Author Archives: Brighton Antifascists
A Very Poor Show! by Malatesta
Well it was a damp squib in more ways than one for the first ‘national’ Infidels demonstration in Leeds today when scarcely a handful of Aryan warriors turned up, stood in the rain, were outnumbered by plod and generally failed to make an impression despite all their big talk recently. In case you don’t know, the nfidels faction split off from the English Defence League for several reasons: they don’t like Israel, they don’t like gays and they don’t like the fact that Tommy Lox and Lemon has been getting all that media adulation, especially as it was Snowy what was on the roof at Dudley and is the real hero! FACT! The Infidels dislike of the EDL’s multicultural racism and things like the Tower Hamlets fiasco was upsetting the more excitable elements of the EDL so the ‘leadership’ of John ‘Snowy’ Shaw has been trying to appeal to the more out and out fascist contingent that he feels at home with. This is presumably so they can all discuss The Protocols Of Zion at the Infidels Remedial Readers Club next Monday.
The Infidels don’t like the fact that the EDL liaise with plod so decided to organise a big flash demo ‘somewhere in the North’ to catch Plod out and wrong foot any anti-fascists who may be tempted to turn up and watch them getting drookit. However, their bottle went and they ended up liaising with plod and announcing the Leeds meet up a week or so ago. Consequently, and far be it for us to praise him, PC Plod put them in a kettle and let them absorb some of that fine Yorkshire rainwater that we all know and love for a few hours to cool their ardour. Those Infidels who were hoping for a racist free for all were sorely disappointed and they had to stand about, cold, wet and dying for a wee-wee until they were allowed to disperse. Some ended up in the Slug And Lettuce for a hot cup of cocoa and a bun whilst others headed off to the Hourglass Bar for something a bit more exotic. For the Hourglass is a gay bar and a perfect place for an all male lap dance and a nose full of poppers. Rumours that there is now an Infidels Gay Division are mainly untrue.
What we can ascertain is that the Infidels are trying to appeal to disenfranchised EDL and BNP members and other hing oots from disparate fascist grupuscules who are fed up with the current fascism-lite on offer and want a bit more argy-bargy! And they’re doing really well from what we have seen so far. Despite appealing to all ‘Nationalists,’ many on the far-right websites either
responded to Snowy’s callout with apathy or they simply had other plans. Other hooligan casuals were no doubt watching their local footie teams and did not want to waste an afternoon being surrounded by plod in some corner of West Yorkshire’s finest city (despite the great beer and pies down there). There’s another Casuals United do at Blackpool soon that Nazi Jeff ‘Stabber’ Marsh has been puffing of late but this will no doubt be much smaller giving the internecine feuds between the various EDL factions. And it’s going to be cold there boys, so don’t forget your cagoules!
Meanwhile the EDL Angels – or Angles as their more illiterate Twitters call them (and there’s not many angles, more a succession
of cellulite packed curves) – went to that London to shout at Mr Dave in Downing Street on Saturday. Unlike everyone else though they didn’t realise that Mr Dave doesn’t actually live there but resides in Chipping Sodomy and was at a Bring and Buy Sale today. Although The EDL Angles Demo was originally meant to be an all girls affair the lads decided to back them up in case of trouble and it’s a good job they did because hardly anyone turned up despite the Angles trumpeting it from the top of Hel ‘She’s A Right’ Gower’s shed (where she keeps her emergency Weetabix and Soleros in case the Muslamics take over and ban them!). The aim of the demo was to present a petition about something or other which had a rather paltry 300 signatures on it. There was originally a lot more but nasty Neo-Lib-Con-Dem-UAF-Searchlight-Photoshopped-Muslamics kept putting rude words on it so they had to delete at least half of them. No doubt it will be the first of Mr Dave’s priorities when he gets to work on Monday morning.
More interestingly is the future of Tommy Robinson which is
hanging in the balance. Not unsurprisingly he was found guilty of assault 2 weeks ago for headbutting someone at the Blackburn demo and he is awaiting probation reports. Seeing as he has done a year for assault already – he was happily battering his girlfriend when an off-duty plod intervened and got a kick in the head for his troubles – and he has recently been done for football violence and is basically a career criminal, it doesn’t look good. If he is sent down he may well do another hunger strike between breakfast and lunch whilst he is living it up on the nonce wing again (and unfortunately for Tommy, Nando’s do not deliver to the nick). Then there is the question of who will step into his little tiny trainers and take over the EDL leadership. Seeing as Snowy has formed his own boys brigade (no girls, no gays, and no Jews!), Guramit Singh flew the coop yonks ago, Joel Titus is banned from such activity and so on, this leaves only Hel ‘Tower of Power’ Gower and ‘Kocaine’ Kev Karol at the office. Gower, who is 70, is incapable of organisation or keeping her trap shut and a lot of EDL people hate her and if Kocaine Kev’s organisational skills are as good as his speeches then they’re pretty fucked. An interesting situation to be sure. The Infidels are likely to step it up a pace and try to capitalise on the EDL’s many misfortunes but seeing as they can hardly get a bus full for their first national demo, it don’t look good. So what next? Blackpool is unlikely to be massively attended, the EDL’s fortunes continue to decline and the Infidels debut has been a poor do indeed. We shall see.
All Nine Antifascists Acquitted In Second Welling Trial!
When confronted by a swaggering neo-Nazi at Welling train station in March 2009, Sean Cregan did what any good antifascist would, he put the Nazi on his arse! While twice Sean’s size, one punch was enough for the scumbag fascist, who dropped to the ground as if pole-axed. His neo-Nazi companion quickly fled down the station platform, with Sean in hot pursuit.
The two scumbags had been on their way to a so-called “Blood and Honour” gig, which are regularly held at the nearby Duchess of Edinburgh pub (with the active participation of the fascist landlord with whom the two were to stay). When questioned by police later, the first fascist gave his name as Patrick O’Donovan (this may be a false name since he is German and came over specifically for the gig, which are illegal in Germany). His brave companion gave his name as Michael Heihl.
