WTAF - Far right protests

[Poppi89]

I have just heard on the radio that far-right protesters will be out tomorrow in response to the BLM protesters. People are being urged not to be out in support of BLM tomorrow due to the aggressive nature of the far-right group and BLM protests are being cancelled because of them.

I am outraged by this. The BLM protesters are asking for people to not be killed due to the colour of their skin. They have rightly or wrongly made a decision to put themselves at risk of COVID-19 to help spread this message - a lot of people have called them idiots etc for doing this.

The far-right protests are now also protesting in large groups (but not in response to a murder) and are 'known' for being aggressive. How is this acceptable?

I would like to hear from anyone who is planning to join/agree with these far-right protests and their reasons why?

I tagged up the statue of Churchill because he's a confirmed racist. He fought the Nazis to protect the Commonwealth from invasion - he didn't do it for black people or for people of colour or for people of anything. He did it sheerly for colonialism. People will be angry - but I'm angry that for many years we have been oppressed.

Where - within that response - is the assertion that Churchill was 'as bad as' Hitler?
(Garino's post said: It's really offensive to see people comparing Churchill to Hitler and I actually wonder what the people who think Churchill was worse/the same as Hitler think about the holocaust.)
I'm giving up on this thread. It's ridiculous.

The woman who graffitied the statue doesn’t seem to even know about the holocaust. Or the millions in concentration camps because Churchill apparently didn’t do it for “people of anything”.

I wouldn't have said that's a commonly-held view

It’s common enough.

Here’s just one example...

Exactly BaileysForBreakfast. There have been thousands of people protesting. If they wanted, as a group, to destroy monuments we’d have had piles of rubble. A tiny number of people have been dicks.

’The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has defended his decision to board up Churchill’s statue, along with those of Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and the Cenotaph. He said he had received intelligence that extreme right-wing activists were intent on confronting any anti-racist protesters in London today and using the pretext of defending the statues to spark “vandalism, violence and disorder.”‘

Wasn’t the British flag on the cenotaph set on fire? Or an attempt was made to set it alight. By people who are obviously oblivious to the fact that there will be someone in their family, way back, who actually fought in the war to give us the freedoms we enjoy today. People who died and sacrificed their lives. The people who tried to desecrate the monument aren’t fit to lick the boots of those people.

Oh dear. Those proud ‘defenders’ of statuary aren’t covering themselves in glory.

*’Daisy, a 26-year-old from Pimlico, passed demonstrators in Parliament Square as she went for a run at around 10.30 this morning and claimed many were already drinking alcohol.

It comes amid reports of drinking and bottles being thrown at police at a counter-demonstration by far-right groups in Whitehall.

She told PA:

They were all drinking beers and there was already loads of cans lying round on the floor treating it like it was some sort of football away-day.

It was a really tense and hostile atmosphere. I didn’t stay too long... it was really uncomfortable.‘*

One Person. One person tried to light the flag. One. If thousands of people were trying to burn flags there would be no flags anymore.

It’s starting to kick off already in London, poor police having to deal with that, if you only wanted protest and not cause trouble, you would not go today on both sides.

The vast majority of BLM protesters are protesting peacefully and for a very important cause.
A small minority are causing damage, attacking police officers etc.
The 'far right' are angry that the Cenotaph which is a memorial to the dead who fought for this country might be further damaged (it has already been smeared with graffiti and someone tried to burn the flag on it).

Is it now wrong to remember the (mainly very young men) that gave their lives to keep this country free? The leader of the country then held some views that are racist but how is destroying the cenotaph going to help any cause. It won't it just stirs up trouble and makes people assume that BLM protesters want to destroy anything with any link to the past - it appears that way.

Something I say another person post on social media and it made sense the double standards of some

"Why is it that we all have to be held accountable for what our ancestors did before we were born and yet the protesters who cause damage, destruction and violence to police officers don't feel they should be held responsible for their actions of this moment in time!"

The Cenotaph is in a box. It is protected. BLM have cancelled the official demonstrations to avoid giving far right groups the excuse for violence.

I’m looking at pictures from London - my home city and can say I AM ASHAMED!!!

If the BLM protesters stay away the police will end up the target of the far right groups instead. They’ve come for violence.

If the was sympathy for people protesting about the police in America it has mostly evaporated as we see the violence. This will do nothing to help their cause.

@Glowcat

One Person. One person tried to light the flag. One. If thousands of people were trying to burn flags there would be no flags anymore.

One person reported early morning drinking. One.

A small majority of the BLM protest wanted violence and destruction
The far right organisation are there for violence

The poor police. I wouldn't want to be a police officer.

Let's not forget that most police officers are good and they are trying to uphold law and order. It's a thankless task.

From The Telegraph

*’By late morning far-right activists began throwing objects at police guarding the Cenotaph and blocking off Whitehall to prevent them clashing with anti-racism marchers.

A section of the crowd, which included members of extreme right wing groups, peeled away from Parliament Square, where they had gathered to ‘protect’ the statue of Winston Churchill, and marched up to the police barrier across Whitehall, with some trying to climb over it.

Some were seen goading constables as others threw cans and sticks at officers.’*

I've seen videos on Twitter clearly showing some Nazi salutes amongst the protests today and yes I did check to make sure it was today's.

I despair, I really do.

So many people seem determined to defend ‘their side’ whilst pointing out the faults in the other.

Two things can be simultaneously true. Legitimate BLM protests were derailed by thugs determined to kick a hornet’s nest. Legitimate protests against the vandalism of memorials including the Cenotaph have been derailed by thugs determined to kick another hornet’s nest.

Lot of racists on MN - I mean, we all knew that but here you all are crawling out the woodwork.

Two things can be simultaneously true. Legitimate BLM protests were derailed by thugs determined to kick a hornet’s nest. Legitimate protests against the vandalism of memorials including the Cenotaph have been derailed by thugs determined to kick another hornet’s nest

Very fair summing up.

These despicable actions sets the seeds for their election defeats with patriotic Brits.

And there we have it, a call to nationalism, be under no illusion that some pp's are using fascist/neo nazi tropes to try and further the extreme rights agenda, using emotive words such as veterans, patriotic etc

MadameMarie you are Jayda Fransen and I claim my £5

“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped."

George Orwell. 1984.

To be manipulated into being by governments everywhere.

The far right groups use ex servicemen as cover.