Far-right extremist thugs from Britain First, English Defence League and the Football Lads Alliance, supported by fascist Tommy Robinson scuffled with police in central London on Saturday, despite strict police restrictions and warnings to stay home to contain the coronavirus. They instead y descended on the U.K. capital to cause disruption and harm. Many gathered around the statue of wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the Cenotaph war memorial, which were both boarded up Friday to protect them from vandalism. Officials put protective panels around the monuments amid fears that far-right activists would seek confrontations with anti-racism protesters under the guise of protecting statues.
Fireworks, smoke bombs and bottles were hurled at police officers, while others tried to push through police barriers. Riot police on horses pushed the crowd back. The protesters, who appeared to be mostly white men, chanted “England”the national anthem and "We're racist, we're racist, and that's the way we like it.".while others raised nazi salutes and some brandished neo-Nazi regalia, Footage widely shared on social media showed punches being thrown by those in attendance while in one instance a press photographer suffered a broken nose at the hands of one demonstrator. Six officers were left with "minor injuries",
“I am extremely fed up with the way that the authorities have allowed two consecutive weekends of vandalism against our national monuments,” Paul Golding, leader of the Far-right group Britain First, said.earlier but this did not prevent the "desecration" of Pc Keith Palmer's memorial after a man urinated next to it amid violent far-right protests in London, while others carried out acts.of extreme thuggery and violent behaviour. in such an appalling and shameful.manner.
I believe in freedom of speech but these neo-fascist forces with their insidious ideas are a direct opposite to all that freedom stands for, if they had the means to they would crush the diversity and openess that fly under freedom's wings. Their ideology linked historically in opposition to all concepts of fraternity and equality, brutally supressing all opposition and criticism, to spread hatred and division. They are hypocrites of the first order infected with a racist mindset.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said "These are the same people we have to deal with on an everyday basis and they think we can’t feel their racist energy,” he continued. “and urged people on Saturday to “stay away” from the demonstrations in light of the risk of spreading coronavirus and concerns about possible disorder, vandalism and violence.
“We
have intelligence that extreme far-right groups are coming to London
ostensibly, they say, to protect the statues, but we think the statues
may be a flashpoint for violence,” Khan said on BBC Radio on Saturday.
Prime
Minister Boris Johnson also forcefully advised against attending
protests, saying Friday that anyone attacking public property or the
police would face "the full force of the law."
The violence could have been far worse had
a planned demonstration by the Black Lives Matter movement not been
cancelled after receiving word that “many hate groups” were planning a
counter-protest. saying the presence of the counter-protesters
would make it unsafe. Some anti-racism demonstrators gathered in smaller
numbers at Hyde Park.Scotland Yard had already issued a Section-60 order for the protests, which gave them increased powers to stop and search.
The global Black Lives Matter movement has spread beyond demonstrations against police brutality to confronting colonialist pasts and systemic racism.In recent days, some protesters around the world were emboldened to take more strident action, toppling statues of slaveholders, slave traders and prominent colonial era figures.A statue of slave trader Edward Colston was hauled from its plinth by
protesters in the city of Bristol on Sunday and dumped in the harbour.
In London, Churchill’s statue was daubed with the words "was a
racist.” Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted Friday that while
Churchill "sometimes expressed opinions that were and are unacceptable
to us today,” he was a hero and "we cannot now try to edit or censor our
past.”Churchill, whose first term spanned 1940-45, has long been revered for his leadership during World War II. What is overlooked is that Churchill espoused various racist opinions which are well documented. He once wrote, "I hate Indians". "They are a beastly people with a beastly religion," Not just his words, his actions too are a testimony of his racial mindset. In 1943, Churchill engineered the Bengal famine, where wheat was exported from India for allied troops as Indians went to bed hungry. He stopped all food supplies to India and was a major reason why four million people starved to death in Bengal in the same year.
"It's (Indians) their own fault...for breeding like rabbits," Churchill had said.
He was also a supporter of gas bombs and during the Arab Uprising in 1920, he lamented the 'squeamishness' of his colleagues who were not in favour of using poisoned gas against the so-called "uncivilised tribes".
In the same year, Churchill sent the blacks and tans into Ireland who were tasked with terrorising the Irish rebellion.
In 1949, Churchill also ordered the British Army to fire on the anti-Nazi protesters in Greece and also facilitated Zionism in Palestine. "Palestinians were 'barbaric hordes' who are little but rabbit dung," he wrote.
"A stronger race, a high-grade race, a more worldly-wise race has come in and taken their place."
Churchill also planted the seed in South Africa to strip black communities from their voting rights. Among other controversies.was his involvement in the Tonypandy riots https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-tonypady-riots-and-why-winston.html .
After Britain declared a state of emergency in Kenya in 1952 to protect its system of institutionalised racism, Churchill approved the forcible removal of the local population, which he termed "blackamoors".At least 150,000, women and children were forced into concentration camps. Churchill also thought that the British were "winners in a social Darwinian hierarchy". This thought is out-of-date, just like imperialism and like racism, which is another legacy of the British, that needs to die.Despite all of this, many are still blinded by their excessive admiration for Churchill, take Prime Minister Boris Johnson. for instance.
We should not let the fascists whipped up and stirred by the likes of Johnson, go unopposed despite his condemnation of what happened on Saturday.Without the encouragement of Johnson pretending that the issue of Black Lives Matter is reduced down to statues. things might not have taken the course they did. He has not engaged on the key point about racism and its systemic nature in this society. Johnson himself has been dogged by allegations of racism and bigotry over the course of his career, due to a series of controversial columns he has written and comments he has made.
We must continue to challenge racism wherever we live and stand together against the forces of intolerance that spread hatred and division, and with everyone who has been impacted by racism, prejudice and the invisible structures in society that perpetuate inequality.
