Let’s be under no illusions about the significance of this week’s events in Epping – this is simply the first chapter in determined efforts by the far right this summer to engineer a repeat of last year’s post-Southport race riots, using whatever pretext presents itself.
This week the pretext was three alleged sexual assaults on young girls in two days by an Ethiopian asylum seeker who was staying at the Bell Hotel.
Misdirected anger
Local people, understandably enraged, sadly misdirected their anger at other migrants residing at the Bell and organised demonstrations outside the hotel.
This was what the far right had been waiting and praying for. They have been agitating around the hotel for two years or more, and fascists soon began arriving from all over the south east determined to whip up trouble, confront anti-racists and fight the police.
These agitators care not one jot for the welfare of children – their own ranks are riddled with child sex offenders and, only two weeks ago, we reported how one group, White Vanguard, had refused to say it would report paedophiles if it found them amongst its members.
Anti-racists were brutally attacked during the first demonstration at the weekend, and again at the second event on Thursday.
A decision to march some 50 anti-racists from the tube station in the direction of a much larger racist mob, drooling for a scrap, was ill-advised to say the least.
Spirited resistance
In the end, despite some spirited resistance to repeated fascist assaults, the anti-racists were cordoned off by the police. But they still came under a hail of missiles – rocks, coke cans and the like – before being escorted away.
Claims that the demonstration was solely a reflection of local anger soon fell apart when photos appeared of known nazi thugs amongst the trouble.
Perhaps the most significant was Phil Curson, a hardcore nazi who was linked with Combat 18 and, in 2003 was part of a gang jailed for a violent attack on two young men, one black, one Asian in Romford.
His gang was responsible for a trail of attacks and destruction in the Harold Hill area for months and had threatened the infant son of Searchlight’s then-editor when we exposed them.
Curson got three and a half years for violent disorder and 12 months for racially-aggravated grievous bodily harm.
He was seen at the forefront of the confrontation with the police this week.
Far right fame
Also present was veteran fascist and former BNP organiser Eddy Butler, whose claim to far-right fame is masterminding the party’s 1993 election campaign in the Isle of Dogs which saw Derek Beackon elected as the BNP’s first local councillor.
After two spells with the BNP Butler was expelled by Nick Griffin in 2012 and went on to join the English Democrats and Ann Marie Waters’ For Britain.
Butler has been trying to stir up local feeling about the hotel for years, and joined up with Julian Leppart, a former BNP organiser now with the British Democrats, to make an online video about it.
Photographed with Curson directly confronting police lines at The Bell was Lance Wright, a former neo-nazi Blood and Honour activist.
Two years ago, again with Curson, he was involved in the far right demonstrations at the Honor Oak pub in south London.
Homeland Party activist Callum Barker was filmed addressing the crowd, and members of Spurs DFLA were also spotted..
Epping has a long history of BNP and racist activity going back to 1988 in Loughton. It was targeted by BNP activist Mark Wilson and the party unexpectedly won 5% of the vote in a council by-election.
This first persuaded then-BNP leader John Tyndall that white flight areas were a better target than East London but led to tension with Eddy Butler whose Isle of Dogs success had persuaded him that his inner-city Rights for Whites-style campaign had the most potential.
BNP stalwarts
And yet BNP stalwarts like Isle of Dogs victor Derek Beacon, Julian Leppert and the late Steve Tyler moved to Essex.
Leppert is still there, and sits as a British Democrat district councillor for Waltham Abbey Paternoster ward. He has been at the forefront of trying to whip up local feelings about the hotel being used to house asylum seekers.
After Epping, the far right have got their tails up. Already a series of anti-migrant demonstrations have been called in Bournemouth, Southampton and other cities.
Just like last year, these events are being called anonymously, so although they all claim to be ‘peaceful protests’ there can be little doubt that the intention is that – like last year – racist violence should kick off all over the country.
The anti-fascist movement has to be ready.
