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An Idiot Abroad: Marine LePen Visits Cambridge (Pt 1)

On Tuesday 19th February 2013, French Far Right MEP Marine LePen dared to show her face in Cambridge, on the invitation of the Cambridge Debating Union, whom were clearly up to their usual sensationlist tricks again.

About two hundred activists turned up and surrounded the building for the whole afternoon, effectively beseiging it, so there was nowhere for Madame LePen to run!

A ring of steel...

...obstructed every single exit...

...Replete with layers of private security and police.

Behind the barricades...

Banner Art #1

Banner Art #2

Banner Art #3

Banner Art #4

Banner Art #5

Banner Art #6

Round Church Street with human blockade!

Student press...

...Television...

...And of course F.I.T. (who never publish anywhere)!

An Anglia News reporter was there too.

Staking out the Round Church...

...With Banner Art #7

A Holocaust survivor speaks of her experiences.

The audience was a good size for speakers (probably bigger than Mme LePen had).

Blockading the back of the Union building.

Madame LePen arrived in a cab surrounded by an entourage of 'heavies' about 3:00pm, and was immediately mobbed by protestors and press, but still managed to get into the building, as the police and some private security hired by The Union gave her safe passage inside.

The building had a ring of steel around it, with all exits obstructed by steel mesh fencing (see pictures), along with an unknown private security team wandering around behind them, then in front of this were rows of police. In other words, a lot of money and human resources was being expended by the university and taxpayer on allowing a Fascist to preach their hatred to a small audience of subscription only punters.

As an aside, it was recently reported in TCS (The Cambridge Student) that 'The Union' has been running at a loss for up to years to the tune of several million pounds. By extrapolation this means it must be being subsidised by Cambridge University, so it is likely a world reknowned place of learning paid for the safe passage to and from the country of a known Far Right extremist.

During the afternoon there were a couple of flashpoints between protestors and police, when activists attempted to push their way into the building, a couple of times at the back of the building and once at a side entrance (see pictures), and as the photos will show a few people were 'manhandled' by the police during those times.

On Wednesday Mme LePen reportedly called this behaviour "idiotic", although most would agree there was only one idiot in attendance on Tuesday afternoon and they weren't standing outside the building being pushed about by the police.

F.I.T. also showed up, although aside from a rather weak attempt to try and intimidate activists by pointing a camera at them, becuase to the large number of activists and press with cameras and mobiles they probably got photographed and filmed a lot more!

Due to the nature of this demo, there were quite a few bilingual banners (see pictures), which was quite unusual but nice to see in Cambridge.

Two arrests were made, allegedly for an egg being thrown at the police, although nobody could see any physical evidence of it anywhere afterwards, and it's a mystery why they needed to arrest two people for one egg. Very odd.

There also several speakers, although the most notable was a Holocaust survivor who urged everyone to continue to fight Fascism, lest history be repeated.

After waiting around outside for a very long time, at about 6:00pm a few students filed out of the building (it seemed to be a small audience for her), then around 6:30pm something interesting happened. A police van with flashing lights hurtled up Jesus Lane with a dark coloured car behind it, pulled up around the corner on Round Church Street and was promptly surrounded by a line of police... then Mme LePen made a fast exit from the side entrance of the building and left in a different car!

In effect a decoy vehicle was deployed. The conclusion we can draw from this is that it's quite obvious that there has been a significant amount of planning and collusion between a Far Right MEP, the police and Cambridge Univerity to set up all of this.

You can't imagine this much attention (or expense) being lavished upon the likes of Tony Benn (for example), but then it is fair to say that Tony Benn commands a lot more respect for his views than an MEP who banned the wearing of Burqas for Islamic women.

Now we have to do it all over again on Saturday as the lovely EDL are visiting Cambridge, although they should expect a similar level of opposition from the locals, as Cambridge is one of the more cosmopolitan small cities in the country, so their ideology of religious hatred and xenophobia will never be welcome here.

Cameraboy

Comments

Hide the following 10 comments

Well Done UK Antifascists!!!

23.02.2013 01:53

Nice to see a good turnout for antifascists to oppose Vichist - Le Pen, as a fitting tribute to everyone who died under the German occupation of France. It was just a bloody shame she was invited to the university in the first place.

French fascism still relies on the ballot box, but thankfully elections and the british far right have proven not to mix, groups like the BNP know when the BNP lost every seat in the last elections, this was the final death knell for UK fascist groups at the ballot box, which exactly was why the EDL was created, so just like the National Front in Britain in the 1980s, British fascists returned seik heiling to the streets.

Tommy "Yaxley Lennon" Robinson, or whatever his name is, has been released from jail, however the EDL has lost most of its followers because of the damage done to them from Hel Gower and KKKev Caroll, as Malatesta has for a long time pointed out on his excellent blog. (You can also find Malatesta and "Maltesta Taster" on the Urban75 EDL Watch thread).