There had been several unrelated incidents at Welling Station that evening, and the police arrived quickly, arresting several antifascists who were also at the station (or in the vicinity). Some months later, dawn raids took place around the country, with large numbers of cops smashing in doors and arresting other antifascists. Draconian bail conditions were imposed. In total, 23 people were now under arrest in relation to the punching of ‘O’Donovan’.
Since there was no available ‘complainant’ in the case, the cops – the British Transport Police led by Detective Inspector Sam Blackburn – were unable to charge Sean, or any of the other antifascists, with assault. Instead they were charged with ‘Conspiracy to Commit Violent Disorder’. In legal terms, ‘Violent Disorder’ occurs when a person’s behaviour is deemed to be of such a nature that it would cause alarm or distress to someone witnessing it, though in this case nobody had complained and it was ruled that there was not sufficient evidence to additionally charge any of the antifascists with ‘Violent Disorder’ itself.
Charges were dropped against one of the antifascists, a young woman, in the early stages, but because of the sheer number of defendants the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) argued that, for logistical reasons, it was necessary to split the defendants between two trials. Of course this also put the Prosecution at a considerable advantage, particularly as they would be prosecuted by the same individual – Mark Trafford. Both trials would be held at Blackfriars Crown Court before Judge H.O.Blacksell.
The CPS chose to first prosecute not so much those with the most evidence against them, since they have presented no evidence of a conspiracy throughout, but those whom they judged would be most easily convicted. Many of the defendants had been convicted of political activities in the past, and because of these ‘prior convictions’ could not present character evidence in their defence for example. The CPS knew that they could rely on the prejudice and ignorance of the jury (one of whom sported a shirt emblazoned with a large St George’s cross) for some convictions, and sure enough seven antifascists were convicted as charged, with six of them being sent immediately to jail.
As our comrades were sent to prison, the architects of the fit-up were busy congratulating each other. Blacksell, the judge who presided over the charade, said he would be recommending Detective Inspector Blackburn for a commendation – For what, making travel safer for Nazis?! Perhaps Blackburn will get the ‘Iron Cross’! This whole case revolves around one neo-Nazi, who was not a complainant in the case, being put on his arse. For that 23 people were arrested, hundreds of cops were involved in dawn raids, and two show trials were held costing Millions, what a great service to the ‘public’! But of course, this case is about far more than one pathetic fascist.
Immediately before the second trial, charges were dropped against two more of those previously accused of being involved in the ‘conspiracy’, leaving nine more to face trial. The trial began on Monday 12th September, and once again the Prosecution presented absolutely no evidence of a ‘conspiracy’. The jury seemed nonplussed as to why they were there. Once again, the trial dragged on for more than three weeks.
One of the things that came out in the second trial was that a racist Immigration Officer, who acted as a prosecution witness, and who in his police statement described Ravi Gill as having a “typical big Asian head” and “speaking Indian”, lied through his teeth in the first trial. He could not have witnessed the incident as he claimed because when it happened he was not actually there, but outside buying his ticket!
As his attempts to fit up the second group of antifascists began to unravel, Trafford became quite desperate, and at times appeared close to tears. He had pursued the case with personal malice and with a messianic gleam in his eye throughout, and his arrogance led to some verbal fencing with defendants of twice his intelligence which simply left him looking foolish. Bereft of evidence, he simply relied on being able to mislead and prejudice the jury as he had done in the first trial. To this end, Trafford tried to present the neo-Nazis of ‘Blood & Honour’ and the Anarchists and antifascists in the dock as two sides of the same coin, as if the Nazis and partisans of World War Two had some sort of moral equivalence. This morally repugnant position was rounded on by the Defence in the closing speeches with Trafford pilloried to an unusual extent. Putting the incident firmly in its political and historical context, one of the Defence barristers even went so far as to say that the jury should not only be acquitting the defendants, but thanking them for being prepared to confront organised fascism.
It should be clear that this prosecution was brought to try and smash antifascist resistance (something Trafford has privately made explicitly clear) and to intimidate antifascists from engaging in any form of antifascist activity. The case however, and the way that the ‘conspiracy’ law has been used in it, has huge implications for activists in general, it is an attempt to outlaw any form of protest. Leeds ABC regard it as highly regrettable that the case did not have the massive publicity it warranted from the very beginning.
The jury retired to consider the verdict at 3.00pm today – They were back again less than an hour later to acquit all nine antifascists, treating the prosecution case with the contempt it deserves. The courtroom erupted into cheers and cries of jubilation, with only the judge and prosecutor left looking sour-faced. Tonight as the acquitted and supporters retired to the pub there was every reason to celebrate. Tomorrow is the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street. We hope that Indymedia readers will join us in raising a glass – to our comrades who triumphed over this judicial fit-up, to the antifascists down the ages who have been prepared to go out onto the streets to confront fascism, and to our six comrades who were fitted-up earlier this year and who deserve our fullest possible support.
THE PRISONERS
The six antifascists imprisoned in the first trial were originally held in Wormwood Scrubs prison in London, but five have now been moved to other jails in southern and central England. Please send them letters of support at the addresses given below. We expect Thomas Blak to be moved this week and his new address will be published on the Leeds ABC website when that happens. Thomas, who is Danish and has lived and worked in England for 15 years, is also under threat of deportation.
The prisoners may each receive postage stamps and Postal Orders (made payable to ‘The Governor’ and with the prisoner’s name and prison number written on the back). For advice on writing to prisoners please see the Leeds ABC website.
