Today, the Northern Police Monitoring Project were present as Resist Britain First mobilised in significant numbers to oppose the racist and fascist group Britain First, as they marched through the centre of the city.
What we witnessed raises yet more serious and urgent concerns about the despicable conduct of Greater Manchester Police, and the many forces deployed alongside them from across the country.
AN EXTRAORDINARY DEPLOYMENT OF RESOURCE
At a time of deep and sustained austerity — when public services are being cut to the bone and communities across Greater Manchester are suffering — GMP showed no shortage of resources today. The scale of the policing was staggering.
POLICE VIOLENCE AGAINST ANTIFASCIST PROTESTERS
Officers behaved thuggishly, with consistent and serious aggression and violence — overwhelmingly directed at antifascist counter-protesters, not at the far-right fascist marchers they were facilitating. This included numerous punches, kicks and violent attempts to remove masks, in some cases causing injuries, as well as repeated use of batons and PAVA spray, and the deployment of horses against protesters.
A number of officers were observed without visible badge numbers, in clear breach of police regulations. This is not an oversight — it is a pattern with a long and troubling history in public order policing. Officers who conceal their identity while using force are officers who believe they are answerable to nobody. Today’s behaviour suggests that belief is well founded.
The use of PAVA spray was particularly alarming. A chemical weapon that was only approved for police use in 2014, PAVA causes intense burning to the eyes, skin and respiratory tract — and poses serious risks to anyone with asthma or other respiratory conditions. It is not a neutral or routine tool.
It was deployed repeatedly, in significant volume, without warning, and without lawful justification. Officers were observed spraying PAVA into the eyes of antifascist demonstrators at close range, and in a number of cases deliberately attempting to remove eyewear from protesters — apparently with the sole intention of maximising the harm caused. This is not policing. This is targeted cruelty.
NO DUTY OF CARE
As people sustained serious injuries, officers were observed actively blocking medical assistance from assisting injured protesters. GMP appeared to have no regard whatsoever for its duty of care to those in its custody or in its presence – at least not if they are antifascists. This constitutes a serious breach of GMP’s legal obligations, whilst also making clear that they function not to protect people, but to maintain and abuse control by any means necessary.
We also observed, not for the first time, the police’s disregard and disrespect for the protected role of Legal Observers. This is a serious concern given the important role that Legal Observers play in independently documenting and witnessing police conduct on behalf of those whose rights are at risk.
ENABLING FASCISM
Let us be clear about what today was really about. GMP’s operational priority was to facilitate a racist and fascist organisation marching through the centre of our city, and to suppress and contain any opposition to that march.
This was the active enabling of fascism — using public money, public officers, and significant violence against the public. While antifascists were being punched, kicked and PAVA-sprayed, far-right streamers were left free to harass and incite antifascists, and film injured protesters receiving treatment. The contrast could not have been clearer: there should be no doubt about whose side the police are on.
Despite this extraordinary effort, the antifascist counter-protest vastly outnumbered Britain First. The people of Manchester made their position clear.
MEDIA FAILURE
We are deeply concerned by the failure of local and national media to report critically on what happened today. Uncritically reproducing GMP press lines while ignoring the documented violence of officers is not journalism — it is the laundering of institutional propaganda. Equally, the failure to accurately report the scale of the antifascist mobilisation — which dwarfed Britain First in numbers — serves to falsely legitimise a movement that was comprehensively rejected by the people of Manchester today. The public deserves better.
A MESSAGE TO ANDY BURNHAM
Andy Burnham, as Mayor of Greater Manchester, has been a consistent and vocal advocate for GMP — championing ever-increasing budgets and defending the force at every turn. We ask him directly: is this what he wants to see? Officers injuring protesters, blocking medical care, and chaperoning an explicitly racist and fascist organisation through his city? He must answer for the institution he funds and champions.
POLICING AND FASCISM
Today made visible something that many already know: the line between policing and fascism is vanishingly thin. When the police protect fascists from the communities they threaten, we must name that for what it is.
Who protects the fascists? The police protect the fascists.
— Northern Police Monitoring Project