Manchester’s anti-fascists inflicted a hugely embarrassing defeat on neo-nazis today when National Rebirth Party leader Alek Yerbury and veteran neo-nazi activist and Holocaust denier Peter Rushton were chased out of the city centre.
Anti-fascists were in the city centre from 11am having picked up a rumour about a National Rebirth Party regional meeting. And the sight of oddly dressed, jackbooted individuals, and one in a Second World War German trenchcoat rather gave the game away.
Serious opposition
You can always see the larpers, and the besuited, bespectacled overdressed, puffed up master race wannabes at NRP events. They take themselves sooo seriously. The problem is that today their propaganda and fantasy bumped up against some very serious opposition.
They were not so brave up close. A group of NRP activists was surrounded at the Waterhouse Wetherspoons off St Peter’s Square. They looked very worried indeed, nervously tapping on their phones calling for help that never came.
Then veteran nazi Peter Rushton was spotted skulking beside a tree trying to look nonchalant with a cup of coffee.
The deputy editor of the nazi ‘intellectual’ magazine Heritage and Destiny, apparently to be the guest speaker at today’s debacle, was left in no doubt about what people thought of him.
As the atmosphere became a little more tense, the landlord decided to stop serving customers.
Soon after, the NRP group tried to do a runner only to be surrounded besides the Soviet War Memorial, currently festooned with flowers for Victory Day – the anniversary of the victory over nazism.
Knowing our history
Yes, modern day nazis surrounded at a place recalling the heroic fight of the Russian people against Hitler’s murderers. 27 million Soviet deaths is a hell of a reminder of what Nazism means in actuality; genocide, scorched earth, mass murder, total destruction and war crimes resulting from one man’s insane racial theories.
The vast majority of our group today were young people. But they know their history. They know the human cost of allowing nazism to grow.
The NRP is, in contrast, a disgrace. The low point for them today, after being chased around the city centre, was the moment when Fuhrer Yerbury was located in a Costa Coffee on (you’ve guessed it, and yes it was one of Sir Oswald’s family) Mosley St.
Invitation to coffee
Sitting at a table with Jew-hater Rushton and a hapless third in command who couldn’t look us in the eye, Yerbury invited one anti-fascist to sit down and drink coffee with him.
They replied, “Yes Mr Yerbury but when someone sits down with three nazis it means there are four nazis at that table.”
Yerbury, realising that his troops had been defeated and dispersed, decided that the gig was truly up and it was time to leave.
Accompanied by a dishevelled-looking Rushton, (whose behaviour during the afternoon can only be described as just plain weird) and the third nazi, they left the building accompanied by a phalanx of police who had the unenviable task of trying to get Yerbury safely back to his car that was parked around the corner.
Pale and worried
Yerbury and Rushton looked pale and worried as chants of “Manchester is anti-fascist,” the Italian “Siamo tutti antifascisti” (We are all anti-fascists) and “Say it loud say it clear, nazis are not wanted here” filled the air and curious passers-by saw the power of our people in full effect.
Yerbury drove off at high speed no doubt to fabricate some nonsense about how today was a Jewish plot or some such and how defeats like this are inevitable before “final victory.”
But we will not allow neo-nazis, Holocaust deniers, thugs and their allies a space to operate in Manchester.
In recent months we have organised with great success against Britain First, exposed the grifting and criminality of local auditors, acted to protect meetings attended by anti-fascists and a good deal more.
And this is just the start.
Today, they did not pass!
