Category Archives: Lincolnshire

2016/10/02

Pitiful EDL run aground in Boston

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

The EDL held a national demo in Boston, Lincolnshire yesterday, hoping to capitalise on the town’s sizeable vote for Brexit. They only managed to muster 20 people, including a film crew, and most were from out of town. This pathetic contingent then proceeded to shout at locals including calling a local girl a slag who deserved to be raped which I am sure will boost their numbers for future demos in the area. More evidence that the EDL’s influence in Lincolnshire is fading even faster than their overpriced merchandise!

march5

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2015/08/14

EDL march against Lincoln mosque

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

On Sat July 25th, the EDL held a demo against construction of Lincoln’s first mosque.  This had been the subject of previous far-right protest in 2013, and the EDL have jumped on the issue in an attempt to boost their flagging support.

About 120 attended the EDL event, marching from The Anchor pub to Cornhill…

Another town, another pub, usual muppets

 

A counter-demo organised by Lincoln Against Racism and Fascism attracted about 100 anti-fascists, who marched to the City Square.

lincoln

Police kept the two marches apart, and there were no arrests.

 

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2015/05/05

Flogging a dead horse : far right election candidates

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

This is a really bad time for the electoral ambitions of the far right.  In the run-up to the most unpredictable General Election for many years, the far right are nowhere.  With their own little parties in disarray, and most of their thunder stolen by the rise of UKIP (more on that later), only three candidates in the East Midlands are stepping up to lose their deposits on Thursday.  In Lincolnshire, the ludicrous pretend vicar Robert West is standing for the BNP in Boston & Skegness, whilst Cathy Duffy is the BNP candidate for Charnwood in Leicestershire.  The English Democrat’s one candidate in the region is the party’s National Secretary Derek Hilling, standing in Kettering, Northants; the ED were hoping to contest at least three seats in the county, but have decided not to spread their meagre resources too thinly, and are going all out behind Derek.  Hmm….

Rabbit in the headlights….Derek Hilling

 

There are more far-right candidates in the local council elections, also to be held on Thursday.

The BNP have Cathy Duffy (again) standing in Charnwood.  Duffy is an endangered species, being one of only two BNP councillors in the whole country, and the only one in the East Midlands.  We’ll see if she manages political survival on Thursday.  Meanwhile, the Derbyshire Blackshirt Paul Hilliard is standing, as usual, in Derby; and Marc Whitestone is standing in East Northamptonshire.

The English Democrats have two candidates, Oliver Healey and David Haslett, in Leicester.

The British Democratic Party, an Andrew Brons-inspired BNP breakaway, are standing five candidates in Leicestershire, which they regard as their stronghold – Kevan Stafford, Chris Canham, Julia Green and Paul Newman in Charnwood, and virulent muslim-hater Graham Partner in North-West Leics.

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2014/05/25

East Midlands local election results

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

 

Derbyshire BNP freefall continues

As predicted, the BNP’s four candidates in the region polled very poorly in Thursday’s local council elections.

In Amber Valley, Derbyshire, Ken Cooper came in fourth place in Ripley Ward with 80 votes – 3.2% of the poll.  In Codnor & Waingroves ward, Alan Edwards also came fourth with 39 votes, 2.8% of the poll.  However, both BNP candidates narrowly beat the LibDems into fifth place.  These results are even poorer than the 2010 elections, when the BNP polled 7.5% in Ripley and 4.2% in Codnor & Waingroves.

In Derby, Paul Hilliard came last in Chaddesden ward with 4% of the poll (136 votes), whilst Carol Tucker also came last in Derwent ward, with 3.1% (84 votes).  This is a significant drop from their performance in similar elections in 2012, when Hilliard polled 14.7% in Chaddesden and Julie Fuller polled 11.9% in Derwent.  That performance was itself a disappointment for the BNP in 2012 – how much lower can they go?

We have been enjoying Derbyshire BNP’s downhill trajectory for a few years now, and it’s good to see it continue.

 

New UKIP councillors

The most significant feature of the local elections was the dramatic rise in fortunes of UKIP.  They now have increased representation on several local councils in the region, with 8 councillors in North-East Lincolnshire, 3 in Daventry, and 2 in Derby.

