Tag Archives: Notts Casuals Infidels

2016/06/21

Who are the Casual Infidels?

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

It’s been an exciting week for the Notts Casual Infidels. Their uncensored Facebook “banter” delighting in the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox by a ‘lone wolf’ fascist made them instant national hate figures – even in the blackshirt-supporting Daily Mail.  No doubt there will be many angry people demanding to know who is behind their online hate campaign.

First, their spokesman who runs their Facebook page, Jamie Ray Upton AKA Daniel Hall from Mansfield. Jamie was accused of pocketing the cash he made from sales of EDL merchandise when he was a member as well as using it to fund his own projects, and was subsequently booted out of the organisation. Keen to keep on the gravy train he started his own project, the Casual Infidels. Before becoming infamous for inciting the murder of Labour MPs, he was last seen collecting donations in a Cancer Research bucket in Market Square on his way to the Casual Infidels disaster of a demo. Draw your own conclusions as to where the money was really going. The latest news is that Upton’s Facebook post is under investigation by the police so he may we may not see him again for a while.

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Jamie Ray Upton AKA Daniel Hall

No chancer like Upton can operate without a sidekick, preferably one who can provide some muscle (or, at least, some bulk) without asking difficult questions. The Notts Casual Infidels lieutenant is Craig Burridge, a racist Worksop Town fan who (sometimes) brings a small mob of others to the demos.

Craig Burridge

Craig Burridge

Jimmi Rae - Worksop

Jimmi Rae – Worksop

Andrew Shaw - Worksop

Andrew Shaw – Worksop

At NCI’s latest flop demo, Upton brought some lads along from Mansfield with him too. Unfortunately, the only ones he could find were fresh out of their first year of GCSEs. But then, he clearly has no qualms about grooming them for a role in his far right organisation.

Outside of these two towns, there is no solid support for the Casual Infidels. A few younger ex-EDL from Nottingham seemed interested, notably Jack Stevens and Adam Repton, but there are tensions between fascists from out of town and the city that will only have been exacerbated by the recent loose cannon comments on Facebook.

Jack Stevens - Nottingham EDL

Jack Stevens – Nottingham EDL

Paul Jeffery – Nottingham

Ian Kellett (Nottingham) and Wayne Grisenthwaite (Manchester) - both were at recent NCI demo

Ian Kellett (Nottingham) and Wayne Grisenthwaite (Fleetwood, Lancashire) – both were at recent NCI demo

Steven Morgan - Nottingham

Steven Morgan – Nottingham

Of course, this small handful of Notts ex-EDLers are not enough to hold even the tiniest demo in Nottingham, given the overwhelming opposition. They rely on the EDL tactic of bussing people in from all over the country to get their numbers up to more than a car-load. For their recent demo there was a sizeable contingent from the North-West (Gaz Jones – Manchester, Spencer Shirley and Melissa Lewins – Colne, Wayne Grisenthwaite – Fleetwood) as well as Halifax (Conrad Ayscough – accused of assaulting a muslim woman in the street on his visit to Nottingham), London (Lucas Phelan) and Littlehampton (Pete Gillett).

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Lucas Phelan

 

Spencer Shirley (Colne), Lucas Phelan (London), Pete Gillett (Sussex)

Spencer Shirley (Colne), Lucas Phelan (London), Pete Gillett (Littlehampton)

 

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Conrad Ayscough

Finally here’s a few more faces from that demo:

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2016/06/14

Antifa 3 Casual Infidels 0

By East Midlands Anti-Fascists

It was their third attempt to “take back” the streets of Nottingham, and Notts Casual Infidels had threatened to “smash the reds”. On their first demo in October last year, the Market Square was taken by antifascists and refugees before they could leave the pub. They came back with 15 pitiful racists to be humiliated again later in the year but this time they had been building for months to make Saturday their big one. It was not to be.

SpotTheFash

Spot the fash: Where are ya?

Despite calling favours from mates from all round the country (fascists travelled from Halifax, London and Sussex), less than 20 bothered to turn up. Despite the presence of hundreds of police to facilitate their march they were forced to hold their rally in an alley, about 50 yards from their pub, penned in at both ends by antifa and other pissed-off members of the local population. They waved a UKIP placard, and were bundled onto a bus by police anxious to get them to the station and out of town before any of them was seriously injured. It was all over by 3.

Casuals Infidels sounding very much like they're about to surrender

Casuals Infidels sounding very much like they’re about to surrender

It wasn’t long before recrimations were flying. Nottingham EDL’s Jack Stevens and Adam Repton were spotted by antifascists staggering out of an off-licence, moaning about how it was all organised by Nazis from out of town.  Incidentally, Repton, who didn’t go to the demo, was also seen having a long and involved chat with a suspected undercover cop.  I hope he knew what he was doing!

Then Chesterfield EDL’s John Bryan slagged off the demo’s “star attraction”, Pete Gillett, a racist bedroom ranter who came all the way from West Sussex. Bryan claimed Gillett was only in it for the money (no change for the far right there then!) and Gillett swore he wouldn’t do any more demos because “I do not want to rub shoulders with cunts like them“. Oh dear.  if you’re short of cash, perhaps you’ll have to take up the drug dealing again Pete – or try working as a Matt Lucas impersonator?

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BackStabbing

Speaking of scamming, what were the – doubtless unlicensed – Casual Infidels doing collecting donations in a Cancer Research bucket all day? Let’s just say it wouldn’t be the first time that ‘patriots’ have been involved in bogus collections of money.

Mansfield infidel Jamie Upton (‘Daniel Hall’) shows some schoolkids how to scam the public when you run out of beer money

Meanwhile, antifascists had another morale-boosting day. The fascists were out-manouvered and out-numbered for the third time in a row. Their march was stopped, and no one heard their poisonous message or even saw them. Antifascists had the run of the streets and the opportunity to engage with the public whilst the fascists hid behind rows of police. It was another public demonstration that militant antifascism works and keeps Nazi scum off the streets.

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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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