Just days after their humiliating “March for Unity”, in which a paltry 40 far-right activists required the protection of more than 200 police officers, mounted units and repeated baton charges simply to shuffle through a shopping precinct, the Bristol Patriots have announced they are shutting down their Facebook page and suspending operations.
And the man responsible is the far-right’s favourite itinerant Hitler-lover, Ryan Ferguson.
Wounded dignity
In a statement dripping with the language of wounded dignity, the group’s organisers thanked “true patriots”, apologised for “other groups who were invited to the march by certain individuals within our community,” and promised a period of reflection and “significant changes.”
The page, they announced, would go dark within 48 hours.
It is worth translating this into plain English. The march, laughingly styled a “March for Unity,” assembled at the Cenotaph before attempting to move through Broadmead, Cabot Circus and Castle Park and was effectively obstructed by anti-fascists at every turn.
Around 200 counter-protesters repeatedly attempted to confront the far-right, whose tiny contingent required police to form a humiliating protective cordon around them for much of the afternoon.
Several times the march was halted entirely; during one standoff in Union Street, counter-protesters managed to unfurl a wide banner right across the road, with a shouting match erupting over the shoulders of officers lined up between the two sides.
The “other groups” the Patriots now claim do not represent them were, of course, the nazis in their own ranks.
Prominent figure
Front and centre was Ryan Ferguson, who had travelled from the north west specifically for the occasion. Ferguson, jailed last year for making false 999 calls and repeatedly arrested at far-right demonstrations, was a prominent figure at the head of the march as it was given its massive police escort.
His behaviour during that Union Street confrontation has since gone viral. Filmed by a counter-protester, Ferguson announced unprompted: “I’m a neo-Nazi.” When called scum, he demanded “Are you Jewish yeah?” before delivering three successive “Heil Hitler” salutes.
As calls for his arrest grew, he insisted three times “It’s not an offence” and, remarkably, claimed “I have had briefings with the police.”
Investigation underway
Avon and Somerset Police have since confirmed they are “aware of several videos” circulating on social media and that “an investigation is under way.” We await the outcome with interest.
Chief amongst the “other groups who were invited to the march by certain individuals within our community” was the Aryan Front, that collection of uniform-loving juveniles. They had announced they would be marching – to the extreme annoyance of some of the ‘patriots’ – but publicly pulled out when they learned the event would be “Led by Jewish figures.”
The Bristol Patriots are apparently shocked – shocked! – to discover the company their movement attracts.
The Patriots’ Facebook statement frames their suspension as a reset, a chance to “bring back the true British patriotism” they claim to have started with.
But the group has been outnumbered and outmanoeuvred at every outing by Bristol’s anti-fascist movement, and Saturday’s march will be remembered less for any political message than for a convicted Hitler-loving convict standing in Union Street throwing nazi salutes and bellowing at the Bristol public and insisting it was all perfectly legal.
The Patriots may return under a new name or reorganised structure. But for now, Bristol’s anti-fascists are entitled to mark this moment.
The city that gave the world the toppling of Colston’s statue has once again made clear that the far right is not welcome on its streets, and that no amount of police horses will change that fact.
