in his own midst? We can also point the finger at Jeff Marsh, leader of Casuals United, who set up the the openly Nazi Welsh Defence League. Even the former leader of the EDL’s Jewish Division quit claiming that the organisation had been taken over by Nazis. The EDL has courted Jews when it has seemed politically useful but is now turning back to anti-Semites for support.

Casuals United leader Jeff Marsh's Welsh Defence League: very tolerant of Jews

Casuals United leader Jeff Marsh’s Welsh Defence League: very tolerant of Jews

It’s also hypocritical for the far right to criticise al-Haddad’s sexist ideas and lack of respect for a woman’s sexual consent. EDL members have been exposed for promoting rape as a weapon against their enemies and local members were exposed by us for their misogynist and sexually predatory posts. Some of these men will be turning up to “oppose” al-Haddad’s views on women at the weekend, but their own are equally disgusting and backwards. Why aren’t Casuals and Curtis booting them out of the ranks? Maybe because they aren’t brown or bearded enough.

Al-Haddad should be opposed by the vast majority who find his views abhorrent, not this ragtag bunch of far right misfits whose own ideas are just as disgusting. It would be best if both al-Haddad and the racist, sexist, homophobes of the far right were sent packing.


Far right threaten Muslim conference

Thanks to the anti-fascist who posted a heads up about a possible EDL demo on Indymedia:

Nottingham EDL are trying to shut down a Family Retreat conference at the University of Nottingham for the sole reason that it is being held by Muslims. Calling the organisers “Jihadis” and the event a “hate speech conference” they are encouraging supporters to contact the East Midlands Conference Centre to get the event cancelled and are threatening to hold a demonstration if it goes ahead. In fact, the family event is a very apolitical one, focused mainly on doctrinal issues within Islam. But then the speakers do have beards…

It seems that the EDL only have issues with the event because it is organised by and for Muslims. Of course, if a Muslim group were to protest and try to shut down a Christian event, the EDL would be baying for blood. Apparently, it’s alright when it’s the other way round though. It seems they are only in favour of their own freedom of speech but want to silence others.

The conference is scheduled to take place from Fri 29 March – Mon 01 April at the East Midlands Conference Centre on Nottingham University’s main campus.

East Midlands Anti-fascists have done a bit more digging and found that this is part of a larger campaign by Casuals United who are inviting not just the EDL but all the explicitly fascist groups, like the NWI and EVF, to harass universities into cancelling events.

East Midlands top dog Tony Curtis is claiming to be organising a demo against the family event sometime over Easter weekend, saying that one of the speakers condones the rape of children and the killing of gays. As usual, he doesn’t provide any evidence and given he was also claiming that calling people ‘pakis’ is not racist recently, we aren’t very convinced by his claims.

Casuals United are claiming that:

Main speakers are hate preachers who call f0r female genital mutilation, gays and non Muslims to be killed and who praise terror attacks.

They also say that “This is the same mob below that we stopped at Reading Uni” referring to a talk that was due to be given by Abu Usamah at-Thahabi that was stopped by a student anti-extremist  group (not the far right). However, at-Thahabi is not scheduled to speak at the Nottingham event so it’s unclear what the link is.

If the University of Nottingham event really is going to feature men who promote misogynist and homophobic actions then it should be shut down, by the wider community not a bunch of racist fascists. However, so far the far right’s case for being there looks decidedly shaky.


Unite the shite

Derbyshire based far right kingpin, Tony Curtis, never ceases to give us a good laugh. When he’s not in his bedroom playing computer games or collecting ghost stories (usually about “the muslamic menace”), Curtis assures his handful of loyal worshippers that he’s working behind the scenes on a top secret plan to “unite the right”. Any day now, he keeps saying, he will achieve unity of the tribes and crush the evil multicultural empire.

Seeing as it was precisely these kind of shady deals that got him kicked out of the EDL in the first place, we’re a wee bit sceptical about whether Tiny Tone can really pull it off. But if he did, who would be the key players?

EVF

The English Volunteer Force seems to be the destination of choice for those leaving the EDL in droves at the moment, although their first outing in London drew less than 10. They’ve got a demo about something in Birmingham at the weekend and Tony will be guest of honour, so they are obviously close to his heart.

The EVF is run by Chris Renton AKA”John Sheridan”, a former member of the EDL leadership and former BNP activist from Weston-Super-Mare. Renton tried to make links between the EDL and neo-Nazi bootboys, Combat 18 and was an enforcer on the EDL’s web pages. Former EDL leader Paul Ray described how a 57-year old grandmother emailed the EDL leadership offering support and was “met with a barrage of hate mail including messages from the Sheridan alias himself, many of which had a crude sexual twist to them”. EVF “number 2” and organiser on the ground is Will Anderson AKA “Jason Lock”, also from Weston-Super-Mare. He has made a name for himself by posing with a pair of pants on his head on the internet.

