April 04, 2009

Reader report: BNP's Lie Lorry comes to Lancaster (but not for long)

A van towing a large mobile advertising hoarding promoting the BNP was spotted in Lancaster today (Friday 3rd April). It drove around the one-way system several times with loudspeakers blaring out its racist messages, and also parked for a while in Dalton Square. BNP footsoldiers were spotted handing out leaflets promoting their campaign for the forthcoming Euro-Elections that will be held this June.

This BNP incursion encountered spontaneous opposition from Lancaster people, who don't want these fascists whipping up racist and xenophobic hatred. Local people are proud of our diverse and tolerant city. Within an hour of the BNP's appearance, locals using text messages were assembling a crowd of devoted anti-fascists in Dalton Square. However, the BNP fascists had fled before this crowd could mount an organised protest! So instead, the local anti-fascists busied themselves by handing out hundreds of leaflets exposing and opposing the BNP to local shoppers.

The BNP were almost certainly from the small but highly active unit that party has in Cumbria. They are focusing all their energies on the Euro-election, and hope to get their leader, Nick Griffin elected as a Euro-MP for the North West Region, which is their main target. They only need around 8% of the vote to win a MEP seat here in the North West, and received 6.4%. last time in 2004. That's why they are standing their fuhrer Nick Griffin in our region. We could therefore possibly wake up to find a neo-Nazi, convicted racist and holocaust denier as our MEP. He would then be provided with an local office, plus staff and £250,000 a year from the taxpayer to fund his propaganda machine.

He would also get to hang out at the European Parliament and enjoy the EU gravy train with his old friends from the growing band of European neo-Nazi parties, which have MEP's from racist, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic ultra-nationalist formations in Poland, Latvia, Italy, Austria, France, Romania, Bulgaria and elsewhere. These are the old allies of Griffin.

Local community campaigners will be taking a stand, and building a campaign against the BNP. Info-stalls are planned in Lancaster City centre in the next few weeks - watch this space. Volunteers needed.

This Saturday (April 4th) anti-fascists will also be leafleting in Barrow-in-Furness, South Cumbria, Manchester and other parts of the North West. Please prepare to help the campaign over the coming weeks - with money, offers to distribute leaflets and any ideas you have.

The 'Hope Not Hate' campaign commented:

"Nothing is certain in politics and while the terrain is certainly getting tougher the BNP can be defeated. However for this to happen requires a massive campaign to mobilise everyone opposed to the politics of hate to turn out and vote. We have shown time and again that there is a huge anti-BNP vote out there and if it is organised and motivated then it will turn up at the polling stations and be decisive in an election".

Barry Kade

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately we did not get the chance to chase the BNP out of our city this time!

By the time the anti-fascists had assembled in Dalton Sq the BNP had departed. So it was only a very brief visit from the enemy - they were just hurriedly and nervously passing through!

Later reports down the pub and also on facebook recount stories of friends who actually saw them in town this afternoon - and they got a chance to yell abuse at the NAZI scum! Lucky sods!

We found quite a few BNP leaflets around the streets dropped on the floor by shoppers - so they must have attempted to handed a bit of propaganda around.

Was good though - was a buzz to be part of such an instant response - to see dozens of us appearing from every direction summonsed by text messages! A bit of a lefty social reunion ensued - people had dropped everything and turned up pronto!

And luckily someone had brought along a load of anti-bnp leaflets they had lying around!

So we all went around handing out hundreds of them around the city centre - which was fun - and well received by fellow Lancastrians.

Spoke to lots of people who agreed with us, and also bumped into others who had come into town looking to object to the BNP. Attracts alot of attention that 'lie-lorry' thing.

So thanks to the BNP's flying visit, local people became galvanised into action and held an instant ant-BNP afternoon of action. Not bad! Now I'm all fired up and looking to do more!

Antifascist said...

'Now I'm all fired up and looking to do more!'

There's more to do! A couple of things are being arranged for the very near future. We'll let people know when and where ASAP.

Cheers for turning out - Lancaster's Rapid Response team in action once again! :-)

Anonymous said...

Well done chaps though I bet the BNP will be claiming at least 200 new members from Lancaster today, a hundred thousand leaflets handed out and crowds of adoring fans clustered around the Lie Lorry all day.

Mr Placard said...

