by New Worker correspondent
THE ANTI-FASCIST magazine Searchlight last week received
a tip-off that Nazi bands were due to play at the Boleyn Tavern in Newham, east
London, on Saturday.
Searchlight
immediately contacted Unite Against Fascism and other anti-fascists to alert
them, as well as people from the Asian community who live or work in Newham and
Redbridge.
The editor of Searchlight, who is a member of the
Metropolitan Police Service’s Independent Advisory Group (IAG), which was set
up to tackle hate crime in the capital 14 years ago just before publication of
the findings of the inquiry into the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence,
informed the IAG police liaison officer that this Nazi invasion would be
opposed and insisted that the local council took steps to stop it going ahead.
Later that day
Searchlight was told by a senior member of Newham council that the people
running the pub were new licensees and that they were being told to cancel the
booking.
The council also said they had spoken to the police and
had been promised an increased police presence and that the police would alert
local shops, many of which are Asian, mainly Muslim, as well as other
vulnerable local targets.
The booking was cancelled – together Searchlight and the
anti-fascists, the police and the council stopped the gig.
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