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.

Over 200 protest against BNP conference

Lancaster Unity | 17.11.2008 00:55 | Anti-racism | Repression | Social Struggles | Liverpool

Report on Saturday's demo at the New Kimberley Hotel, Blackpool

Well over two hundred anti-fascists attended an enthusiatic and lively demonstration outside the wretched New Kimberly Hotel in Blackpool yesterday, in a protest at the British National Party bringing its conference to Blackpool for the third year in a row. Protestors and speakers came from as far away as Oxford and speakers for the day represented numerous organisations including Blackpool and Fleetwood UAF, UNISON, Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre TUC, Barrow and South Cumbria UAF, Lancaster University SAAR, North-West UAF, the NUT, national UAF, Manchester UAF, Gay Activist's Alliance International and the CWU.

The demo began with us gathering outside the rear entrance to the Winter Gardens, where a couple of pro-BNP louts shouted abuse for no apparent reason. We heard a number of speakers there, then marched briskly along the prom, giving out hundreds of leaflets and receiving many supporting cheers on the way to South Shore where we gathered for the demo proper outside the grimy New Kimberly Hotel  http://lancasteruaf.blogspot.com/2008/09/grimy-bnp-link-hotel-hazard-to-humans.html , a hazard to humans though not, apparently, to members of the BNP, which tells us quite a lot about the party.

There is a reasonable report on the demo (that sadly includes a moment of Nick Griffin) which you can access by going here  http://www.itvlocal.com/granada/news/ and clicking on Latest News Bulletins over on the right. Just select the one for Saturday and there we are.

To stop them making abusive gestures (as they have in previous years) and generally attempting to intimidate protestors, the BNP conference delegates (once again, about sixty of them, according to an ITV reporter who had been inside the rathole) were ordered to remain behind the closed and filthy curtains of the New Kimberly by the police. To be fair, most of them did as they were told, with the exception of Clive Jefferson, who seems to be the current head of security and the Cumbria organiser, who stuck his ugly mug out on at least a half-dozen occasions.

According to our man in the BNP's security team, they spent most of the day concerned with the seating arrangements for lunch and dinner - at least until someone asked for a glass of water and nobody could find any. Headless chickens, was the phrase used. Here's a tip for future members of possibly the most idiotic security team the BNP has ever put together - use the tap.

Security spent a good deal of Saturday worrying about someone who was round the rear of the Kimberly, apparently taking photographs of the hell-hole from the back. This caused major panic, mostly because with the police in close proximity the heavies couldn't just go out and beat the crap out of the guy and nick his camera. Jefferson was eventually forced to order the bovine Martin Reynolds to go and speak to the police while his mates took a note of the photographer's vehicle registration number - no doubt soon to appear on Redwatch. Reynolds had no idea how to do this and was humiliatingly lectured by the appallingly arrogant Jefferson on what he should say, how to say it and told in no uncertain terms to get on with it.

A demo is useful for a number of reasons, not the least of which is to let the BNP know (and to continue letting them know) that there is opposition to their fascism out here and that there are people who are prepared to stand up and voice that opposition despite intimidation from the lunatic element of the far-right party. One demonstrator, who was waiting to meet up with some friends after the demo, was abused and spat at by a BNP supporter. Rather than putting her off organising against the far-right party, this has added to her determination to do all she can to fight against it. Demo's are also usueful for making new contacts or re-establishing old ones - a fact that was borne out when I got back and realised that I'd collected twenty-odd email addresses and phone numbers to go on our contact list.

Thank you to everyone who made the effort to turn out, particularly to our many friends who travelled from well out of the area. Many thanks also to our speakers who all did a sterling job and our thanks to the many members of the Blackpool public who stopped to chat or who were driving past but gave us the thumbs-up. Even the weather behaved itself (for a change).

Remember, this 'conference' was the starting point for Nick Griffin's attempt to heave himself on to the European Parliament. They started their campaign for Europe at Blackpool - for no reason other than that the New Kimberly is the only rancid shithole in the country that will take the scum of the BNP for a whole three days. Saturday's demonstration should be seen as the beginning of a massive and unrelenting campaign to keep Griffin and the rest of his party out of Europe. Let's keep them out.

Video and images here:  http://lancasteruaf.blogspot.com/2008/11/over-200-protest-against-bnp-conference.html

Lancaster Unity

Comments

Display the following 14 comments

  1. The BNP crawls up the backside of hate given out by mainstream politics — James
  2. Over 200 — A concerned resident
  3. Funny — Paul
  4. Excellent — JP
  5. A couple of hundred...my arse — I live in Blackpool
  6. A couple of hundred...my arse? — Nick Griffin
  7. UAF? ha ha ha — anti-fascists
  8. Was the UAF actually there ? — D King
  9. Antifa — Sam
  10. Troll — Sam
  11. Another attack — qwerty
  12. Uaf stop wankin' over ur BNP porn collection — Wheres the unity!?
  13. BNP protester attacked in Blackpool — Blackpool and Fleetwood UAF
  14. denials — doc
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