A solidarity fund has been set up to support the prisoners in jail and upon release. All donations, big and small, are very welcome. The fund is administered by Leeds Anarchist Black Cross, a long-standing and reputable prisoner support organisation, and the fund will ONLY be used to support the prisoners directly. If you would like to contribute to the fund please send a cheque (made payable to ‘The Cable Street Society’) to Leeds ABC, 145-149 Cardigan Road, Leeds, LS6 1LJ. Details for bank transfers are:
The Cable Street Society
Sort Code 070093
Account number 33333334
Ref 0827/704169523
We would like to thank the groups and individuals who have already contributed to the solidarity fund, including Antifa England, Brighton & Hove TUC Unemployed Workers Centre, Bristol ABC, Kate Sharpley Library , and Rebel Soul (Shambala Festival).
The Anarchist print co-op Sabcat have also produced two benefit T-shirts in support of the prisoners. They are printed on organic cotton, fair wear, carbon neutral, Earth Positive T-shirts and cost £14.95 including UK postage. Sabcat are donating their labour for free, so apart from the cost of the unprinted garment itself and the postage, all money raised goes to the antifascist prisoners support fund. To order a T-shirt check out the Sabcat website at http://www.sabcat.com. They will also be available to buy at this year’s London Anarchist Bookfair.
Leeds ABC have produced a solidarity poster (see above) in several sizes, which is being displayed in laminated form in numerous community centres, social centres, pubs, cafes, bookshops, etc. Please contact us with regard to displaying one. You can also download the graphic to display on your website, Facebook page, etc.
Last, but by no means least, a number of revolutionary solidarity actions have been claimed in the names of the prisoners, and we both appreciate and applaud these acts. We should remember that the very best act of solidarity we can offer is to continue to fight against fascism and not to be intimidated or cowed by these latest attempts to stop us resisting.
Solidarity to the antifascist prisoners.
No Pasaran!
PRISON ADDRESSES
Andy Baker
A5768CE
HMP Highpoint
Stradishall
Newmarket
Suffolk
CR8 9YG
Thomas Blak
A5728CE
HMP Wormwood Scrubs
PO Box 757
Du Cane Rd
London
W12 OAE
Thomas is Danish and would appreciate European/International stamps to keep in touch with his family and with comrades abroad.
Sean Cregan
A5769CE
HMP Coldingley
Shaftesbury Road
Bisley
Surrey
GU24 9EX
Sean can receive books (they must be new or in very good condition).
Phil De Souza
A5766CE
HMP Elmley
Eastchurch
Sheerness
Kent
ME12 4AY
Ravinder Gill
A5770CE
HMP Wayland
Griston
Thetford
Norfolk
IP25 6RL
Ravi can receive posters, so if you hold a support event consider sending him one in.
Austen Jackson
A5729CE
HMP Stocken
Stocken Hall Road
Sretton
Nr Oakham
LE15 7RD
Austen Jackson moved
Anti-fascist prisoner Austen has now been moved from Wormwood Scrubs to HMP Stocken in Rutland.
His new address is:
Austen Jackson
A5729CE
HMP Stocken
Stocken Hall Road
Stretton
Nr. Oakham
Rutland
LE15 7RD
Some further details of the prison can be found below, though lots of the information given on the page is generic. Importantly Austen can no longer receive books. In addition you can only send him stamps if the are already affixed to an envelope with the address written in pen.
If there is any other important information, or any changes to the above, then we will of course post it up here.
EDL Unveil New child Sex Offender
On hearing Coates was in prison, Shaw made enquiries in order to offer support only to find out his true identity and issued the following statement.
Yesterday I discovered that Miki Blueeyes is currently in prison and due to the fact he was one of our friends I contacted people in order to get his details so we could write and visit him.
He’s currently in prison for smashing his neighbours car and setting fire to for reporting him for drugs, excessive drinking and loud music. Due to the fact he has access to his young daughter social services were brought in and they have inform her mother that he has 14 pervious charges for sexual offences and has been using 4 different surnames in order to keep this from coming out.
This is the reason he isn’t allow access to his other children and why social services have told his youngest daughters mother that they have to have no further contact with him. I suggest anyone one his friends list remove him immediately and have no further contact with this sick man.
I don’t care about the reputation of the NWI, my main concern is the children of people on his friends list and of his friends. It makes me sick to know I have had this man in my house near my young children and I’m just relieved that I never left them in his care. Myself and the NWI will have nothing more to do with this animal and I hope you all heed this warning and keep him out of your lives.
After making further enquires about Miki the fact he is a sex offender was confirmed from 2 other people that knew him (they were informed recently) and it was also discovered that he wasn’t has he said a Beeston born and bred lad. I was then given the 4 surnames he has used one being his real one Michael Coates and after searching the net I found this link. 
http://www.chris-uk.org/michael-coates/11977. So there’s no doubt about it so get this animal off your friends list and we have closed the NWI (Yorkshire) page down as he was associated with it.
Something else disgusted me yesterday was the fact that edl support group were more bothered about denying he was edl then warning people about this animal, the admin on that page should hang their heads in shame. He like the rest of us was edl first then NWI.
Coates has previously threatened to ‘kidnap a paki’ and douse him in petrol
This was not his first offence and this article was published on Children Have Rights website in March 2002. Coates was jailed in 2003 for acts committed five years previous after he had persuaded his victim to drop charges.
Children Have Rights is a controversial ‘vigilante name and shame’ anti paedophile website set up by EDL member Chris Wittwer who has recently been released from a stretch in prison for football hooliganism.
‘My living hell’ by sex attack victim
A teenager today told how she suffered a ‘living hell’ at the hands of a serial sex abuser.
The 18-year-old victim, who cannot be identified, said she suffers nightmares about her ordeal.
A teenage sex-abuse victim endured years of “inner torture” after she was persuaded to drop her allegations against her attacker, a Court heard.
Self-confessed child molester Michael Coates got sympathy for himself by falsely claiming that he too had been a victim of sexual abuse and the girl was pressured into not proceeding with her allegations against him.
