by Peter Hendy

Far-right anti-immigrant protesters clashed with anti-fascist and anti-racist counter-protesters organised by Stand Up to Racism in Liverpool on Saturday 13th June. The march called for “No More Illegals” and “Mass Deportations” following the terrifying riots and pogroms with homes and vehicles being set alight in northern Ireland.

Fear of anti-social disorder led to a major police operation in the County Road area near the former Everton FC home of Goodison Park. There was heavy police presence in the area, with police vans and lines of fluorescent jacketed police separating the two groups of protestors. This followed the targeting of hotels thought to be housing migrants earlier in the week.

Intensive surveillance involved continual filming and the use of a drone buzzing around overhead. The Police had been given extra powers and created a dispersal zone to “help prevent potential criminality and disorder” from 9am on Saturday until midnight on Sunday. Pubs and shops were closed and shuttered-down, with the streets prior to the protest march being eerily quiet for a Saturday afternoon.

Three-hundred anti-fascist counter-protesters gathered across the road of the Royal Oak pub significantly outnumbering the protesters but their numbers gained strength prior to the commencement of the march. The fascists shouted and chanted abuse, with tensions rapidly escalating. Individuals approached the anti-racists provocatively filming and goading.

Ryan Ferguson, the notorious Nazi agitator, casually infiltrated the counter-protest before being spotted and surrounded. His haughty demeanour quickly changed to fear as he was angrily jostled, with protestors angrily shouting “Nazi scum! Off our streets!”. Loud cheers were heard as he was arrested, bundled to the ground and led away restrained to a police van pathetically moaning and squealing about being assaulted.

Ferguson shouted “Heil Hitler” three times and “Six million” at a ‘Bristol Patriots’ protest in Bristol earlier this year. The nazi was previously jailed for making hoax emergency calls and has 20 previous convictions for 29 offences. He was jailed in 2024 for nine months after shouting racist abuse at a player during a match between Forest Green Rovers and Fleetwood Town. Ferguson has been seen at far-right demonstrations across the country and been photographed wearing clothing with nazi imagery.

The march had been condemned by city leaders and community groups with Labour’s Liam Robinson, the Leader of Liverpool City Council, stating that it should not be permitted. “Liverpool has always been a proud, diverse and welcoming city, built on solidarity, respect and a deep sense of community. We condemn any attempt to cause division in our communities,” he said.

“This march is designed to intimidate, to provoke fear and to deepen division in our communities, and it has no place in a city like Liverpool that stands for solidarity, decency and respect. Given the events on County Road in the summer of 2024 – when racially motivated violence and disorder led to Spellow Library being set alight – these concerns must not be dismissed.

“Shops were looted and firefighters attacked. We must not allow a situation to develop where our communities feel threatened again. Liverpool will always stand against hate, intimidation and attempts to divide our communities.

“Liverpool will always be a city of hope, not hate.”

Eight people were arrested for a variety of public order offences during the afternoon as the far-right march made its way up County Road flanked by counter-protesters before coming to a standstill at Walton Parish Church where the groups separated.

The political polarisation of the immigration issue is an indictment of Starmer’s government, capitalism and the product of imperialist wars. Economic failure, wages outstripping the cost of living, austerity policies, growing inequalities in healthcare and housing, extortionate food prices and energy bills while silently pumping £21.8 billion into the fascist Ukraine war machine.
Stirring up hatred and confusion while providing a toxic breeding ground for nationalist racist rhetoric and fascist ideological explanations.

Disappointingly, but unsurprisingly, there was an absence of local Labour MPs, Councillors, a Trades Council banner or any union banners underlining their political bankruptcy and the decline of working-class organisations on Merseyside. Instead, their absence and impotency fuelling a growing lack of legitimacy and sense of dissatisfaction. A complete failure to confront far-right intimidation and fear on the streets at the frontline of working-class struggle. We need to fightback! We must unite and organise counter-protests to stop the far-right on our streets!