Whilst enjoying the increased electoral irrelevance of the BNP and their ilk, the entry into the mainstream of a new brand right-wing nationalism in the guise of UKIP poses significant fresh challenges for antifascists.  We will be monitoring UKIP in the region closely.  This piece from the IWCA, written a year ago, is an interesting contribution to this vital issue.

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2014/02/21

EDL remnants to protest in Grantham

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

On Saturday the EDL (or whatever remains of it) will be holding a demonstration in Grantham, in protest against the construction of an Islamic community centre.

Locals, organised as the Grantham Solidarity Network, are planning a peaceful counter-demo. They have also received support from Lincoln Against Racism and Fascism.

Various far-right groups have been active in Lincolnshire in recent years. There have been protests in Skegness against a halal slaughterhouse (in which the EDL, BNP and NF have all pretended to be animal rights activists), in Lincoln against the construction of a mosque and in Boston against migrant workers. This is mirrored by the rise of UKIP in the county.

This is a worrying trend, particularly given how hopelessly ineffective the far-right have been elsewhere in the East Midlands recently. Hopefully with the EDL in something of a rut at the moment, Saturday’s protest will not be one of their better day trips.

 

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2013/12/09

Another Lincolnshire UKIP loudmouth

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

The recent “repatriation” rant by Lincolnshire UKIP councillor Victoria Ayling has once again shone a spotlight on the obnoxious views held by some members of the right-wing party (although it’s worth noting that she was still a Tory councillor when she launched her rant, five years ago!).  Lincolnshire UKIPites aren’t very good at hiding their less palatable opinions – they were in the news earlier in the year for posting racist nonsense on their facebook accounts.  It’s entirely unsurprising that a party which specialises in whipping up resentment about immigration will be a fertile breeding ground for racist views.  Countering the propaganda of the likes of UKIP should be a priority for antifascists in the region.

Two gurning bigots : Farage and Ayling

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2013/10/23

Nazi graffiti on church?!

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

“Nazi and National Front slogans and logos” have been graffitied on buildings in Lincolnshire.

In and of itself, this is fairly unremarkable, what is strange about this is that one of the buildings targeted was a church, rather than the more usual mosque.

According to the Boston Standard:

The material was found on the doors and windows of the church hall at St Peter and St Paul’s Church in Westhorpe Road, Gosberton, on Sunday.

It is not clear how long the graffiti had been there.

The offenders used black spray paint and are also said to have daubed messages onto the wall of a garage opposite the church and on an electricity hut on Salem Street.

The Police are going through the motions of asking for witnesses, but there can’t be much chance of people coming forward. Generally only the stupidest perpetrators of this sort of activity ever get caught (like the kid in Leicestershire who decided to include his own tag in pro-EDL scrawling on a local mosque).

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2013/10/14

New leader of EDL from Lincolnshire?

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

Elliott Fountain, former English Democrat councillor, one-time Police and Crime Commissioner candidate and admirer of Enoch Powell has claimed that he is the new leader of the EDL.

Fountain tweeted, “Proud to be the new leader of the EDL, on national news tomo to make announcement.”

Elliott Fountain on Twitter

Elliott Fountain makes his “announcement” on Twitter

It isn’t yet clear if Fountain’s claim is credible, or if it is simply a drug-fuelled fantasy. It has been reported in the Boston Standard, but as so often in local media, there is nothing to suggest they’ve done anything to fact check his claims. A number of journalists seem to have contacted Fountain via Twitter, but the story has yet to appear anywhere else.

The appointment(?) of Fountain as leader would be particularly surprising following the announcement of Tim Ablitt as chairman of the EDL after a meeting of the “regional organisers” last week.

Fountain certainly isn’t an obvious choice for leader given his predilection for making an arse of himself of Facebook and drug-addled rants against opponents. He lost his seat on Boston Borough Council earlier this year because he didn’t bother to turn up for six months. If this is for real then the EDL are clearly desperate.

An alternative possibility is that this is one of the first signs of a power struggle within the EDL, now that Tommy Robinson/Stephen Lennon has given his erstwhile comrades the heave-ho.

