Tag Archives: Immigration

2015/12/13

Casuals flop in Nottingham

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

After their underwhelming protest in Nottingham in October, the Notts Casual Infidels had another go on December 5th, under  the guise of ‘Nottingham Against Mass Immigration’.  This time the ex-EDL rump organised with more notice and agreed a march route with the police – as so often, “we go where we want” translates as “we go where the police tell us“.  They were clearly hoping to attract more than the 20-odd they attracted on their first foray.  It didn’t go so well for them….

They met up at the Waterfront pub on the side of the canal near the railway station, for the usual pre-demo dutch courage. 

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As the area around the pub quickly became occupied by a sizeable crowd of antifascists, the police spent some time working out how they would get the Casual Infidels on to the march route.  A surprisingly small group of hapless fascists soon lined up behind heavy police numbers, and off they went.

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The Casual Infidels numbered around 15 – even less than their previous effort.  A large anti-fascist crowd quickly blocked the street in front of the fascists, and attempted to prevent the fascist march from progressing.  However, a huge and concerted police effort saw the march pushed through, and on to the busy main road near the pub.  After much push-and-pull with antifascists, and kettling some of them in a side-street, the police managed to escort the tiny Casual Infidel march towards the town centre, harassed and harangued by antifascists all the way.

The end point of the march brought home how lame the Casual Infidels day out in Nottingham was; about 10 of them (some having slunk off already!) corralled behind fencing and a large number of police in a side street, and essentially invisible to the public; meanwhile a much larger number of antifascists leafletted the main shopping street and taunted the minature fascist mobilization.

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All in all, a good result for the antifascists, and a reverse for the Notts Casual Infidels – time to give it up lads….

 

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2015/11/27

Anti-immigration protest in Nottingham

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

On the evening of October the 19th, a group calling itself Notts Casual Infidels organised a protest in Nottingham against “Uncontrolled Immigration” (the fact that immigration is ‘uncontrolled’ in the UK will come as a surprise to migrants imprisoned in detention centres, but let’s leave that aside for now).  A group of about 20 fascists spent a while drinking themselves brave in a Wetherspoons pub on the City’s Market Square, before venturing out to wave a large St.George’s Flag and a home-made banner.

They stood on the edge of the square with their flag for a while, opposed by a much larger anti-fascist group, mobilized at short notice.  When the anti-fascists, numbering about 100, moved towards the pub, the police formed lines to keep the two groups separate.

A familiar face on the demo was Jimmy Saville fan Bob Brindley, aka “Nottingham BNP”.  He stood at the edge of the NCI contingent, waving his grubby Union Jack.  He quickly scuttled off when the antifascist demo moved closer.

 

 

It seems the NCI are linked to the remains of Nottinghamshre EDL – note the rotund guy on the left in this photo from the evening…

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Craig Burridge

He’s Craig Burridge, from Worksop EDL.  Here he is again at the anti-mosque march in Lincoln in July…..

In the gutter, gazing at the bars…

 

Also from Worksop EDL was Andrew Shaw….

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Andrew Shaw

 

Here’s an ex-Nottingham EDL activist – melancholic chauvinist Adam Repton (in the cap):

The NCI spokesperson on the evening was Jamie Upton…

‘Honest Jamie’

Upton also used to be a prominent local EDL activist, but fell foul of the EDL hierarchy in January, accused of stealing funds.  So, it looks like the NCI is another of the many little splinter groups that have emerged from the remains of the EDL (in this case, perhaps with suspiciously full pockets….).  It could be said that they are, ironically, themselves refugees from the wreck of the EDL.

 

Some more photos of the NCI on the evening…

 

After a while, the NCI dispersed, and after being shepherded around the market square by the police, went back into the pub, to enjoy the traditional far-right pastime of drinking beer under the watchful eye of the constabulary.

The antifascist counter-protest subsequently dispersed, with one arrest as someone tried to break through police lines.   Some time later, the NCI finally emerged from the warm shelter of the pub and took a photo of themselves on the empty steps of the Council House.  They had an abandoned UAF placard with them as a ‘trophy’….recovered from a bin on the market square!

We go where we want (as long as all the antifascists have gone home)

It’s fair to say that the NCI’s first demo was hardly a success – they were heavily outnumbered, and spent most of the evening being slowly pushed back into the pub by police.  The highlight of their evening’s political activity seems to be a sign found in a bin – whatever floats your boat, lads….

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2013/04/24

Anti-immigration protest celebrates appeal to “racial hatred”

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

On Saturday, BNP and EDL supporter Dean Everitt wheeled out the sequel to his Boston anti-immigration protest. The anti-immigration protest in Spalding was timed to fall on the anniversary of Enoch Powell’s famous race-baiting “Rivers of Blood” speech, which is no surprise given the politics of those organising it. 150 people turned up to the call for “No more immigration” which was a disappointment for the organisers who had hoped to build on the larger number at the Boston event. Again, the main speakers were UK Independence Party candidates fishing for votes.

