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Reader questions far-right protestors: 'Have you learnt nothing?'
My niece had the unfortunate experience of working in a pub near Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom rally, attended by up to 150,000 on Saturday (Metro, Mon).
Protesters came in, some with their children, shouting and roaring abuse.
A Chinese member of staff was assaulted. A woman was spat at for not being a ‘British national’. An Uber driver, waiting for a member of staff who was too frightened to travel on public transport, was verbally abused because he wasn’t white.
And that’s just a few examples of what happened through the afternoon and evening. When Katie Hopkins says that immigrants should integrate and ‘behave like us’, is this what she means?
You could dismiss this as ‘just a few people who don’t represent the majority’, but this type of behaviour is becoming the norm for Robinson’s supporters and the like. Just as the St George’s flag is now, by default, a representation of aggression, threat, ignorance and bigotry.
I don’t know how it can be reclaimed to represent honest, decent pride. And why was it decided not to use the police facial recognition software that was used at the Notting Hill Carnival? After all, a number of these protests around the country have turned violent.
Was it the fear that Robinson would twist it as an attack on British people and freedom of speech?
We are quickly moving back to the time of ‘No Blacks, no Irish, no dogs’. If that’s what people want, then shame on you all. Have you learnt nothing? Maria, South-East London
Reader says she experienced ‘two examples of the kind of British people’ she has known, amidst’Unite the Kingdom’ rally
I was at Waterloo in London on Saturday morning. I saw large crowds with British flags wrapped around them.
I did not know what was going on and nor did those who were waiting for buses.
The police were there, too. Waterloo Bridge was cordoned off, so no buses.
I began walking. But there were men wrapped in flags coming from the opposite direction.
So I stepped on to the road and began to walk. But a policeman with a Northern accent told me to walk on the pavement.
I hesitated as it was filled by huge, burly men. I am 5ft 2in and brown.
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Then a tall, English woman came next to me and said, ‘Let’s walk together.’ We did.
But feeling nervous, I did not introduce myself. We parted at Aldwych.
These were two examples of the kind of British people I have known.
Later, I saw that several police were hurt. Such a pity when they were only trying to keep the peace and protecting others like me. Gloria, Chessington
Aggressive man wearing an England flag threatened ‘lone traveller’ in train carriage
To the person who verbally threatened my son on a C2C train on Saturday. You accused him of taking photos of you and your friends, when he was just looking at his phone.
You then pursued him down the train, threatening to ‘f*** him up’. You must have felt really big, picking on a lone traveller for no reason when you had your mates with you.
The truth is, you’re a cowardly little scumbag and a disgrace to the England flag you were wearing. Grow up. Rob, via email
‘Successive governments’ failure’ to blame for the weekend’s ‘massive demonstration’?
The massive demonstration in London is the result of the failure of successive governments to deal with illegal migration.
The arrival of thousands of illegal migrants, most of whom are abusing the asylum system and are from countries which are not at war, has been ignored for too long.
No nation on earth can allow undocumented foreign citizens to enter its territory uninvited. Yet unlike the rest of the world, most countries in Western Europe have been opening their borders for decades to people from other continents with different cultures and religions, providing housing and sometimes jobs – mostly low paid – to the detriment of its indigenous population.
Many of the new arrivals have failed to integrate and have established segregated communities. Instead of creating a vibrant diverse society, this multicultural melting pot has failed, generating different ethnic groups and a divided society.
Illegal migration has become a lucrative criminal industry involving trafficking gangs, mafias and even foreign governments. The result has been the growing popularity of right-wing parties.
But instead of treating the causes of the dissatisfaction of the vast majority of citizens, left-wing parties have simply ignored the wishes of the people. Peter Fieldman, Paris
Reader points out hypocrisy of ‘rightist cheerleaders’
On Saturday the great patriots came to ‘Unite the Kingdom’, waving flags, shouting slogans, swigging beer, throwing bottles, flinging flares and calling for the government to be overthrown and the prime minister to be murdered. They left 26 police officers injured.
Led by Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka ‘Tommy Robinson’) and supported by Elon Musk, they showed their true colours.
Where were the words of condemnation from rightist cheerleaders Nigel Farage, Robert Jenrick, Kemi Badenoch, the Metropolitan Police Federation and Tory London mayoral hopeful Susan Hall?
Hall complains that the number of police officers injured at Notting Hill Carnival is unacceptable, yet, relative to the size of the crowd, more than four times as many officers were injured at Saturday’s rally than at Notting Hill.
So, Ms Hall, why don’t you demand Unite the Kingdom demos be moved to a park (Wormwood Scrubs, perhaps) and insist on them being ticketed?
The Met announced in advance it would not be using live facial recognition at Saturday’s demo.
That was the opposite of its tactics at Carnival, where it makes a great deal of noise about the pre-emptive measures it is taking. Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer took 24 hours to say that ‘Britain won’t surrender the flag to those who wish to use it as a symbol of violence’ (too late – no decent person will want to be seen holding the flag now).
Business secretary Peter Kyle uttered the most mealy-mouthed comment of all, saying the tattooed battalions were merely ‘demonstrating freedom of association and freedom of speech’.
I urge Mr Kyle to read some 1930s European history and learn how swiftly matters can get out of control in a ‘civilised’ but complacent country. Stephen Spark, Balham
Reader says the name of the ‘EDL-type crowd’ march is the ‘best example of an oxymoron’
I have to comment on the Unite the Kingdom march.
We were caught unawares on Saturday evening at Waterloo station and initially thought we had caught football hooligans on their way home – loud, aggressive chanting, drink bottles everywhere and evidence of drugs.
It was soon obvious from the chants it was an EDL-type crowd.
Watching on the news afterwards was even worse. The name of the march is the best example of an oxymoron.
We indeed don’t need foreigners – we can damage our country on our own, thank you.
We are proud of Britain/England, but not all of what Britain/England has to offer. Daniel, via email
Is the ‘sheer number’ of Union Jacks put up ‘utter hysteria’?
It is really quite unnerving seeing all these Union Jacks festooned everywhere.
The flag itself should not be intimidating, but I do feel intimidated, even as a white Brit – I think because the sheer quantity of them just feels like utter hysteria.
How aggressively nationalist do you have to be to put a Union Jack on every lamppost? I can think of only one other moment in history that had this many identical flags in one place, and that’s the Nuremberg Rallies.Rob Slater, Norfolk
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