The English Defence League (EDL) protested in Manchester yesterday and once again the thugs from Unite Against Fascism (UAF) turned out to cause trouble.
As I’ve said previously, I have no interest in ethnic nationalism of the sort the EDL promote, but I get pretty pissed off when the fascist UAF get away with thuggery and are portrayed as “the good guys”. They’re nothing of the sort, they’re vicious, fascist thugs that would be a proscribed organisation if it wasn’t for the number of senior police offices and politicians that were amongst their ranks.
This protest saw 700 EDL supporters turn out – many more than previous protests and thanks in no small part to the UAF thugs who turn out to cause trouble every time the EDL have a protest. UAF had about 1,400 people – 2 UAF thugs for every EDL knuckle dragger.
But the fact that every time the UAF turn out to “counter protest” they always get violent hasn’t escaped the BBC who, for once, have been marginally critical of them. Could it be that the fascist UAF are falling out of favour with the lefty-loving BBC?
According to the BBC, the atmosphere was “quite nasty” and the UAF thugs were the ones that tried to break the police line to get at the EDL protesters.
It’s time the police cracked down on violent left wing extremist organisations like UAF. They use violence and intimidation to try and supress peoples’ constitutional right to protest. They attempt to bring every protest they disagree with to a premature end by getting violent, putting the public and police in danger. They violently attack anyone who disagrees with them and if that means attacking the police if they get in the way then they’re fair game to these violent fascists.
Off-message articles don’t last long on the BBC News website so here it is for prosperity:
More than 40 people have been arrested during two political demonstrations in Manchester city centre.
At least 2,000 people attended the protests, by the English Defence League (EDL) and members of Unite Against Fascism (UAF) on Saturday afternoon.
Witnesses said “ugly scenes” broke out between rival protestors and police.
Forty-eight people have been arrested, four among them were held on suspicion of affray. Most of the other arrests were for public order offences.
‘Nasty’ atmosphere
Other people were detained on suspicion of racially-aggravated offences or over possession of weapons or drugs.
A senior police officer said the day had “proved a challenge” for the forceProtesters were herded towards railways stations by police officers as the protests came to an end. Many of them were moved away from the city centre on buses.
One man suffered a head injury during the protests, but did not need hospital treatment, a police spokeswoman confirmed.
About 700 members from the EDL and 1,400 members from UAF were separated by a line of riot police, dogs and mounted police in Piccadilly Gardens.
Mat Trewern, from BBC Radio Manchester, said the atmosphere had turned “quite nasty” as the day progressed.
He said: “There had been some ugly scenes as protesters clashed with police, but it has started to calm down and the crowds are dispersing.
“At one point, earlier on, when it became extremely tense, members of the UAF tried to break the police line between the two groups, which in turn angered the EDL members.
More than 2,000 protesters were thought to have been in the city centre“Trouble had started when 100 members of the EDL arrived at Piccadilly Gardens and they were immediately met with shouts of ‘racists’ and ‘off our streets’ by members of the UAF, who had already congregated at Piccadilly.”
He said the number of protesters from the UAF outnumbered those from the EDL by about two to one.
“The disruption in the city centre has been on a large scale, shoppers and businesses have been affected by the protests.”
Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan said the presence of so many protesters in the city had “proved a challenge” but that life in the city had gone on as normal.
He said the police reaction had been necessary in order to tackle “the few hell-bent on violent confrontation” and described some of those arrested as “agitators and trouble-makers”.
‘Violent confrontation’
He said: “I would like to thank all those people who came to Manchester today and protested peacefully for their patience and understanding.
“I’d also like to commend the vast majority for demonstrating in a peaceful manner.
Most of the arrests were for public order offences“However, the history of protest has been marred, by those who came intent on violent confrontation.”
Greater Manchester Police confirmed a man, believed to be heading to the protest, had earlier been arrested in Birmingham on suspicion of distributing racially aggravated material.
Muslim leaders had renewed appeals for people to avoid the demonstrations.
Nanu Miah, a community leader from Oldham, said before the protests in Manchester: “We are not encouraging people to go, we don’t know who EDL is and what could happen.”
An EDL event in Birmingham in September led to counter-demonstrations and bricks being hurled at riot police. Up to 90 people were arrested.
We waved placards and held up a 12ft banner (with difficulty). Lots of motorists were stopping in the road to read them and quite a few were honking horns in support and giving us the thumbs up. The police didn’t seem too fussed at the cars stopping in the road – certainly less fussed than they were at the prospect of me having my mobile phone in the meeting or carrying some leaflets .
On Thursday I will be at the 
