More anti-Occupy threats from the EDL

Liver Antifascists Twitter feed

Liverpool EDL target community bookstore

English Defence League members at a recent flash demo outside Lime Street station

On Saturday 7th May, members of the English Defence League invaded the News From Nowhere radical and community bookstore on Bold Street. The group unfurled a flag within the shop, chanting and shouting at the staff and customers in the shop, before finally moving on.

By the time anti-fascists arrived at the shop, the fascists had gone. Shop workers reported that some of the first ones to come in had asked odd questions at the counter, including whether they carried information on the BNP, before joining the mob by the doors and shouting “why do you support terrorists.” They accused those in the shop of supporting the Islamist group Hamas and of being “anti-British.”

On their Facebook page, members said that “The Liverpool EDL are to be applauded for their bravery” in “keeping left-wing lies off the streets and out of the hands of our children.” An admin added that “Several of bits of l[i]terature in the shop in question promote communism and are anti-royals. A[s] a[n] Englishman i find this unacceptable.”

A spokesperson for Liverpool Antifascists said, “the English Defence League are only the latest fascist group to try and intimidate workers at News From Nowhere for its links to left-wing and radical politics. In the 1980s, it was on the receiving end of a lot of attacks from the National Front and BNP. More recently, neo-Nazis like the British Freedom Fighters had made regular visits to the shop until deterred by anti-fascists.

“The EDL might like to boast of how brave they were, but they are following in the footsteps of people like Liam Pinkham – the Nazi hooligan who was arrested for threatening to burn the shop down. They are cowards and bullies and this is exactly why we stand opposed to them.”

Liverpool Antifascists

Anti-fascists and British National Party members arrested after Liverpool clash

An investigation is underway after anti-fascist campaigners and British National Party supporters clashed in Liverpool.

Ten people were arrested following a violent fracas in Church Street on Saturday morning. The far-right party was collecting signatures on the city’s busiest shopping street when trouble flared. At around 10.45am, anti-fascist demonstrators and the BNP came head-to-head in aggressive scenes.

Three women and three men, who were holding a counter-rally against the political party, were detained. They were held on suspicion of criminal damage, affray and assault and taken to police stations in Merseyside. The women – 23, 22 and 21, from Aigburth, Toxteth and the city centre – and the men – 26, 25 and 24, from Birkenhead, Kensington and the city centre – were later released on bail pending further inquiries.

Two days later, three BNP activists were apprehended on suspicion of criminal damage and affray. The suspects, identified by the far-right group itself, are Peter Tierney, 53, from Hale Village, his brother Andrew, 44, from Huyton, and a woman, 59, from Wirral, were all released on bail. A man in his 50s or 60s was arrested shortly after the incident but will face no further action.

Both parties gave different accounts of the disturbance.

Liverpool Echo

BNP’s campaign falls flat in Croxteth

The British National Party has failed to secure a seat in the council by-election in Croxteth. Despite determined campaigning, the people of the ward overwhelmingly rejected the fascist party and its violent convict candidate, Peter Tierney.

Tierney, 52, owns the Quiggins Attique antiques shop on Aigburth Road and holds a conviction for actual bodily harm. In April 2009, he assaulted a man with a camera tripod for handing out anti-fascist leaflets in Liverpool City Centre. Tierney’s personal election leaflet claimed that he was against bullying.

As part of his campaign, the BNP turned out in the ward numerous times to deliver leaflets door-to-door.They also held a rally in the area on polling day, whilst DVDs filled with racist propaganda were dropped through letter boxes under the title of “Liverpool Anti-Traitors.” The DVDs contain a version of the CCTV footage from Peter Tierney’s court case, which the party have time-lapsed to try and make it appear as though he was innocent. They also contain a You Tube BNP video from the general election, footage of a Welsh branch of the BNP being “horrified” by the “terrifying” presence of ethnic minorities in Wembley, and several videos espousing racial separatism which were created and promoted by white supremacist groups.

At the polls, the BNP’s share of the vote dropped to 2.58% from the 3.11% they gained when complete unknown George Muse stood for the party in Croxteth in 2008.

