On Saturday 18 April the Greater Manchester Police attacked anti-racist protesters in order to allow racist Britain First protesters to march through the city. An FRFI comrade reports.
Supporters of Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! in Manchester attended a counter-demonstration in opposition to a march by the far-right political party Britain First through Manchester city centre. Organised by Stand Up to Racism (SUTR) and the Resist Britain First coalition, the counter-demonstration convened in Piccadilly Gardens at 11.30am and peaked at around 600 people.
Britain First is virulently racist, anti-immigration and Islamophobic. Its leader, Paul Golding, is a former British National Party councillor which itself was a neo-Nazi party. The party calls for the removal of all Muslims from Britain. The march through Manchester was organised to celebrate St George’s Day and to call for the ‘remigration’ – a euphemism for mass deportations. Such marches are a show of force to intimidate, and in some cases outright attack, ethnic minority communities. Anti-racists naturally organised to counter this and defend the community. The plan was to wait until Britain First began marching from Piccadilly Station and then split forces to counter them from several sides.
Ahead of time, police from across the country were drafted to facilitate Britain First’s march. Greater Manchester Police used these numbers to protect Britain First as they marched through the city centre by viciously attacking anti-racist counter protesters.
As Britain First approached the anti-racist counter protesters, Greater Manchester Police formed a barrier between the two groups and proceeded to shove and pepper spray the anti-racists. In several cases, they removed people’s glasses and eyewear before pepper spraying them. These police assaults continued throughout the day, resulting in over 100 injuries. Our supporters promptly organised a speak-out in the crowd in response to this brutality, with chants and speeches calling out the racist police. We reminded the crowd that the Labour Party is now in government and in control of the racist British police and so should be the key target for the anti-racist movement. After half an hour of our open mic, SUTR brought out its own speakers and drowned us out with electronic dance music. Before we got on the mic, there had been no speeches or attempts to politicise the event by the organisers except for a few migrant-focused chants.
After several hours of waiting in Piccadilly Gardens, Britain First marched past the anti-racist counter protesters and headed to St. Peter’s Square, which prompted a surge of anti-racist demonstrators to sprint there in order to arrive first and block them from marches. The anti-racists were targeted by the police, who physically assaulted them upon arrival at St. Peter’s Square before proceeding to kettle them and pepper spray anyone who attempted to leave.
This demonstration proves that confronting racism necessarily means confronting the British state as its main perpetrator. If you want to defend your community from racist marches then you will inevitably come up against the British state forces which protect their demonstrations and attacks anyone who tries to fight back. The fight against the far right cannot be separated from the fight against state racism.
