British National Party members set to stage a controversial summer festival stormed out of a licensing meeting after police objected to their plan at the eleventh hour. However the BNP has vowed to go ahead with the event on land off Codnor Denby Lane despite withdrawing its application for a council license to sell alcohol and play live music.
BNP members were confronted by more than 30 protesters opposed to the party, who chanted and waved placards outside Ripley Town Hall before the meeting.
Derbyshire Constabulary had initially raised no objections to the festival, due to take place in August. However it changed its mind and submitted an objection after Amber Valley Borough Council's deadline after receiving "significant intelligence" opponents of the BNP would try and cause trouble at the event.
Party representatives told the council's licensing board on Tuesday the claims were "spurious and politically motivated" before branding the hearing a farce and withdrawing the application.
Craig Sutherland, solicitor for Derbyshire Police, told the meeting: "The fact is we are expecting trouble at this event. We didn't object to this festival in 2007, and we didn't object initially in 2008 however towards the end of May the intelligence picture changed. We have started to receive intelligence to say that groups opposed to the BNP may attack people attending this festival.
"Having a large number of individuals with opposing views together in one area like this is going to be a powder keg."
Mr Sutherland told the panel that if they were willing to let the event go ahead they would like to see several new conditions in place including a seven foot high fence around the entire site and temporary security lighting installed.
John Walker, national treasurer of the BNP, said afterwards: "We came here with an open mind. As it went on we came to the conclusion that it was becoming a farce because of the hoops we were being asked to jump through by Derbyshire Police. The police have caved in to mob rule. We are going to withdraw this application and this event will go ahead without a licence."
BNP member Alan Warner, who hosts the event on his land in Denby, said: "The festival will be going ahead. We won't be selling alcohol but people will be able to bring their own and there will be recorded music and music from the fair ground. The police still have to police the event. I'm looking forward to it, hopefully it will be even better than last year. We're hoping to have as many as 5000 people here."
Peter Carney, Chief Executive at Amber Valley Borough Council said: "The organisers will now not be permitted to provide any licensable activities during the course of the festival, should it go ahead. They will not be able to sell alcohol on site and live or recorded music as a main activity will not be allowed at the event.
"The Council will be considering, with the police, what further steps we will take in respect of the concerns raised by them and by residents at the hearing if the organisers decide to go ahead with the event despite the withdrawal of the application."
Ripley and Heanor News
Showing posts with label Red White and Blue 2008. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Red White and Blue 2008. Show all posts
June 11, 2008
June 06, 2008
Heanor Town Council object to BNP festival
A controversial BNP festival to be held for the second year running in Denby has been met with objections from Heanor Town Council. The red, white and blue festival, organised by the British National Party was held on land owned by former BNP councillor Alan Warner at Codnor Denby Lane, for the first time in July.
Now an application to have live music and to serve alcohol at the second festival on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, August 15, 16 and 17, to be held at the same location, has been submitted to Amber Valley Borough Council.
Speaking at the latest meeting of Heanor Town Council, Cllr Bob Moon said: "The town council have made a submission about the red, white and blue festival. Last year there was a lot of noise coming from the site, before and after the event with people making a lot of noise late into the night."
The town council, which also objected to the event last year, nominated two members to attend the licensing meeting of the borough council on Tuesday, June 10, when a decision on whether to allow live music and alcohol at the event will be made.
Cllr Moon said that to be consistent the council would also object to another separate festival, called Chill Out, set to take place in Denby the following week.
Ripley and Heanor News
Visit Stop the BNP’s Red White and Blue Festival website
Now an application to have live music and to serve alcohol at the second festival on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, August 15, 16 and 17, to be held at the same location, has been submitted to Amber Valley Borough Council.
Speaking at the latest meeting of Heanor Town Council, Cllr Bob Moon said: "The town council have made a submission about the red, white and blue festival. Last year there was a lot of noise coming from the site, before and after the event with people making a lot of noise late into the night."
The town council, which also objected to the event last year, nominated two members to attend the licensing meeting of the borough council on Tuesday, June 10, when a decision on whether to allow live music and alcohol at the event will be made.
Cllr Moon said that to be consistent the council would also object to another separate festival, called Chill Out, set to take place in Denby the following week.
Ripley and Heanor News
Visit Stop the BNP’s Red White and Blue Festival website
Labels:
fascism,
Nick Griffin,
Red White and Blue 2008,
RWB,
Stop the BNP
March 04, 2008
Stop the Red, White and Blue Festival 2008
For too many years the BNP have enjoyed their annual Red, White and Blue festival without major opposition. They have usually kept the location secret for as long as possible but nevertheless have often brought numbers in their hundreds for a weekend of morale boosting, party-building and scarcely concealed, well-documented Nazi and fascist celebration.This year we already know where the RWB festival is to be. Immediately after their festival in 2007, they announced it will be in the same location in Denby, which borders Nottingham and Derby and is only a few miles from the M1. This part of the East Midlands has been one of their prime areas of recent growth as well as having been a long established area of fascist activity and the birth place of the violent Combat 18.
