Nationalists are set to once again descend upon Brighton and Hove for the annual March for England.

Far-right groups have issued a rallying call after setting the date for this year’s event as April 27.

Last year saw the city grind to a halt as a £500,000 police operation struggled to keep demonstrators and anti-fascist groups apart.

As well as violent running street battles, traders were left counting their losses as large areas of the city shut down for the day.


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A promotional poster for this year’s event, which has been distributed around far-right websites and Facebook pages, reads: “Smash Unite Against Fascism Brighton 2014. Standing tall and free to march the streets of England.”

Scores of comments have been left on social media websites responding to the event, many of which pledge violence.

Jon Sei King, from Belfast, said: “I’ll be there same as every year. Defo bruv and smash some commies [sic].”

Simon Wyi – real name Simon Scott – also from Yorkshire, added: “Lets hit Brighton Antifa [sic].”

A Casuals United blog also issued a rallying call yesterday. Under the title “National callout for Brighton March for England April 27”, they said: “This is not a demo it is a St George’s Day march which for the past three years has been violently attacked by the left while a blind eye is turned by the police. What could be more important that defending the right to march on this day? [sic].”

The event has been held annually since 2010 to coincide with St George’s Day.

Gary Hastings, editor of anti-fascist website EDL News, told The Argus nationalists from across the country were planning on attending the event.

He said: “We have been monitoring what has been said and there are people from all over the country talking about it.

“Just from reading the messages you can see that many are just coming down to cause trouble”.

He added: “They pick Brighton because they see the city as having a very left wing liberal population.

“They view the city as the enemy and so come down to cause trouble.”