It was only three years later when Coates was finally charged with a series of sex offences, including two attempted rapes, that he admitted his own sex-abuse story was a pack of lies.
Today the 23-year-old Bradford man was beginning a six-year jail sentence for the repeated abuse which he accepted had developed from “experimenting” as a ten-year-old boy into a habit.
Coates, now of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to a total of eight charges of indecent assault and two of attempted rape in relation to the first girl and a further four offences of indecent assault in relation to a second.
During yesterday’s hearing at Bradford Crown Court Coates’ barrister Jonathan Rose handed Judge Roger Scott a copy of a suicide note his client had written.
In it he described himself as a child molester and offered his apologies to the two girls for what he had done.
Jailing Coates, Judge Scott told him that he regarded him as a danger to children and highlighted the fact he had told a series of dramatic lies for his own purposes.
“That poor girl must have had a very, very long period of inner torture…she attempted to kill herself as I understand it,” he said.
He said it was a further aggravating feature of the case that Coates had used bribery through sweets, money and cigarettes in exchange for sexual favours.
In addition to the jail sentence, Coates will also have to register with the police as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Prosecutor John Hitchen told the court that the first girl had suffered flashbacks and nightmares after deciding to drop the proceedings in 1998, but she eventually challenged Coates about what he had done in the autumn of last year.
Coates was arrested in October and made admissions in relation to the allegations made by the two girls.
Mr Rose conceded that Coates’ offending had turned into a habit and he was unable to stop himself until he reached the age of 19 in 1997.
He pointed out that since then Coates had not committed any further offences of a sexual nature.
“This is a very young man about to start a sentence for offences against children and through the duration of that sentence he will have no one….it’s going to be a very lonely and a very difficult time,” said Mr Rose.
His teenage victim said: “He knew what he was doing was wrong when I was telling him to stop, now it is too late. I think they should throw away the key.”
The teenager said she was given strength and support from her partner and his family after she explained her background which gave her the courage to go to the police.
“It is something I had to do and I came out feeling a great relief that hopefully he would be put away,” she said.
“It is really good to know that there is someone out there that cares and loves you and I have never felt so loved in my life – they are one in a million.”
The girl, who left school with no GCSEs, has now found an office job and is studying NVQs to further her career in administration.
She says working also helps to keep her occupied so she is not haunted by memories of her past.
She said: “I would say to other people to speak out. It helps when you have got support behind you to go and tell someone.
“Even if you don’t go to the police, go to a counsellor and talk about it and they might be able to help.”
Typicaly, despite running demos against Muslim child sex abusers, the English Defence League have denied that Coates is part fo the EDL reminicent of last year’s cover up of child sex abuser and founder Richartd Price who leadership described as a ‘political prisoner’ when he was jaled for indecent images of children and cocaine pocession.
EDL News
Homepage: www.edlnews.co.uk
It’s Time For Tommy Robinson! by Malatesta
Dateline: Rhyl National Express.
Well, the Malatestas missed all the fun at the weekend because we were at Nanatesta’s caravan in Rhyl. There is no TV or radio reception so we couldn’t keep abreast of the goings on in London. MacMalatesta disgraced himself on the 1st day by getting blootered on ‘3 boatils ah Bucky’ and Nanatesta made him sleep under the caravan for the duration. We also got banned from the Leek & Bucket boozer following a violent
altercation between Nanatesta and the landlord over what is and isn’t acceptable in a meat pie filling. She is insistent that there is NO nutritional value in rawl plugs!
Porridge!
‘Norman Yaxley Lennon, you are an habitual criminal who accepts arrest as an ccupational hazard!’
What an eejit! Tommy Robinson had talked up the EDL’s stupid Tower Hamlets march for so long that despite his bail conditions he had to make an appearance. And of course, he got nicked (although why plod had not arrested him for several previous infractions
is still a wee bit of a mystery). So he turned up dressed as a rabbit or something and after some grandstanding on his ever diminishing platform he was lifted and is now remanded at Her Maj’s Pleasure. His ‘martyrdom’ was a self-written prophecy and the choice was bleak: either not turn up and lose face or show up and get nicked. Rumour has it he’s on the nonce wing so he won’t be able to explain the finer points of the EDL’s ideology to any Muslim prisoners who happen to be inside with him. If he is on the nonce wing then we hope he will just sit there and think about what he has done! Tommy will not be
acquainting himself with the EDL’s royal couple Stella and Charlie for a while so will have to make do with lousy food and the occasional bad tempered visit from his wife to whom he has just got hitched. In sickness and in health eh, Tommy? Tommy has said he is going on hunger strike and other incarcerated EDLers are going to join him. And there are plenty of those including the eejit who just got 5 months for smacking a plod.
The EDL have called upon Amnesty International to help Tommy, their ‘political prisoner.’ Is that the same Amnesty International they were slagging off last year by any chance? Listen boys! Amnesty deal with grown up problems not petty criminals who have been jailed for assaulting women and policemen, assaulting ‘comrades’ and
football related violence. Tommy is not a ‘political prisoner’ but a career criminal
who broke his bail conditions. The guy with the fluffy hat in the boring court
room lays out these conditions and you have to stick to them. Otherwise you go
to jail! It’s not that complex.
Saturday’s demo in Londonseemed to lack co-ordination somewhat. Various EDL divs landed in London and were either not allowed to get to the RV point or were shepherded in smaller groups to Aldgate where they were kettled in before being escorted away by plod from several forces. The RMT union also refused to liaise with plod and deal with the anti-union scab organisation. One of the adorable bunnies from the EDL sprayed lighter fluid or similar on a photographer and set them on fire whilst another desperate member groped a female journalist. Surely there’s better ways to meet women lads?
The EDL are claiming that they marched after all but they failed. Plod had them in a mobile kettle. And they are also claiming that they got to Tower Hamlets but they failed on that one too. They just about saw the arse end of the City and that’s it. They
were supposed to march ‘where we want, when we want’ but successfully didn’t.
