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Counterprotesters clash with police in Parliament Square in central London on
Saturday 11 November. Photograph: Jeff Moore/PA
Counterprotesters clash with police in Parliament Square in central London on
Saturday 11 November. Photograph: Jeff Moore/PA
Far right

Analysis


HOW THE UK FAR RIGHT HIJACKED ARMISTICE DAY

Archie Bland

Police and on-the-ground accounts suggest violence came largely from
counterprotesters rather than those on Palestine march

 * This article is extracted from our First Edition newsletter. Sign up here


Mon 13 Nov 2023 03.43 ESTLast modified on Mon 13 Nov 2023 05.21 EST
 * 
 * 
 * 



Much of the UK government’s reaction to disorder in London on Armistice Day, as
well as some media coverage, have suggested that blame was shared equally
between those on the pro-Palestinian march of at least 300,000 people and those
who joined the much smaller, far-right counterprotest. But on-the-ground
reporting, footage of events, and police accounts from the weekend suggest that
this is misleading, and that the significant trouble that unfolded was largely
the responsibility of the far right.

Here’s a summary of the claims and the evidence so far.




THE CLAIMS: ‘EXTREMISTS FROM ALL SIDES’

Suella Braverman – sacked on Monday morning as home secretary – had cut an
isolated figure in the cabinet after accusing the police of being biased in
favour of the marchers, but broke her silence on the disorder on Sunday
afternoon in a series of tweets. She made a fleeting reference to “protesters
and counter-protesters”, but had nothing specific to add on the latter, instead
focusing on “the sick, inflammatory and, in some cases, clearly criminal chants,
placards and paraphernalia openly on display at the march”.

Police say Suella Braverman’s claims of force’s bias ‘a factor’ in attacks on
them
Read more

Rishi Sunak’s version of what happened was reported in the Sunday Telegraph’s
front page headline: “Far-right thugs and Hamas sympathisers disrespect our
heroes”. He condemned “the violent, wholly unacceptable scenes we have seen
today from the EDL and associated groups and Hamas sympathisers attending the
National March for Palestine”. He noted that the majority had “chosen to express
their views peacefully”, but his statement appeared to present groups on both
sides as equally culpable.

The Mail on Sunday, meanwhile, described “terrifying scenes as extremists from
ALL sides tarnish Armistice Day”. But it led on an incident involving the
cabinet minister Michael Gove, who it said was “jostled and abused” by a
“pro-Palestine hate mob”. The first mention of the far right came in the 10th
paragraph on an inside page. A full-page editorial, meanwhile, described
“outrages by the apostles of violence”. The counter-protest first appeared 750
words in, in a sentence suggesting that the protest organisers “ought to take
some part of the responsibility”.


‘It felt like the dominant demographic was women in their 20s,’ said Mark
Townsend, who covered the march and the counter-protest for the Observer, of the
pro-Palestinian march. Photograph: Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/Shutterstock


Something similar was visible in several of this morning’s papers. An editorial
in the Sun said the pro-Palestine march gave the far right “the excuse to act”
and largely focused on how march organisers “ducked their responsibilities”. The
Daily Mail suggested that what took place on the march was “more overtly
far-Right than a few dozen football hooligans scuffling with police”.


THE MARCH: ‘THERE WAS NO SENSE OF A VIOLENT DYNAMIC’

There is no doubt that there were incidents of antisemitism and disorder on the
march and among breakaway groups. On Sunday, the Met released photos of six
people it said it was seeking to identify in relation to a hate crime, including
one woman holding a banner depicting a swastika intertwined with the star of
David. There was footage of another woman at Victoria station shouting “death to
all the Jews”, and another of a man on the march telling an interviewer that
“Hitler knew how to deal with these people”.

The police also temporarily detained about 150 people who broke away from the
main march and set off fireworks. No one was arrested. The Campaign Against
Antisemitism said families leaving a synagogue in St John’s Wood were escorted
away by police after men waving Palestinian flags shouted at them from cars
outside.

