English “Patriots” Capitalise on Islamism

Luton Today reports on the decision to abandon a counter-demo against the recent small but ugly Islamist demo against returning British soldiers:

James Yeomans…has decided to abandon the event in case it attracts further trouble, but has organised another protest in London on April 12, to encourage the government to ban “all protests of hate towards troops”.

The event was being promoted on-line by formerly local anti-Muslim blogger “Lionheart”, who posted a video promo using stills taken from March for England (MfE) events; elsewhere it is clarified by MfE that “This is not a March for England event but we urge you to support it.” [UPDATE: It appears that this “support” was unwelcome and was the reason why Yeomans decided to cancel the protest]

“March for England” is of interest though. It seeks to use Islamist provocations to promote English patriotism:

We have been brainwashed to tarnish march’s that show pride and our countrys flag’s as Right Wing or Racist … WELL WE ARE MARCHING ON TO CHANGE THAT TARNISH !!! TO CLAIM BACK OUR FLAG WHICH SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH RACISM IN THE FIRST PLACE.

It is time to unite against everything that is ruining our country. Our country has been sold and ruined by government, it is time to let the government hear our voice. Immigration, E.U, Terrorism, And so much more is threatening our country’s identity. It is time to remove that notion that flying the St George flag is racist. It is time to be counted.
IT IS TIME FOR ENGLAND TO AWAKE !!!!.

Who is responsible for this “brainwashing” is not explained, although there is curiously little complaint about how the actual use of English symbols by the far-right may have contributed to their unfortunate association with racism. Photos on the MfE website show some Sikh involvement, and a couple of photos show a black teenage boy at their events. Support for the Gurkhas is also a theme.

On the other hand, though, MfE likes the idea of using English symbols to throw their weight around, and restoring a world of cricket and elderly ladies cycling to Evensong does not seem to be the priority:

mfe

MfE’s website has a short list of six “Friends Links” – these include “Lionheart”‘s blog and a pro-BNP blog called English Rose.

The leaders of MfE are not readily apparent, although “Lionheart’s” blog and a few other sites show the organiser to be a certain Dave Smeeton, a football supporter from Portsmouth. It is also linked with the “United British Alliance“, which exists “to raise peoples awareness of the rising threat within our towns and cities from islamic extremists” and to encourage “a new tide of patriotism in Britain AGAINST our enemies” (the UBA is also allied with Jesse Petrilla’s United American Committee). Both groups have been commended by “Lionheart”:

The inevitable has finally arrived and long overdue and I take my hat off to the leaders of March for England and the U.B.A who have organised an grass roots movement to make OUR voices heard, and to all those who stand behind them and have taken to the streets in protest of everything that is now happening in OUR society, and what OUR Country has become.

In their own words:

U.B.A stands shoulder to Shoulder with Sikhs, Jews, in fact anyone whom unites aginst the new nazism that we struggled through world wars to remove… hence you see us stand besides the jewish flag… if you look at the lambeth palace i held a danish and jewish flag.. as the police thought we was right wing, a right wing idiot would die before hold a isreali flag.

March For England is for England… and in that atmosphere anything that threatens our way of life is against the English… be it terrorists, governments e.t.c… united as one but for Queen and Country

U.B.A is solely against terrorists (islam) over-riding our country…..

this is where we unite… two groups united even though we hold strong to the union jack, and they the St George… it is a strong enemy which via government has slowly started to over-ride our freedom, way of life…e.t.c… so both have united,.. but under an umbrella in support.

Both groups joined SIOE (Stop the Islamisation of Europe) recently when they marched to Lambeth Palace on September 11th to demonstrate against the introduction of Sharia Law into OUR Country.

“Lionheart” was writing in the wake of a counter-demo against an Islamist-organised “al-Quds” march in London in September. Potkin Azarmehr, an Iranian secularist who was the overall organiser of the counter-protest, explained that

To our right were the SIOE and March for England supporters. I had received many warnings that the later were a right wing Nazi group, but I could find nothing on their website that remotely suggested this, and in fact they go out of their way to distance themselves from any racist association. Nevertheless I had my anxieties about two things, a confrontation between the different groups in the counter demo and any indication of racism which would have tarnished our aims and objectives and benefited the Islamic Republic supporters. As it turned out, none of this took place. The March for England supporters assured me they will not tolerate any racism amongst their ranks and even suggested to me that if we think their presence will in any way damage us, they are happy to go away. I asked them to stay and we all agreed to have our own distinct positions behind the railings.

However, Workers’ Liberty, a fiercely secularist far-left group that was also counter-protesting, tells us that

Workers’ Liberty members, a few other British socialists and members of the Worker-communist Party of Iran turned up to counter-demonstrate, as did a larger group of broadly nationalist and, as it turns out, rightish Iranians. We demonstrated awkwardly next to each other until a third group turned up, composed of supporters of the “March for England” organisation, a nationalist group with English flags who are almost certainly some variety of fascists, though they denied it…March for England soon showed their true colours in full technicolour, shouting “Hang them”, “No surrender” and “White power” as the Al Quds march went by.

An account by one of the Al-Quds marchers concurs with this:

The chant from their side included “White pride: no surrender!”, “Terrorist bombers, off our streets!” and “Hang them, hang them”.

[UPDATE: In the comments below, Smeeton insists that “Never once has any chant or shout on our marches or protests included the word white!!!”]

Photos of this event certainly show a disproportionate number of heavy-set bald-headed middle-aged white men.