Boozers aplenty refused to open or serve them, all the car parks were off-limits
and they were hopelessly outnumbered by plod and antifascists. They arrived in much lower than expected numbers – 10,000 expected, 1,000 turned up, result: much acrimony over people not showing. They had talked it up so much on Facebook that they ended up believing their own wretched rhetoric and many are secretly – and not so secretly – disappointed. With this embarrassing failure and the arrest of Tommy, the good ship EDL is now being crewed by Kocaine Kev Karol and the bickering harridan duo of Hel ‘hath no fury’ Gower (BNP, Combat 18 supporter) and Roberta ‘say no’ Moore of the Jewish division who hate each other. Well Kev, time to don the Captain’s hat and guide it away from the rocks. Wee Tam turned up arm in arm with Roberta and that lad who runs the Jewish division despite saying they were proscribed from the EDL and despite the amount of negative sentiment from many of the rank and file towards them. Alan Lake turning the screws then Tommy?
Many EDL divisions have expressed their concerns over yet another compromise by the EDL ‘leadership’ liaising with plod and getting a shite deal. Lots of them wasted time and money on getting down to the smoke for ‘the little big one’ and were angered by the weakness of resolve in their own divisions.
Highlight of the internet pickings is the footage of the Nottingham coach getting attacked by angry locals and the EDL Angel crashing to earth with scorched wings. Whilst ‘Malatesta’ does not condone violence against women (unlike Tommy who was jailed for assaulting a girlfriend) if you join an openly provocative march to cause trouble and you get trouble, then don’t whine about it. The lady in question is called Joanne Dickens and she sports a Celtic cross on her lady lumps. A friend of ours questioned her about this on Facebook and she claimed that it was not a right wing symbol. Aye and neither is this
swastika on me arse love! Other friends of ours have put up screenshots from her Facebook account and she is hardly a paragon of virtue.
To cap it all, she was escorted away from angry counter-demonstrators by ‘horrible terrorist Muslamics’ which is most embarassing. But what really put the currants in the clootie was the fact that the entire busload of Nottingham eejits left her behind and then all got nicked after being routed and humiliated. Shame on you boys!
The Splits Continue!
The Northwest and Northeast Infidels are coming up to auld Reekie – that’s Edinburgh to you Jimmy! – for a do on the 10th where they will no doubt be hopelessly outnumbered by antifascists, after all the Scottish Defence League and the EDL’s record north of the border is hardly impressive. John ‘Snowy’ Shaw has threatened all manner of violence against opponents on Facebook which the polis will no doubt find helpful.
Not only that but Billy ‘Bunter’ Baker of the English Nationalist Alliance has been poking his neb in. Bill hates Hel Gower – and Tommy who booted him out of the EDL – so has
been aligning himself with all manner of puddin’ heids. 2 weeks back he ‘helped’ the British Patriots Society ‘organise’ a march on Downing Street but failed to turn up. He also set up a rival march the other side of town on Saturday but it is unclear if he got up in time or anyone else showed up. He has also fallen out with the Combined exForces (CxF) and been involved in a slanging match with them. The CxF were part of the Plymouth EDL ‘assault’ on a local kebab shop having ‘strong drink taken’ and they are
all facing charges and subject to bail restrictions. Pardon me for asking, but aren’t ex-forces supposed to be patriots who should follow the laws of the land? Our friends over on Everything EDL have kindly reposted a screenshot of Bill calling Hel Gower a ‘Nazi’ amongst other things – which is a wee bit rich coming from that fat fascist fuck. Baker highlighted Gower’s connections with Chris Renton, a rather unpleasant nonentity who is associated with the BNP and helped set up the EDL’s website. Crivvens Wullie! You’ll be accusing her of anti-Semitism next!
Of course, antifascists sites are abuzz with news that a certain EDL member named Michael Coates is a known paedophile. He is currently in nick for sex offences and
apparently is organising the EDL ‘Fiddlers Division’ with Richard Price.
Naughty!
Conclusion
So, the EDL ‘leadership’ has taken yet another massive knock: Tommy is in jail and Kocaine Kev is now in charge but he is a bit of a dick with limited organisational – and rhetorical – skills so will he be able to keep the disenchanted divisions onside or Hel Gower and Roberta Moore from killing each other? Many members have declared their dissatisfaction over the debacle on Saturday and the Infidels are taking a more militant stance drawing the openly fascist contingent away from Tommy and the EDL. Their credibility is at an all time low and for that we are grateful.
Tower to the people!
It was going to be the ‘Big One’, the EDL’s grand day out in the capital city. They proudly proclaimed that they were going into the “Lion’s Den” — “Islamic hell-hole” — and what they no doubt had in mind when this hare-brained scheme was first announced was something like an Orange march through London’s biggest Muslim community, with drums beating and the chant of ‘E.E.EDL’ echoing off the walls of the East London Mosque as terrified Muslims fled. What actually happened was a half-arsed piss-up miles from Tower Hamlets. They predicted thousands would attend and only attracted hundreds. EDL Facebook posters have been reduced to claiming that Aldgate is by some spurious definition ‘in Tower Hamlets’ which is the equivalent of trying to pass off a Calais booze cruise as a seaborne invasion of the European mainland.
The Home Secretary intervened early in proceedings and banned marches for thirty days in the six surrounding boroughs. This is old hat to the EDL, who until recently always had their marches banned and have resorted to ‘static demonstrations’ in car parks around the country. These static demos basically revolve around drunken EDLers trying with varying degrees of success to break out of their police cordon and go on the rampage.
