No ordinary protest – Crowborough’s march against illegal migrant invasion of their tiny town
MADELEINE GILLIES
AS THE numbers swell – this time to 3,000 – it is clear that this weekend’s ‘Crowborough says No’ protest was no ordinary protest.
The footage shows there were no identikit placards, no masks, no rentamob, no scuffles with an opposition. A few police watched benignly and stopped the traffic as the ever-lengthening snake of people wended its way up to the crossroads to the small high street.
People carried homemade placards and the Union Jack, the St George’s Cross and the flag of Sussex with its six mythical martlets against a bright blue background.
Six hundred local men marched in line with the numbers one to 600 on their backs to enact the number of illegal migrants which the small town is supposed to accept into its midst without demur.
‘Crowborough says NO!’ resounded around the streets as the march made its way to the end at Chapel Green.
This protest was a rare thing. It’s an expression of care and concern. It wasn’t generated or funded by an activist organisation or NGO and filled with hired apparatchiks. It was paid for by no one and disadvantaged nobody. This was an organic expression of unity in a common cause – that of protecting people and place.
It has its leaders: they are local people who are fighting relentlessly for dialogue with the Home Office and to persuade the Green/LibDem alliance which runs the local Wealden council to support their initiative and to present a legal case against the use of the camp. They are supported by Crowborough Shield, a grassroots organisation which has already raised a substantial amount to fund a legal challenge.
The protest is a visceral reaction to an imposition which seems unjust, unfair and which threatens the fabric of a town or village – wherever it is, whether it’s an old pit village or a town in the suburbs or a seaside resort or a once fine city centre.
An increasing number suffer from an enforced influx of strangers who look different, who speak strange languages and who behave as if still in their places of origin. It’s disorientating. People don’t know what to make of each other. It seeds resentment and it creates discord.
People feel threatened, they feel things are being done to them, not for them. Crowborough was not consulted about the use of its training camp which has been home to local cadets until now.
Nobody asked local people if they would accept 600 single unemployed young men jettisoned into their midst, who have different backgrounds, different ways, different attitudes. What will they do with themselves – billeted in a camp next to a forest and on the edge of a town with no leisure facilities?
A Home Office official says activities will be organised for them. People hear of the ‘activities’ at Wethersfield camp and shudder. The man also says they may choose to take themselves off at any time – in other words disappear.
Already the camp perimeter fencing has been strengthened and security guards patrol with dogs. This is to protect the camp – and the migrants, who to date have not arrived. Scant mention has been made of how the residents of Crowborough will be protected. Sussex police have indicated there will be ‘reassurance patrols’. Will they patrol the town 24 hours a day. Is that the same number of hours the migrants will be free to come and go from the camp?
As the people of Crowborough express their concern, it dawns at a quickening pace that those who lead them, rule them, tell them what to do and grab their money really don’t care about them. In fact they don’t give a damn. ‘The men from the ministry’ will tell you what’s going to happen ‘and if it causes a bit of havoc in your society and your life, well tough!’
Even as the boatloads continue to flow into our country, it is clear that the government hasn’t got a clue what to do with the arrivals. As they ladle out money to profitable companies – in this case Clearsprings – they shove the migrants into hotels, HMOs and now any sort of camp.
In so doing they take a battering ram to any protest or objection and blatantly prioritise the needs of illegal arrivals over and above the welfare and wishes of local people. As such they breach the social contract in plain sight. They act with cavalier arrogance and deny the rights of the individual and the society in which he/she lives.
Those who marched through Crowborough on Sunday may not be fully versed re the social contract but they have a visceral understanding that this isn’t how it’s meant to be, this isn’t how it’s supposed to work in a so-called advanced democracy. They instinctively know the first duty of any government is to protect its citizens and they know that this isn’t happening.
As the chasm widens between the government and its people, dissent and dismay rise exponentially. Honest straightforward people who have been loyal to king and country feel increasingly betrayed by those who should lead them with wisdom and protect and care for them.
Like a negligent absentee parent, the Prime Minister flies off at every opportunity to schmooze with other leaders who are equally unpopular domestically, encapsulating how the protected privileged elite behave, epitomising by his distance from the electorate a disturbing disdain for the country, and underpinning the mounting sense that the authorities, from top down, just don’t care.
Crowborough does care, and it will continue to protest in its quiet dignified but heartfelt way until this decision is reversed and the camp is restored to its core purpose – that of training local cadets. The government has recently announced a £70million initiative to expand and create cadet forces. Oh, the irony . . .
This article (No ordinary protest – Crowborough’s march against illegal migrant invasion of their tiny town) was created and published by Conservative Woman and is republished here under “Fair Use” with attribution to the author Madeleine Gillies
See Related Article Below
Sarah White encouraged ‘every single person to stop paying their council tax’
Demonstrators in the East Sussex town of Crowborough have been encouraged to withhold their council tax payments in protest against government proposals to accommodate 540 male asylum seekers at a local military barracks.
The call came during a Sunday march where residents voiced their displeasure with plans for Crowborough Training Camp to serve as temporary accommodation for a twelve-month period.
The Ministry of Defence has made the site available to the Home Office as part of efforts to shut down asylum hotels across the country.
The demonstration, which saw participants wearing white T-shirts and carrying signs whilst chanting “Send them home”, was the second in a series of three protests arranged by local residents with backing from the Crowborough Shield campaign group.
Sussex Police confirmed that it proceeded peacefully with no arrests made.
Nick Tenconi, who leads the UK Independence Party and serves as chief operating officer of Turning Point UK, addressed the crowd with stark warnings about community safety.
“You are campaigning because you don’t want your daughters and wives raped and murdered,” he told protesters.
“It is not too late; you must get organised. You must form patrols. Men must collaborate.”
Mr Tenconi framed the protest as part of what he called “the battle for the soul of our nation” and advocated for mass deportations.
The demonstration drew hundreds of participants who marched through Crowborough’s streets, with many expressing anger at what they see as inadequate consultation about the Home Office’s plans for their town.
Sarah White, a 40-year-old activist wearing a top emblazoned with “Stand your ground”, announced to the crowd that she had already halted her council tax payments, claiming “the councillors and the police don’t care” about local residents.
[…]
“I am making a stand. I’ve stopped paying my council tax. I would encourage every single person to stop paying their council tax,” she declared.
GB News: continue reading
Featured image: Alamy
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