On
Saturday 20th March the ragtag bunch of ex-football hooligans
and far-right activists who call themselves the English Defence
League (EDL) descended on Bolton, in their latest attempt to stir up
trouble. The media has reported that there were about 2000 EDL
members and that they were met by 1500 supporters of Unite Against
Fascism (UAF). The reality is that there were more like 2500
anti-fascists as several hundred anti-racist demonstrators were
prevented from joining the main counter-demonstration. This caused
frustration, as police lines kept a large number of protesters hemmed
into a side street until the EDL had left.
UAF
organised a counter-demonstration, alongside trade unions and
religious groups, bringing in supporters from across the country. The
EDL planned to assemble in Victoria Square, outside the Town Hall in
the centre of Bolton. The police had prepared the square by
partitioning it in two with lines of police and metal barriers
intended to keep the two groups apart. Before the EDL arrived, a
group of anti-fascists attempted to occupy the area designated for
the EDL. However they were forced back by walls of police on
horseback and the main body of the counter-demonstration was then
kettled into the ‘designated’ protest area until the EDL were well
clear of the square.
Police
violence
On
the day Greater Manchester Police were accompanied by officers on
horseback, dog handlers, and a large contingent of armoured riot
police. There were 74 arrests over the course of the morning and
afternoon but of these only 9 were EDL supporters, this in spite of
their threatening and abusive behaviour throughout. Despite the
claims of the majority of media sources that the UAF protesters
violently attacked police officers, the truth was quite to the
contrary. Police officers repeatedly and systematically attacked the
anti-fascist protest and then retreated behind a line dogs to gain
their breath. There was seemingly no other logic than to weary and
antagonise protesters, and to make random arrests.
UAF’s
joint general secretary, Weyman Bennett, was amongst those arrested
and he was charged with conspiracy to organise violent disorder,
which can carry a five year prison sentence. Half a dozen riot police
charged into the anti-fascist demonstration, seized Bennett, and
dragged him into custody. Anyone can watch Bennett’s actual speech on
Youtube and at no point did Bennett incite anyone to violence. He did
however point out the tremendous cost to the taxpayer of the policing
operation (which came to £300,000 for the afternoon according
to official figures), the essential purpose of which was to protect
the racists. Martin Smith, another senior figure in the UAF, was also
arrested on suspicion of breaching the peace, but was released
without charge along with dozens of others. Martin Smith accurately
summarised police behaviour:
"As
soon as we arrived at the square we received hostility from police
officers. We were certainly not the violent ones, we had come with
the intention to protest peacefully against racism and fascism.
However, the police stormed into our side of the square and started
picking out UAF leaders and arresting them before anything had even
happened. Those kind of actions are bound to provoke a reaction. They
came flying into us – it was unbelievable.”
EDL
violence
Mainstream
media reports also failed to report the racist and violent nature of
the EDL gathering. Although there were fewer Hitler salutes and
offensive placards than on previous demonstrations, the EDL still
managed to show their true colours by shouting “go home, you paki
bastards” and other even more obscene chants. The EDL also pelted
the counter-demonstration from safely behind police lines with
whiskey bottles, coins and flattened beer cans. Whilst the police
were happy to attack protesters before the EDL arrived, once the
fascists began causing trouble, the police looked on and did nothing.
Anti-racist protesters were heard chanting, “Do your job! Do your
job!” The police were, of course, doing their job which was to
harass the anti-racist protesters from one side and protect the EDL
on the other. To add insult to physical injury, a police spokesman
later praised the conduct of the English Defence League.
The
EDL’s demonstration was brought to an abrupt end however when several
hundred Asian youths from the locality, who had been defending
mosques around Bolton from potential attack by the EDL, joined the
demonstration. These young people stormed to the head of the
counter-demonstration and were amongst the most militant protesters
present. The police were then forced to step in and take action to
remove the EDL from the square before they could lift the metal
barriers separating the two protests. Police then frog-marched the
dampened EDL supporters back to the train and bus stations. They were
thus prevented from repeating scenes like in Luton and Stoke, where
they broke through police lines and rampaged through the streets,
causing property damage and attacking ethnic minorities.
Some
lessons
The
first lesson that was sharply impressed on everyone’s mind at the end
of the day was the real role of the police. In Bolton, as in Glasgow,
Leeds, Edinburgh and elsewhere the police ended up having to actively
defend the EDL. Most of the injuries sustained by protesters were
inflicted at the hands of the riot squad rather than the EDL.
Protesters were choked with elbows, and had their arms and faces
beaten with batons and armoured forearms. The racists were more or
less untouched. The police will generally take the side of the
fascist elements – that is clear.
Secondly,
the EDL, although they are an ugly and bilious organisation, do not
represent a serious fascist threat. The Fascism witnessed by our
grandparents in 1930’s Europe was a mass movement whose street
fighting detachments were used by the bosses as a physical strike
breaking force. They were a last desperate throw of the dice against
the threat that the organised working class posed. The EDL are
nothing but a motley bunch of hooligans who have to hide behind the
police every time they show their faces in public. Novertheless, we
have to face them down because everywhere they go unopposed they will
continue to pose a poisonous threat to minority groups.
To
this end the Labour movement needs to become the organising factor in
future attempts to stop the EDL and their ilk. The effective
militancy of the Muslim youth showed what a little organisation can
do. To the credit of the North West TUC they did organise a good team
of stewards and a number of labour movement organisations gave their
official backing, whilst several labour movement banners were
present from around the country. However, it must be admitted that
there was no broader working class presence.
We
can only hope to mobilise larger numbers of workers and young people
however, by first explaining what we stand for beyond simply
restating what we are against. Although the EDL claim that the
government is implementing Sharia law is bemusing to say the least,
many Saturday shoppers in Bolton were equally bemused by the UAF
counter-demo. The EDL, like other far-right groups such as the BNP,
have nurtured a certain amount of support because they claim to
explain the root of all our problems: Islam, immigrants or some other
bogeyman. The likes of the BNP for instance have made their biggest
gains precisely in those working class neighbourhoods where the
Labour leaders have most clearly failed their constituents. We have
to answer that it is capitalism and the profit motive, not migration,
which lies at the root of the recession that workers continue to bear
the brunt of.
