Far-right groups planning major disruption across Belfast on 18 September

Far-right groups in Belfast, many of whom had members in attendance at the recent mass outpouring of hate in London, are seeking to maintain the toxic momentum of that caustic rally by shutting down roads across the North of Ireland on the evening of Thursday 18 September.

Far-right groups plan to shut down Belfast

Billed as a continuation of efforts to keep “fighting for the future of our children and grandchildren“, the true nature of the protests can be seen in postings across social media, most notably the Official Protestant Coalition Facebook page. A message yesterday shows an image of a crowd mainly composed of people of colour, gathered outside Belfast Islamic Centre, with the text “Northern Ireland SAY NO”, followed by:

OPERRATION [sic] SHUT DOWN

18TH OF SEPTEMBBER [sic] 7 PM

Other posts invite Afghans to “GTF” or ‘Get Tae Fuck’, which Urban Dictionary defines as “Scottish equivalent of ‘please leave me in peace, you disagreeable individual’, or ‘fuck off’.” It goes on to say:

Our government are a disgrace dishing out that amount of money while we have our own people including veterans and homeless without two pennies to rub together. I am ashamed of my government

Before juxtaposing details of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme and Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy with an image bearing the text “This ends when we all say NO” foregrounding a sea of Union Jacks.

Lost on the writer of this missive appears to be a recognition that Afghans have been fleeing that country as a direct result of its destruction at the hands of the British army and its US malefactor, as they waged a senseless war on Afghanistan for 20 years before handing it back to the very people they’d sought to purge.

During that time, many Afghans, desperate for work in an impoverished and conflict-blighted nation, assisted the invading armies as translators, in security roles and numerous other capacities.  That then made them obvious targets for the Taliban once they regained power, leaving the workers little option but to seek safe haven in the very nations whose militaries they aided.

Racism – what else?

The flag-shaggers rejection of these people shows that the protests have little to do with “patriotism”, and instead reflect a blind xenophobia and racism to Black and brown people.

The intention of the protests is clearly to maximise disruption, as attendees are urged to:

Remember its [sic] operation shutdown meaning block the roads not white line. White line protests achieved nothing. WE WANT SHUTDOWN!!!

A long list of locations has been published, including Cloughfern, Carrickfergus, Larne, Ballymena and numerous locations across Belfast. The broad range of locations will represent a useful means of gauging the current strength of far-right activism in the North.

Previous protests have seen modest crowds in strongholds such as East Belfast, ranging to non-existent attendance at other planned locations in the city. The plan is clearly to trouble an already overstretched police service, which has struggled (or been troublingly reluctant) to deal with previous racist mass disorder such as that seen in Ballymena earlier in the year.

The PSNI are quoted in the Irish News saying:

Police are aware of planned protests taking place across multiple locations this Thursday, September 18 from 7pm.

We are monitoring the situation and are planning for a proportionate policing response.

Featured image via the Canary