When Claire Walsh, the organiser of the much-vaunted and much-hyped Manchester Protest, aka National Strike, disappears off to Dover for the main national event you know something is wrong.
And today’s shambolic, utterly pathetic “rally” at St Peter’s Square, in Manchester, drew considerable ire from passers-by.
If you’d blinked you might have missed it but fifteen racists once again defiled the union flag at the city’s war memorial where we gather annually to remember those who fought and died fighting the very ideas being propagated today.
This miserable effort indicates how unpopular the far right actually are and how, despite every help from GB News, the right-wing press and unfiltered social media, they ain’t so great.
“We’re just patriots” said one man, sounding as if he was trying to convince himself that he’s not really a knuckle-dragging bigot.
Unfortunately for him, your keen eyed correspondent spotted an old style British Movement phoenix tattoo on his hand. More Munich 1938 than Manchester 2025.
It was almost laughable when one of those present, a lady with a union flag and sunhat, suggested that her group wasn’t racist, in response to an angry student who knew exactly who she was and what she stands for, but that she was there to defend British farming. Yeah, right.
A young mum with a pushchair looked at the rabble and shouted, “fascist bastards!” So she knows who they are.
On a slightly less positive note, despite knowing about this happening weeks ago, no anti-racist organisations were present today.
The fascists have some momentum at present due to the political climate, issues around small boat crossings, and the late revelation about the secret transport of Afghans to the UK under the previous administration.
They have also been buoyed up by what they see as a victory over anti-racists at Epping earlier this week.
As a result, far-right momentum and confidence are relatively high at the moment, and Britain First and Uniting Britain are quite active in Greater Manchester. Although we take heart at today’s fascist failure, there must be no sense of complacency at all and a much greater sense of purpose going forward.