The ban seemed to come as bit of a surprise to the Unite against Fascism lot though — who had planned a march from Weaver’s Field around Tower Hamlets. To their credit, despite calls from the authorities for anti-fascists to stay at home now that a ban had been implemented, they re-located their protest to within 200 yards of the East London Mosque (the EDLs stated target),meaning that there was at least a strong presence on Whitechapel High St.
fash victim (photo by rikki)
EDL.O.L
In the run-up to the event it was clear that the EDL leadership were getting panicky about numbers, posting on their official Facebook page “All the talking has been done leading up to today. Lets now see who walks the walk into tower hamlets for the ones who have been on the walls for weeks now saying cant wait for this one. well if you dont show you should hang your heads in shame.”[sic]. This seems to be a perennial problem for the League, they have thousands of wifi-warriors and facebook friends and for a demo in a safe zone like Luton they can pull in maybe three thousand on the streets, however anything more adventurous than that and their numbers start dropping into the hundreds. In fact Saturday’s demo was the same sort of size as their last ‘Big One’ in Bradford (see SchNEWS 737)
From the start of the day it was clear the cops had mobilised huge numbers to keep the two sides apart. The recent riots have left the Met with no wish to take chances. Their plan was to corral the EDL at Liverpool St Station and march them to within shouting distance of Tower Hamlets. But it was the Railways Union (RMT) who pulled off the biggest game changer of the day. The rail workers refused to allow the EDL to travel by train, forcing them to change their plans repeatedly at short notice. Eventually they were forced to gather at King’s Cross on totally the wrong side of the city. A representative of the RMT had this to say:
“The fascist EDL will be in London tomorrow morning. I have informed management that if they appear on any of our stations or trains, then there will be refusals to work on safety grounds of serious and imminent danger and stations will close. The RMT will not allow staff and the public to be put in danger by these thugs, who assaulted people on their last demo.”
When smaller groups of EDLers tried to get around on trains, some resourceful troublemakers stopped them in their tracks by pushing the emergency stop buttons on the trains. Eventually cops somehow got one train running and by 3pm had got the EDL to Moorgate tube. Spotters reported the crowd to be around the eight hundred mark. For reasons best known to himself EDL leader Tommy Robinson aka Stephen Yaxley-Lennon turned up to rally the drunken overweight patriots dressed as an Orthodox Rabbi (sadly not a rabbit as reported on Twitter). The EDL leader broke his bail to be there, so a disguise made sense, but mocking the religion that they’ve been trying to court is the sort of boneheaded stupidity that marks the nationalist mob.
Meanwhile the anti-fascist presence in the East End was building up. With police concentrating on creating a sterile zone around the EDLs protest site numbers were gathering at the junction of Commercial Rd and Whitechapel High St from midday onwards. (for geography buffs this is actually the boundary of Tower Hamlets). The way ahead was totally blocked and small groups that went scouting for routes into the EDL pen were soon turned back. Eventually the bulk of the UAF counter demo made its way down to junction to stand with the local youth and the non-aligned anti-fascists, numbering over 2,000. An hour passed scuffling with the police (with a few de-arrests) and waiting for an EDL break-out that never came. Most only saw a few George Cross flags fluttering in the distance. Eventually the flags retreated and the day seemed to be over — a slightly anti-climactic no score draw. Some groups of non-aligned anti-fash set off in the hope of encountering the league but were turned back by cops.
DOUBLE-DECKED
However by blind-chance (or possibly an over-reliance on Sat-Nav) locals were given the chance to go 1-0 in injury time. One EDL coach tried to make it past East London Mosque, with predictable results. Check out this thoroughly amusing video. The coach driver eventually sped off with hundreds of local youth and anti-fascists giving chase. Police vehicles raced alongside trying to head off the crowds and prevent a lynching. The coach was ambushed again in Mile End with rubble being hurled off a footbridge. Abandoning ship, the leaguers turned to the police for protection and were promptly nicked for violent disorder. Unconfirmed reports of attacks on other coaches are circulating.
Where now for the EDL? A dismal trudge around the country defending regional car-parks from the Islamic Caliphate? There are now splits aplenty as Tommy Robinson sets himself up as an unelected Fuhrer — with others being chased out of the movement or leaving to set up rival ‘Infidels’ groups (North West, North East and counting). For more excellent analysis albeit with a slightly contrived Scottish accent check out Malatesta. With the war in Afghanistan drawing to a close and Al-Qaeda on the back foot all over the Arab world their whole ‘raison d’etre’ seems to be withering away.
Meanwhile judging by numbers on Saturday the autonomous anti-fascist movement does seem to be finally waking from its slumber and beginning to make its presence felt on the streets.
SchNEWS
e-mail: http://www.schnews.org.uk/index.php
Tower Hamlets EDL
‘We’re coming down the road, we’re coming down the road’ … and straight into the nearest carpark! Thankfully, Tower Hamlets has some excellent parking facilities for the English Defence League to defend this weekend if they turn up like they are saying they will following the blanket ban on marches in London. The car parks can be found on this website: http://www.ncp.co.uk/
Yes indeed, despite the ban on a march through the London Borough of Tower Hamlets – which sounds like a nice wee village tae us – the EDL are going to turn up anyway and teach those smelly lefties and Muslamics a lesson and that’s what they said and that’s what they’re going to do cos Sir Tommy said so. FACT! So what’s happening?
E-E-EDL? Or N-N-NCP?
Despite their usual bluff and bluster the EDL are privately worried (if you consider Twitter and Facebook private) about getting the numbers to Tower Hamlets on Saturday after talking up their big march through ‘enemy territory.’ By the way does the ‘enemy’ include working class Londoners who don’t want their Saturday ruined by a bunch of far right semi-tards in tracksuits? What is going to happen is this. Loads of plod. Loads of counter-demonstrators and locals annoyed that the EDL are causing a fuss. Loads of media. Loads of photos of the EDL again looking like a bunch of pissed-up football hooligans chanting racist slogans. If the EDL make it across London to the site that plod has allotted them, they will be heavily outnumbered, kettled and rapidly bussed out again after standing in some carpark dying for a wee-wee.
