Football hooliganism normally involves conflict between rival teams, in English known as football firms (derived from the British slang for a criminal gang), formed to intimidate and attack supporters of other teams.
Other English-language terms commonly used in connection with hooligan firms include “army”, “boys”, “bods”, “casuals”, and “crew”.
The Democratic Football Lads Alliance (DFLA) was called after the British Black Lives Matter movement (BLM) published a list of 60 allegedly “racist” statues that it claims to want removed for “glorifying slavery”.
“The DFLA asks all of its members to meet at Whitehall at noon on Saturday, June 13th to protect our war memorials,” the call said. However, the meeting in the government district should not be understood as a demonstration or a counter-protest to Black Lives Matter. It is just a matter of “protecting monuments and memorials” and “defending what our war heroes have done for this country and its honor”.
Violence should be avoided. “If anyone is at risk of violence, we ask our members to keep their discipline and act within the law that gives every man or woman the right to defend themselves with reasonable violence.”
The London Police Department chief, Ken Marsh, however expressed concern. “There are an awful lot of preparations underway,” Marsh said, according to the British tabloid The Sun. “We have the perfect storm ahead of us this weekend.”
Labor MP Unmesh Desai, spokesman for the Police and Crime Party, has meanwhile written to all professional football clubs based in London, asking them to condemn the planned protest. “I urge your club to use its widespread influence and publicly denounce plans by the DFLA and other far-right groups to disrupt and sabotage the BLM protests,” the letter said.
According to the DFLA, fans of the football clubs Charlton, Millwall, West Ham, Chelsea, Arsenal, Portsmouth, Newcastle, Plymouth, Exeter, Stoke, Birmingham, Coventry, Colchester, Bristol and Swindon have already announced their arrival.
The DFLA was founded after the London terrorist attack in June 2017, in which eight people were killed. A first demonstration against the use of Islamist terrorism attracted around 35 000 people.
The event has received the support of Tommy Robinson. He released a video about protestors defacing the statue of Winston Churchill in Westminster. “If you’re a lad or you call yourself a lad, and you’re a football lad and you go to football and you give a shit at all about our country, our history, our culture, our identity. I expect you are going to be in London next Saturday.”
The hooligans will be joined by the ex-serviceman group, Veterans Against Terrorism, who have attended many DFLA (and before that Football Lads Alliance) demos in the past. There are even rumours that some bikers and Hells Angels will also attend.
Last weekend, protests by Black Lives Matter were held in Great Britain, despite assembly bans due to the Corona pandemic. In Bristol, demonstrators violently smashed a memorial to MP and slave dealer Edward Colston from its pedestal. A monument to former Prime Minister Winston Churchill was smeared in London. Further demonstrations have been announced for Friday as well as for the weekend.
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