Nationalists, anti-fascists & disco lovers: ‘March for England’ returns to Brighton

Every year the far-right nationalist group, March for England, prepare their England flags, shave their noggins, and don their trendiest boots to head down for a day of demonstrating in Brighton.

Once they arrive in Brighton they have a cute little march down the seafront, then head back to the station and presumably go home to their lives being the smegma of humanity.

I personally think of these lot very unHEILy

This year, they were opposed by two main other groups. Namely the ‘English Disco Lovers’ (EDL… see what they did there) and the anti-fascists.

It’s safe to say that those who opposed the March for England significantly outnumbered the the march itself.

However, other than the disco crew clouding the sounds of the march by blaring out Earth Wind and Fire, it was surprisingly underwhelming.

He doesn’t care if you’re Black or White

There were rumours of fights, hints of trouble, and a lingering possibility of conflict, but it all peaked at a bit of kettling around Brighton station and a couple barking dogs.

The anti-fascists posed the most significant threat, as they clearly wanted to beat the living crap out of the far-right nationalists, but the police, with their horses, did enough to separate the two throughout most of the day.

There’s gonna be NEIGH trouble with these beasts around

Other than a bit of chanting, there was an inherently middle-class feel about the whole event. Mothers with their prams highlighting their disagreement with both the far-right nationalists and the arguably extreme opposition to them.

In fact, the whole thing was so clearly middle-class that during the peak of kettling both sides away from each other, I was actually allowed to leave becuase I told a policeman I had left a piece of salmon in the oven.

Here’s the day in pictures:

A suspect bus was our first clue of the day something was going down

The police prepare for the march to start

The marchers eventually make their way down the seafront

Some guy plays his trombone at the march

A helicopter does some helicoptering

The march make their way back to the station

So the police kettle the anti-marchers to keep them away

The march eventually make it back to the station safely

Then we do the British thing, clean up, and pretend nothing ever happened

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