Police used horses, batons, and unprovoked arrest against an anti-far-right counter-protest in Bristol on 8 August. Police were brought in from Devon and Cornwall, Wales, and Thames Valley, a step up from previous imports from outside Avon and Somerset.
The 200-300 strong counter-demo opposed 50 to 60 far-right agitators seeking to whip up fear around migrants and so-called “two-tier policing”. The far-right were outnumbered. Their march had to be re-routed on a number of occasions as the counter-demonstrators repositioned themselves and blocked streets. Had the police not effectively made it their mission to escort the entire bloc, the far right would have never set off in the first place.
Bristol has generally had a healthy confrontational approach to the far-right. This past year the far-right have attempted to march nearly every two weeks. On each occasion they have been outnumbered and needed the police to ensure their demonstration could go ahead.
Workers’ Liberty argues for working-class organisations, like trade unions, to take a lead fighting the far-right and in doing so promote and fight for working-class demands around jobs, homes, and rebuilding public services and opposing anti-migrant, anti-LGBT+, and misogynist division. We work with groups like Trade Unions Fighting the Far Right and others who share this vision and approach. §
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