Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Cambridge local press pro-fascist?

anti-fascist | 15.08.2004 01:21 | Anti-racism | Indymedia | Cambridge

The Cambridge Evening News, monopoly local newspaper in Cambridge, seems to have been giving the National Front a remarkably sympathetic hearing in recent articles, uncritically reporting their boasts to get 100 people on their demo (which turned out to be about 12), and their slippery attempts to make their fascist position respectable. Are there fascists working for the Cambridge Evening News, or is this just a misguided attempt at 'objectivity'? And what can we do about it?

National Front to stage Oakington demonstration
Published on 10 August 2004

UP to 100 members of the National Front will be protesting outside Oakington Immigration Centre on Saturday.

Asylum demo: Protests at Oakington
Protesters from East Anglia will demonstrate outside the centre, before moving into Cambridge to distribute leaflets.

They are protesting against the increase in asylum seekers in Britain and the centres, like Oakington, which house them.

Tom Holmes, chair of the party, said: "The demonstration will bring people's attention to the National Front and the asylum situation in general."

Paul Blackham, a member of the National Front, said he hoped there would be around 100 people at the demonstration.

He added: "We don't want an immigration centre in Oakington."

A police spokeswoman confirmed the police knew about the protest.

She was unable to say how many officers would be attending the event but said it would be sufficient to cope with the demand.

A spokesman from the centre said: "We are not aware this demonstration is planned but it would be something that would be handled by the police."

National Front: Police aware of plans
"Alex Riley, chairman of Longstanton Parish Council, said: "The council and the people of Oakington in general would not support the activities of the National Front.

I would assume they would be people imported from elsewhere coming to demonstrate."

The immigration centre, on the former site of Oakington barracks, provides 400 spaces for asylum seekers. It was opened because there was not sufficient room at harbours and airports to accommodate the large number of people seeking asylum in Britain.

The centre had previously been due to close in November this year but will now stay open until the end of December 2006.

Anti-fascist group to launch counter protest
Published on 13 August 2004

ANTI-Nazi campaigners are planning a counter-protest to the National Front demonstration outside Oakington Immigration Centre tomorrow.

About 50 members and supporters of Cambridge Unite Against Fascism (CUAF) plan to gather at the same time as the expected 100-strong National Front demonstration.

CUAF is angry that the right-wing group has latched on to immigration issues surrounding Oakington.

A spokesman for CUAF, who did not want to be named, said: "People are outraged about the National Front's protest.

"If we can get a good crowd together we can show that the people of Cambridge have no interest in their politics of hate.

"We want to show that people in Cambridge do not want the National Front around. There is not any support for them in Cambridge. Their politics have never had a foothold here."

The spokesman said he did not think trouble would flare and doubted the National Front's hope to attract 100 people would be realised.

A National Front spokesman said: "We live in a free community and they can do what they like, as long as it's peaceful.

"They are silly people who are wasting their time and should find something better to do.

"We are a legitimate party going to stage a legitimate protest. We have informed the police and are not going to cause trouble."

A spokeswoman for Cambridgeshire police said: "We have been made aware that the anti-Nazi group may make a rival protest. We will take this into account and any policing will be done accordingly."

Alex Riley, chairman of Longstanton Parish Council, said there was no official council view on protests, but added: "I am sure I speak for the whole village when I say that we do not wish to see protests taking place outside the centre.

"In fairness to CUAF, they are only there because the National Front has chosen to go there in the first place. Residents do not want any trouble."

The National Front plans to protest against what it claims is an increase in asylum seekers in Britain and at centres, like Oakington, which house them.

anti-fascist

Comments

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech