Police have arrested several anti-fascist protestors as hundreds of people gathered to disrupt a BNP festival.
Demonstrators aimed to block roads to prevent speakers getting to the far-right party's Red, White and Blue event in the village of Codnor, Derbyshire, and "kettle" the rally.
Kettling, also known as containment or corralling, is sometimes used by police and involves a large cordon to contain a crowd in a limited area.
The protests have been led by campaign group Unite Against Fascism, the Midlands TUC and the Amber Valley Campaign Against Racism and Facism, who arranged to bus anti-facist supporters to the village.Derbyshire police confirmed they had made a small number of arrests but the protestors claimed they successfully blocked two road routes to the festival site, which is on private farmland.
“Those arrests were of protesters who had been acting unlawfully,” a spokeswoman said. Last year around 30 protesters were arrested after clashes with police
The main body of demonstrators, which is being monitored by police CCTV cameras, gathered in Codnor’s Market Place and at other approved meeting points. The crowd is expected to march to Codnor Denby Lane later.
Protesters said this morning that they had “occupied and blocked” two key road junctions in the village, before being dispersed by officers. Up to 200 people have refused to move from a road junction close to the festival site. A further 150 blocked the lane between Codnor and Denby between 8.40am and 10am. Several protestors were arrested before the road was cleared.
“We’ve managed to completely seal off the BNP event for over an hour,” said a protester at the Denby blockade. “Lots of Nazis travelling to the BNP rally have been turned away. The police have now pushed us out of the way, but we’re still here demonstrating.”
Organisers say up to 800 people have already gathered in the market place and more are expected to arrive by coach before the protest march begins.
The annual BNP rally, which began on Friday and continues until tomorrow, is now in its 10th year.
An open letter posted on the Unite Against Facism website claimed the event aimed to “build up a hardened neo-Nazi core at the centre of the organisation”.
The letter, which is signed by former London mayor Ken Livingstone and trade union leaders, added: “We condemn the BNP and its festival of race hate, and we urge people to reject this party’s poisonous and anti-democratic agenda.”
The BNP’s deputy leader, Simon Darby, insisted the party was not interested in trouble.
He said: “It’s not in our interests to cause trouble. We’re up there with our wives, girlfriends and children. We just want to have a good time, but these protesters want to latch trouble on to us.”
Yesterday American white supremacist Preston Wiginton was stopped by UK Border Agency officials at Heathrow Airport and sent back to New York, as he attempted to make his way to the festival.
Source:The times
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