The provocative link that was made to Powell’s speech should give some idea of what motivates the organisers of these events. “Enoch Powell was right” has long been a rallying cry for the far right and the former Conservative MP has been lionised by white power advocates. At the time of the infamous speech The Times said that Powell had “appealed to racial hatred” and he was immediately sacked by Edward Heath for inflaming racial tensions. Powell’s speech was a reaction against the introduction of the Race Relations Act which made it a crime to refuse housing, employment or public services to a person on the grounds of their colour, race, ethnic or national origins. Powell was opposed to equality, suggesting that it would lead to a situation in which “the black man will have the whip hand over the white man” as opposed to the other way around which he found acceptable.

The organiser of the Spalding protest, Dean Everitt, has made similarly alarmist statements in the past saying “The British person is being discriminated against in their own country” and that “We are not racist…  but we are saying this place is now full and we should not have any more [migrants].” He is similarly scare-mongering and is merely afraid of losing his privileged status. Rather than see the problem as the capitalist system that only takes the cheapest workers and throws everyone else on the scrapheap, Everitt blames the hyper-exploited workers instead because they are an easier target for him to take his frustration out on.

Let’s hope this ugly movement is on the way out.

Comments Off on Anti-immigration protest celebrates appeal to “racial hatred”   |  tags: , , | posted in Lincolnshire

2012/11/19

UKIP dominate Boston protest

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

Yesterday’s demonstration against immigration in Boston seemed to have been a moderate success for the right. In the end, the protest drew 150-300 people according to the Boston Standard. The event seems to have been dominated by local UKIP politician, Chris Pain, whose party’s flag was prominently positioned behind the speakers. Indeed, most of the placards displayed an anti-EU sentiment rather than outright xenophobia. Even so, it is worrying that an implicitly anti-foreigner event has drawn such a big turnout.

Protest organiser, Dean Everitt, searches for new ideas

EDL members from Lincolnshire, Nottingham and East Anglia traveled to take part in the event which was also trumpeted by BNP activist Craig Farnsworth. Their relatively small and muted presence (they didn’t feel confident enough to openly display their far right affiliations) was eclipsed by the better funded and more politically acceptable (to some!) politics of UKIP. However, that hasn’t stopped them from crowing about their success and how this small acorn will grow into a mighty oak and other such nonsense.

It is clear that, given the collapse of their own movements, the far right are now looking to other issues to piggyback on in the hope of finding new recruits and new forums for them to infect with their politics.  Anti-fascists need to be alert to these tactics and be countering their arguments with our own perspective on global capitalist politics. It is only where the only voices are those blaming foreigners rather than the forces of international capital that the falsehoods pedaled by the extreme right can take hold.

The apparent success of the protest has led to the inevitable unimaginative response. They are going to hold another protest in the neighbouring town of Spalding some time in the future, presumably to keep flogging this horse until it’s well and truly dead.

Comments Off on UKIP dominate Boston protest   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Lincolnshire

2012/11/15

Boston protest is a far right event

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

This Sunday will see an anti-immigration march take place in Boston, Lincolnshire. In the past, organiser Dean Everitt has made a big fuss about avoiding being “hijacked” by the far right but we can reveal that Sunday’s static demonstration at the Herbert Ingram memorial is a solidly far right event.

Dean Everitt has shown support for the Infidels of Britain, BNP and EDL on Facebook and of the 100 odd people who have signed up on Facebook, many are far right organisers and activists. They include Lincolnshire EDL organiser, Daz Healey, partner of Tony Curtis and former EDL speaker, Tracie Bird, organiser of the recent EDL demo in Norwich, Sam Burgess, BNP activist and in charge of the New Daily Patriot far right news site, Craig Farnworth, East Anglian EDL organiser, Ivan Humble, Shane Overton (Lincoln EDL), Sonya Greenberry-Coleman (Nottingham EDL) and Andy Reynolds (East Anglian EDL). Those who maybe going include Geoff Mitchell (East Anglian EDL), Louise Walsh (Nottingham EDL), Dom Woodhead (Keighley EDL), Tony Ball (Sunderland EDL), John Morrow (EDL) and Roy Wolfshead (CxF). The list of those invited includes British Freedom Party founder, Simon Bennett, Derbyshire BNP organiser, Paul Hilliard and Derbyshire BNP candidate, Emma Roper.

