RWB - BNP Festival Demo

[Fidel Follower]

Hello comrades,

I've just got back from the demo held against the RWB-BNP festival. Here's a quick over few of what went down.

Ofcourse police presence was very high, 12+ riot vans, and scores of officers (most getting paid over time to protect the racist thugs!)

There was a good turn out (a few more could have been better), but we met about half a mile from where the pigs would eventually stop us, many speakers took to rallying the crowds before we started to march, the Unions, UAF, Love music not racism, and many other anti-fascist organisations. We then marched on towards the 'festival' finally getting stopped by a row of pigs arm in arm, we chanted and were strong in the face of the pigs. Unfortunately we couldn't get within 500+ yards of the fash, but we tried to break through all arm in arm, unsuccessful.

But the day was a success, we showed that the people of Britain are not willing to stand up to British fascist! The day was enjoyed by all and our presence was felt.
I'll post pictures later,
-FF

[Sasha]

good to hear there was a big turn out to the demo, to bad not more of those 700 demonstrators took it a step further and supported those brave but few people actualy trying to shut the festival down for real;


Clashes at BNP protestAbout 40 anti-fascist protesters have clashed with riot police outside the BNP's annual festival in Derbyshire.

Officers arrested six demonstrators as they tried to barricade a road to stop BNP members attending their annual Red, White and Blue Festival in Denby.

The arrests occurred during clashes which saw police pelted with stones. Earlier, some 700 demonstrators took part in a rally in nearby Codnor.

[Holden Caulfield]

good but better if UAF didnt want to try and control everything,

[Fidel Follower]

Yeah i agree. I would have liked to be part of the brave comrades that got closer, the UAF were abit, pedantic..
Huzzar ANTIFA

[ships-cat]

So what was the story with the 20+ odd people arrested in Heanor ? (2 miles away from the RWB thingy). What exactly where they DOING ?

Meow Purr :)

[InTheMatterOfBoots]

Now that would be telling ... ;)

[communard resolution]

Yahoo news say there were quarrels cause the different groups couldn't decide which group should march at the front. Is that true? :D

[Holden Caulfield]

UAF want control of eveything that ever happens

[InTheMatterOfBoots]

Yahoo news say there were quarrels cause the different groups couldn't decide which group should march at the front. Is that true? :D

Yeah on the fluffy march that happened. UAF have a lot to answer for, they effectively sabotaged any serious attempts to genuinely stop the festival weeks before the action and opened up negotiations with the cops which not only forced other groups to do the same but also resulted in the laughable "photo opportunity" march of 30 (YES fucking THIRTY!) people to the actual site ... accompanied by police escort of course ...

Good job there were some genuine anti's on the case.

[ships-cat]

"Good job there where some genuine anti's on the case".....

Yeah...how would that tractor have been 'liberated' otherwise ? :lol:
I mean... trying to steal a tractor ? Citizen Smith would have been PROUD of you :D.

... or do I mean Frank Spencer ? :laugh:

Meow Purr :p

[Fidel Follower]

What time were ANTIFA on the scene, it seemed a bit late for me..
I got their early and couldn't find any?

[Faction2008]

I was looking at some pictures from it. Now look at this one:
http://www.bnp.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/a_good_bloke1.jpg
Don't you just want to properly just knock him out?

What a ****.

[InTheMatterOfBoots]

"Good job there where some genuine anti's on the case".....

Yeah...how would that tractor have been 'liberated' otherwise ? :lol:
I mean... trying to steal a tractor ? Citizen Smith would have been PROUD of you :D.

... or do I mean Frank Spencer ? :laugh:

Meow Purr :p

What in god's name are you going on about?

[InTheMatterOfBoots]

What time were ANTIFA on the scene, it seemed a bit late for me..
I got their early and couldn't find any?

Were you on the sanctioned march?

