Cross-party support as Hackney Mayor and councillors join anti-racist solidarity rally

Anti-racism protest on Saturday 10 August 2024. Photograph: Maya Sall / LDRS

Speakers from trade unions, activist groups and from across Hackney’s political spectrum united to condemn the recent anti-immigrant civil disorder across the country and celebrated the borough’s community unity at an anti-racism rally on Saturday (10 August 2024).

A representative from campaign group Hackney Stand Up To Racism, Sasha Simic, who organised the rally in the Narrow Way, Central Hackney,said: “It was great to see so many reject that hateful agenda”.

Whilst Diane Abbott, again the Labour party MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, was unable not attend on Saturday, Simic read out a statement on her behalf:

“We have scored a great victory by pushing the far right and the fascists off our streets this week. All credit is due to you and people like you the length and breadth of this country. You should be congratulated.

“But we cannot afford to be complacent. The people that need defending and the communities that need defending cannot afford to be complacent.

“They [rioters] have MPs who support them, a press that repeats their garbage and mainstream politicians who refuse to stand up to them. Well, we will continue to stand up to them.

“Go back to your communities, your loved ones, your political parties and your trade unions. Explain to them what happens if the far right and the fascists achieve their aims”.

Hackney’s Labour mayor Caroline Woodley said she was “proud” of the borough’s response to last week’s far right riots, labelling it a “small opportunity to show unity”.

“Migrants have made Hackney”, said Mayor Woodley,“Let’s stand with Hackney Migrant Centre, let’s stand with the synagogues, let’s stand with the mosques”.

“There is only one silver lining”, the Mayor said about last week’s “hateful” riots, “and that is that they [far-right activists] are now being exposed.”

“We know there is racism embedded in every institution across our country, we know there is fascism sitting quietly … and we stand together, and we fight it.”

Victoria ward councillor Penny Wrout, formerly of the Labour party and now of the newly formed Hackney Independent Socialist Group, also spoke at the rally.

“I noticed there are lots of Labour councillors here today, that’s a wonderful thing,” she said.

“We’re always here”, heckled the group of Labour councillors in response.

“We have to think about the future, and how to put these racist discourses into a box marked ‘history’, and move on,” Cllr Wrout continued.

She explained that the independent group, comprised of her, her ward colleague Cllr Claudia Turbet-Delof and Clissold ward councillor Fliss Premu, formed so they could “speak openly about issues like this – it’s important to change the conversation, it’s important to speak out”.

“As councillors, we will be putting pressure on Hackney council to pressure the government to end the hostile environment, and I know I can rely on all of you as we press Hackney Council.”

Cabinet member for Community Safety and Regulatory Services, Cllr Susan Fajana-Thomas, said she is “working with mosques to tackle Islamophobia” and said the community safety team is “liaising closely with the asylum seekers support team to monitor the situation”.

She also appealed for people “to verify information before circulating” because “we had a lot of misinformation circulating on social media last week, which angered members of the community”.

The Green Party’s former general election candidate for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, Antoinette Fernandez, also spoke at the rally: “I’ve noticed a distinct lack of minorities at these gatherings, and we need to remember that the result of this racist extremism is fear, isolation and silencing.”