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.
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.