From thisisderbyshire -

MASKED anti-BNP activists fought hand-to-hand with riot officers and pelted them with stones as the party held its controversial Red, White and Blue festival this weekend.
The violence happened on Saturday when protesters tried to barricade a road leading to the festival.
Police armed with batons moved in to quell the demonstrators, making 27 arrests.
Meanwhile, a 400-strong anti-BNP march passed off mostly without incident, apart from a scuffle when protesters wanted to go further than a pre-agreed police cordon.
Shops closed, traffic was disrupted and residents said they felt like prisoners in their own homes during the protests.
http://iad.anm.co.uk/house/1x1.gif (http://ads.anm.co.uk/ADCLICK/CID=0000b139bb3f965200000000/AAMSZ=452x118/SITE=THISISDERB/AREA=NEWS/SUBAREA=HOME/ARTICLE=273516/acc_random=7189862762/pageid=/RS=)

Now, they are pleading for the BNP not to return so the violence does not happen again.
Among those who faced disruption was farmer Chris Sewell, who was forced into a violent confrontation with the masked activists as he defended his family's land.
The protesters, who chanted "down with the BNP", poured from the farm's fields to a junction with Codnor-Denby Lane at 11am on Saturday, with tyres, poles, gates and horse-jumps they used to build a barrier.
Police believe this was an attempt to block vehicle access to the festival.
Mr Sewell, 21, desperately struggled to stop activists from re-entering George Farm before riot police arrived.
He said: "They were trying to jump back into our fields but I ran along the gate and fence pushing them off.
"Then the police arrived with batons and pushed them down the road and they leapt over the fence and into other fields to get away from them.
"The police got us to build a barrier so they couldn't come through the gate again."
Mr Sewell said the protesters had caused massive damage to his family's farm and called their actions "unfair".
He said: "We are still waiting for an assessment of how much damage was done and how much it will cost.
"The cows are at the other side of the site so they weren't bothered but the horses are all really spooked."
The farmer was not the only person affected by the violence as local residents looked on in horror from windows in cars and houses.
John Lumsden, 65, of Codnor-Denby Lane, was on his way home from buying a paper when he saw activists pouring across the road ahead.
He said: "I saw masked men charging across with gas bottles, gates, tyres, pretty much anything you would expect to find on a farm.
"Two police vans arrived behind me and riot police got out with shields and batons.
"They charged the protesters. I saw one-on-one fights and they were throwing stones at the police."
Watching from a bedroom window overlooking the road were a retired couple, who asked not to be named.
The man, 68, said he feared for his property after seeing some protesters charge into his neighbour's garden.
He said: "I think they went in to find more to add to the barrier. A police cordon was formed to hold them back – not physically though, they just formed a line the people couldn't go beyond.
"Then riot police came with their dogs."
Police took the barrier apart but could not prevent the junction of Denby Common, Breach Road and Heanor Road being closed for more than half an hour.
They said about 40 protesters were involved in this clash, six of whom were arrested for violent disorder.
The rest made their getaway across fields.
A police helicopter, launched early on Saturday to give a bird's-eye view of events, saw the protesters had joined a footpath which led into Kensington Avenue, Heanor.
At noon, three vans of officers were scrambled to the village where they confronted the protesters again.
The activists threw stones at officers and tried to escape through back gardens before police managed to subdue them, making 20 arrests of men and women, for violent disorder and breaching bail conditions.
Although the battle took place some metres away from houses, residents said they saw the protesters lined up against a fence after their arrest.
Rav Kooner, 39, of Kensington Avenue, said: "Some of them were handcuffed on their fronts but the scene was mostly peaceful. Some of the protesters seemed young – teenagers.
"It was a big shock to see something like this on our road because it's normally so quiet."
Six people were arrested for breach of the public order act.
The police could not say when one further arrest on Saturday was made.
As the clashes took place around the site, a mostly peaceful anti-BNP march and rally was held in Codnor, by groups including Stop the BNP, Unite Against Fascism and Derby Racial Equality Council.
Buses from across the country brought people into the village from 9am. Police estimated that about 400 people took part while Stop the BNP said the figure was between 500 and 700.
The march at midday was largely without incident accept from a scuffle when protesters tried to go beyond its designated finish point at the junction between the A6007 Heanor Road and Codnor-Denby Lane.
Police formed a 26-man cordon but some protesters attempted to push through.
A scheduled protest by 30 protesters nearer the festival entrance also took place for about 15 minutes in the face of obscenities shouted from cars driven out of the BNP festival site.
The march meant Heanor Road was closed to traffic for more than an hour-and-a-half.
The executive director of Derby Racial Equality Council, Kirit Mistry, said the official protest was largely successful.
He said: "The march was a bit confused, because there were two separate groups which came together for it. It was as peaceful as it could have been.
"When we got to the end of the road there was pushing and people weren't responding to instructions.
"But the message has been given clearly to the BNP that we don't want them in Derbyshire."
Graham Hopkins, of Denby, brought his six-year-old daughter to the protest. The 45-year-old said he did not want the festival near his house again.
He said: "The area is totally unsuitable for this kind of event. It causes so much disruption like noise and the traffic from BNP members coming into the site."
Other residents and politicians, including most of those disturbed by the violent protests, agreed with him.
Peter Murfitt, 60, of Codnor-Denby Lane, described the march past his house as "inconvenient" but said the BNP should not come back.
He said: "It used to be a respectable area and we feel the BNP being here is a bit shaming."
Other residents said that they had been disturbed by noise from the festival, flashing lights and drunken youths making Nazi-style salutes in the early hours of Friday.
Labour MP for Amber Valley Judy Mallaber said noise and traffic caused by the festival disturbed residents.
She said: "Before it came to Derbyshire they held it in Lancashire, completely off the beaten track. I'm not suggesting they should have them back, but to hold it in Denby is ridiculous."
Her sentiments were echoed by Derbyshire county councillor Eric Lancashire, who said the festival, which also took place on Friday and yesterday, was unfair on residents.
Mr Lancashire, whose Horsley ward includes Denby, said: "They've held the festival twice there. Twice is twice too much."
Last night, police would not say whether any of the arrested protesters had been charged. They said there had been no disturbances inside the festival.