Regular readers will have been following the multiple splits that have occurred in the EDL camp recently and know about the reduction of the leadership to Kocaine Kev Karol and Tommy Caxley-Trousers who has to be in bed by 7 every night due to bail restrictions. Being the noble Aryan warrior that he is Tommy is saying he is still going to go turn up on Saturday – well he can’t lose face in front of his diminishing acolytes can he? We assume plod is aware of his intentions and will keep him in at playtime without any crisps!
The splits are getting even more acrimonious now with the North West Infidels, North East Infidels, the Combined ExFarcicals and numerous individual divisions sick of Tommy getting all the glory on telly whilst they stand about in pissy car parks having paid good cash for the privilege. So given this factional rivalry, will they all heed the calls for unity some EDLers have been shouting for. No. John ‘Snowy’ Shaw who Tommy ex-communicated years ago is seething at being left out of the limelight. Snowy’s pram was surrounded by toys earlier this week as he ranted and raved on Facebook about Tommy and then he declared support for the BNP, Combat 18 (why? They are all well over 70 now) and the National Front with others joining in saying they should also unite behind Johnny Adair, Paul Ray and the Blood and Honour movement. So, obviously still pushing the ‘non-racist’ line then Snowy?
Also, many people have lost the faith. Liverpool division are struggling to get 8 to That London but even better is the Plymouth lot. In case you don’t know the entire ranks of Plymouth EDL and Combined ExFarces were nicked for smashing up a kebab shop a few weeks ago. The ‘leader’ of these 4 people is a delightful girl named Hayley Mills who had booked a coach to take her ‘soldiers’ up to Tower Hamlets at 25 quid a pop. However, she has to answer bail on the day so will have lost out on making all that money from her fellow stooges and missed her chance to get her face on Sky telly. Maybe you should do what your mammy said and look after your bairns instead, Hayley? Other divisions are complaining that people are dropping out faster than Tommy can drop his ‘aitches’ and decrying their lack of bottle. To make matters worse posters are also saying that they are under bail restrictions so can’t do the show. You puffs! It isn’t stopping Sir Tommy! Shitters! Bah! Also, a lot of the EDL are without gainful employ so can’t afford tickets and even if they could they would only stand around complaining that 1/ the beer is too expensive and 2/ not as good as back home. Don’t take our word for it, check out the excellent Everything EDL for further details!
http://twitpic.com/photos/everythingedl
There’s also an excellent piece on EDL News on the ban:
http://www.edlnews.co.uk/edl-news/opinion-tower-hamlets-demo-ban
Moving On …
In the last post we mentioned that a right bunch of Clooties called British Patriots Society were marching past Downing Street the other week to make a stand against something or other.
http://malatesta32.wordpress.com/2011/08/19/cat-fights/
Our old friend from the English Nationalists Alliance, Bill ‘take me to the’ Baker was trumpeting away about leading his mini-march on Rome and was full of the usual blether and shouts for unity. However, many on the day were annoyed with Chubs Baker because he didn’t actually turn up! Bill, shame on you. When you organise something it is polite to dignify it with your buxom presence. Even for a wee while. And to add to this, Bill is doing another march on Downing Street at the same time the EDL will be standing in a carpark in the East End. Bill has fallen out with Mr Tommy and is aye slagging him off. Yeah, but at least he turns up Bill! The EDL are claiming that now Fatty Baker is trying to scupper their demo with fake stories: Lookit! http://twitpic.com/6cqu9y
In general the fragmentation and clumsiness continues on the far right but the best story this week is from Hope not Hate which features loads of piccies of EDL members with guns:
http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/blog/article/1341/the-guns-of-the-edl
The EDL Action Man Division are seen posing with crossbows, air rifles, shotguns and replica MP40 submachine guns (the ones Nazis use in war films!). This is just too reminiscent of the BNP at their last outdoor swamp meet when they all started posing with replica guns and baring their generous backsides for all to see! Look if ye dare!
http://lancasteruaf.blogspot.com/2011/04/gunning-for-st-george_26.html
Not great PR to be honest. So, will the EDL get to Tower Hamlets and if they do, how many will there actually be? Or will this be like Bradford and Luton ‘Big Ones,’ i.e., little ones. Now that the Infidels have dropped all pretence of being anything but fascists will they attract the flotsam from the moribund BNP and the jetsam from the other equally clueless grupuscules? And will Bill Baker finally make it to Downing Street this time so that Mr Dave can recognise his services to Queen and country? Or will he be distracted the new Greggs on Whitehall? Tune in next week …
PS: Hello to Urban75 posters on EDL Watch thread!
English Defence League still coming to Tower Hamlets
Despite Home Secretary Theresa May announcing a ban on all marches in Tower Hamlets, Newham, Waltham Forest, Islington and Hackney for 30 days – the far-right English Defence League (EDL) will still be attempting to stage their biggest demonstration yet, in the centre of our capital. As anti-fascists, anti-racists, socialists and anarchists we should ensure we are there to greet them on 3rd September.
The EDL have not been banned from congregating in Tower Hamlets, and they are expected to announce where exactly they plan to do this on Wednesday (31st). Theoretically they will be confined to a heavily policed static demonstration, however most of their rank’n’file are unlikely to be satisfied with this – statements such as “we’ll march wherever we fucking want” and (unfortunately) “whose streets?” are now commonplace on EDL forums.
EDLers tend to meet up in pubs before demos from about 11am, marching/stumbling to the demo start points at 1pm to be marched around their city du jour in a mobile kettle before being deposited back in the drinking houses to toast their massive success. Given the media attention on the EDL, the small number of pubs still willing to host them and their well documented inability to drink a pint of Stella without shouting “Allah is a paedo!” the hierarchy may well avoid the official ‘muster pub’ strategy. Though the majority of their casual support wouldn’t turn out if the prospect of a piss-up wasn’t on the cards.