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2013/09/15

BNP scraping the barrel for Euros

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

East Midlands BNP have announced their candidates for the 2014 Euro elections. The list is as interesting for who’s not on it as who is:

1. Cllr. Cathy Duffy.
2. Revd. Robert West.
3. Bob Brindley.
4. Steve Brammer.
5. To be decided.

The first two are obvious choices for the party as the most prominent BNPers in Leicestershire and Lincolnshire even though both did poorly in May’s local elections (West only managed to get 88 votes). Nottingham’s Bob Brindley, however, is anything but a “safe” choice. Brindley uses his Nottingham BNP twitter feed to launch increasingly barmy diatribes against Jews, homosexuality, Asians and just about everyone who isn’t a signed up white supremacist (although he has made an exception for serial paedophile Jimmy Savile).

Bob Brindley: Holocaust denial

Bob Brindley: Holocaust denial

HagueHomosexual 120913Frankfurt 120913270713Twit 200713

After Brindley comes Steve Brammer from Ranskill, North Nottinghamshire. Brammer is almost unknown to fascists in the Midlands, probably because he lives only a few miles from South Yorkshire. He has never stood in an election before.

"Fresh" blood: First time candidate Steve Brammer

“Fresh” blood: First time candidate Steve Brammer

And next in line after Brammer is… well it looks like they couldn’t find anyone else to stand for them! There are no candidates from Derbyshire or from Northamptonshire, no sign of “super activist” Paul Hilliard from Derby and no sign of “Heanor Patriot” Cliff Roper either. Have they jumped ship as well? We will see. Certainly Roper showed signs of a swing to a more extreme right wing position after losing his Amber Valley seat, headlining his blog with the notorious 14 word phrase beloved of neo-Nazis. Perhaps the BNP isn’t extreme enough for him any more?

The release of this list is a further sign of decline for the fascist party. Only a few years ago, the East Midlands were seen as one of the BNP’s strongholds. Now they are struggling even to find 5 people across the entire region to stand for them. Good riddance!

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2013/07/29

Now EDL jump on Skegness bandwagon

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

Following in the footsteps of the National Front and the BNP, the EDL went to Skegness to demonstrate against the halal slaughterhouse on Saturday. About 40 members of the far right group turned up carrying English and British flags and pictures of cows on sticks. They’re obviously not that clued up on how halal slaughter works.

Louth EDL and a muppet: Which is which?

Louth EDL and a muppet: Which is which?

According to their spokesman, the demonstration was not about race or religion, just about cruelty. Someone should’ve told the people who turned up with an English flag emblazoned with “No more mosques”. Someone should probably have reminded them that the English Defence League is not an animal welfare organisation! We have never seen these people oppose veal, foie gras or fur. The EDL claims to be concerned with what it paranoidly calls “creeping Sharia”, something which is all about religion (and many would say is a coded reference to race as well). The organisation’s mission statement says that “No one should be made to consume halal produce unwittingly”, suggesting that halal food should always be labelled and that people should have a choice whether to eat it or not. In reality, the EDL’s actions suggest that they are opposed to halal and the freedom of choice to consume it or not.

Flag with No More Mosques logo and slogan

Flag with No More Mosques logo and slogan

Perhaps even more so than the openly racist National Front and BNP, the EDL are hypocritical when they oppose halal slaughter without saying anything about kosher slaughter. The EDL spokesman in Skegness complained about pre-stunning. In fact, figures produced for the Food Standards Agency in 2011 showed that that 84% of cattle, 81% of sheep and 88% of chickens slaughtered in the UK for halal meat were stunned prior to their deaths. Kosher slaughter prohibits pre-stunning, so by the EDL’s own criterion, kosher is worse. But the EDL has a long history of pandering to Jewish islamophobes such as Roberta Moore, former head of the Jewish Defence League, and Rabbi Nachum Shifren, and the organisation has held a solidarity demonstration with Israel. The EDL leadership don’t want to upset the small number of Jewish islamophobes it has brought into the fold. The organisation knows that it can make more political capital out of hatred against Muslims.

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