Image: SUTR Manchester protest against Britain First on Aug 1st
Manchester Press Release
Far-right activists and convicted criminals are behind the anti refugee protests in Manchester and Stockport.
The anti-refugee protest outside a hotel in Fallowfield, Manchester, was led by far right convicted criminal Paul Rock.
In 2003, Paul Rock was jailed for ‘robbing and tying up a 76 year old woman who kept a shop’ in Dublin.
Rock has convictions for the robbery and false imprisonment at Tierney’s Chemist Shop on Ballinteer Road, Dundrum, Dublin. He was sentenced to eight years, two of them suspended, after he tied up the chemist, ‘ripped the phone from the wall and took her keys before making off with cash and drugs.’
Three weeks ago, Rock joined the Britain First protest and rally held in Manchester on 2nd August. Last Sunday, he was at a protest outside a hotel housing refugees in Fallowfield.
Draped in the union flag at the Britain First rally, Rock broadcast live to his followers on X.
‘People ask why I have the Union Jack around me? It’s the same protest in Ireland as it is in England. The same people are trying to replace us.’
At the Britain First march, alongside Rock, was the convicted criminal Lee Twamley.
Twamley has served prison time for trying to smuggle Vietnamese migrants into the UK. He was also filmed slapping a woman in Piccadilly Gardens following the Britain First event.
The Britain First “March for Remigration” is code for the call for ‘mass deportation’, the same demand that was raised by the fascist British National Party (BNP).
In Stockport, the veteran neo-Nazi Wayne Bentley is behind the protests outside the Britannia Hotel.
Live streaming from the anti refugee protest outside the hotel, Bentley broadcast to his followers: ’Anything now could turn this into a riot, if this goes off you’ll end up with 500 people fighting.’
It was Bentley who instigated and promoted this anti refugee protest.
Bentley was until recently a regional organiser for the far right Patriotic Alternative, he is a former long standing member of the National Front, and has been associated with the British Movement.
Wayne Bentley is a committed white nationalist and neo-Nazi organiser from Stockport with a long history of involvement in the most extreme factions of the British far-right.
Not about ‘protecting women and children’
Claims from these far right agitators that they are calling protests to ‘protect women and children’ are bogus.
In Fallowfield and in Stockport, it is women and children who are staying in the hotels. The far right are opposed to all refugees, men, women and children.
Nahella Ashraf, the Chair of Greater Manchester Stand Up To Racism, said;
“The demonstrations outside hotels across the country are not about keeping women and children safe. These are known far right activists, taking their lead from the likes of Farage and Tommy Robinson to whip up fear and division.
“There can be no justification for demonstrations against those who are the most vulnerable in our communities.
“The only outsiders here are the minority of far right thugs who want to see a repeat of last summer’s riots and attempted pogroms.
“Any individual joining these demonstrations should be clear that they are taking a side with those that last summer tried to burn down a hotel housing refugees and attacks on black people and businesses.
“As a woman, I’m proud to pick a side that stands in solidarity with refugees and against these far right thugs.”
Press contact – [email protected]
Notes
Paul Rock on Facebook live:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1672388986805483
Paul Rock conviction:
https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/eight-years-for-raid-on-chemist/25977562.html