Once the official demonstration point is announced police will most likely build a massive pen and devise a strategy to funnel the fash into it. What happens on the day though will depend on police tactics as well as EDL and opposition numbers. If they get a large turnout or if the police decide to be hands-off they will march regardless of the ban, in which case it is up to us to stop them. Alternatively the EDL may be (physically) fragmented – either by choice or by baton. In this scenario smaller groups of boneheads may try to make their way into Tower Hamlets where locals and antifascists should be ready to run them out of town.
The only thing that is certain is that the greater the numbers on the streets to oppose them, the higher the chances of inflicting one last humiliating defeat on Tommy’s Boys.
Having brought the ban about, Unite Against Fascism (UAF) have spent the last few days bitching that it shouldn’t apply to them. They’ve now moved their assembly point from Weavers Field to the corner of Vallance Road and Whitechapel Road, at 11am. This is the same area autonomous groups had been calling for people to gather, while the increased numbers are welcome, they will likely come with a police pen of their own as well as UAF stewards attempting to control crowds.
Although it’s always preferable to avoid being kettled, if we are contained in the very area the EDL want to be it will still be a victory – of sorts. However our ability to stay mobile without being picked off is our greatest strength. An overwhelming anti-fascist presence on this one might just be enough to permanently burst the EDL’s bubble, leaving the pathetic remnants of street-fighting British nationalism squabbling amongst themselves and beating each other up over who’s best to lead the master race.
11am Saturday 3rd September
Tower Hamlets, East London
Jo Makepeace
Anti-fascist prisoners update
At Blackfriars Crown Court on Friday August 19th Jonathan Wood – one of the anti-fascists found guilty of “conspiracy to commit violent disorder” in June – was given a suspended sentence.
The convictions of Jonathan and the six other anti-fascists were complete travesties, but we are over the moon that our friend and comrade avoided being sent to prison, as this was a real possibility for him. In the end, Jonathan was given a non-custodial sentence for reasons relating to his personal circumstances.
Prisoners had been moved to different nicks now, their current addresses and prison guildelines are in this link:
http://antifascistprisonersupportuk.wordpress.com/addresses/
Cat Fights & Barneys! by Malatesta
http://theenglishdefenceleagueextra.blogspot.com/2011/08/hel-gower-bnp-jew-hater-literally-runs.html
http://twitpic.com/67vgl5
Incidentally, we have been going through the archives and have yet to find any complimentary publicity in the press about the EDL. They think that any publicity is good publicity but we think Gary Glitter and Jonathan King may disagree. There was the 1 piece in the Daily Star praising them but that was pretty much negated the following couple of weeks by negative reporting following a panic at Dirty Desmond’s HQ and the Star have subsequently reversed their position. Searchlight have also started using the Star to distribute anti EDL/BNP stories which used to go via The Mirror. But anyway … back in the cat house …
The EDL continue to fragment and the predominant schism appears to be the Infidels. These wee radges are more vociferously right wing and nationalist (i.e., racist!) than the Tommy Robinson Band with their ‘multicultural racism’, pro-Israel stance and gay friendliness. The Infidels split has energised the torpid jobbies on the various Nazi websites with VNNuk claiming that the Infidels are preferable to the ‘Zionist’ EDL and Shirtfront (rhyming slang) do as well. They have also claimed that Tommy and his boys legged it when confronted by the Infidels at Blackburn following the ‘outing’ by Tommy of an internet critic and the subsequent brawl at the coaches. Result: Infidels 1, Tommy, shat. The Infidels are supported by John ‘Snowy’ Shaw who was nicked at the Dudley rooftop protest. He left the EDL after falling out with Tommy who had raised a wad of cash for the ‘Snowy Defence Fund’ which has yet to be accounted for. We can only presume that the EDL royal couple, Stella and Charlie, benefitted somehow from the rotten proceeds. The Infidels have also said that the National Front would be welcome on any of their day trips. So they are not even attempting to disguise their far-right leanings.
http://www.***************/forum/t823389-2/
See post 17!
In a more conciliatory tone Jeff ‘Stabber’ Marsh of the Casuals United has been urging people to stop using the ‘Allah/Mohammed is a pedo’ chant on demos. This week saw a couple of EDLers convicted in Halifax for such offensive chants and other posters agreed that it makes ‘the ELD [sic] sound like a bunch of retards.’ ‘Stabber’ Marsh is not concerned about causing offence rather than being caught. Stabber says ‘Stop it!’ but good luck with that Jeffrey. On the same thread a poster also claims that ‘there are no moderates in Islam there is only Islam, “moderates” is a western term and you wont find them using it.’ Which again illustrates the sophisticated, in-depth understanding that the ambassadors of non violence (and non-profiteering!) in the EDL have of world religions. http://ukfd.org/topic/8998950/1/
And tomorrow, (Sat, 19th August) the powerhouse that is the British Patriots Society (it’s okay, we’d never heard of them either) are marching PAST Downing Street. Don’t they know Mr Dave will be away attending a Bring and Buy sale at Chipping Sodomy – he is in charge of the Tombola! Everyone’s a winner in the Big Society, eh Mr Dave? In case you don’t know, the British Patriots Society is an unpleasant tweedy conglomeration of UKIP (we talk, UKIP), UPP (You Pee Pee!) and Pompey Dave from March For England (who are regularly humiliated by our antifascist comrades in Brighton). What a sizzler!!! I know, we won’t be going either.
The ‘Malatestas’ would just like to thank the following websites (amongst others) for posting up the articles: EDL News, Lancaster Unity and Brighton Antifascists. Crivvens! Even the British Democracy Forum have got in on the act as have, surprisingly, the Nazi loons on VNNuk – so thank you to ‘Big’ Bev Kerry, winner of ‘Camel Toe of the Year Award,’ 2006. Lovely.
Brighton Anti-fascists 