Dean Everitt: Organiser of the Boston Protest Group and currently under investigation for assault and criminal damage

Tracie Bird, EDL speaker, partner of Tony Curtis and going to Boston this weekend

Sam Burgess, organiser of EDL demo in Norwich and fond of getting off on his own reflection

Craig Farnworth, BNP activist who runs the New Daily Patriot

Lincoln EDL member, Shane Overton, gets ready to “peacefully protest”

Considering the mess the EDL and BNP are in at the moment this could be a relatively big event for them and there will doubtless be more turning up who aren’t foolish enough to announce their presence on Facebook. It is quite hard to see how they this fits in with the stated mission of the EDL to combat “Islamic extremism” but when times are hard the far right turn to whatever cause they think is populist and likely to garner support for their own flagging organisations.

Local migrant rights organisations have expressed their worry about the demonstration turning ugly and resulting in violence and harassment of migrant workers and their families in the area. Given the kind of people who are pledging to turn up and the followers they will bring with them, it does not seem unreasonable. Let’s hope the people of Boston show them the same lack of respect they have done so far.

1 comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in Lincolnshire

2012/10/22

Anti-immigration protest leader arrested for assault

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

Leader of the Boston anti-immigration protest, Dean Everitt, was arrested on suspicion of assault and criminal damage last Sunday, after an “altercation between neighbours”. It’s not been a good fortnight for Everitt who was recorded threatening a man over the phone and has been branded a “racist thug”. The links between Everitt and groups known for racist violence are multiplying. He has invited EDL, BNP and other far right organisers to his anti-immigration demo and is a fan of the openly racist Infidels of Britain on Facebook. The anti-immigration protest is due to take place on Sun 18th Nov.

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2012/10/17

Boston’s battle of the bigots

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

Elliott vs Everitt: Round 1

The decision of Dean Everitt’s Boston Protest Group to finally hold their anti-immigration protest has ruffled the feathers of English Democrats councillor Elliott Fountain. Fountain, a nasty little Islamophobe and fan of Greek neo-Nazis, Golden Dawn, slated the group for not marching earlier. His Facebook friends agreed, saying the group were “all piss and wind”, “bunch of fucking idiots” and that “dean evritt is a grass”.

Round 2

Everitt hit back complaining that “elected members of the council spend there spare time slagging people off to there little fans on thier page.”

how the hell some people get on the council in the first place amazes me and the biggest laugh is hes running for police commissioner lol

According to Everitt, Fountain is “a fucking joke” who “never uttered a word” during the Task and Finish meetings on the impact of immigration in Boston, is “a waste of tax payers money”. Speaking of Fountain’s candidacy for the PCC post Everitt concluded “lets just put the crooks in charge of the establishment”.

But Fountain’s merry men outflanked Everitt by starting a Facebook group mocking him called “Let’s find Dean Everitt a JOB! (Boston Protest against Immigration)”. Elliott Fountain and his friends are the main contributors although Fountain claims to have no knowledge of who set up the group! It features an amusing (but clearly edited) phonecall from Everitt in which he threatens violence and comes across as a bit of a wannabe gangster.

Round 3

The group clearly wound up Everitt who slagged off Fountain’s “BAND OF FOLLOWERS (SHEEP)” and challenged him to say “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR BOSTON APART FROM FLOOD US WITH MIGRANT LABOUR ?????????” Apparently Fountain has “SHOPS AND HOUSE FULL OF THEM MAKING MONEY OFF THEIR BACKS NO WONDER YOU DONT WANT THIS TO GO AHEAD YOUD LOSE A FORTUNE”.

Meanwhile back on the Lets find Dean Everitt a JOB! page, Simon Trigg claimed he’d “finished now making the fool [Everitt] a bigger fool than he already was he has proved what a racist thug he is and anyone who stands with him will be dragged into his moron world”. He claimed Everitt couldn’t “string a sentance together without making [himself] look like a jezza kyle mongol”. Apparently, “IF HE THOUGHT ANYTHING OF THIS TOWN HE WOULD STEP DOWN AS THE BIG MOUTH IDIOT HE IS”. Fred Cooper agreed: “i wont defend Dean, he made a fool of him self and other. but he was only a puppet who strings were being pulled.”

And who is pulling Everitt’s strings? The usual suspects:

3 comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Lincolnshire

2012/10/09

Boston anti-immigration protest back on

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

Dean Everitt and his badly-named Boston Protest March fb group are planning to hold a static demonstration against immigration in a month’s time. The demonstration will take place on 18th November outside the Herbert Ingram Memorial. Although Everitt says “THIS IS NOT A RACE ISSUE AND RACISIM WONT BE TOLLERATED” it’s hard to imagine the virulently anti-East European sentiment of those who support the group, including activists from a number of far right groups, will pay much attention.

