Community opposition forces BNP out of Redbridge

| Thursday, 3 February 2005 Source: Searchlight

The Grand London Rally of the British National Party ended in chaos and frustration as their plans to meet up at Redbridge Tube station in east London on Saturday 29 January were exposed by Searchlight and confronted by the new community-based anti-fascist group, Redbridge Together.

At very short notice the co-ordinators of the group, which operates under the slogan Hope Not Hate, Count Me In, distributed an Open Letter to the local community and beyond and obtained advance publicity in the local press for a dignified anti-racist demonstration.

The organisers were seeking 15-20 names from a range of local political, faith, ethnic and trade union groups to sign up to the letter but in a matter of days had 80 signatories including two national trade unions, one regional union and the East London branch of the CWU.

When the BNP showed up at the station they were greeted with the brand new banner of Redbridge Together, backed by around 70 protesters from Redbridge and neighbouring Epping, Havering, and Barking and Dagenham.

Much to its members' disdain the BNP failed to secure a hall within Redbridge but found it too late to alter their redirection point. This left around 100 BNP activists struggling to find a pub on a country road outside Brentwood in Essex – not the ideal place to launch their London general election campaign.

The police photographers went through a much appreciated routine of taking photos of the BNP goon squad which included several faces from the football hooligan scene.

This was the first successful shot in Redbridge Together's campaign to fight the BNP tooth and nail through the general election and to the May 2006 local elections, which will include all council seats in London boroughs.

Watch this space for updates of the anti-fascist campaigns in London.