Roger Thomas, vice president Bristol Trades Union Council
Once again, the far-right Bristol ‘Patriots’ named the day, Saturday 10 January, for a march in Bristol and managed to produce probably their smallest gathering so far. Heavily outnumbered by counter-protesters, around 40 of them gathered at the Cenotaph, ostensibly to protest against the Starmer government but in reality to pedal their racist ideas.
Despite being so outnumbered, they were enabled to gather, as has been usual in the last few months, by an enormous police operation. We counted as many as 14 vans of police plus horses lined up in two lines between the contingents. Police officers, some of who were openly joking with far-right activists before the protest, spent a disproportionate amount of time filming the counter-protesters, and serving notice to remove any face covering.
Once again the police had one ambition, and that was to enable the far right to march, whatever the cost – financial and physical. A request for the counter-protesters to be permitted to follow behind the far right and to expose their pathetically small protest was declined by the police.
As a consequence, the counter-protesters sought to outflank the police cordon and try to cut off the far right. Pursued by large numbers of police, protesters marched up Corn Street only to be blocked. They then moved onto Baldwin Street, Bristol Bridge, Castle Park and finally into the shopping centre.
Each attempt to block the far right was unsuccessful due to the numbers of police. Finally, back to the Cenotaph, where a final standoff between the two groups lasted for a further hour until the far right were dispersed under heavy police protection.
At the rally towards the start, all speakers correctly attacked the Labour government for its slavish attitude towards the US and its pro-big business agenda.
Socialist Party members argued for a working-class alternative to the far right, and for the trade union movement to take up the issue of building a movement against austerity. We pointed to the TUC policies for a union-led campaign for ‘jobs and homes not racism’, and the policy passed at this year’s TUC for it to organise a union-led weekend demonstration against Labour’s austerity.
