The Daily Nationalist - Sven Longshanks and Eddy Morrison look at the heady days of the NF

The Battle of Lewisham 1977

16th May Broadcast link - Click here

The history of British Nationalism continues, as Sven Longshanks is joined by Eddy Morrison to look at the role marches and open air public meetings played in the seventies and eighties.

Contrary to popular opinion, violence at public demonstrations can be beneficial, as it guarantees news coverage. Eddy concentrates on two incidents for this episode, the National Front march in Lewisham(1977) which turned into a genuine full scale battle with Antifa and an open air meeting in Dewsbury.

At Lewisham there were bricks and petrol bombs flying and the image that really stuck in the public’s mind, was that of an elderly lady flat out on the road being attended to by medics. She had been hit in the head by a brick for daring to stand up for her country. Masses of public interest and support was generated by this and the National Front had a huge leap in membership after.

Most towns and cities in Britain have designated areas for public speaking that in some cases you do not even have to notify authorities first, such as on the steps of the town halls. Eddy decided to hold a public meeting at one in Dewsbury in July 1989 for the BNP, who nobody had heard of until then. He set up an open air truck with a PA system and let the police know there might be 40 people there. The Left heard about it and sent a letter to the press claiming a koran was going to be burned. This generated masses of publicity and on the day itself, there were 600 Nationalists and an army of Asians rioting and rampaging and setting fire to a pub. The day ended in clouds of smoke, helicopters overhead and CNN reporting the incident on international news. Again, masses of new recruits were gained for the BNP afterwards.

Presented by Sven Longshanks and Eddy Morrison