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I just found this blog, The Radish uncensored student news & analysis at the University of Birmingham, via a link on the Man Of The Woods blog. The Radish is a Birmingham based student blogger.
To quote The Radish in its entirety, just in case it gets deleted:
I arrived at the Bullring shortly after 5:00, the scheduled start of the Unite Against Fascism demonstration. An islamophobic hate group called the English Defence League (or EDL), widely thought to be closely associated with the BNP, had planned a march for that evening, and we intended to be there to counter them.
The protest began fairly peacefully, with the UAF leadership trying to lead the crowd in chants and the usual recruiting stalls out. The location seemed to be inviting kettling by the police, being just outside the Waterstones next to the Bullring, and the fact that it was a stationary demonstration meant we were milling around listening to a megaphone for some time. The crowd began to grow restless, wondering where the enemy they had come to confront was. The reason the EDL was nowhere to be seen was that their march was planned for an hour later, at 6:00. Why the UAF decided to call the demonstration earlier is unclear, but the extra time meant many left impatient and disillusioned, while others just grew angrier.
By half-past, the crowd was angry and ready for confrontation. People from the TUC moving to join the protests were mistaken for the EDL and pelted with sticks. The police, having already surrounded us, began to grow more wary. Small groups of 3 and 4 skinheads were observing us carefully. “They’ve got spotters,” the man next to me warned me. “If they’ve got any brains, they’ll try and surround us, come at us from all directions. Even fascists can figure that one out.” In lieu of any possibility for effective action, the crowd began to half-heartedly throw sticks, signs, and a glass bottle at the police, but fortunately they were stopped before the police were provoked.
Shortly after 6, with no sign of the EDL and mutterings of punctuality being expected of fascists, the crowd tried to surge down New Street towards where the EDL march was starting. What followed was the most leisurely-paced beginning to a riot I have ever seen. A crowd surge was soon followed by a retreating stampede as the police advanced with batons. This ended up happening a couple of times, with short intervals. Meanwhile, the police by the Bullring were forming a line in preparation to kettle the protest, but at a very relaxed pace. The police line on the High street, on the other hand, was equipped with riot shields and helmets. The riot police advanced about once every 10 or 15 minutes, and it took almost half an hour for the line by the bullring to form properly. We were even given advance warning that we were about to be kettled. This led to the vaguely surreal scenario of a kettle with barely anyone in, with about a third of the protest having left in frustration, and more people outside filming or craning to see what was going on than actually contained by the police lines. The more vocal protesters were semi-restricted to the bottom of New Street, leading to a situation a friend described as “kettles within kettles within kettles”. Throughout it all, shoppers kept coming and going, apparently oblivious. Then the situation escalated.
Some members of the EDL, who were reportedly being held in their own kettle in Victoria Square, had managed to break free and come down the high street, attacking and deliberately goading the large quantity of local Asian youth present. Sure enough, the enraged charge went straight past the loose police line and routed them almost immediately, pursuing them as far as Carr’s Lane. Some managed to chase them up a side street past Corporation Street, despite UAF stewards tying to discourage them, but they were swiftly pursued by about 20 police with riot gear. I quickly thought better of following them. Seeing an injured young man in a shop doorway, I told a spare policeman that he might need help, but was met with a shrug. Fortunately, his friends were able to escort him to safety.
More police advanced towards me, planning on kettling what remained of the crowd on the High Street. A line had already formed before Carr’s Lane, and as I quickly found out trying to get back to New Street was futile – it was blocked off too. By this point, there were more confused shoppers than protestors confined to the high street. The UAF leadership, perhaps sensing what was coming, had long since disappeared. Any possibility for effective action appeared to have evaporated, at least to my eyes, so around 10 past 7 I was eventually able to slip past police lines and make my way back home.
Around 9, when I began to write this article, I received a phone call from a friend. “Are you in Birmingham?” he asked.
“Yes, why?”
“You know there’s a riot in the city centre?”
“Really? I thought that had died down a couple of hours ago!”
“No, the police are going crazy with baton charges! I can’t see why, nothing’s being broken or smashed up. I didn’t even know anything was going on, I just went into town for a drink!”
Nobody seemed to know what was going on. Rather than the well-directed rage of Cable Street, confused anger seemed to be the order of the day. The UAF had no idea what to do with all the people they’d assembled, the crowd seemed to know little about how or where to confront the EDL, the EDL members who managed to reach the bullring must have been feeling almost suicidal, and even the police only seemed to have a vague idea of what to do. Whether you consider this a peaceful protest that got out of hand, or militant anti-fascism that was disorganised and misdirected, it appears that the only beneficiaries were the EDL themselves scoring a potential propaganda victory. How these events plays out in the wider media, and whether hate groups have been emboldened or discouraged, however, is yet to be seen.
Whatever the true reasons behind the violence in Birmingham I personally fear that the UAF are winding up the wrong group of people. I pray that the minority groups realise what is happening and ignore them. If I am wrong and it was not the UAF (as claimed by The Guardian) and the Labour party winding up the counter demonstrators then why did they and their support organisations take their unite placards printed up with anti British National Party slogans?
From the report in The Guardian: -
The English Defence League and Casuals United, two linked groups, are planning protests against what they see as militant Islam in Manchester, Luton, Harrow and other as yet secret locations, according to a website.
The move comes after their supporters fought battles with Asian men backed by Unite Against Fascism activists in front of shocked shoppers at the Bull Ring shopping centre.
The picture below is of a typical UAF music gig. I simply did a googlemooch on the term Unite Against Fascism and clicked the ‘images’ link at the top of the search results page.
My experience of seeing so called anti-fascists is that the vast majority are wringing wet liberal left wing middle class white boys and girls who want to talk about how good it was to demonstrate. Tell me I am wrong! Look at the picture and identify all of the Asian men.
I think that someone is trying to stoke up religious hatred and should be reminded by the long arm of the law that this is a crime.