The demo has been postponed since July whilst the group awaited the publication of a report by Boston Borough Council into the local impact of immigration. The report, which is now released, has been deemed unsatisfactory by Everitt and co.

Everitt originally cancelled a march which was intended to take place in 2011 because he claimed he was worried about it being hijacked by the far right. He has obviously changed his mind because he has invited a number of prominent fascists and far right organisers to his new demo, including Bill Baker, leader of the New Patriot Alliance, Simon Bennett from the British Freedom leadership and a number of BNP and EDL activists.

The news hasn’t gone down well with the readers of the Boston Standard though. “Thought Mr Everitt had been out the news for a while (which was actually quite nice!)” says Gooner 5271. “YAWN!!!!!!!!!!!! Has this not died already? When will Everitt learn that his mob will solve and change nothing!” says YBForever. “When will this idiot realise that not everybody in this town has got the narrow minded views as him!!!! seriously grow up!!!” says Another fed up local. “It will achieve nothing. This is a Westminster issue not a local one… This will simply increase tensions and cause trouble on the day” says Skelsang. There wasn’t a single positive comment on the article. Not exactly resounding local support.

If Everitt really wants to drag in a bunch of racist morons from out of town to totally discredit his already sinking ship of a protest movement, he should go ahead. But maybe he hasn’t thought this one through.

Comments Off on Boston anti-immigration protest back on   |  tags: , , , | posted in Lincolnshire

2012/07/06

Boston anti-immigration march called off again

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

Dean Everitt’s anti-immigration Boston Protest Group has voted not to hold a march against immigration. This is the second time the Lincolnshire group has cancelled a protest and on both occasions fears that it would be “hijacked” by fascists have motivated the decision. Indeed, the far right used Facebook to encourage people from outside town to attend the meeting and vote for the march but their attempt to influence the meeting seems to have failed.

Everitt, who was clearly disappointed with the result, has said that the march has been “postponed not cancelled” and is using the march as a threat against Boston Borough Council. The Council are in the process of writing a report into the effects of immigration and if they do not come up with a conclusion that Everitt is happy with the march will be back on. Everitt is quoted as saying he wants to be “heavily involved” in the writing of the report, although it is not clear what his qualifications for doing so would be.

Everitt tried to organise a similar march in October last year saying that “We are not racist…  but we are saying this place is now full and we should not have any more” and “they need to shut the floodgates.” Unsurprisingly, the BNP and EDL soon picked up on the alarmist language and fears about immigration and Everitt cancelled claiming that his event was being hijacked.

Comments Off on Boston anti-immigration march called off again   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Lincolnshire

2012/07/03

It’s not all black and white

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

After Saturday’s disappointing turnout for the EDL in Dewsbury, the EDL tweeted a picture of Leicester member, Glen Warren, along with the caption “#BlackandWhiteUnite”.

It’s not the first time the EDL have pushed forward one of their non-white tokens in an attempt to show that they’re not racist. Nottingham’s Guramit Singh was given “leadership” status and a platform at demos until the fact that he had his own ideas led to him being sidelined by the real leadership of Tommy & Kev. And who can forget poor Abdul, the rather simple anti-Catholic sectarian from Glasgow, who was pushed forward at Bradford. But this tiny handful of figures can’t detract from the fact that the EDL is an overwhelmingly white movement and the anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiments of its followers are often founded on racist ideas. The eagerly exploited Glen Warrens are the exceptions that prove the rule.

But let’s look a bit more closely at this new poster boy for racial unity that the EDL are pushing forward. Glen is clear about his own background: “I may be 1/2 nigga but atleast I aint Afiscum”. Although he has been made to feel ashamed of his background he still tries to assert his superiority over what he thinks of as inferior races. Indeed, Glen comes in for quite a bit of stick for his racial identity from other nationalists who post stereotypical pictures of black people on his Facebook page and when Glen jokingly posted “wish i was a packi”, replied “You are lol” and “lucky you get away with what ya are” (along with jokes about “taigs” and racist murder).

 

Warren is an unapologetic racist himself making jokes about “Niggers”, threatening to “send the filthy muzzrats home” and writing the song “IF YOU ALL HATE IMMIGRANTS CLAP YOUR HANDS”.

 

Warren is not afraid to use violence to get his way even going as far as to proudly post about having knocked someone out on his Facebook profile. The violent approach extends into misogyny as well. He reposted “Take your ex out tonight (One bullet oughta do it)” with a smiley.

Glen Warren is a typical EDL member: virulently anti-Muslim, seeing the world through crude racial stereotypes, getting his way through violence and treating women as sexual objects. It is very fitting that the EDL are using him as a poster boy. But “Black and White Unite”? I don’t think so.

Comments Off on It’s not all black and white   |  tags: , , , | posted in Leicestershire