EVFMerseyside 091112

SmashBrowns 301212e

It is slightly surprising that Curtis is so keen on the EVF because he refused to work with Bill Baker’s New Patriot Alliance because they were “racist”. The EVF are as racist as any other far right group. To give two examples, a recent Merseyside EVF post compared black people to monkeys and Andy “EVF” Robinson, organiser of the Birmingham demo, has suggested that the EVF go smash some “browns”. The EVF has invited the openly racist West Midlands Infidels to their Birmingham demo. It would seem that, like most far right leaders, Curtis is an opportunist who will never hesitate to sell out in order to get more power for himself and his pet projects.

DayoutinLondon

EVF in London: Nothing to write home about

NPA

The New Patriot Alliance in basically just Bill Baker. Baker is another far right chancer who’s been in every group going and been kicked out of them all as well. He has been in the BNP and the English Democrats and was booted out of the EDL in 2011 because of his links to Combat 18 and Redwatch. Because no one else wants the loser, he has had to set up his own group, the English Nationalist Alliance, whose latest incarnation is the NPA.

Bill Baker: No one wants him

Bill Baker: No one wants him

Baker has said “Sooner we start killing Muslims the Better and their socialist pals” and has claimed he “used to kill for a living”, threatening that Muslims “can all be buried in your black flags when we finish with you”. As usual with these fascist muppets, Bill is all talk and no trousers. His biggest “achievement” in recent years has been taking his tiny band of keyboard warriors on an annual trip to Brighton to get battered by the locals.

Casuals United

Led by the ultimate keyboard warrior, Jeff Marsh, Casuals United are another group who like to talk a good game but never seem to actually turn up on the day. Their slogan, “We go where we want”, usually seems to involve a pub on the other side of town or just staying at home. They have a habit of being so undercover that we have a sneaky feeling that they don’t even exist. The latest example of this was their notable failure to turn up to “smash the reds” or whatever it is they pretend they’re going to do at a protest against Greek neo-Nazis, Golden Dawn. Once they’d had time to cook up a story, they claimed there’d been 500 of them in a pub in Paddington. Yeah right Jeff.

Jeff Marsh: the British Joseph Goebbels or just a very naughty boy?

Jeff Marsh: the British Joseph Goebbels or just a very naughty boy?

“Marshole” divides his time between producing badly photoshopped pictures of Weyman Bennett, making up lunatic conspiracy theories about how the Crown Prosecution Service is a “commie”, anti-white organisation and flogging ghost-written books about his made-up hard man past to gullible supporters.

Most of the right wing football casuals who supported the EDL in their heyday have moved on with their lives. Sadly Jeff hasn’t.

Infidels

Probably the least likely bedfellows with Curtis, because of their open links with the National Front and other explicitly fascist groups, the Infidels are led by crack head and llama abuser, John “Snowy” Shaw. Snowy is none too bright, as shown by his recent outing of himself as organiser of a loyalist demo in Manchester and his belief that the anti-Semitic forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, is true. The Infidels’ second in command is Shane Overton AKA “Diddyman” who was recently up on domestic abuse charges against his pregnant girlfriend.

John "Snowy" Shaw: will dance for cash

John “Snowy” Shaw: will dance for cash

Unsurprisingly, with losers like these in charge, the Infidels’ demos have been a string of disappointments. Most recently they had a very public falling out over the fact that only a tiny handful of them bothered to turn up to protest a proposed mosque in London. This was another attempt to “unite the right” that backfired. The possibilities aren’t looking good.

Unite the shite?

The possibility of gathering this bunch of bitching, narcissistic losers together in one organisation looks slim. They’ve all got past grudges with each other and their leaders all want to be Führer. Tony Curtis seems to be the latest in a string of far right figures who think that they can “unite the right” but it is just a fantasy.

Even if he succeeds, these groups combined are pitiful compared to the holy grail that all of these fascist failures chase after – the EDL at their peak. Tommy and Kev have squandered their support and sold their followers down the river and most of the footsoldiers have moved on with their lives. Only the most pathetic and incompetent are left.


More lies from Leicester Casuals

Leicester Casuals love defending England from mythical horrors. So much so that they have to invent enemies to give their handful of followers something to do.

Yesterday they started the frothfest with rumours that Muslims were attacking an 88 year old war veteran who was selling poppies in Leicester town centre. It didn’t take long for far right followers to start champing at the bit, saying the “scummy bastards… want shooting end of!” Leicester Casuals added a melodramatic dimension to this (non-existent) monster: “They hate us, our history and our future”. Other followers compared the made-up gang of Muslims to a “Pack of wild dogs” and suggested that they should be “PUT DOWN”. “They don’t deserve to breath the same air as our veterans” added another.

The problem is that it was all in their minds. There was no smoking muslamic raygun. Leicester Casuals later admitted that veteran, Eric, “has had NO problems from anyone this year whatsoever” and that the only previous problems he’d had were with shopping centre staff. Did they apologise for spreading such inflammatory and divisive rumours and take down their original post? Of course not. And out of interest, the comments about dogs and not breathing the same air as veterans were added after the truth had been established.

Leicester Casuals are paranoid, untrustworthy and are stoking community tensions out of ignorance.


