In the hours before the UKIP rally in Sheffield, a young man of far-right persuasions named Thomas Moffitt, known online as “Young Bob,” voiced his anxieties to a smartphone camera.
Arrested recently in Birmingham and now a fixture of this fringe fascist outfit, Moffitt complained to his followers of being “kettled by antifa.”
No public nuisance
His grievance, however, was not with some lone public nuisance, but with around 800 – 1000 anti-fascist protestors who had gathered to ensure that a small group of racist demonstrators would not bring their hate to the city centre.
Their message was simple and unequivocal: Sheffield says no to racism and fascism.
This confrontation did not occur in a vacuum. In a politically tense climate, the arrival of figures like Moffitt’s apparent mentor, the far-right agitator Nick Tenconi, was a direct provocation.
Laughable weakness
Yet, the event revealed an organisation in possibly terminal decline, a pathetic spectacle whose aggressive posturing masks a profound and laughable weakness.
The most immediate indicator was the sheer lack of support. In a repeat of a failed London rally from two weeks ago , Tencoco’s followers mustered a pitiful turnout of only 60 to 80 people.
This group was not only dwarfed by the several hundred counter-demonstrators but was also contained by hundreds of police officers drafted in from at least six different forces – a significant and wholly unjustifiable bill for the British taxpayer, who must fund the security for the very unrest these agitators incite.
Delusional grandiosity
Despite the tiny numbers, the group exhibited a delusional grandiosity that has become its hallmark.
Tenconi, whose megalomania arguably outdoes even that of Britain First’s Paul Golding, announced he would soon be in Number 10. This detachment from reality underscores a shift from political campaigning to messianic fantasy.
Like Britain First, UKIP’s strategy appears to be less about winning broad support and more about using provocations in cities like Sheffield to recruit for their cult-like sect and deliberately incite a reaction.
Their intent to provoke was clear. The UKIP marchers were even more aggressive than their BF counterparts, with even less control over their behaviour.
Anti-fascists win the day
It was clear that a segment were there for a punch up, a fact illustrated when they screamed abuse at a group of passing drummers who had shown no hostility to them at all.
In the end was the anti-fascists who won the day, breaching the police lines and blocking the UKIP route.
And there was nothing Tenconi and his hapless coterie of thugs could do about it. Two of his ‘security team’ ended up flat on their backs.
In the event there were seven arrests, though it is not clear at this time which side any of then were on.
Thuggish impulse
This thuggish impulse was complemented by a veneer of righteousness, as they engaged in pseudo-Christian posturing, including displays of crosses, which actually served as cover for crude hatred directed primarily at Muslims.
But Sheffield is a city forged in steel and a long history of opposing fascism. In the 1930s, it was Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts who were driven out.
From the Anti-Nazi League to Sheffield Defence Campaign to today’s Sheffield Campaign Against Racism and Fascism (SCARF), and Stand Up To Racism, organisers of Saturday’s mobilisation, the city has a proven record of seeing off the advocates of hate. Today was no different.
Tenconi’s plan to gather at Sheffield Cathedral was a miscalculation; he found the historic building’s steps occupied by a determined crowd of anti-fascists in defiance of a police order.
The city itself had been prepared; slogans from SUTR and SCARF, including “Refugees Welcome,” were plastered across the city, and one local pub hung a large banner proclaiming the same.
Farcical spectacle
The demo culminated in a farcical spectacle that signals the end is nigh for this particular cult. Their attempts to break through police lines to attack the counter-demonstrators were decisively quashed by the imposing appearance of six police horses.
By the day’s end, a deflated Nick Tenconi admitted to “exhaustion and fatigue.” In a moment of profound irony, he blamed the very police forces protecting his minuscule band, a move that only further highlighted his detachment from reality.
He even framed his actions as a scriptural commandment, though the chapter on “Go to city centres with a gaggle of fascists, racists, and grifters” must be from a new, hitherto unknown bible.
The day belonged to Sheffield. It was a powerful reaffirmation that when hate comes to town, this city, with its proud history of resistance, will always answer the call.
Today it also exposed this particular fascist outfit not as a formidable force, but as a failing farce.