One group which is trying to regroup in an older neo-nazi tradition are the Casuals, but even them, have been in chaos since the arrests this week, and the news that Jeffrey Marsh has left the UK for Spain, much like Snowy leaving behind the NWI to leave for Canada.

Casuals United, have of course, officially surrendered!

Antifa

6.5 million votes

23.02.2013 02:12

French adults are facists? 18% of the vote roll on the next election.

le penn

Free Speech !!!!!

23.02.2013 13:18

Even by the standards of mainstream politics (let alone by the standards of leftism), like the BNP, Len Pen's antecedents were traitors during WW2 and they're still traitors now

Sure Fascists have a right to free speech, and if they didn't exercise that right, Anti-Fascists would have very little hard info about who the Fascists are

EVERYONE however, including students debating societies etc - also has a right NOT to provide platforms for scum like this if they choose that option, and a RESPONSIBILITY not to insult the student body and the general public by inviting these Fascists

It's as much a question of when Student Union careerists are going to stop using Fascism to try to provide, if not a "platform" as such, then a launch-pad for their own political careers!

The people who invited Le Pen have insulted everyone in Cambridge whose relatives suffered or died during WW2. Well done to everyone who turned-up to oppose them.

Anne Frank

my grandfarther died

23.02.2013 14:56

In ww2 if he lived and saw our country today he would have not gone. Maybe he should have copied jack straws farther?. all of my family was born in north london islington every one of us have been lucky enough to move out. I feel sorry for the white decent oaps who will die in the multicultural hell.

multiculturism does not work

Question...

23.02.2013 15:41

Would you have gone to oppose them if it was a black racist/fascist group or an Islamic extremist group?

Those sorts have spoken at universities and colleges before and have been welcomed with open arms. Why do you only oppose white rascists and not racists from other races? You're the sorts of idiots who would openly support racist trash like Michael X back in the 60s...

For the record, before the Indymedia trolls come wading in. I'm not EDL, NF, NWI or any other racist group. I'm an antifascist but unlike most of the uneducated idiots whose "antifascism" extends to opposing the BNP for a couple of years whilst they're at university, I am a real antifascist who opposes any and all racist groups who try to divide our nation. Whether it be scummers like the NF or groups like Anjem Choudary and his fascist bunch of tossers.

Somone from Liverpool

Islamo-Fascism

23.02.2013 16:25

Left-wing groups like Women Against Fundamentalism and the Indian Workers Association etc were doing what it says on the tin many years before the EDL were dreamt up, activists from George Galloway's Respect Party have been in fist fights with runts from the Islamo-Fascist group Hizb-ut Tahrir (which gave rise to Islam4UK etc) in London's East End, I personally helped get HT front organisations banned from certain public events, and one thing I found out just recently is that in London, at The University of Westminster, about 18 months ago the University management turned a blind eye to HT activists taking over the Students Union because HT were less of a problem for the University management than a Students Union run by a left-wing group like the SWP, because HT don't interfere with University politics and don't oppose government cuts

Contrast that with Nick Griffin, who in the NF and BNP openly supported Muslim radicalism (before Griffin realised how useful the Islamophobic bandwagon could be)

History

"Michael X"

25.02.2013 05:24

What the merry fuck??? lol

"I'm not a troll because... my best friends have brains!!!"

Mind you, I must feel sorry for the neo-nazi troll who is making a botch-up job of pretending to be a committed anti-fascist sho cannot even remember Malcolm X's name, and who cannot even spell "someone" properly and types "Somone".

If you're not Avid Merrion doing his impression of Michael Jackson, you're a braindead EDL troll after all, despite the denials, lol!

SLATEDL Facebook and Twitter

Stupid Nazi Troll In Denial

25.02.2013 05:31

Just to add, Malcolm X was not "racist trash" as the troll so ignorantly put it. He was a committed antifascist and he worked with student revolutionaries of all colours to oppose the evils of colonialism as well as wars such as Vietnam and in the Middle East.

You'd think Islamophobes would have colonialism also, as if it wasn't for this, Britain wouldn't be the multicultural nation it is today!

PG Tipps

Fascist Thicko!

25.02.2013 05:37

You don't spell father "farther".

You don't spell grandfather "grandfarther".

HONESTLY! DON'T TELL ME YOU DROPPED OUT OF SCHOOL COS AND IT WAS THE FAULT OF IMMIGRATION, LOL!

Schoolteacher

@Pg tipps

25.02.2013 13:47

White girl Says to malcolm x what can i do to help. Malcolm says absoultly nothing. I laughed my head off.

enoch

UK Indymedia