The rise and fall of Guramit Singh

Poor old Amit Singh! He ostracised himself from the Sikh community by joining up with a gang of racists, then the Luton mafia decided he had too many ideas and kicked him out of the EDL leadership and now Casuals United are publicly naming and shaming him as a wrong ‘un who doesn’t pay his debts. At least he’s got other people’s money to keep him happy! Gedling’s most famous islamophobe has fallen on hard times. Have fun in the wilderness Uncle Tom!


Griffin parachutes into Thurnby Lodge

The protests against a Muslim community centre on the Thurnby Lodge estate in Leicester have now attracted the attentions of the leader of the BNP. Nick Griffin parachuted in last night to quickly give a speech which he reckoned was “very well received”. He also claimed that 250 people had turned out to the most recently nightly protest against the As Salaam charity, which wants to convert a disused Scout hut into a community centre.

Porcine blockhead Nick Griffin swans in to hijack the protest

As we described yesterday, the protests are becoming a magnet for far right parasites, desperate to be involved in a popular campaign for a change. Also in attendance were members of Leicester EDL, Casuals United, and islamophobic group 212 Poison. Dave Hightower of the 212 has threatened to get rid of the hut on Facebook, posting “Would they use it if it wasnt there anymore?”.

The casuals report is well worth a read:

You have got to ask yourselfes here why the Leicester EDL have gone down to 12 people. Well chanting “f*cking scum” in the middle of women and kids trying to save their estate aint helping no one. Your a f*cking disgrace and thats why the EDL on the whole have diminished in numbers. You lot might turn up for a piss-up but if it kicked off you would get f*cking slaughtered. FACT !

Although the infighting within the local fascist groups is heartening to see, anti-fascists need to make sure that far right groups do not get a boost as a result of these protests. Residents of Thurnby Lodge have a right to shared community resources and a say in how their community is run rather than being dictated to by Leicester City Council. Any attempts by the far right to turn this into a racial or religious matter need to be firmly resisted. We need to get an anti-fascist presence in the estate, to talk to people about what the fascists are up to and show that we genuinely support the right to community self-organisation but not the division of communities along cultural and religious lines.


Race hate on the rise in Lincolnshire

Recent statistics released by Lincolnshire Police suggest that racially and religiously aggravated crimes in the county have risen by 22% over the past 5 years. The number of racist incidents has also risen by 12% over the same period. The most commonly reported crimes were racially  motivated criminal damage, verbal abuse and minor assaults. Nationally, racist incidents decreased by 18% over the same period.

The Lincolnshire Echo illustrates the story by interviewing Munir Zafar, an 18 year old from Afghanistan, who was attacked in Lincoln in 2010. Zafar suffered a fractured skull and cheekbone as a result of the racist attack.  “When I first came,” he said, “people would look at me in the street and argue with me over nothing. I was always thinking people might swear at me or want to start a fight.” He says he last experienced racist abuse in the street 4 months ago.

This very worrying trend might be partly explained by tension over the large number of migrant workers employed in Lincolnshire’s agricultural economy. Lincolnshire farmers have realised that they can take advantage of migrant labour at much lower wages than local workers. This has led to large numbers of migrants arriving in the area looking for work, often living in extremely poor conditions, and a strong downwards pressure on wages.

The far right have been looking for opportunities to exploit this tension. We are not talking about the deranged babbling of David Icke lovers, the Lincolnshire Voice here, but the more cynical elements in the BNP, EDL and their fellow travellers. They were given an opportunity last October, when Boston resident, Dean Everitt, organised a march against immigration on Facebook. Stating that “we are fed up of being second class citizens in our own town. The British person is being discriminated against in their own country”, Everitt claimed that “We are not racist…  but we are saying this place is now full and we should not have any more.” He was also reported as saying “The problem is simple – they need to shut the floodgates.”

Unfortunately Everitt failed to identify the problem as an economic one, driven by the bosses of the farms who want to exploit cheap labour. If decent pay and conditions were the norm and the practice of housing workers in poor conditions abolished, local workers would be able to find work again. Instead, Everitt focussed on cultural invasion, using language reminiscent of xenophobic politicians of the past. And whether or not you believe his claim not to be a racist, his march instantly became a beacon for fascists of all stripes.

It was soon picked up by the BNP as well as EDL offshoot, Casuals United. Each far right website moulded the story to fit its own agenda with the BNP trumpeting “People in Lincolnshire have had enough of migrant workers who have invaded their county”. The London Patriot used it to push the line that “the Labour party don’t support the white working class anymore” and the South West Nationalists claimed that “there are plenty of tales of drunken Eastern Europeans urinating in public, and of being able to walk through the town and come across next to nobody who speaks English.” Needless to say, no sources for these tales were produced.

Realising that he was going to attract all kinds of misfits, boneheads and delusional idiots if he went ahead with his march, Everitt cancelled saying that he was worried about it being hijacked.

The incident showed that organised fascists are taking an interest in the situation in Lincolnshire and trying to exploit the tensions between the settled community and migrant workers for political gain. Wherever the far right and their poisonous propaganda gain a foothold, racist attacks follow.