Barry Kade huh? Great name. LOL :)

Anonymous said...

dont lie you wankers we was there for 3 hours and were very well received you lot always turn up afterwards because you are too fucking shit scared to confront us tossers

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing this inspiring post - it's great to see that there are people mobilising (rapidly) against the BNP in Lancaster.

And as former resident, I'd like to donate to help further the campaign too. But I tried using the link on the right of the page but it didn't work. (Anyone know why?)

Would be useful to know what money donated will be spent on too...

Activist said...

"dont lie you wankers we was there for 3 hours and were very well received you lot always turn up afterwards because you are too fucking shit scared to confront us tossers"

Lying bastard, just like your glorious fuhrer Griffin. We have ALWAYS confronted you and always will (unless all you do is drive around the one-way system a couple of times like yesterday). You'll get nowhere in Lancaster, there are too many people here who hate what you stand for.

"Thanks for sharing this inspiring post - it's great to see that there are people mobilising (rapidly) against the BNP in Lancaster."

It is.

"And as former resident, I'd like to donate to help further the campaign too. But I tried using the link on the right of the page but it didn't work."

It works for me.

"Would be useful to know what money donated will be spent on too..."

Pretty obvious. A shocking amount of leaflets, posters, photocopying, paying for rooms and all the rest of the things such campaigns involve.

An anarchist type said...

The only reason the BNP made its quick dash into and out of Lancaster yesterday is because the Uni's have just closed for Easter jollies. The BNP believes all anti-fascists are students who live with Mummy and Daddy in Surrey, so we've probably all gone home and are safely out of the way leaving them to hand out a couple of dozen leaflets then scuttle back to the lie lorry before any anarchist types turn up and scare them shitless.

Lanc Lad said...

Well done everyone. Yet again Lancaster shows it will not tolerate the scum in our town.

Marianne said...

"dont lie you wankers we was there for 3 hours and were very well received you lot always turn up afterwards because you are too fucking shit scared to confront us tossers".

Nice to know that the BNP recognise themselves as "tossers". Of course a comma before "tossers" would have made all the difference to the meaning, but you would not expect a BNP supporter to be able to write English properly.

Anonymous said...

Lancaster Rosey Red Says:

So its time to produce thousands of anti-BNP leaflets and distribute them throughout Lancaster. This little visit by the BNP self proclaimed 'tossers' and their truck was a timely wake up call!

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead.
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger!

We will never let the Nazi jackboot rest on our neck! NEVER!

We will fight to keep our England green and pleasant and tolerant - and forever free from BNP fascism!

Joe said...

Thanks Barry for an excellent report.

Anonymous said...

Excellent new's, don't let the BNP get a foot hold in Lancaster.

Anonymous said...

I was at work in Morecambe. A friend rang me to say the BNP were leafletting in Penny St and their truck was passing the Town Hall. I started texting contacts asking them to go to Penny St. I ran out of credit and went out to get more. The friend who had rung texted to say that the truck was now parked in Dalton Sq and there were four BNP men there. I texted again re-directing people to Dalton Sq. Three replied that they were unable to go. One replied that she was going, with leaflets. Someone I had texted rang me from Dalton Sq to ask, "Who are you and where are they?" At that stage, three of our people were in Dalton Sq with no BNP. I rang the friend who had rung first. He was now in Dalton Sq and two small groups of anti-fascists had joined into one bigger group. The leaflets arrived. It was decided, since there was no BNP to confront, to go and leaflet the Town Centre to counteract the BNP leafletting. A member of the public was grateful to receive an anti-fascist leaflet, having just received a BNP one. I got away from work and started driving to Dalton Sq but received a text saying that the anti-fascist leafletting had finished and that the leafletters were going home. 13 anti-fascist had assembled, at no notice on a week day, and 8 were able to stay long enough to distribute leaflets. Another arrived too late to help. We have estimated that the time from spotting the BNP until anti-fascists returned home was maybe an hour and a half. The following day, an Assembly Rooms stall holder told me that the BNP truck drove past about three times.

Dave T said...

Great stuff Lancaster!

Anonymous said...

Bastards, you were right it was those Cumbrians again!!!!

http://cumbrianpatriotbnp.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

i notice that there was nothing on chris hills shitty little blog about this leafleting, i wonder if that was because the local bnp people aren't invited to such events anymore. or are they just too scared to show his face on the streets because they saw what happened to tony ward in wigan last month. uaf win again, well done.