A smallish EDL demo, oops sorry, "respecting the dead gathering", took place in Abingdon, and was met by a similar size counterdemo.
As we arrived there were 15-20 EDL gathered at the War Memorial in Abingdon, faced by a group of around 8 antifa who had got there earlier than the rest of us.
A small group of nervous local cops attempted to stop us joining them, but they were outnumbered, and after a bit of mutual encouragement everyone managed to get through regardless. Around this time one woman was punched in the ribs by officer 5764.
So there we were: about 17 EDL, about 25 counterdemonstrators, and about 8-10 cops in between. Neither side seemed to want a fight; if many people had, there wouldn't have been enough cops to stop it, which was probably why they were so on-edge and nervous.
We did a minute silence for the victims of fascism, those who died fighting it. There was a bit of chanting at each other. Then the EDL did a quick minute silence too and went to the pub.
A small group of nervous local cops attempted to stop us joining them, but they were outnumbered, and after a bit of mutual encouragement everyone managed to get through regardless. Around this time one woman was punched in the ribs by officer 5764.
So there we were: about 17 EDL, about 25 counterdemonstrators, and about 8-10 cops in between. Neither side seemed to want a fight; if many people had, there wouldn't have been enough cops to stop it, which was probably why they were so on-edge and nervous.
We did a minute silence for the victims of fascism, those who died fighting it. There was a bit of chanting at each other. Then the EDL did a quick minute silence too and went to the pub.
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