Politics
Far-right rally turns out to be damp squib
A racist far-right rally promoted for months by its organisers yielded a feeble attendance, with likely only around 200 attending the event in Coleraine, on the north coast of Ireland. It was originally planned for March 28, but was moved to April 4.
The protest was organised by anti-immigrant Islamophobes Our Northern Ireland Voice (ONIV), led by Daniel Douglas who goes under the alias ‘Dan Grundlé’. He has previously been jailed for rioting during loyalist disorder in 2021. He proudly reminisced about his claim that his uncle Jimmy Grundle “introduced the National Front to Northern Ireland”. The group characterise immigrants as “invaders” and say immigration is:
…downgrading the intelligence, aspirations, values and morality of the people.
ONIV had predicted 2500 attendees in their application to the Parades Commission but clearly didn’t achieve anywhere near that number. Some videos of the march that followed the rally appear to show just a few dozen supporters present. The Parades Commission is the body set up to regulate marches and protests in the North of Ireland. Such events have previously been flashpoints due to sectarian or paramilitary connections, hence the need for a specific commission determining what can go ahead.
Far-right allowed to proceed despite opposition from anti-racists
End Deportations Belfast opposed the Parades Commission decision. The group campaign against:
…border regimes, detention and deportation in N. Ireland / North of Ireland.
They said:
It is extremely unlikely that whether in speech or in physical presence, groups that refer to demographic replacement and “foreign infidels” have no other agenda but to terrify ethnic minorities out of the North including through violent means. The parade should have been banned outright, not given conditions the sort of which the PSNI have consistently failed to intervene, investigate and enforce on multiple occasions.
The Commission claimed that it needed to balance competing rights under the Human Rights Act 1998 – the right of free speech and assembly vs the right for the protestors’ targets to:
…live, work, shop, trade and carry on business in the affected locality.
It therefore allowed the event, but imposed conditions on the attendees, such as forbidding:
…any behaviour or display [of] items which could…be perceived as being provocative, threatening, insulting or abusive to any person or group.
The event ultimately passed off without major incident, despite the attendance of noted hate figures like the National Front’s Tony Martin, plus local anti-immigrant influencers Mark Sinclair aka Freedom Dad and Steven Baker.
There was a strong counter-demonstration present, with unions and anti-racist groups dwarfing the racist contingent. Progressive Politics NI said:
The far-right tried to whip up hatred towards immigrants again. But they were outnumbered by trade unions, activists & the good people of the town!
United Against Racism Derry and North West also highlighted the pitiful numbers mustered by their opponents, saying on Facebook:
So many fascists trying to leave comments and mock people on this page.
They seem to be very annoyed that only a handful turned up to their hate parade yesterday…
I have blocked more people on this page today than actually showed up in Coleraine for the cause they hold so dear.
If these folk ever left their dank bedrooms they’d be dangerous.
Racists fighting among themselves
This is the way to counter the far-right – turn up in greater numbers, showing greater humanity and wielding superior arguments. Show that most people are right-minded and that facts have a left-wing bias, rather than asking the police and the state to fight our battles for us. These are not institutions that have historically favoured the left.
In any case, the far-right in the North of Ireland are currently doing a pretty good job of self-sabotage. Those railing against immigrants have often characterised themselves as protecting women and children, but a group of men who attacked Sinclair outside a pub recently accused him of being a “dirty paedophile”.
In other ‘protecting women and kids’ news, fellow hatemonger Lisa White accused ex-bank robber Sinclair of “control, manipulation and physical abuse” of three women in Scotland. She also said this self-styled protector of the vulnerable had been:
…causing women in our group a lot of hassle for around a year now.
White’s group is Concerned Parents Newtownabbey, which whips up hatred towards immigrants and Muslims.
It would be nice to think that the right will be kept at bay by low turnouts and internal feuding, though we’re still in ‘fairweather fascist’ season – the time of year when the weather isn’t quite good enough to bring them out of hibernation. As long as reactionaries still have issues like inadequate housing to rally around, summer could still require strong mobilisation from a united left against this ongoing threat.
Featured image via TikTok
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