Up to 2,000 people representing every community in the city gathered this morning at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay. The demonstration had been organised by Unite Against Fascism (UAF), against the racist English Defence League (EDL) who had planned a march through the city centre. The march progressed from the Bay, through Grangetown, Riverside and the city centre, to its destination at City Hall where DJs were playing music.
Using knowledge gleaned from policing football hooligans – which was ironic as this is what the EDL’s supporters actually are – the police kept the 2 demonstrations well segregated. Rows of police and metal barriers had been set up, and nobody on the UAF demonstration was able to get within 100 yards of the proposed EDL meeting spot at the National Museum.
Police initially seemed to be providing a generous service to the anti-fascist community when they distributed bottles of water on this hot and humid morning. However, their real purpose became clear when people found themselves penned in at the UAF meeting point, and were told that they would not be allowed to leave the area until the EDL march was over at 3pm, meaning over 2 hours of confinement.
Together with the musical entertainment, there were a number of speakers who repeatedly emphasised the point that Cardiff is a diverse and multicultural city, and that traditionally all religions in Cardiff – Christian, Hindu, Sikh, Muslim or Jew – have traditionally lived at peace with each other. The EDL seeks to conceal its racism behind a mask of opposition to Islam, and Leanne Wood, Plaid Cymru AM, argued that people need to note that “our Muslim brothers and sisters have been specifically targeted”, and stated that she was proud to belong to a long Welsh tradition of anti-racism and anti-fascism.
Adam Johannes of Cardiff Stop The War Campaign made the point that the strategy of waging war against Muslims abroad was bound to spark off sentiment against Muslims at home.
Martin Smith of Love Music Hate Racism described the links between the EDL and other European fascist groups, and warned that their anti-Islamicism was indeed a façade, pointing out that the EDL had made recent violent attacks on trade unionists at a conference as well as attacking striking British Airways cabin crew.
Smith then informed a cheering crowd that only 30 EDL supporters had turned up in Cardiff today, and just a derisory 7 in Swansea where they had also intended to gather. This was in contrast to the thousands of supporters they had claimed would attend.
It seemed that few if any of the EDL gathered were actually Welsh either, most having been brought in on a couple of mini-buses from England. This emphasised that it is wrong to speak of a “Welsh Defence League”. Interestingly, the film of the EDL demonstrators in Cardiff today shows them chanting “EDL! EDL!”, and only English accents were heard on interviews with them.
It was heartening to see a number of UAF demonstrators proudly wearing the shirts of Cardiff City, Wales and other Welsh football teams, demonstrating conclusively that Welsh football supporters generally have no truck with fascism. There were also a sprinkling of Skinheads Against Racism.
A large number of Cardiff taxi drivers went on strike today in support of the UAF march, on one of their potentially most profitable days of the year considering that there was a big rugby international being played in the city today as well as the Stereophonics concert at the Cardiff City Stadium.
At 2.30, half an hour before the intended release of UAF protesters from their “soft kettle”, a few demonstrators seemed to break out and rush towards the New Theatre where they believed they could hear EDL chanting. There was a possibility of a skirmish but the police quickly regained control, although there was an arrest made at this point.
By Peter Davies
Photograph © Bronwen Davies
The views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of the Welsh Icons team
