Never has the Cenotaph, in its 103 years of standing sentry on Whitehall, been “defended” on Armistice Day by a Port Vale fan supping a can of Stella Artois.
“I’m here in case the jihadists get past the police, who’ll probably just let them through anyway,” said Ben Neale, 22, from Tunstall, Staffordshire. “If they do come, they’ll soon wish they hadn’t.”
As it transpired, it was some of his fellow football supporters, backed aggressively by elements of the far right, who broke violently through police lines, toppling over metal barricades, throwing missiles and temporarily forcing officers back as they surged towards the Cenotaph on the anniversary of the end of the first world war.
Many stated explicitly that they had travelled to Whitehall because of comments made by the home secretary, Suella Braverman, who, days earlier, had claimed that police treated football supporters – such as Neale – unfavourably compared to “politically connected minority groups”. “She’s the only one making any sense at the minute. We’re sleepwalking into a race war,” said a middle-aged man who said he was a Sunderland fan but did not want to be named. “Armistice is our day!” he added.
If you watch various videos people posted on social media and not just the news ones (which also showed the same to be fair), it’s really obvious they were looking for fights constantly. They were far right supporters and the old style football fans, drinking heavily and geared up for a fight (balaclavas, weapons etc). They really targeted the police, trying to goad them with chants and look for points of weakness in the lines, and it felt like the majority of people there were doing it or supporting those who were. There were almost no women and non white people. One thing I found funny was they were singing “England till I die” in most videos but in one to an obviously Welsh police unit, and they didn’t see the irony there.
The march was complete opposite, it was a very diverse group of people, actually mainly women, marching through and chanting peaceful messages. They weren’t squaring off to the police who were more on the sidelines. There were some small groups of people ready for fight and squaring off to the police at points or when the counter demonstrators were close but it was such a small minority overall. Even the videos where police took away some of the banners were quite civil. The protesters were arguing back with words only and no pushing and shoving.
I have to say, the police seemed to get it right and helped keep things as peaceful as possible considering the tension. A lot of eyes were on them. It seemed like half the protestors had cameras and there were tons of journalists looking for action.
Thanks for the detailed explanation - I guessed that would be the case and assumed there to be little substance to the “We are being targeted! Why are they arresting us and not them?” argument.
It is funny that both the left wing and right wing in the UK complain so much about the police “targeting” them more so than the other.
I do think they were very heavy handed during the blm protests and tend to have a soft spot for right wing protests because they themselves are historically right wing, similar to the US I guess. However, they have absolutely no time for these far right football hooligans and they know they are looking for trouble so no matter where they go to “protest” (I.e. drink lots and spew hatred) they tend to have to follow them and contain them from the normal public just going about their lives.