Despite the still developing split in the BNP, they are insistent that their festival will go ahead. If it does then it will allow them to regroup, reorganise, fix and expand after the damage to them by their recent political in-fighting.
East Midland Anti-Fascists reorganise
Over the last year anti-fascists in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire have been working together to harass the BNP. Primarily this has been facilitated by the Nottinghamshire Stop the BNP campaign but it has also been supported by Derby UAF as well as a multitude of trade union organisations. All of these campaigns are determined to stop the RWB festival being a successful recruitment event for the BNP.
Already 150 people were mobilised in October, 2007 and physically blockaded and stopped a local BNP rally being held and addressed by Nick Griffin. In addition leaflets and stalls have been held in towns and villages where the BNP have been known to be particularly active.
Nottingham conference call for national mobilisation
A local anti BNP conference was called in Nottingham on Jan 19th and attended by 100 people. The conference was sponsored by many trade unions in the region including the FBU, UCU, UNISON and NUT.
Delegates called for a mass protest against the BNP festival; demanded that councils block permission for the event and asked trade unionists as far as possible to refuse to do any work that might help facilitate the BNP event; and for thousands of people including trade unionists and anti-fascists throughout the country to join us in filling the surrounding area in mass protest.
The BNP festival is still going ahead. We call on all local and national anti-racist campaigns and bodies opposed to the BNP to support the call of the Nottingham conference.
Please raise support for this mobilisation within your organisation. Contact us by emailing nobnpfestival@riseup.net. Watch for news on the plans for this mobilisation at http://nobnpfestival.wordpress.com
The leaflet (above) can be downloaded by clicking here.
Move to fight Amber Valley BNP festival
Battle lines are already being drawn over plans to hold the British National Party's annual Red, White and Blue festival in Amber Valley again this summer.
Party member and former Heanor councillor Alan Warner hosted the event on his land near Denby last summer and despite major complaints from nearby residents says he plans to do so again this year.
Mr Warner said: "The application for a liquor and entertainment licence has already gone in and we're waiting for the outcome of that. We wanted to get it banged in early because there will be more things going on here this year and more people. We've got another 14 acres to use this year thanks to a neighbour of mine opening up his fields. He was put off last year but everything went off all right so he says he's not going to be dictated to by the protesters and we can use his land. There was no trouble last time according to the police. They came onto the site four times a day and were quite happy."
Mr Warner promises the festival will be bigger and better than last year with a big wheel, dodgems, children's rides and even a massive blimp bearing the BNP logo hovering overhead.
A website has been set up to call for more organised opposition than last year when a lone protester with a placard saying "no to racism" picketed the site.
A spokesman for the nobnpfestival website said: "The BNP is a far right nationalist party. Its politics are divisive and designed to stir up hysteria around immigration. The RWB festival is intended to draw new recruits into the party and consolidate these disgraceful politics. In 2007, Amber Valley Council granted the organisers entertainment licenses in spite of widespread local protest. Anti-fascists did not mobilise in time to help stop the festival. We are determined that will not happen this year."
The site's organisers say they intend to draw together thousands of people who oppose the BNP and protest against the festival.
Mr Warner said: "If we're going to have thousands here protesting then let them come. This is a family festival and there'll be no trouble from us. I don't know where they're all going to park because they can't park on the road - we have on site parking for BNP members."
Belper News
Party member and former Heanor councillor Alan Warner hosted the event on his land near Denby last summer and despite major complaints from nearby residents says he plans to do so again this year.
Mr Warner said: "The application for a liquor and entertainment licence has already gone in and we're waiting for the outcome of that. We wanted to get it banged in early because there will be more things going on here this year and more people. We've got another 14 acres to use this year thanks to a neighbour of mine opening up his fields. He was put off last year but everything went off all right so he says he's not going to be dictated to by the protesters and we can use his land. There was no trouble last time according to the police. They came onto the site four times a day and were quite happy."
Mr Warner promises the festival will be bigger and better than last year with a big wheel, dodgems, children's rides and even a massive blimp bearing the BNP logo hovering overhead.
A website has been set up to call for more organised opposition than last year when a lone protester with a placard saying "no to racism" picketed the site.
A spokesman for the nobnpfestival website said: "The BNP is a far right nationalist party. Its politics are divisive and designed to stir up hysteria around immigration. The RWB festival is intended to draw new recruits into the party and consolidate these disgraceful politics. In 2007, Amber Valley Council granted the organisers entertainment licenses in spite of widespread local protest. Anti-fascists did not mobilise in time to help stop the festival. We are determined that will not happen this year."
The site's organisers say they intend to draw together thousands of people who oppose the BNP and protest against the festival.
Mr Warner said: "If we're going to have thousands here protesting then let them come. This is a family festival and there'll be no trouble from us. I don't know where they're all going to park because they can't park on the road - we have on site parking for BNP members."
