A member of the BNP hit an anti-fascist protestor round the head with a camera tripod as the two sides clashed in Liverpool city centre, a court was told.
Peter Tierney, 52, denies striking campaigner Nick Barnett, saying it was “an accident”. Tierney stood trial at Liverpool crown court yesterday after denying a charge of assault causing actual bodily harm.
John Dixon, prosecuting, told the court that on St George’s Day, Thursday April 23, last year, the BNP were handing out leaflets in Liverpool city centre. Mr Dixon said an “informal political movement” calling themselves the Merseyside Coalition Against Racism and Fascism – of which Mr Barnett is a member – heard about the campaigning and headed into the city to hand out their own leaflets.
The two sides clashed verbally in St John’s Gardens, behind St George’s Hall. Mr Barnett, 30, in his evidence said his group were shouting “Nazi scum” at the BNP, who were shouting back: “Get a wash, get a job”.
Mr Barnett said the BNP were moving toward the front of St George’s Hall and he went to run past them so he could hand out his leaflets first. As he did, he said he felt something hit him on the back of the head. When he turned around, Mr Barnett described seeing Tierney stood by him with the camera tripod in his hands. He went to hospital and had to have a cut to his head glued.
During his time on the witness stand, Tierney, of High Street, Hale Village, said the anti-fascists ran at them “screaming like banshees” and he only used the tripod as “a barrier” to stop himself and a friend being attacked as he felt they were in danger.
The jury of six men and six women watched CCTV of the incident numerous times throughout the day. The case was set for three days but is now expected to finish [today].
Liverpool Daily Post
Showing posts with label Merseyside Coalition Against Racism and Fascism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Merseyside Coalition Against Racism and Fascism. Show all posts
March 19, 2010
December 19, 2009
Fascists show their faces in Liverpool
The fascist BNP today continued their campaign of intimidation and racism on the streets of Liverpool. At around 2pm Andrew Tierney, again claiming to be a freelance journalist, set up his camera tripod directly in front of the Socialist Workers Party stall. This was a clear attempt to unsettle and intimidate people as they engaged in legitimate political activism. Tierney also filmed a local former Big Issue seller who now works advertising for local companies. This man, who has no association with the SWP, was going about his job and became frightened when the camera was put about a foot from his face.
After the police intervened the BNP made it clear that they were not going to disappear and the four or five of them began to attempt to distribute their leaflets to a less than susceptible public. Anti-Fascists soon rallied around and began to arrive at the street in numbers shouting “Nazi Scum, Off out Streets” and “Sing it loud, Sing it clear, BNP not welcome here.” The timely arrival of some Hope not Hate leaflets meant that the anti-fascists had some literature which they could give out to the public revealing the fascist and violent nature of the BNP. These leaflets were quickly snapped up by passers by and left the fascists looking dejected as they stooped to pick their own leaflets off the floor before people realised the reaction they were receiving. One confused lady, who thought we were the BNP, refused to accept a leaflet off me because she wasn’t a racist. If people refuse my literature because they hate the BNP it is fine with as me the message is already out there.
The growing group of anti-fascists soon began to get even louder in their shouts and the BNP group made their way up Bold street. A few of their supporters, mainly young skin head males, joined them and began to shout back at the group with phrases like “BNP all the Way” and “White Supremacy”. Seeing that they were by now outnumbered and were not getting their message across the BNP, who had filmed anti-fascists throughout the two hour standoff, made their way up Bold Street and home. Not the kind of thing we want to have to do the weekend before Christmas but wherever the Nazis show their faces we will oppose them, even at short notice.
Merseyside Coalition Against Racism and Fascism
After the police intervened the BNP made it clear that they were not going to disappear and the four or five of them began to attempt to distribute their leaflets to a less than susceptible public. Anti-Fascists soon rallied around and began to arrive at the street in numbers shouting “Nazi Scum, Off out Streets” and “Sing it loud, Sing it clear, BNP not welcome here.” The timely arrival of some Hope not Hate leaflets meant that the anti-fascists had some literature which they could give out to the public revealing the fascist and violent nature of the BNP. These leaflets were quickly snapped up by passers by and left the fascists looking dejected as they stooped to pick their own leaflets off the floor before people realised the reaction they were receiving. One confused lady, who thought we were the BNP, refused to accept a leaflet off me because she wasn’t a racist. If people refuse my literature because they hate the BNP it is fine with as me the message is already out there.
The growing group of anti-fascists soon began to get even louder in their shouts and the BNP group made their way up Bold street. A few of their supporters, mainly young skin head males, joined them and began to shout back at the group with phrases like “BNP all the Way” and “White Supremacy”. Seeing that they were by now outnumbered and were not getting their message across the BNP, who had filmed anti-fascists throughout the two hour standoff, made their way up Bold Street and home. Not the kind of thing we want to have to do the weekend before Christmas but wherever the Nazis show their faces we will oppose them, even at short notice.
Merseyside Coalition Against Racism and Fascism
March 30, 2007
City gets message as bands sound note against racism
Liverpool's Victoria monument was the backdrop to an anti-BNP concert yesterday.
The city’s only black woman councillor Anna Rothery was among the speakers at a rally ahead of the free Love Music Hate Racism event, in Derby Square outside the Queen Elizabeth II law courts.
Liverpool youth bands including all-girl R&B trio Miss Africa, Indie five piece We See Foxes, and GK and the Renegades all performed.
The event was organised by the national Hope Not Hate campaign, which aims to send a message that racists should not be elected. It coincided with anti-fascist week, organised by the Merseyside Coalition Against Racism & Fascism.
Spokesman Alec McFadden said: “We are well aware that the BNP is intending to stand candidates in the local elections and we are ‘getting our retaliation in first’ to quote a football saying. Wherever the racist parties stand in elections or distribute leaflets, a rise in racial tension and racist violence takes place.
“We are proud that no fascist has ever been elected to any public office in Merseyside and we intend for Merseyside to remain a fascist free zone.”
The national Hope Not Hate campaign is supported by actor Ricky Tomlinson, the magazine Searchlight, the Trades Union Congress and Trinity Mirror, which owns the Mirror newspapers and the Liverpool Daily Post, and sister title the Liverpool Echo.
Liverpool Daily Post
The city’s only black woman councillor Anna Rothery was among the speakers at a rally ahead of the free Love Music Hate Racism event, in Derby Square outside the Queen Elizabeth II law courts.
Liverpool youth bands including all-girl R&B trio Miss Africa, Indie five piece We See Foxes, and GK and the Renegades all performed.
The event was organised by the national Hope Not Hate campaign, which aims to send a message that racists should not be elected. It coincided with anti-fascist week, organised by the Merseyside Coalition Against Racism & Fascism.
Spokesman Alec McFadden said: “We are well aware that the BNP is intending to stand candidates in the local elections and we are ‘getting our retaliation in first’ to quote a football saying. Wherever the racist parties stand in elections or distribute leaflets, a rise in racial tension and racist violence takes place.
“We are proud that no fascist has ever been elected to any public office in Merseyside and we intend for Merseyside to remain a fascist free zone.”
The national Hope Not Hate campaign is supported by actor Ricky Tomlinson, the magazine Searchlight, the Trades Union Congress and Trinity Mirror, which owns the Mirror newspapers and the Liverpool Daily Post, and sister title the Liverpool Echo.
Liverpool Daily Post
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