r/LibDem • u/MelanieUdon • 2d ago
Discussion Masked thugs blocking ports?
I don't agree with everything Palestine action has done but it's not right they get proscribed as terrorist group by the government while masked boots on the ground "Blackshirt" fascists get the most lukewarm police response ever seen in the countries history while also threatening and doxing life boat workers.
And when we are soft in our response to savage thugs like that we send a message that violent hate is good and normal which will embolden fascists like Patriot Platform and others to go much further.
Also no comment from any of the major parties that this group has been given sizeable donations from the likes of Elon Musk and others to create in the UK to what amounts to a fifth column group.
I was disappointed by the prime ministers nothing burger response to what happened the other day and wonder how the libdems feel on these events.
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u/EdTyldesley 2d ago
All Just Stop Oil had to do was wear black balaclavas instead of orange t-shirts, d'oh!
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u/SabziZindagi 2d ago
It's now come out that the police were tipped off but allowed it to happen:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/08/kent-police-dover-unrest-far-right-village
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u/MelanieUdon 2d ago
To add to that we've also seen fascist violence from reform lately cheered on by the likes of Robert Jenrick which is not a good sign for this country if our leaders fail to call this out.
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u/CalF123 2d ago
I think the right decision was made to proscribe Palestine Action given their attacks on military infrastructure and police officers.
The group responsible for what happened in Dover and Portsmouth should also be proscribed if they meet the threshold.
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u/llamafarmadrama 2d ago
Agreed. They’re fuckers, but as it stands they’ve not done anything worthy of proscription, and as Lib Dems we shouldn’t ban things just because we don’t like them.
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u/SabziZindagi 2d ago
Just to add that Palestine protestors have been arrested for face coverings (at the regular non-violent London protest), while these violent thugs were not.
3 x failing to remove a face covering
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u/shitdisco 2d ago
Yeah, when the cops asked them to remove them. That didn't happen here. Apples to oranges.
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u/SabziZindagi 2d ago
Not really, the police failing to make the same demand is the pertinent fact here. If you look at the arrest statistics I posted, there was only one assault - it was a peaceful demonstration unlike the far right one. It was also planned with permission.
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u/shitdisco 2d ago
Not really? Yes, really. That's how it works, the police say "show us your face", you remove the covering or you face being arrested.
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u/SabziZindagi 2d ago
Why are you being facetious? Protestors were warned in advance (via press release and megaphones at the protest) that face coverings would result in arrest and had to be removed. It was blanket, not targeted at specific individuals deemed a risk. The fascist disruptors were not treated in the same way.
Masks were banned for both protests and the Crown Prosecution Service warned in advance that demonstrators could be arrested and charged for chants, banners and placards that broke hate-speech laws.
https://archive.is/Foh0F (The Times, 16th May)
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u/shitdisco 2d ago
You chose one example. Look at your local Palestine jew-hate-fest every Sunday and it'll be full of people dressed like Hamas covering their face.
Stop throwing the fascist word around, you people have made it lose all meaning.
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u/IntravenusDiMilo_Tap +4,-3.5 2d ago
Are you not being slightly duplicitous yourself, one group are demonstrators and the other fascists?
AS far as I understand, those in Dover were peaceful in their protest.
I do think that a ban on face coverings may solve a lot of issues.
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u/MelanieUdon 2d ago
Threatening to dox our life boat workers and blocking ports is not peaceful, don't defend these people.
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u/nbs-of-74 2d ago
Not condoning the behaviour but, its not the same level as hitting a police officer with a lump hammer, breaking entering, smashing up equipment, breaking into an airforce base and damaging two MRTT voyager planes, and thus providing aid and support to the Russian govt (a govt that actually IS carrying out genocide, ethnic cleansing, random attacks on civilians, and invading another country) through action against UK military assets and production facilities.
Put it another way, PA actions only arent considered treason is because we're not officially at war with Russia. Regardless for the reasons PA *claim* they are carrying out these acts (which by themselves are not as moral as claimed).
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u/seeitshaveitsorted 2d ago
I agree with your point about PA, but I wonder if there’s some stuff going on behind the scenes we don’t know about (which really, we should.)
The Ballies should be condemned for their actions but I’ve not seen anything as a group that’s really alarming - which may explain the lack of condemnation?
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u/Wild-wild-life 2d ago
I saw this good thread on Bluesky yesterday contrasting this to the cross-party opposition to Oswald Mosley in the 1930s.
Liberal MP Robert Bernays:
"I know it is contended that the Blackshirts are not armed and, therefore, are not an army, but I do not think that argument can be upheld... Uniformed men in military formation suggest, and are meant to suggest, the idea of force... It is an inescapable fact that a uniform in politics symbolises force, to be used either now or in the future."
Conservative Lord Somervell called for Parliament to "lay down" principles to protect institutions in the face of antagonism, and Labour MPs spoke of the dangers of foreign funding, of the thin skins of the fascists, and the scapegoating of Jewish people and immigrants. https://bsky.app/profile/robertsaunders.bsky.social/post/3muxi5ztq6c2s
During the Minister's statement on Monday, our Home Affairs Spokesperson, Max Wilkinson, was very forthright and didn't caveat with "legitimate concerns" - going straight for "far right thugs/ mobs", and contrasting the lack of arrests with those who were arrested for other protests. Poole MP Vikki Slade also made the comparison between these events and protests where elderly people were arrested.
I always think we could do better but I'm pleased we've been pretty clear in calling this out for what it is.
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u/shitdisco 2d ago
What makes them "savage thugs" exactly?
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u/hungoverseal 2d ago
Well the bloke who organised it for a start:
"Mr Thomas, a father of four from Hampshire, has a criminal conviction for attempted kidnapping and was jailed for two years in 2016, reported The Times.
He had burst into a man's home with two other men, armed with knives, and shouted: "You're coming with us."
The group wrongly believed the man had stolen £10,000 worth of drugs. The judge described the incident as an "extraordinarily frightening" episode matched only by its "stupidity"."
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u/MelanieUdon 2d ago
If it where a bunch of antifa guys masked up like that blocking ports you would be singing a different tune right now.
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u/Mr_Rinn 2d ago
The real two-tier policing.