The full breakdown of results is as follows:

Lab: 1447
Lab: 1424
LD: 611
LD: 479
SLP: 135
BNP: 117 (2.58%)
SLP: 70
Green: 63
UKIP: 50
English Democrats: 35
English Democrats: 33
Con: 31
Con: 29
UKIP: 19

A spokesperson for Liverpool Antifascists said: “This result fits with a typical pattern for the BNP. Despite being far more active in campaigning than any other party, they have been roundly rejected, and their share of the vote has decreased with a higher turnout. After a series of succesful election campaigns by Liverpool Antifascists, and being run out of the City Centre twice in a row, people are alert to the fact that they are not an alternative to mainstream politics but its worst extreme. And at a time when the working class are under concerted attack from those in power, less and less people are convinced by the dead-end road of race politics.”

Martin Cummins and Stephanie Till of Labour were elected to represent Croxteth ward. Till, as the lowest polling of the two victors, will have to defend her seat at the local elections in May.

Liverpool Antifascists

BNP stand violent convicted criminal in Croxteth by-Election

A freeze-frame from the CCTV footage of the incident,
as uploaded to YouTube by Liverpool BNP themselves

The British National Party’s candidate in the upcoming Croxteth council by-election has a conviction for violently assaulting a political opponent during the European elections two years ago.

The by-election is being held due to the recent death of Councillor Rose Bailey and the resignation of Councillor Phil Moffatt. The BNP’s chosen candidate is Peter Tierney, who owns the Quiggins Attique antique shop on Aigburth Road, who is considered a “super-activist” by the party.

In April 2008, Tierney used a camera tripod to whack a trade unionist and anti-fascist campaigner across the head from behind. The wound had to be glued together in hospital. He pleaded not guilty on the grounds of self-defence, but after viewing the CCTV footage, a jury unanimously found him guilty of assault and causing actual bodily harm.

Commenting on his decision to stand, a spokesperson for Liverpool Antifascists said; “Peter Tierney is just the latest in a long line of high-profile BNP candidates with criminal records for violence. That he is so highly regarded by his party in Liverpool and nationally demonstrates that, despite token efforts to clean-up their image, violence and intimidation against political opponents remains part of their strategy. His brother, Andrew, has said that those who oppose the BNP are ‘fair game. Local organiser Mike Whitby has promised that anti-fascists’ identities will end up on ‘a website far worse than Red Watch,’ the hate site which has inspired attacks on activists’ homes and families.”

“In the 2010 General Election and in every local election they have contested, the BNP have been roundly rejected by the people of Liverpool. When they recently tried to campaign in the City Centre, they were chased off the streets – twice. Liverpool Antifascists hopes that the people of Croxteth show the same good sense and give this fascist thug the boot.”

The Croxteth by-election will take place on Thursday 18th November.

Liverpool Antifascists

Disorder and violence as Liverpool BNP purges dissidents

On Monday, after Peter Tierney was sentenced to 100 hours community service and twenty Liverpool and Salford BNP activists made a show of themselves in support of him, it seems that they went out on the lash. Or at least Gary Lucas did – reports from witnesses place him in Lime Street Station, looking a right state and surrounded by police officers.

A shouted inquiry as to his and Peter’s wellbeing wasn’t taken well, and the ranting lunatic had to be marched away by his circle of police minders. If anybody has any information on what led to this point, and what came afterwards, it will be gratefully received.

In more serious matters, it appears that the fracture in the party between Nick Griffin’s supporters and the faction who favour Eddy Butler’s leadership challenge is heating up.

During the week, regional organiser Clive Jefferson issued suspension notices to Peter Squire, Peter Stafford Jnr, and Tony Ward. There have been rumours of others also being suspended, but these are as yet unverified.

The notice issued by Jefferson reads as follows:

Your membership of the British National Party has been suspended, pending an investigation into alleged serious breaches of the BNP Code of Conduct.

While suspended you may not take part in any Party event, attend meetings or send circulars that give the impression that you hold any position within the Party. You are required to fully comply with the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Party constitution.

Failure to comply with these requirements could result in your expulsion from membership of the Party, and Civil or Criminal proceedings being taken against you.

You will be informed of the outcome of the investigation in due course.

This meant that the three dissidents had to sit in the public bar yesterday, as the BNP held a meeting in the Aigburth People’s Hall.