00:00:54

Men hurl racial abuse at pro-Palestinian protesters in Waterloo station in
London – video

Ben Jamal, the director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), said he had
counted 10 incidents pictured on social media, and I’ve reached the same tally
of photos from the main march. Others may emerge in the coming days (and I may
have missed some), but among 300,000 people, according to police estimates, or
800,000 according to organisers, it is hard to see those incidents as
characteristic. (This is not to discount their impact on those Jewish people who
have seen the weekly emergence of such cases as intimidating proof of
antisemitism.)



Mark Townsend, who covered the march and the counterprotest for the Observer,
said the overwhelming atmosphere was peaceful. “There were lots of families, it
felt like the dominant demographic was women in their 20s,” he said. “The number
of arrests was tiny against the size of the march. There was no sense, in what I
saw, of a violent dynamic at all. Even when the far right were getting very
close, there was a bit of chests-out defensive stuff among some of the men, but
no sense of seeking to take them on.”

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In part, he attributes the behaviour of the vast majority to “a sense that
everyone was on best behaviour, knowing that the spotlight was on. There were a
lot of people saying, we have to send a message, and that message is peace”.


THE COUNTER-PROTEST: ‘THEY WERE LOOKING FOR A FIGHT’

There was no sense, in contrast, of a moderate mainstream to the
counter-protest, which was almost exclusively made up of white men who appeared
to have come to London in search of trouble. Telegram groups popular with the
English Defence League and the Democratic Football Lads Alliance had organised
their attendance, Townsend said. “You could tell when they arrived that they
were tanked-up – that they were treating it as they would an away match at a
formidable football ground. They were looking for a fight immediately. There was
more hostility than I’ve seen on EDL marches in the past.”



Counterprotesters who spoke to Townsend claimed Braverman was “the only one
listening to us”. Whatever Braverman meant, a line in her Times article about
“the tough way [football fans] are policed” was understood as a sign of her
tacit support. “They have plenty of previous with the police from being herded
at football matches,” Townsend said.

The police said the vast majority of arrests were of the counter-protesters,
despite their far smaller relative numbers - estimated at about 1,000. Videos
abound of large groups seeking confrontation with the police, chanting “you’re
not English any more” at officers in Chinatown or throwing glass bottles. One
video shows a group of men at Waterloo station calling someone a “terrorist” and
saying “we were born in this country”. Another video showed a group chanting
“who the fuck is Allah” at the protesters, many of whom were Muslims. Assistant
Met commissioner Matt Twist said they had committed “extreme violence” and were
found in possession of weapons including a knife, a baton and a knuckleduster,
as well as Class A drugs. Nine officers were injured in clashes with
counter-protesters, and at least two are in hospital.


‘They were treating it as they would an away match at a formidable football
ground. They were looking for a fight immediately,’ says Townsend of the
far-right protesters. Photograph: Velar Grant/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock


Perhaps the most striking incident, though, was when far-right protesters
charged past police who sought to hold them back from the Cenotaph. In this
video, a man shouts “this is fucking our country” in celebration. Whereas the
pro-Palestine march had been excluded from the area as a precaution, the far
right was not; by overwhelming the police, they supposedly sought to defend the
site from an enemy that simply wasn’t there.

All in all, Townsend said, “the Met did a brilliant job at policing the march
and maintaining order”. But while both sides needed to be policed, the claims
that both bear equal responsibility for what unfolded appear fatuous. “To draw
that equivalence is beyond sleight of hand – it’s disingenuous,” Townsend added.
“Anyone airbrushing the difference has got it very wrong – or they’re
politically motivated.”

Explore more on these topics
 * Far right
 * Protest
 * London
 * Israel-Hamas war
 * The far right
 * analysis

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Reuse this content




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MORE ON THIS STORY




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