Photo: Mike Kyle
RIGHT-WING DEMONSTRATORS and anti-fascists squared off in Manchester city centre, causing mayhem in the streets and calling a considerable police presence onto the plan to keep them in check.
48 arrests were made at the protest in and around Piccadilly Gardens on Saturday, October 10, as an English Defence League (EDL) rally collided with a Unite Against Fascism organised counter-protest. The EDL, who claim to oppose only ‘extremist Islam’, were faced by over a thousand protesters shouting, “Scum. Scum. Scum,” and, “There are many many more of us than you.”
Shops were closed around the area of the rally and bus routes were disrupted.
Riot police, dog handlers and police on horseback physically separated the rival groups and forced protestors down a street just off Back Piccadilly. Terese Mooney, a teacher attending the counter-rally with her son, was allegedly pushed twice by a policeman during the ensuing crush.
“I couldn’t move, so a policeman pushed me sharply twice. The second time I nearly fell over. I gave him a piece of my mind and he got cross. Two other policemen had to tell him to ‘calm down’,” she said.
Elsewhere, three people were bitten by police dogs, as the Manchester Evening News reported. One EDL member was cut on his leg and had his jeans torn. He said: “I didn’t do fuck all. I just stood there. The copper just let it fucking go. What’s all that about?”
The EDL led a short march near Piccadilly Gardens, banging on fences and chanting back at the pursuing crowds. They held signs saying ‘Black and White Unite’ as well as ‘No more mosques in England.’
Sophie O'Neill
Eventually police moved both groups off the streets, causing a standoff in Piccadilly Gardens, with lines of riot police separating the two crowds. The EDL made several attempts to breach the police cordon of the area and enter the anti-fascist section of the Gardens. Unite demonstrators met them at the borders and the crowds threw bottles at each other.
A helicopter circled above the crowds as protestors made several charges at police lines in an attempt to reach the EDL, whose own lines were crowded with attack dogs and their handlers. The UAF chanted, “If it wasn’t for the coppers you’d be dead,” across the divide forged by officers.
The English Defence League have been known to go to great lengths to separate themselves from the BNP and the neo-Nazi label. In a recent press conference the organisers burned a swastika flag in a bid to prove they were not a racist organisation. They have denied claims that Chris Brenton, a BNP supporter designed their website.
“I don’t agree with the BNP, I mean I’d support maybe 90 per cent of what they say but I don’t agree with all of it,” one EDL protester said at the march. “What does that say, ‘Smash the BNP’? Yeah, smash ‘em. I don’t vote for them.”
Before the protest, EDL founder Tommy Robinson said: “At our protests, you’re not gonna get female 30-year-old school teachers. You’re gonna get people who are prepared to go there and defend themselves if they need to. Because we’ve seen what happens, we’re coming under violent attack left right and centre.”
Opinion among protesters was divided over the way Greater Manchester Police handled the demonstration. Katan Alder, a student at the University of Manchester, said: “They brought out dogs, they brought out horses, they were hitting people with batons – enough said really.”
Photo: Martin Fergie
Others however were pleasantly surprised by the police presence. Polly Goss, a first year English and Drama student, said: “I thought at first that the police were very hostile to UAF by not letting us in [to the demonstration] but I think during the actual protesting they were really good. They kept the two crowds apart because it was clear that EDL were out for a fight. I think if the two crowds had collided it would have been disastrous.”
Deputy Leader of Manchester City Council, Jim Battle also voiced his approval of how the protest was handled by GMP: “The police carried out an outstanding operation which allowed the city to go about its business with the minimal of disruption. I would like to congratulate the whole policing team.”
Police made 48 arrests on the day, the majority under the Public Order Act and all male, although a female was detained briefly.
Greater Manchester Police refused to give an estimate of how many officers were stationed at the demonstration but the number ran into the hundreds. According to a police press officer, “the operation was similar in cost and scale to the policing of a large football match.”
The protest died down around 5pm as the police escorted the EDL crowd from the area to buses and train stations.
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