People came together in Leeds on Wednesday to Unite Against Fascism. We protested outside Leeds Crown Court where Nick Griffin, the leader of the British National Party, was up on charges of inciting racial hatred (well, the preliminary hearing). Louisa has written a much more in-depth commentary of the day, go read it. But in summary, it was a very positive day and we outnumbered the BNP supporters almost ten to one.
I took lots of photos, some of which you can find on my Unite Against Fascism Protest gallery.
UPDATE: ROFL. I just read that the BNP claim, on their website, that 350 supporters turned up and only 300 protestors. The way I saw it (and the mainstream media) they had, at most, 200 people and we had between 800 and 1000! Such hilarious misrepresentation of the facts is worthy of a FOX news piece.
Comments
You are the fascists! Those who seek to destroy freedom of speech for anyone who does not agree with your sordid, pro-terrorist views (did you all demonstrate against the suicide bombers who killed 52 innocent people on 7th July, I bet you didn’t!) And some of the specimens in the “anti fascist” mobs are a disgrace to humanity, ever tried getting a wash? Or a job? Or a poppy (or do you lot prefer the pro-Islamic green ribbons to the poppies sold to help our ex-servicemen?)
Who said anything about destroying freedom of speech? That’s a bit of a leap. Are you sure you posted on the right website?
scuse me cornet? i believe you’re the ones using democracy to destroy democracy. we don’t intend to destroy freedom of speech, we intend to build a community where racism and fascism will not be tolerated by anyone. I think the holocaust and the murder of anthony walker were a disgrace to humanity, not somebody who didn’t live up to your hygienic expectations. And the welfare state should be helping ex-servicemen, not charities. Islam is a religion just as Christianity is, and discrimaniting against anyone for their beliefs is sickening. Unfortunately, we won’t all conform to YOUR FUCKING IDEAS.
Excuse me steve. I think his name is comet. So your idea of democracy is to ignore the debate and resort to derogatory swearing. The way to get across your ideas is through reasoned debate which needs freedom of speech. Let people make up their own mind after hearing all sides wether you personally like or agree with them. By the way I was watching Sky news when the verdict was announced and I saw very few demonstrators. Certainly not 800. Are you sure you weren’t counting the police!
UAF is a front for pro Labout (commies) thuggery. Foul mouth chanting and throwing missiles by sociology geeks and pink haired freaks hardly constitutes debate or freedom of opinion. If you can’t win the argument beat them up! Freedom is about differences not just one view.
Is the BNP more “fascist” than Labour? Its a moot point if you look at the dictionary definition of “fascist”. Chambers dictionary defines fascism as a combination of “militarism, restrictions on personal freedom, right wing views and anti-communism”.
As to militarism, Labour sent the British military to Iraq, whereas the BNP opposed this. As to “restrictions on personal freedom” these have been attempted or implemented at an unprecedented rate under Labour. Oh, and there is the small matter of Labour’s “dictatorship bill” which would have given B.Liar much the same powers as A.Hitler. As to “right wing views”, as Simon Jenkins put it in The Guardian, “Tony Blair is so Tory, he is out of sight”. So on balance, who are the fascists? Bit of a moot point, isnt it?
ringtones free
Freedom of speech is different to freedom of racist/religious-infused speech.
You are all saying that the BNP have the right to their own opinion, to their own ideology/politics but the way I see it, no matter how “holy” their idea is, what they are promoting is HATRED towards people of certain religion/ethnic.
There is nothing to be proud of from that.