There, Clive Jefferson announced the new leadership of the Liverpool branch. Mike Whitby from Wrexham, who admitted on Monday that pre-recording chants “makes things easier” than trusting the local goonery to speak for themselves, is now the branch organiser. In the spirit of “putting local people first,” no doubt! Karen Otty is the branch’s fundholder, and Andy Leary has been made the new branch secretary.

It seems that this didn’t go down well with all the membership, Jefferson and Whitby having to fend off questions on the change of leadership and the purging of activists. That Andy Leary has been a party member for less than two years, and is therefore not allowed to hold an official position under the party constitution, was a major bone of contention.

Jefferson demonstrated that fascist bureaucrats are no different than any other bureaucrats, only able to splutter and respond that he would “have to look it up.” Unable to answer any other questions, he soon dissolved the meeting.

With the close of the meeting, there came violence.

Details are still sketchy, but we know that words were exchanged between the Tierneys and Squire shortly before the place erupted. Jefferson was knocked over at some point, ex-army man Greenhalgh taking out three of his minders. Terence Oaks’ wife Marie is said to have been fighting with Veronika Martel, she who likes to bash pot and pans at protests and hold Union Flags upside down, leaving her battered and bruised.

Gary Lucas’s heroic contribution was to shout “tranny” at Tony Ward whilst hiding behind minders. Just as he hid in the Land Rover and swore through the window when the Tierneys confronted members of Liverpool Antifascists in Halewood.

Liverpool Antifascists does not support either side of this shambolic debacle. The dissident faction are still fascists, and their vision for society remains one that we vehemently oppose. However, their treatment simply for supporting a challenger to Nick Griffin’s leadership demonstrates how real the BNP’s commitment to “democracy” is. The party is run with an iron grip, all opponents of Griffin’s hold on power – Butler and his supporters are not the first – being ruthlessly purged.

As it is with the party, so it would be with the country, in both cases the professed commitment to democracy being a lie and a sham.

At the same time, the violence here shows why the threat of the far-right isn’t solely (or even primarily) electoral. From Peter Tierney’s use of a camera tripod to the barney in the Aigburth People’s Hall, the price of dissent is political violence. Disagree with the BNP and where they can get away with it they will physically attack you.

That is why Liverpool Antifascists remain committed to opposing fascism in whatever guise it takes.

Liverpool Antifascists

Liverpool Anti-fascists counter-demonstration - 12th July 2010

The Liverpool branch of the British National Party will be holding a demonstration outside Liverpool Crown Court on Monday 12th July. Liverpool Antifascists are asking people to turn out in opposition to their presence.


The fascist demonstration is in support of Peter Tierney (above), who faces sentencing that day for actual bodily harm.

The BNP claim that Tierney was wrongly convicted, despite clear CCTV evidence showing him running up behind an antifascist activist and hitting them across the head with a camera tripod. The antifascist needed to have the wound glued together in hospital after the incident.

A spokesperson for Liverpool Antifascists said: “Liverpool is a working class city with long-standing immigrant communities, and the BNP’s politics have no relevance here. We showed them that on 6th May when their every candidate they stood was decisively rejected.

“But the Tierney incident and the party’s continued support for that violent lunatic shows that they are a threat far beyond the ballot box. The BNP’s politics are the politics of violent nationalism, and we need to show them that they aren’t welcome in our city or anywhere else.”

Assemble at the Victoria Monument, Derby Square, from 8.30 am on Monday 12th July.

Liverpool Antifascists

Peter Tierney guilty of actual bodily harm

Peter Tierney - yet another BNP thug

High-profile BNP member Peter Tierney has been found guilty of assault and causing actual bodily harm to an anti-fascist protester on St George’s Day last year.

During the incident, which was captured on CCTV, Tierney swung a camera tripod at the back of the activist’s head. The victim subsequently needed his head wound gluing up at hospital. The jury took just an hour to find Tierney guilty, rejecting the notion that he acted in self-defence and was “in danger for my life.”

A spokesperson for Liverpool Antifascists said: “This is absolutely a positive result. Tierney’s guilt was clear-cut, as we have seen from the CCTV footage, and it is absurd that he has been able to drag this out for so long – at unneccesary expense to the taxpayer and stress to the victim. Liverpool Antifascists have protested at every single one of Tierney’s court appearances.