http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/news/Left-wing-activists-clash-riot-police-anti-BNP-protest/article-273516-detail/article.html

[Holden Caulfield]

What in god's name are you going on about?


seconded

[ships-cat]

What in god's name are you going on about?



seconded


According to reports on the BBC and one of the local papers, a number of protesters where arrested for trying to steal a tractor. This is shades of the BBC TV series "Citizen Smith", where their Che-Geveura lookalike leader steals a tank and drives into Westminster, only to discover that it is in recess and their are no MP's to capture.

At the same time, it is reminiscent of the gaffe-prone character "Frank Spencer", who's every endeavour ends in disaster and farce. (from the series "Some Mothers do 'Ave 'Em").

I mean, hats off to people who actually get off their bottoms and get involved in the political process, and who stand up for what they believe in. (especially in these current times of apathy towards politics, and low voter turnout).

However, surely you must recognise that this protest was a disaster in that it handed the BNP a huge propaganda victory ?

Consider the residents of Denby, Codnor and Heanor. They didn't see BNP members acting loutishly (indeed, the reports suggest there was ZERO trouble from the RWB crowd.).

What they DID see was a bunch of "scary balaclava'd thugs" trampling their gardens, blocking their roads, stealing stuff from a nearby farm, and throwing rocks etc at the police. And these thugs where identified (in both local and national media) as being the anti BNP grouping.

If the BNP are clever enough, they will mass-leaflet Denby, Codnor and Heanor with leaflets asking people to contrast the behavior of the two groups, whinge on about democratic politics vs "fascist violence", .. and hey-presto ... suddenly there's the danger a groundswell of support - if not for the BNP per se, then at least for their "right" to hold the festival there NEXT year, on the grounds of upholding democracy and denying fascism. How ironic - and damaging - would THAT be ?

This then triggers the possibility of a SECOND propaganda victory for the BNP... namely when the residents actually lobby FOR the BNP in their 2009 planning application... and the headlines scream "Residents support BNP... deny permission for protest marches".

OK... there are a lot of "what if's" in the above, but it is easily conceivable.

It may be fun to throw rocks and stuff at the police and frighten the locals, but ye gods... THINK about the potential strategic consequences.

And THAT is why I made the comments about Citizen Smith and Frank Spencer.

But heck, show me that I'm wrong. Tell me what POSITIVE impact for the anti-BNP cause that the protest produced ?

Meow Purr :)

[Fidel Follower]

The locals don't want the festival to go ahead in future because of the trouble,
that's positive.
If every local felt that in every town, the BNP would be pushed out.

'Meow Purr"......

[Sam_b]

This then triggers the possibility of a SECOND propaganda victory for the BNP... namely when the residents actually lobby FOR the BNP in their 2009 planning application... and the headlines scream "Residents support BNP... deny permission for protest marches".


Tell me what POSITIVE impact for the anti-BNP cause that the protest produced ?

You Sir, are an idiot.

[InTheMatterOfBoots]

You Sir, are an idiot.

Seconded, with gusto.

