A socialist bookshop in Bloomsbury, London, was attacked by a group of far-right protesters on the afternoon of Saturday, 4 August.
A video posted by members of the group on social media showed a group of around a dozen protestors carrying placards protesting the ‘British Bolshevik Cult’ and in some cases wearing red ‘Make Britain Great Again’ baseball caps. One man wearing a Donald Trump mask, and wearing a red tie and suit in imitation of the president, is shown carrying a placard saying ‘Stop Banning Patriots from Facebook’. When the protestors enter Bookmarks they shout abuse at staff, start chanting songs about Muslims and paedophiles, and vandalise the display.
The protestors came to the bookshop after the end of a march against the removal from Facebook of Alex Jone’s conspiracy theory website, Infowars. No one was hurt in the attack. Dave Gilchrist, manager of Bookmarks, was quoted by the Independent as saying, ‘This horrific attack on a radical bookshop should send shivers down the spine of anyone who knows their history. The Nazis targeted books because they knew how important radical ideas are for challenging racism and fascism. The same is true today.’
6 August
