Police slow to respond to Dover protest, says council boss
The only reason senior figures in Reform have condemned the fascist protest in Dover is because they want to distance themselves from the ugly face of the xenophobic politics that they have legitimised. Stop giving them credit.
Mike D London12'Odd' to think this time last year they were welcoming Lucy 'set fire to all the hotels' Connolly onto their conference stage.
Jean-Luc Picard10An yet Jenrick is all over the TV and radio this morning telling people that the female heckler who was viciously attacked at the Reform conference got what she asked for.
La Reine des Metaphores9It would still be good to hear something as strong from the actual PM - or even the Home Secretary. I'm pretty sure Keir would have been on the case by now.
Sir Basil9100% "We disapprove of the thing our words on wedge issues were absolutely designed to manufacture"
cb24resident.bsky.social8Zero arrests! In 2021 #KentPolice arrested 39 climate activists who disrupted the same port for 2 hours! www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-engl...
Máirtín Ó Loċlainn6Sail as close to the wind as they can get away with. BNP, Restore or whatever they can be seen as the ultras, but Farage just keeps as close to the edge of the overton window as he can. And as the window shifts so will he.
On reflection I’m considerably angrier about the lack of response from the government to yesterday’s blockade of the port of Dover than the policing, though I am very worried by what looks like a massive intelligence failure. Sometimes “disperse then scoop them up later” is a reasonable choice. BUT
Dr Jo Kershaw225Why hasn’t the government condemned this in the strongest terms? Why no reassurance to the public that this is being taken seriously, that they have no intention of letting organised fascist thugs shut down key infrastructure, and that we should expect arrests and charges to follow?
Yeah_Thatbloke53Absolutely. And where are the calls for Mahmood to resign for this massive intelligence and security failure?
chrissquire.bsky.social10Absolutely this. It feels like Labour are asleep at the wheel. Just sitting back and letting Tice and Farage lead the condemnation. Maybe they think that they are playing 4D chess and they can wait for voters to join the dots back to Farage and the other enablers? It's a 'brave' strategy (aka dumb)
johnw60.bsky.social10If Hope not Hate knew seems odd the police had no intelligence
@katiewhitemp.bsky.social I know this is ‘just’ social media commentary, but Bluesky is more left leaning generally. If the government are losing this audience it is a red flag.
durhamgal.bsky.social1Im disgusted at the new PM's response or lack of it!
Edward18Particularly as Roger Gale was quoted saying they had been seen gathering in his constituency the previous night in preparation. They shouldn't have been allowed to even get to the Port, they should have been picked up en route.
Bonobobananas5It feels like this Labour Government is as compromised as the last one by foreign influences and corruption. Letting the BBC continually hand Reform a free pass and allow fascism to take hold is unforgivable. It really wouldn’t be difficult to come down on all this. @bengoldsborough.bsky.social
"Masked activists bring chaos to Dover in protest against migrants" "Trans activists show who they really are: a violent mob"
ᚅᚓᚃ ᚆᚐᚔᚏᚇᚑ ᚃᚆᚑ ᚇᚔᚄ44Also notice the "continued from page 1" on the story about the "trans activists", no sign of the masked men seizing Britain's busiest port on the front page, which you kind of think should be front page news
Aida11There is no way labour does not know that this is how you get nazis. I imagine they just naively think they will be able to control them after the ethnic cleanse
Marie Leanne Shrewsbury5Using chalk = mass intimidation.
Donna The Chicken3Well at least the 'activists' in Dover, and their treatment by the media have given us an ever-ready comparison to hold up every time they accuse trans people or other peaceful protesters of being 'violent/terrorists'...
Another compilation video from yesterday's fascist paramilitary 'storm' action in #Dover town and at the Port of Dover. #FarRight Some national security-related observations below.
Andy Scollick51The video starts with a Luton box van disgorging a contingent of paramilitaries dressed, in effect, in identical uniform with balaclava ski masks. NB. The "cpayne.com" on the box van back is actually "jcpayne.com", a commercial vehicle bodybuilders based in Aldridge, West Midlands. Nothing more.
Andy Walker37It would seem that this fascist operation fits a definition of terrorism much more closely than, say, old age pensioners holding placards.
Sam8Oh. The 'spontaneous protest'. Wow
sbarlster5If it looks like terrorism and feels like terrorism then… Let’s just let it happen? There must be 0% chance the police/security did not know this was happening.
𝗔𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘄 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀5"Proudly hiding our identities" The fact that there are obvious security implications is no reason not to ridicule the coming together of fragile male egos, half-thought-through nationalism and cosplay.