And no one stole a tractor. That's complete nonsense. If you actually read the article I posted above you will see that there is now widespread local opposition to the festival coming back and against the BNP in general.

[Holden Caulfield]

If you actually read the article I posted above you will see that there is now widespread local opposition to the festival coming back and against the BNP in general.

as i said way earlier, perhaps in another thread there already was!

[Holden Caulfield]

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XLxL5xIl-m8/STQg4Fj5T0I/AAAAAAAABZA/pDoFrPXWEBo/s400/article-0-024e190e00000578-109_468x347.jpg (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XLxL5xIl-m8/STQg4Fj5T0I/AAAAAAAABZA/pDoFrPXWEBo/s1600-h/article-0-024e190e00000578-109_468x347.jpg)
Over-enthusiastic policing for the unnecessary and deliberately

provocative Red, White and Blue annual piss-up


Dealing with violent protests which broke out during a controversial BNP festival cost Derbyshire police a quarter of a million pounds.

The figure has been revealed by Derbyshire Chief Constable Mick Creedon, who said the two-day Red, White and Blue (http://lancasteruaf.blogspot.com/2008/08/red-white-and-blue-protest-pulls-in-700.html) event, in Denby, had to be staffed by up to 400 officers. During the event, anti-BNP protesters clashed with police, leaving residents trapped inside their homes. Those who live near the site have now called for police to try to prevent any future festival being held in the village.

Mr Creedon said the £250,000 cost of policing the event was made up of providing police officers, as well as paying for overtime, planning for the event before it took place and the use of the police helicopter. The force also had to provide food and mobile toilets for officers based at the site.

Mr Creedon said: “This is an example of a national event that has financial implications on the force because it is being held in the county. We are responsible for policing and staffing the event without any additional support at all from central Government. We have not asked for this event to be held in Derbyshire, but we have to spend the money on policing it. The police can seek a contribution to the costs in limited circumstances. Where the police are providing additional assistance to an organiser in order to facilitate an event such as a football match a charge can be levied. However, where the police are deploying resources to protect the local community and combat potential crime this event, we cannot.”

During the two-day event in August, which was held on land owned by BNP member Alan Warner, masked anti-BNP activists fought hand-to-hand with riot officers on the first day of the festival, pelting them with stones. The violence happened when protesters tried to barricade a road leading to the festival. Police armed with batons moved in to quell the demonstrators, making 34 arrests. All those arrested remain on police bail.

Mr Warner said: “It is a lot of money but we did not ask for any police presence, we had our own security for the event.”

News of the £250,000 cost of policing outside the festival comes just days after Mr Creedon talked about why his force needs at least another £4m to help tackle major issues such as terrorism and serious and organised crime. He said investigations into these areas were taking up more police time than ever, which meant a greater cost to the Derbyshire force.

John Lumsden, 65, of Codnor-Denby Lane, Denby, said he hoped police would object to any future festival being held in the area. He was left trapped inside his home while the demonstrations took place. He said: “I think £250,000 is a disgusting figure. That is money that could be better spent on other resources. That cost is only the start. The protesters were only at the site for one day this year, I know for a fact that if it is held in Derbyshire again they are going to be around for two days.”

And Brian Bentley, 76, also of Codnor-Denby Lane, said: “This is a huge amount of money and I suppose it is the people of Derbyshire that are going to have to pay for it.”

Simon Darby, BNP spokesman, said protesters should pay towards the police’s costs for the event. He said: “None of the arrests were from the party. I think that says it all. “

Mr Creedon said: “Under the Licensing Act 2003, the police can object to anyone serving alcohol or public entertainment. We successfully objected to the alcohol and music licences but it was not legally possible to totally prevent other activities taking place on private land. However, if there are plans to stage a similar event next year we will consider it on the basis of intelligence at the time.”

Judy Mallaber, Labour MP for Amber Valley, said she hoped the BNP held its event elsewhere next year. She said: “I sympathise with Mr Creedon in that this is a national event of which costs have to be incurred by his force. I will raise this with ministers and I, along with other MPs in Derbyshire, are continuing to raise the issue of funding for the Derbyshire force.”

Lancaster Unity (http://lancasteruaf.blogspot.com/)
(^Searchlight Affiliated)

[Fidel Follower]

It's depressing that we try and stop the BNP and we get hit through taxes because of extra policing.

But you bet we'll be back for 2 days next year. The left aren't going to stop until they go.