This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Hundreds of people have marched through east London to mark the 80th anniversary of a landmark street fight against fascism.



Trade unionists, Jewish and Muslim figures and members of leftwing groups marched to remember the 1936 battle of Cable Street and protest against the rising number of racist and antisemitic offences in the city.

Tens of thousands of anti-fascist protesters clashed with police in Cable Street on 4 October 1936. They were demonstrating against a march by members of the British Union of Fascists, led by Oswald Mosley.

The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, joined the march, tweeting:

Jeremy Corbyn MP (@jeremycorbyn) Proud to join thousands of others today to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the battle of Cable Street pic.twitter.com/IlxNRgeUO3

Corbyn spoke of his mother’s role in the street fight, telling people how he had learned all about the battle from her. Naomi Corbyn was present when demonstrators fought police guarding a planned march by British fascists through a neighbourhood with a large number of Jewish residents.

The Labour leader shared a platform with the Green party’s deputy, Amelia Womack, and the Communist Party of Britain’s chair, Liz Payne, to commemorate the bloody confrontation.

Corbyn told a crowd of several hundred people in St George’s Gardens, just off Cable Street, that the fight had “a deep personal significance”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Corbyn leaves after speaking to demonstrators during the march. Photograph: Hannah Mckay/EPA

He said: “One woman stood there along with many others and she told me all about it. That woman was my mother. She stood here with so many others because she wanted to live in a world, as we all do, that is free from xenophobia and free from hate. Those that stood here in 1936 did an enormous service.”

Earlier Sarah Sackman, from the Jewish Labour Movement, told the crowd that racism and antisemitism should always be challenged, “wherever we find it, including in our own ranks”.

London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, attended another commemorative event, at Shoreditch town hall. The Labour councillor for Haringey, Natan Doron, tweeted:



Natan Doron (@natandoron) Me with my Poppa Willie Myers, a veteran of Cable Street, & @MayorofLondon @SadiqKhan at #CableStreet80 event at Shoreditch Town Hall pic.twitter.com/21nV5ZPEqC

Before the march, Rushanara Ali, the Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, which Cable Street is in, told the crowd they should remember “the Jewish community, the trade union movement, those who stood up against intolerance and fascism here in east London, so that we could live safely, and in safety and harmony”.