Dagenham Together off to a flyer

| Sunday, 13 March 2005 Source: Searchlight

Searchlight kicked off its campaign to drive the BNP out of Barking & Dagenham yesterday when 124 people delivered a staggering 36,000 tabloid newspapers across the borough.

With another team of 40 people going out today, a total of 50,000 newspapers will have gone out by the end of the weekend.

The event, organised by Dagenham Together, united people of different political and cultural backgrounds. There was a tremendous turnout from local trade unions, particularly the TGWU.

Several people brought food to share and at lunchtime a local Indian restaurant brought complimentary samosas and bhajis.

Searchlight's Nick Lowles told the Stop the BNP website: "This was a fantastic start to our campaign. Dagenham has not seen so many people out campaigning against the BNP before. Everyone is really enthusiastic about doing more localised work.

"This is only the start. We are going to be out campaigning from now to the council elections next year. It will be a localised strategy that centres itself in the community."

One resident told Searchlight. "This paper is wonderful. The front page sums it up. 'We are Dagenham – The BNP are not!'"