Belper News
January 26, 2008
Stop the BNP’s RWB Festival 2008
Conference report and further actions against the BNP
A number of decisions were taken at the regional meeting that took place in Nottingham on January 19th called by Nottinghamshire Stop the BNP and sponsored by a number of trade unions and campaigning organisations in the Notts area and elsewhere in the East Midlands. The meeting, attended by over 100 people with significant representations from the FBU and other unions from Lincoln, Loughborough, Leicester and even Gloucester, decided:
To call for a major mobilisation against any attempt to repeat the 2007 BNP Red, White and Blue festival in the Region including demanding that councils block permission for any repetition of this event; calling on trade unions to refuse to do any work that might facilitate the BNP event calling on thousands of local people to join the campaign in filling the surrounding area in mass protest should any such event take place in 2008.
To continue to organise against BNP events as the Notts Stop the BNP campaign had done in October when it peacefully blockaded a meeting of the BNP that was to be addressed by their party leader Nick Griffin, thereby preventing it going ahead.
To extend the campaigning begun by organisations such as Notts Stop the BNP in the towns and villages of the region. It was considered that that campaigning must deal not only against the BNP's racist policies but also encourage local communities to address the causes of the BNP's growth: the political frustrations with the government that exists in working class communities because of failures to address inequalities in education, housing and health-care provision the scapegoating of immigrant and minority communities that much of the press and the major political parties are complicit with. The campaign also noted a split in the BNP which had led to many leading BNP figures locally, including Broxtowe councillor Sadie Graham, leaving the BNP and setting about forming their own party. It was noted that this new party looked as though it was going to be essentially the same as the BNP with the same racist policies, the same connection with individuals and organisations promoting race hate and having Nazi histories. The meeting decided it would deal with this new ‘party’ in the same way as it does the BNP.
A mass leafleting of Brinsley by over 20 activists on the next day followed. This informed local residents of the
Nazi allegations being made by each side of the current internal BNP civil war and called on Brinsley people to demand the resignation of councillor Graham. Great pleasure was taken in delivering a copy of the leaflet directly to Sadie Graham’s door to the anger of a group of burly men who came out of the door but decided to take no action against the large group of anti-fascist leafletters.
There will be a meeting of the campaign on Thursday, 24th Jan to consider the way forward. The venue will be announced tomorrow if you require information please get back to this email address: nottmstopbnp@yahoo.co.uk. Extensive activity is expected on Sunday, 27th Jan. All supporters are asked to trying to help out on the day. More later...
A number of decisions were taken at the regional meeting that took place in Nottingham on January 19th called by Nottinghamshire Stop the BNP and sponsored by a number of trade unions and campaigning organisations in the Notts area and elsewhere in the East Midlands. The meeting, attended by over 100 people with significant representations from the FBU and other unions from Lincoln, Loughborough, Leicester and even Gloucester, decided:
To call for a major mobilisation against any attempt to repeat the 2007 BNP Red, White and Blue festival in the Region including demanding that councils block permission for any repetition of this event; calling on trade unions to refuse to do any work that might facilitate the BNP event calling on thousands of local people to join the campaign in filling the surrounding area in mass protest should any such event take place in 2008.
To continue to organise against BNP events as the Notts Stop the BNP campaign had done in October when it peacefully blockaded a meeting of the BNP that was to be addressed by their party leader Nick Griffin, thereby preventing it going ahead.
To extend the campaigning begun by organisations such as Notts Stop the BNP in the towns and villages of the region. It was considered that that campaigning must deal not only against the BNP's racist policies but also encourage local communities to address the causes of the BNP's growth: the political frustrations with the government that exists in working class communities because of failures to address inequalities in education, housing and health-care provision the scapegoating of immigrant and minority communities that much of the press and the major political parties are complicit with. The campaign also noted a split in the BNP which had led to many leading BNP figures locally, including Broxtowe councillor Sadie Graham, leaving the BNP and setting about forming their own party. It was noted that this new party looked as though it was going to be essentially the same as the BNP with the same racist policies, the same connection with individuals and organisations promoting race hate and having Nazi histories. The meeting decided it would deal with this new ‘party’ in the same way as it does the BNP.
A mass leafleting of Brinsley by over 20 activists on the next day followed. This informed local residents of the
Nazi allegations being made by each side of the current internal BNP civil war and called on Brinsley people to demand the resignation of councillor Graham. Great pleasure was taken in delivering a copy of the leaflet directly to Sadie Graham’s door to the anger of a group of burly men who came out of the door but decided to take no action against the large group of anti-fascist leafletters.
There will be a meeting of the campaign on Thursday, 24th Jan to consider the way forward. The venue will be announced tomorrow if you require information please get back to this email address: nottmstopbnp@yahoo.co.uk. Extensive activity is expected on Sunday, 27th Jan. All supporters are asked to trying to help out on the day. More later...
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