Twin Demos Over Northeye: Same Goal, Contrary Rhetoric
A group of around 40 local residents gathered on the small park outside Bexhill Town Hall last Saturday afternoon to stage their latest demonstration under the slogan No to Northeye. As previously reported in HIP 228, they oppose the Home Office’s proposal to use the former prison site at Northeye, which lies off the A259 road a mile beyond Little Common, as residential accommodation for up to 1,200 male adult asylum seekers.
The park was shared, however, by a counter-demonstration, organised for the same time in the same space and also attracting around 40 people, representing Stand up to Racism groups from Bexhill and Hastings. They are also opposed to the housing of refugees at Northeye, but regard the No to Northeye lobby as motivated by racist and anti-immigrant prejudices, which they had come to challenge.
Sussex Police kept a low-key presence on the fringe of both groups and in the marginal space between them. Were they expecting any trouble? “This is Bexhill,” a policewoman answered with a smile.
Gathered in a tight knot at the eastern end of the park, the Stand Up to Racism supporters heard several speeches from trade union leaders and a punchy address from Hastings Borough Council deputy leader Maya Evans who said that all refugees were welcome. She accepted that there was a housing crisis both nationally and locally – in Hastings over 1,000 people are now homeless, costing the council up to £4m a year – but maintained that this was the fault of the Tory Government, which had underfunded local councils across the country by around £3bn since they had come to power.
“They are playing ‘divide and rule’,” she said. “But there are enough resources for us and for the refugees,” insisting that the money poured into the pandemic response showed that to be the case – and there would be more now if it wasn’t Tory policy to protect billionaires and landlords.
Meanwhile, a few yards west across the park, No to Northeye’s chief organiser, Bexhill town councillor Nigel Jacklin, collected signatures for a petition urging Rother District Council to oppose “Northeye Asylum Seeker Proposals”. It is clear from this group’s Facebook pages that they are calling for more effective controls on immigration, but they deny strongly that they are “racists”.
Amongst Saturday’s contingent, banners which had been wielded at previous rallies proclaiming “Deport Illegal Migrants” and similar slogans were not in evidence, though a large Union Jack flag was held aloft. Could the two groups perhaps compromise their differences and find common cause? Mark Legg, Trade Union Liaison Officer at the centre of the Stand up to Racism group, was adamant that they could not. “They [No to Northeye] wouldn’t want 1200 people coming in, no matter what housing was available. We’re saying we would. That’s the difference”.
The article above has been corrected. The original text referred erroneously to an earlier petition promoted by a separate party.
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This article fails to mention the fact that the Hastings crowd shouted vile abuse such as Nazi Scum at the Bexhill crowd. Stand Up To Racism need to stop spreading hate. The presence of two or three ‘antifa’ members in their midst is particularly unwelcome. We collected 50 signatures from 80 people…not as many as we’d hoped but the town is with us.
Whoever wrote this piece has got their facts wrong. I was on the No To Northeye protest and have been on them since the first one in Northeye. I live a mile away from the camp. These are the facts: The SUTR people had to bus many of their people in. They included members of Black Bloc, a known terrorist group. It was very unpleasant seeing these masked up individuals. I’m British and a person of colour. I am not a racist. I have grown up with racism in this country and I know about racism having experienced hate back in the 60s and 70s, so to be harangued with taunts of “Nazi scum” is hugely offensive. We have other people of colour in our group and we are not racists.My Jewish friend was also offended. Marxist love to label anyone who opposes illegal migrants as racists and this narrative has to stop. There were approximately 80 of us not the meagre 40 you claim.Our proof is that they signed Nigel Jacklin’s petition.A parting note none of the people in No To Northeye are racists so I urge Stand Up To Racism to STOP THEIR HATEFUL narrative.