John Westmoreland and James Simpson report on the shocking thuggery of the far right in south Yorkshire and Bristol, while Steph Pike describes the Manchester anti-fascist protest

The Holiday Inn Hotel on Manvers Way, Rotherham, which has provided shelter for asylum seekers that have fled terror in their home countries, faced a murderous attack from a mob led by hardcore fascists on Sunday.

A small demonstration showing political support for the residents in the hotel had to leave the scene once the far right mob grew to a thousand. Apart from anything else, the police had to occupy the entire front of the hotel if they were to defend those inside.

The right-wing mob was led by fascists, some of whom arrived wearing military-style combat gear and masks. They were the leaders of the violence, but the bulk of the people there were from the local community.

The thugs accused the asylum seekers of rape and murder, the words of a dehumanising excuse for the violence that followed. Their murderous intentions were openly expressed and were there for all to see. That local working-class people felt at one with these sentiments was particularly concerning.

The intention to burn the hotel down became obvious as cars and vans carrying missiles and combustible material arrived. The police were attacked with a frenzy of enthusiasm and the thugs managed to break into the hotel and start a fire, as well as smashing windows that forced the residents up to the top floor.

The terror that the residents suffered was worse than the terror they had fled in their home countries.

How to turn back the fascists

The working class in Rotherham and other deindustrialised areas have lost the organic connection to the labour movement that used to be strong. The Holiday Inn Hotel sits on the old Manvers colliery complex. The coal fed the steelworks in Rotherham that, like the pits, is no more.

The fascist terror serves two purposes. It galvanises the bond between the fascists and the softer racists, and it tries to silence the voice of the left. The battle ahead is for the soul of the working class.

The Labour MPs elected in June have to be pressured to join with campaigners to join a united front against fascism and racism. We have to be visible on the streets and in the communities denouncing the fascists and the right-wing forces that feed their narrative.

The forces that can unite to defeat the fascists are the trade unions and their role in fighting poverty and inequality, as well as campaigning organisations that have fought racism and war. There has to be an acknowledgement that the fascists got a massive boost over the past decade from Tory politicians denouncing refugees and asylum seekers and calling pro-Palestine demonstration ‘hate marches’.

The left has to come together to meet that challenge.

Bristol: A close shave

Last Saturday was the day of the latest national rally in solidarity for Palestine. As with all the times before it, Bristol was well represented and travelling together en masse. However, the atmosphere on the journeys was sullied by the calling of mass far right rallies across the country including, an action starting at 8pm in Castle Park in Bristol city centre. This worried atmosphere was heightened by various local community and political groups encouraging members to stay away from the rally and confronting the racists head on. This angered activists, aware that the marches end point was Redcliffe Hill, the only thing of note there being the Mercure Hotel. A hotel, that for the last year or so has been the enforced home of asylum seekers awaiting the overdue processing of their claims to refugeehood. Multiple families and young children make up its patrons.

As we left Reading services comrades in Castle Park started sharing photos of a mass mobilisation of several hundreds of counter protestors, that even at their advertised meeting time, outnumbered the far right vastly. Although as we crept into Bristol footage started emerging of police arresting counter protestors, and as we disembarked, the story became more obscure. Messages of kettling and road closures and a situation in chaotic flux was emerging. The image had changed. The police had lost control, and the far right, numbers now swelled, were heading unimpeded to confront the people in the hotel.

The cyclists from the coach headed straight to the hotel and the pedestrians to meet comrades on the way from the park. As we got to the hotel counter protestors were just turning up and we linked arms in two rows across the door. Within minutes more counter protestors arrived but closely behind them were the first of the far right. There were only four police officers on the scene at this time that had arrived by bike. The masses of police from forces across the west country and south coast as well as our very own Avon and Somerset constabulary, were busying themselves stopping any other counter protestor getting to the hotel, having lost control of the freely marauding fascists.

For twenty minutes, maybe more, felt like more, the lines held firm to repeated attacks, first by bottle and bricks hurled from afar, and then face to face, to repeated waves of attack mere metres from the hotel door. The numbers were just, barely, enough to keep them from getting inside the hotel before mounted, canine and riot police arrived. It is telling that at the time of writing, the same community groups have not put out any similar notices to dissuade attendance, as the same sorry scenario is scheduled to play out again tomorrow night. Perhaps in recognition that the people that stood up as a community to the thugs in Bristol that night had stopped a bad situation becoming a terrible one. Sentiments echoed publicly by local media, the BBC and even Avon and Somerset Police. So tomorrow we go again, this time in larger numbers, and this time to hopefully chase the organised far right out of Bristol for the foreseeable future.

Strong anti-fascist response in Manchester

The far right, emboldened by months of state racism and Islamophobia, has used the tragic events in Southport to organise a wave of violent gatherings across the country. In Manchester, 350-400 anti-fascist activists including SUTR, GMSTWC, trade unions and other groups mobilised in the city centre to try and stop the far right from marching.

It was a powerful and lively counter-demo which included activists from the Palestine movement and it outnumbered the far right. There was a strong effort by the counter-demo, but we were heavily policed by rows of riot police and police horses, who threatened us with arrest, and we were unable to stop the far right from marching. We did march through the city centre to bring a powerful message that the far right and their politics of violence and hate are not welcome in our city. We then joined the Palestine demo. The policing that happened in Manchester yesterday was shameful. Having allowed the far right to march and over-policed our counter-demo, instead of containing the far right, the police allowed them to run riot in the city centre to attack and intimidate people and attack and loot shops.

Amongst numerous incidents, the far-right thugs attacked two women in hijabs, and a young black man was violently attacked by up to ten fascists while the police stood by and did nothing. This morning, there were reports that the far right had attacked a gay bar at about 11.30pm. Given that Greater Manchester Police is institutionally racist, and has recently been embroiled in yet another scandal where an Asian man was kicked in the head and stamped on at Manchester airport, it is no surprise that the policing of violent racists and fascists was so terrible.

Nevertheless, we must hold the police and those responsible for them to account; we will be making a complaint to GMP and to the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham. This was a strong response from Manchester to the far right, but the resistance to the far right needs to be bigger. We need to build a huge united anti-racist and anti-fascist movement so that the next time they come to our city, as they will, we can stop them marching and defend our communities from their violence and hate.

No Pasaran!