The dregs of Britain’s neo-Nazi scene imposed themselves on Manchester today for their annual ‘Worldwide White Pride’ day. For the last two years the march has been held in Swansea and previously saw neo-Nazi Darren Clifft jailed after he hung an effigy of a golliwog whilst dressed as a KKK member.

So no worries here about accusing people of being Nazis when they might only be extremely right wing racists. No – these were proper Nazis. Any many of them were only too proud of it.

One ‘White Pride’ steward laughably claimed that they were not neo-Nazis, despite being surrounded by what was apparently an I-Spy collection of Nazi iconography – Celtic crosses – Check, SS death’s heads – Check, Blood and Honour flags – Check, Golden Dawn flags – Check… We could go on…

In other definitely non-Nazi news, Richard Edmonds, founding member of the BNP and international Holocaust denier, showed his face. He once shoved a glass into the face of a black man who dared to walk past him with a white girlfriend.

The famed Mancunian weather did its best to deter the fascists and the rain kept them in Wetherspoons (of course) for a while before they were allowed a brief outing heavily escorted by police.

Depending on which report you believe there were possibly up to 100 fascists on the ‘White Pride’ march and they were pretty much what you’d expect – almost all old bald men, a small number of women, and a statistically higher than average number of facial tattoos. There were the 3 or 4 polish skinheads from NOP (National Rebirth of Poland) who are now ubiquitous at every far-right gathering.

There were at least two Nazis arrested – one tried to attack an Asian woman and another tried to attack a passing black man. This shows the dangerous nature of these fanatics and why they should never be allowed to gain an inch.

Luckily the Nazis got to experience some of the famed Mancunian hospitality – getting some slaps and ending up on the pavement after run-ins with anti-fascists.

Birkenhead bonehead Liam Pinkham who is not long out of prison for an assault on a man walking through Liverpool with his two children was separated from one of his shoes in the fray and then later arrested into the bargain.

On a serious note, it is worrying that this demonstration managed to attract as many as it did and that it comes only a week after the National Action ‘White Man’s March’ in Newcastle. There seems to be a mini revival of proper Nazi loons as the far-right becomes ever more splintered. A fractured and divided far-right can’t be a bad thing, but it also means there are more little groupuscules to keep track of and they become more dangerous as they become more desperate and extreme.

We’ll let local AFN group ACA Manchester have the last word: “SHITE PRIDE DAY, Manchester. Final score Mancs 4 – 0 Fash”

NB: thanks to @rednessie for the title!