The one and only Dave3What exactly is it that these mindless jerks want?
Cam all one word 🇵🇸21Spontaneously dressing all in black to spontaneously hire a luton van to spontaneously take you to the spontaneous protest
Chris Boyd18it's genuinely mind boggling that ukgov's (inevitably) weak response to this carried the same tone you get when your train announces that it ran out of cheese sandwiches
Louth For Ever 🦋10Yea f u c k this 💀
Shera9I know fa about national security but im pretty sure transporting that many people in rear of a Luton van is very illegal
Mike Cookson 🔶 🇪🇺🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️9If this doesn't make your blood run cold, I don't know what will.
Metal Gear Solidarity6The thread is worth reading in its entirety.
Holly Brigstocke5UK governance is a mess and national security related job titles around the PM are full of old lags. UK definition of national security is very narrow which is unhelpful. I lost confidence in the govt, security services, NCA, and cops some time ago. Bad actors of all forms are having a field day.
Stephen Kinsella4Some pointed and urgent questions here for conscientious MPs to put to the Ministers responsible.
Murielle S3Wow spontaneous protest hey . #fascisme
D.Moore3Musk, Robinson & Putin will be very proud of their work.
Dover’s MP, Mike Tapp on the masked thugs who co-ordinated blocking Dover: “there’s no way that wasn’t co-ordinated..we know that laws were broken because they were blocking the roads &wearing face coverings.” Kent police made no arrests… www.kentonline.co.uk/dover/news/l...
Sylvia14Mike Tapp MP who has posted more racist remarks on Twitter than your average Reform councillor is suddenly upset that the far right are on his doorstep🤔
John Rob4Why exactly, are Kent Police referring to this clear as day coordinated far-right operation, as "spontaneous?"
Pete Hudson 🇬🇧🇨🇵🇪🇺🏴🇮🇪🇳🇱🏴🇮🇳 #FBPE #BanX #UKPR #UK_JoinEU2If two tier policing is a thing, then this is it. Policing that favours the right and their thuggery over the left and peaceful protest.
Bilodea1Time for the Chief Constable of Kent police, Tim Smith, to answer some reasonable questions
New ranking of responses to the paramilitary racist group blocking Dover port, most disapproving first, is: Richard Tice [explicit ref to paramilitary nature] Telegraph editorial Nigel Farage Local MP Mike Tapp [we are on it, go home] Andy Burnham [said nothing] Rupert Lowe [approves]
Tony Yates24Not congratulating the far right, here, as they have their factional reasons for doing it [the black shirts are on their turf], but it's remarkable that Labour thinks its own factional reasons mean it's ok to say nothing, or that even in govt it can't think beyond those factional interests.
Gildy Stern (Fully Rested)1You're really chasing those votes in the top BlueSky influencer poll aren't you? 😊
If Jonathan Reynolds's comments to Kuenssberg are anything to go by it could be that the Labour government's approach to the far right networks around the Dover protest is to portray them as a bunch of extremist fools and grifters.
Alexander Clarkson118At the risk of being shouted down on this site, there is some merit in British politics to portraying these cosplay fash paramilitaries as pathetic losers as long as they meet the full force of police powers if they escalate further.
Charles Julian8Not convinced that's s strong enough response.
Elena Adaal6Also: People will notice that grannies with placards for Palestine Action suffer the full force of the law. In that light it is not credible that you laugh away masked thugs blocking the road.
magnuscanis.bsky.social5Yes but it has to be followed up with firm action when lines are approached never mind crossed. One of the biggest errors in NI after 1969 was that Ministers thought Ian Paisley was just a loud mouthed buffoon who no one would take seriously. Unfortunately a lot did.
Elena Adaal4This tactic would be sensible if there are sufficient mechanisms in UK society to snuff out this radicalisation by embarrassing the movement. Sadly, that is not the case. Such an approach amounts to appeasement - even tacit approval - which will only encourage.
Even Richard Tice of the Reform party managed a better public statement condemning the far right action at the port of Dover. Imagine!
Col can make YOUR workplace exciting10I'd say this was out of character if they weren't desperate for focus to shift away from another news story..
Flying Squid is always very serious. Probably.6"Stop making us look bad by doing the thing we want!" -Richard Tice
Tim Blackler3Authoritarian playbook 101, facilitate the environment for civil unrest, condemn said unrest when it occurs, blame weak government for causing it, say the solution is *preferred strong man leader*
