By John Owen

Confronting the EDL and others at the Pier Head in Liverpool

Liverpool’s Trades Council called a vigil for Saturday 3rd August to gather at St Georges hall in remembrance of and showing solidarity with the three young girls Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, murdered in Southport on July 29. About 1000 of us or more turned up despite only two days’ notice. On Friday, a mosque, the oldest in Britain Abdullah Quilliam, was targeted but 200 people had gathered and thwarted them. This was a warning shot.

Various regional and local trade union banners were on show with lots of homemade ones and Labour party banners too. There were fiery speeches were made denouncing the outburst in Southport. Which has subsequently triggered racial violence across the country and provided thugs with carte blanch for attacks on mosques or immigration buildings. At the conclusion of the rally, it was announced that a gathering of What a fatal move!

Harsh reality struck us. They had organised nationally, bringing busloads of people from across the country and had come for a fight with local left activists. We heard accents from London, Birmingham and northern groups of mostly smart casual’s away footy fans yobs who go to matches not to watch football. But to fight. Most were drinking, beer swigging at leisure with nonchalant ease. They numbered about two or three to one against us. They caught us on the hop.

We realised very quickly they had strategically planned to confront us here and sneakily made an attempt to kettle us in, coming round the back of a building then by breaking through police ranks and then to attack us.

The so-called vigil by these people consisted of them shouting nonce and racist chants oblivious to cops inaction in front of them. Investigating them from around the Pier Head building we ran into about 500 of them. Somehow we held our nerve and walked back to our group. They felt empowered with superior forces so they went on the rampage.

Whatever the women whose concern for Southport families and children thought they were involved with it quickly became apparent they had used them as a ruse and hijacked its purposes to stage a neo Nazi style protest against migrants in general.

We had a stalemate for what seemed like two hours as the jostling and swearing the usual things intensified and became ever more vile.

Their social composition was varied from middle aged men, balding, fat, to the women of various stripes, young tearaway urban kids mostly out to attack and cause stuff against the police. All were masked up forming the more mobile active contingent and then anti Europe banner wielding Brexiteers. Held together by their love of this country and this city which they claimed “were taking back”. From whom and how? We weren’t told who had stolen it. But we knew what the gist was blaming Labour government of Sir Keir Starmer had been too soft on the migrants and needed to be shown about the way to deal with the issue.

That is by rioting burning and chaos. Nationals fascist uprising on the Trump model displayed at Washington. The situation got critical I had made my way out to the left and was told by police that they couldn’t control them we’d best go home or have a pint and leave.

Reluctantly two of us left but we immediately got caught up in a gang of fifty marauding masked hoodies doing guerrilla style attacks. Having previously had close calls on three separate occasions we headed for the city centre for a mug of char. En route we met guys handing out Quran books free we told them about fascist as we spoke a ten-strong gang shouted at us. Later we heard they’d been attacked and their Quran books were scattered using a fire extinguisher .

We made it to a Greggs café. Well-deserved tea and sausage roll talk about the crack and rest. But a gun had been fired outside we asked staff to close the doors and bring down the shutters. It was probably flare gun as they’d fire them at demo.

But panic had rushed the crowd outside indoors. An eventful day. That evening mosques locally were gathering forces in Liverpool 8. Rumours were about that they planned assaults. Wed 7th August actions are planned wait and see. This may be old news when you read I; we’re heading out to confront them again.

The suggestion is that we need to develop community or workers defence squads to protect mosques, churches, immigration hostels and other places. Young lads are already confronting them on their own back. Long term we need to unify a left antifascist front.

We dodged a bullet in the elections, unlike France which was more polarised. Here Reform, Farage’s outfit put the legal respectability into racist intolerance he’s refused to condemn wanting a foot in both camps a sort of bonapartism is emerging. not the classical 30s style defined by Trotsky. but an intermediary form of government that can go either way.▲