“Despite the wish of the BNP that this incident be forgotten, we have refused to turn a blind eye to the violent criminality of so prominent a member in Liverpool BNP. This result vindicates our stance.”

The sentence will be announced on July 12th. Judge John Roberts, adjourning, said: “I have not made a final decision on sentencing. That would be wrong at this stage, but provisionally I am thinking of some kind of community service. To decide how I should sentence you I will need a report from probation services.”

Peter Tierney has engaged in aggression and violence during BNP activism, and in full view of his fellow members. Liverpool BNP’s support of him, and of this violent criminality, has been unwavering throughout the trial. Political violence is a characteristic of fascism, and Liverpool Antifascists are glad that the truth has come out.

Liverpool Antifascists

Peter Tierney trial moved from Monday 14th to Wednesday 16th June

Urgent! Change of date for Peter Tierney trial and protest - Wednesday June 16th

Liverpool Antifascists have learned that BNP member and donor Peter Tierney’s trial has been moved from Monday 14th June to Wednesday 16th June. The planned antifascist protest will now take place on this date.

Tierney is accused of assaulting a trade unionist and anti-fascist protester in April last year. The change of court date represents a clear attempt to diminish the attention this trial receives, but Liverpool Antifascists remain determined that fascist violence cannot simply be forgotten. We have demonstrated at every one of Tierney’s previous court appearances and this will be no different.

Assemble at 8.30am, Liverpool Crown Court, Derby Square, on Wednesday 16th June

We are looking to get the largest possible turnout at the court on the Wednesday and the two following days for which the trial is scheduled. We urge all local and regional trade unions and anti-fascist organisations to ensure their banner is at the demonstration.

Liverpool Antifascists

Peter Tierney on trial (again)

The BNP's Peter Tierney - accused of assaulting anti-fascists

Peter Tierney on Trial – protest against fascist violence

On Monday 14th June Peter Tierney, high-profile member and donor for the Merseyside BNP, faces trial at Liverpool Crown Court. He is accused of assaulting a trade unionist and anti-fascist protester on St George’s Day last year.

Court proceedings have dragged on for over a year now, and Merseyside BNP would be more than happy to let the incident fade into obscurity. But Liverpool Antifascists are determined that fascists should not be allowed to sweep their violence under the carpet. They are calling for the trial to be met with protests from those who do not want political violence by the far-right to become a feature of their city.

A spokesperson for Liverpool Antifascists said: “This whole saga has dragged on for far too long now. The BNP are banking on this so that people get fed up with it and forget about it, but the fact is that this is not a gaffe or a poor choice of remark. It is an act of inexcusable violence by a high-profile member of a party trying to present itself as ‘mainstream’ and ‘respectable.’

“We are thus urging as many people as possible to turn up outside the Crown Court from 8.30am on the first day of the trial to demonstrate solidarity with the victim of this attack.”

Liverpool Antifascists stress that it is particularly important that trade unionists and other working class organisations take part. Merseyside BNP have a reputation for harassing trade unionists, whom they view as “anti-British traitors,” and their party is part of a fascist tradition which has long attacked attempts by the working class to organise and defend itself against injustice.

Violence by fascists must never be allowed to go unopposed.

Liverpool Antifascists

BNP candidates in Liverpool down by a third

The BNP today revealed it would be standing only eight candidates in the local elections in Liverpool on May 6th. This is eight too many, but it is one third less than the twelve it put up in 2008 and represents the effects of a determined anti-fascist campaign against them and of the internal divisions within this racist party.

Of these eight, most are ‘paper’ candidates who know themselves they have no chance of winning in May. Three of the eight are from the same family, indeed, the same household, which is further proof of the limited appeal fascism has in Liverpool.

Given the disruption caused by the BNP’s former Director of Publicity, Mark Collett, being investigated on charges of threatening to kill party leader Nick Griffin, the BNP locally will have few resources at its disposal in this election. However, Liverpool Anti-Fascists are determined that the BNP will have NO SUCCESS in dividing people in our city, and will be out campaigning against these racists wherever they decide to show their faces or spread their poisonous message.

