On Britain First’s ‘March for Remigration’ on 21st February, their ‘St George’s Day March’ on 18th April, and the actions of Greater Manchester Police at both demonstrations.

Dear Mayor Andy Burnham, Deputy Mayor Kate Green and Councillor Bev Craig,

We are concerned and affected community members from across Greater Manchester who, twice in the space of 9 weeks, have had to endure the presence of Britain First in the city centre, and survive Greater Manchester Police’s violence. 

Britain First is a far-right neo-fascist political organisation, promoting a ‘patriotic and nationalist’ agenda, positioning themselves as a Christian crusade group. They appropriate Christianity to cover for their white nationalism and racism, seen in their calls for the ‘remigration’ of non-white people living in the UK. 

Their presence in our city has increased since 2024, and twice in the past 9 weeks they have brought hundreds of people to march through our city centre seemingly unchallenged by the city’s political leadership, and facilitated and protected by Greater Manchester Police (GMP). 

Members of Britain First are renowned for their ‘Christian Patrols’ in which they target and harass people in areas with large populations of people of colour, Muslims and migrants. They coordinate and mobilise people to harass and torment people at immigration centres, and at hotels where people seeking asylum are being housed. Their leadership actively call for able-bodied English men to ‘fight’ for English people and land and show ‘foreign invaders’ what ‘English warriors’ are made of. To do this, they often target and exploit state neglect to radicalise white working class communities to gain support. 

Bev, on the 19th February, ahead of Britain First’s ‘March for Remigration’ you released a statement in which you said: ‘Whatever challenges we face, Manchester stands together. Our unity is stronger than hate and the values that unite us will always hold firm…the hate and division that Britain First foster has no place here…Manchester does not welcome Britain First to our city because they seek to divide our communities and spread hatred’. 

Naturally, on the 21st February, in true Mancunian spirit, over 1000 people assembled in Sackville Gardens. Under the banner of Resist Britain First, supported by a coalition of community groups and organisations, people from across the city region stood united. Together, we showed that Britain First are not welcome in Manchester, and that we wholeheartedly oppose their attempts to divide our communities and spread hatred. 

Over the course of this day, the people who gathered were harassed and antagonised by far-right ‘auditors’, attacked by Britain First supporters and harmed by GMP’s extreme use of force, including from Tactical Aid Units and horse-mounted officers. Furthermore, members of the public who had come into Manchester City Centre for Saturday normal life activities and commitments were not just disrupted by Britain First’s march, some were followed, harassed, threatened and attacked by their supporters. 

Within 24 hours of that march, Britain First announced their plans to return for a St Georges Day march. So once again, in true Mancunian spirit, the community had no choice but to make plans to oppose them. Days before the 18th April, GMP released a statement to confirm that policing levels would be higher than what we would see for the Manchester football derby which sees over 100,000 football fans present. When the derby takes place, football teams are responsible for the policing bill. Following the violence from Britain First in February, one could presume that this policing would focus on those who incite violence and racism, and had previously attacked members of the public. However, GMP came out focused on the counter-demonstration. 

Andy, in your video released on 18th April, you stated ‘There is no place in Greater Manchester for any form of racism or hate. There never has been and there never will be’. 

Despite a total absence of action from you, your words proved to be prophetic as later that day, hundreds of Mancunians gathered on Piccadilly Gardens united against racism and hate. Armed with banners, placards, music and their voices, people took to the streets to protest Britain First’s presence, refusing to let racism go unchallenged. Counter-protestors were met with hundreds of police officers, Tactical Aid Units, horses, dogs, batons, and the relentless use of PAVA spray (legally recognised as a firearm). They were assaulted, brutalised, and targeted by the police, many of whom did not wear their badge numbers as legally required. 

The standard was set in Piccadilly Gardens and extreme force continued throughout the day, escalating further in other parts of the city centre, and during the police kettle on St Peter’s Square. Not only was this witnessed by people present, but it was filmed by many, and documented by journalists, police monitors, and legal observers.  

The additional police powers used throughout the day, the sheer number of officers deployed, the resource at their disposal and the impunity officers displayed meant that over the course of four hours over 150 people were harmed as a result of GMP actions. Medics report providing treatment to 100 people seriously injured with support from other protestors; some people had to be sent directly to hospital by taxi or ambulance, and others attended A&E later that day. 

The recent 2026/2027 Greater Manchester Council Tax Precept increased resident council tax bills and raised an additional £14.4m funding for GMP, bringing their total annual budget to over £900m. Despite the continuous public opposition and community campaigns, and despite thousands of households struggling financially, Deputy Mayor Kate Green justified the increases, in part to provide GMP with the financial resources to police protests. These needs were supported and endorsed by Andy who put forward the proposal to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s Police Fire and Crime panel at the vote meeting in January 2026.

Barely 4 weeks into the new council tax year, now we all see what this investment meant. Violence, surveillance, harm, criminalisation, and the vilification of those who embodied the true spirit of Mancunian community and solidarity; those who move beyond vacuous statements, such as yours, to actually stand up against racism and fascism. 

As this city’s, and the city region’s political leadership, you gave GMP the investment and free reign to brutalise the people who live here. You celebrate people like Emmeline Pankhurst, whose statue stands tall in St Peter’s Square — yet in that very square, people suffered the kinds of police violence she once endured and resisted. You cannot honour the memory of resistance while sanctioning its repetition. Do you think the radicals this city celebrates — Len Johnson, Olive Morris, the dock workers who refused to move cotton from slave-owner’s plantations along Manchester’s canals — would have stood by, or would they have stood with us to challenge this state-sanctioned violence, expose your hypocrisy and hold you to account?

It is time for you to live up to the words of your public statements. People of Manchester, some of whom elected you into office, brought your words to life in their commitment to community solidarity. As political leaders, you gave Britain First the freedom and protection to march their hate and violence through our city, disrupting the lives of thousands of people, and you gave GMP the permission to run riot.

It is time for you to condemn Britain First, and the actions of GMP. 

We demand that you issue a public apology to the people of Manchester for the disruption and fear you caused to their lives, and for the violent actions of the GMP.

We demand that no more of our public funds are spent on facilitating Britain First (or similar Far-Right groups) marching through our city and spreading their hateful agenda.

We demand that funding equivalent to that spent on policing across the two demonstrations be directed towards community centres, existing antiracist initiatives and forms of collective care that support people in Manchester – as outlined in our resource ‘Fund Communities (not policing)’.

Written, and published by Northern Police Monitoring Project

Co-Signed by members of Greater Manchester’s antiracist community

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