Anti-Fascist Counter Demo Report 23/04/2022
North-East fascists left embarrassed by anti-fascist counter-demo
On the 23rd of April, the North East Frontline Patriots had planned a demonstration in Newcastle. Officially, they were presenting it as a ‘memorial demo’ for their dead nazi friend ‘Sir Bill’ (Sir added by himself, but it would not be surprising if it was official given the past of the British monarchy). This demo in particular was a long time in the planning for the local fash, having been delayed for almost two years and now finally happening, with them planning to march through the city of Newcastle before ending at Grey’s Monument to give speeches and to attempt to spread their disgusting views.
Counter-demonstrating in the North East, and most demonstrations in general held in this part of the country, present unique problems for anti-fascists. The police are even less trained and less knowledgeable than the forces of the bigger cities at dealing with large protests, and consequently are incredibly ‘trigger happy’ with their arresting powers. This has been demonstrated at various protests in Newcastle, with using chalk on a wall, marching towards the direction of the police station, or standing near a police line filming them and asking questions all leading to arrests and brutalisation. This is coupled with heavy police presences and recordings for even the smallest of demonstrations.
Despite the fascists being aware of ‘far-left opposition’ to their ‘memorial demo’ they decided to go ahead regardless, which turned out to be a grave mistake. On the day, anti-fascists gathered at the monument hours before their planned arrival, and were met with heavy police presence. Police were heard asking ‘why are you wearing masks in such hot weather’ to the anarchist blocs, as well as calling for the recording of shoes and any other identifying pieces of clothing they could find. Police horses attempted to block exits, and police lines ensured we could not access the monument or move closer to the impending fascist mob – another classic case of the police protecting them.
When the fascists finally arrived, it was a laughable affair from start to finish. We outnumbered them 3 to 1, and possibly even more so than that. Any attempt at them chanting or spreading their disgusting filth of an ideology was met with even louder chants of ‘nazi scum, off our streets’, ‘alerta, alerta, antifascista’ and ‘follow your leader, shoot yourself like Adolf Hitler’ among others (with the black bloc, in my opinion, providing the loudest and best contributions). They had brought themselves a big England flag banner with ‘Sir Bill’s’ nazi face on it, but this was lowered almost immediately upon arrival.
As the protest went on, the police continued to separate the two groups and protect the fascists. The chants continued to drown out the fascist attempts at giving speeches and playing music (with them hilariously attempting to play a song by The Clash at one point). It should also be noted that the fash had brought along a substantial amount of their children, and were having children who looked as young as 6 or 7 holding England flags with them whilst they shouted their disgusting beliefs, something which shows (once again) how shameless the fascists truly are when it comes to their tactics.
As time went on, clearly humiliated, the fascists began to break off a few at the time, until only a handful remained. It was at this point that they decided they might as well make sure everyone knew they were nazis and unrolled their banner which bore the phrase ‘White Pride’’ on it. This was greeted with the anti-fascists shouting scum at them until they dispersed around two minutes later, clearly embarrassed. It should be noted the police remained solid in their protection of the nazi’s even when this banner was on full display. After all the fascists had left, the other protestors celebrated, and the black bloc ensured the police knew their sickening role in today’s counter demonstration, chanting a good-old ‘fuck the police’ and ‘who do you serve, who do you protect’ before leaving the area ourselves.
As such, the counter-demonstration was a huge success, it showed the power of organising against such fascist scum, and mirrors the successes of other similar counter demonstrations that have occurred across the country. Despite the police being out in full force, we still managed to make sure the fash knew their place in Newcastle, and the rest of the World, which is in the sewers.
