The woeful Britain First national roadshow became even more of a shambles yesterday as the Bristol date was postponed at the last minute. This followed the cancellation of their Dartford meeting the night before, along with a humiliating turnout and disruptive opposition from anti-fascists who rumbled their new meeting point in Swanley, Kent.
The far-right group was formed by ex-BNP members in 2011 following heavy infighting in the party. Hoping to use the traditional far-right strategy of combining electoral politics with a street pressence, their ‘battalions’ (usually only made up of the same small handful of activists) have gained media coverage with ‘Christian patrols’ in east London and ‘Mosque invasions,’ and recently with leader Paul Golding trying to get himself arrested. Britain First have also built a large online profile through the use of social media, albeit through misleading means and with the help of ‘bought’ popularity to push their poisonous message.
The choice of tactics should hardly be surprising given that the two main players and founders of the party, Paul Golding and Jim Dowson, are the ex-Head of Publicity for the BNP and a ferociously anti-choice, Christian fundamentalist with links to Loyalist paramilitaries, respectively.
However it would appear their large online pressence has not translated into support in the non-virtual world. They have had a pitiful turnout at all of the dates on their tour and have faced opposition wherever they have been in the country so far.
Yesterday the organisation were due to meet at Patchway train station at 1.30pm but postponed the event the night before blaming ‘adverse police actions.’ The police have denied any involvement in this and insist that BF decided to cancel the meeting themselves. Sure that the actions of our south eastern comrades the night before and work done by locals played a huge part in the Bristol postponement, we spent the afternoon playing a celebratory game of football in the glorious north Bristolian sunshine.
Britain First claim that they will be back in Bristol within a month. We will have to see if they come true on this but we’re sure that many people will be out to oppose them if they do.
Article below taken from – schnews.org.uk
Going for Golding
The much heralded Britain First roadshow ain’t going too well. After being forced to cancel their Dartford meeting, Britain First were once again humiliated tonight after another pathetic turnout, this time in nearby Swanley.
Paul Golding (co-incidentally winner of this week’s Crap Arrest) might have expected a better turn out in a town where he once was a BNP councillor. In the end though despite the last minute venue change and an attempt at eluding discovery* Britian First found themselves outnumbered and surrounded by anti-fascists.
After a 45 minute stand off they left escorted by police, with no local support.
Within minutes they had cancelled the next stop on the itinerary – Bristol, blaming ‘adverse police action’. We’re sure that’s true and not in any way because they got cold feet at the thought of heading to a town with an even more fearsome anti-fascist reputation than Swanley.
**Top tip – while a Land Rover in desert camoflauge is probably great for lurking in a wadi in the Yemen it’s a tad conspicous in a Kentish town centre.