A city united to resist Britain First – hundreds to protest against far right

Hundreds of anti-fascists will assemble at 11.30am on Saturday 18 April, in Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens. They’ll be aiming to resist the presence of fascist group Britain First, which is coming to the city for a second ‘March for Remigration’.

Britain First is a fascist group looking to ‘remigrate’ people of colour and cut our already-failing state infrastructure by 50%. Their activities include harassing and intimidating asylum seekers at local hotels, attempting to force entry into the buildings, and organising transphobic protests in the town centre.

Resist Britain First brings Manchester activists together

In February, a coalition of community and left-wing groups from Manchester united under the banner ‘Resist Britain First’. This counter-protest brought in over 1,000 demonstrators, severely disrupting the Britain First march. It led the co-leader of Britain First, Paul Golding, to say he’d ‘never seen anything like it’.

This event, however, saw attendees of Britain First’s march take part in several racist attacks on members of the public, clearly proving that their platform is one of racism and violence. Nothing makes this clearer than the words of Britain First’s co-leader Ashlea Simon, who said in 2020: “English people can’t be black, English blood is white.”

The February mobilisation also raised serious concerns about the conduct of Greater Manchester Police. Officers ignored a young woman who raised concerns about fascist protesters threatening sexual violence. Anti-fascist protesters were also subjected to serious police violence, with at least three requiring A&E treatment, including one protester whose head was split open by a baton.

A spokesperson for Resist Britain First said:

Britain First’s march in February showed that Britain First are not the party of concerned ‘patriots’ they claim to be, but violent racists.

Their attendees engaged in multiple violent hate crimes, attacking non-white people they came across unprovoked and showing the nasty street presence of Britain First’s hatred.

Resist Britain First came together to show that Manchester will not allow the ongoing spread of fascism and hatred to continue on our streets. As long as fascists try to march here, the people of Manchester will rise up and oppose them to make it clear that they have no place in our city.

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Celebrating that Manchester is a city united against fascism, the Resist Britain First coalition is calling for everyone who opposes racism, fascism and the rise of hatred to gather in Piccadilly Gardens at 11.30am on Saturday 18 April.

Resist Britain First includes:

• Salford Anti-Fascists.
• Manchester Feminist Coalition.
• No Borders Manchester.
• Young Struggle Manchester.
• Red Roots Collective.
• RS21 Manchester.
• Northern Police Monitoring Project.
• Anti-Fascist Action Manchester.
• Manchester Trans Liberation Assembly.
• South Asian Liberation Movement.
• Migrant Justice Manchester.

Fenna, from the Resist Britain First coalition, says:

As the child of a migrant, I am proud to live in a multiracial, working-class, and radical city like Manchester. We showed the fascists that they weren’t welcome in February, and we’ll show them again. Let’s all Resist Britain First.

Jai, from the Resist Britain First coalition, says:

The fascists like to pretend they represent us, but they don’t. I’m working class and proud to be part of the whole working class: that means people of all races and ethnicities. This April, we’ll show fascists Britain First exactly how class unity is the best defence against their racism and fascism.

Featured image via Resist Britain First