“Whether you choose violence or not, violence is coming to you. You either fight back or you die," Elon Musk told the large crowds at Saturday’s “Unite the Kingdom” rally.
More than 100,000 people descended on Britain’s capital on Saturday for one of the country’s largest far-right rallies in decades.
The “Unite the Kingdom” rally was organized by Tommy Robinson, a convicted fraudster with a violent criminal record, and attended by billionaire Elon Musk via video link. Amid a sea of flag-waving and soccer-style chanting from large crowds that exceeded expectations, violent clashes with police led to dozens of arrests.
It came amid a surge of nationalism in the U.K., with a far-right party topping the polls, and the murder of American conservative activist Charlie Kirk — an assassination Robinson used to mobilize support in the run-up to the event.
We are so fucked. There is no escaping this global rush of extremism.
I am originally from the states, but was lucky enough to move to Australia 11 years ago.
I thought I escaped the growing right wing crazy, and watched from afar as Trump was elected the first time, and my country descended into fascism.
Then here in Australia there was a white supremacist rally. Then another.
Then in my city there was a “March for Australia” organised by known white supremacists, but claiming not to be racist.
“They just don’t want all this immigration”.
Their website also said they wanted remigration.
Sounds pretty racist to me.
This march was planned for the final day of the state multicultural festival. Its planned start and end point was the park where the festival was being held.
My family and I decided we would go. I haven’t been to a protest since I was a teenager, but I felt it was our duty to show that not everyone agrees with this.
The day before the march our best friend said their friends were afraid to go out to lunch with them that day, because their parents were verbally assaulted in a grocery store on Friday for being immigrants.
They later said people came to their parents house and were beating on the door and yelling about them being immigrants.
My husband stood there in his suit, I stood in my pretty dress with flowers, our daughters held signs that said things like “so bad even the introverts are here”.
The March was not peaceful and was definitely racist. We started off to the side, sitting with flags my daughters and I made with hundreds of countries on them, and eventually we were swarmed as the crowd veered to come right past us.
They screamed obscenities at us, pushed into me, pushed my husband, tried to rip the sign from his hands. They ripped down the flags we made. Blew an air horn in our faces.
Many claimed they were not racist but my husband got called a f-ing Jew multiple times??? Maybe it was the beard and the hat, I don’t know.
Seemed pretty racist to me.
Eventually police came and stood in front of us while we packed our things and left. We would do it again, in a heartbeat.
Before the rowdy crowd came looking for trouble we had immigrants come up and thank us, hug us, and we want them to know that not everyone agrees with this march.
Not wanting immigration is not what this march was about. This march was about fear and racism.
I urge all of you, show up, make signs, show that not everyone agrees.
Sigh. Indeed.
This is a very disheartening story. Do Australians realize anyone not brown isn’t indigenous to Australia?
The white racists in America sure don’t. It they don’t care.
True it’s sad that it’s getting bad everywhere. Nazis are a plauge
Sigh. I don’t know. We brought that up often that day.