The eight candidates are:
Anfield - Karen Gillian Otty
Clubmoor – Peter John Squire
County – Peter James Stafford
Everton – Jacqueline Stafford
Fazakerley – Peter Stafford
Kirkdale – Steve Greenhalgh
Norris Green – John Edgar
Old Swan – Steven McEllenborough

Liverpool BNP will shortly announce its candidates for the general election. The same names will likely reappear on the Westminster ballot papers – proof positive that the BNP is a marginalised and extremist group which cannot command significant support from the working people of Liverpool.

We call on everyone to join us in our campaign against the BNP. We are going to be out on the doorsteps putting the case that the BNP only offers division, hatred and defeat. By standing together, we can drive out the racists and keep Liverpool fascist-free.

Liverpool Antifascists

Anti-BNP/Peter Tierney protest – new date March 17th

The trial of the BNP’s Peter Tierney for assault has been moved to Wednesday March 17th. Our protest against the BNP will therefore take place on that day: 9. 15am at the Victoria Monument, Derby Square, Liverpool 1.

New flyers and posters are attached. Please distribute widely. If you told anyone about the original date of this event, please let them know that it is now on the 17th.

The change means that we will NOT be leafleting Liverpool 8 tomorrow. A midweek date for leafleting will be set and advertised soon. We will still leaflet door-to-door in Toxteth on Saturday March 13th to build for this event.

We want the maximum possible turnout on the 17th to show that the BNP have no place in our city.


Leaflet
Poster

Liverpool Anti-Fascists

BNP humiliated in Fazakerley

The racist BNP have been HUMILIATED in the Fazakerley by-election. Their vote was almost HALF what they got in the 2008 contest, due not least to the determined campaign run by Liverpool Anti-Fascists. Over 5,000 anti-BNP leaflets were delivered in the ward and the message hit home. Voters in a working-class area of Liverpool totally rejected the BNP’s message and the thuggish, intimidatory tactics that this fascist party tried in the election.

Despite having a candidate who lived in the ward, and who had stood there before, the BNP came a miserable third out of four contenders. This was regardless of the fact that the Conservatives and UKIP did not even stand candidates. In 2008 the BNP received 440 votes in the ward - this time they only got 234. Their percentage of the vote in 2008 was 14% - now, with less candidates standing, they have dropped to 8. 8% - complete humiliation.

On polling day, already knowing that the voters had rejected them, Liverpool BNP arrived outside the home of a Labour councillor, Steve Rotherham, and used loudspeakers and intimidation in a vicious last stand. The police were called and the BNP were forced to move on. THIS is the real face of the BNP — they pretend to be a normal, democratic political party, but when the voters turn against them, the old fascist tactics of fear and thuggery come to the fore.

Let the Fazakerley campaign be a lesson to anti-fascists everywhere. The way to combat the BNP’s appeal to working-class voters, and to counter their bogus slogan of ’British Jobs for British Workers’, is to clearly make the case that fascism and racism offer nothing but division and defeat to working people. There is no alternative in the struggle against the BNP but to get out onto the doorsteps, as they do, and put a class analysis against fascism. The BNP are nasty racists, but they are more than that. They are a fascist party, and fascism is a weapon, waiting to be picked up by the ruling class. The way to counter fascism is by promoting working-class solidarity.

The voters of Fazakerley have shown that they will not be divided by the BNP. Liverpool Anti-Fascists have shown that the BNP can be stopped by a vigorous and determined campaign, as they were in the Halewood by-election recently — another mainly white, working-class district in Liverpool that rejected a local BNP candidate and the BNP’s message of hate and division after a strong anti-fascist campaign. We are going to break the BNP in Liverpool. This is just the start.

Liverpool Anti-Fascists

Liverpool Anti-Fascist Benefit on Jan 16th

Click on image for full-size

As you know, 2010 is an election year. The racist British National Party will stand at least one candidate on Merseyside, and quite possibly many more. Liverpool Anti-Fascists are planning a major local campaign to prevent the BNP from building on their success in the European elections.

As part of this, we have a benefit gig at Next to Nowhere, 96 Bold St. on Saturday January 16th. Four local bands and a DJ will be helping us spread the anti-fascist message.

Spread the word - then come along and enjoy the music!

You can download the flyer from here and the poster from here. Please spread them around.

Liverpool Antifascists