Middlesbrough on the edge of mayhem

We are in a new and dangerous phase with rival gangs who are equally misbegotten

I have attended 31 prior street protests in England and Scotland between August of 2020 and today, four years later. Only one had a tinge of nastiness, when an Antifa agitator assaulted me in Manchester. The atmosphere in the UK has changed significantly in the last few weeks, with widespread unrest, albeit at a modest scale (so far). There is a growing frenzy around migrants and immigrants, and social tensions are high. It is with some trepidation that I attended a protest event in Middlesbrough yesterday, a poorer town suffering industrial decline, with the primary aim of documentation and observation, not participation.

Myself and a female companion did not stay long enough to see the actual march — it was obvious that the purpose was not peaceful protest, but to foment division and destruction. None of those who came were people I recognised. Placards were notable by their absence; there was no message of persuasion. It was dominated by men (with shaven heads); few women or children attended. I was shouted at by a denim-clad “English patriot”. We were creepily stalked on the streets by Antifa in “predator” mode. The shops had their shutters pulled up, ready for a riot. The surrounding area was full of police vans and Muslims ready to protect their homes and mosques.

This morning there is a burnt-out car on the street, taxis with windows smashed, the university buildings are damaged, and multiple houses are wrecked. Others who are better equipped and differently tasked have captured the violent disorder. Even the BBC article about the rioting is accurate to the extent that I can verify it. A public clean-up crew has assembled at the same Cenotaph location to clear the debris. Seeing my country on the edge of breakdown like this was jarring; a subsequent trip to Marks and Spencer Food Hall being almost surreal — posh nosh for an uncivil war.

None of the events I have ever attended previously caused any lasting damage; the worst was the occasional arrest for breach of the peace. The spirit of these former rallies was to spread truth and promote moral behaviour. This was nothing of the sort, and the vibe was “off” from the very beginning. There were essentially three factions: nationalist thugs, globalist thugs, and (to the side) immigrant thugs waiting for a fight. A small number of “ordinary” people, concerned about the issues being presented, were also in attendance, but were clearly outnumbered by large groups of fighting age men. I did not feel like I was among friends of any kind.

A tiny detail that will become relevant later: I forgot to erase my memory card before getting to the square where the protest began, but had taken a few street photos on arrival that I didn’t want to lose. Rather than fill it up and have to swap later, I took it out and put an empty one into my camera. Then I bumbled around the square seeing if there was anything to photograph. Meanwhile, this jarring pair were clearly giving us their attention, and avoiding my lens.

The man with the walking stick clearly didn’t need it to get around, and you can look up “tactical canes” to see that they are street-legal weapons, and can conceal worse than just a metal club. They moved to stand right behind us, as if to monitor us, and he was so distracted by paying us attention, he didn’t notice the gate he was leaning against was unlocked, so fell through it! Later, when we decided to leave, and moved across the square, they followed us. We moved again, and I was followed again, in an intimidating manner. It was obvious they were not part of the protest itself, and represented a counter-demonstration faction, likely paid agents provocateur.

A fresh group arrived with many having their faces covered, never a good sign. The atmosphere was not a happy one, so I went for another round of the monument to take pictures. I generally ask people before taking a portrait — this person consented, but was not particularly friendly to me afterwards. I was not in “my crowd” and felt very out of place. The festival feeling from true patriots who act in genuine love for their fellow man was totally absent.

Another man in his sixties (not pictured) was wearing a baseball cap with a large sewn union flag on it.

“Hi, I like your hat, can I take your picture?”

“PISS OFF, YOU LEFT-WING SCUM!” he snarled back at me.

I was somewhat taken aback, as it is the first time I have ever been accused of this; usually I am falsely smeared as far-right! I said I was nothing of the sort, and suggested that he seemed confused over who I am.

“Don’t you dare to take a picture of me!” was the response, his two fingers jabbing in my chest. That I am around 6ft and muscular, with him being about 5ft 4in and probably 50lbs lighter, added an ironic comedy to the encounter. I just walked away, to avoid escalation. I have no need to dominate numpties, nor start a brawl.

My lady companion (who at 5ft 6in was also taller than him) went up to object to his rudeness. “You don’t know who this man is, he has been persecuted for the last five years for standing up to corruption!” One of the short man’s two companions, the largest, put his hand out in front of her face and told her “don’t speak!”.

That is not how you treat a lady, and she retorted “I will speak when I choose to!”, and chided them for their ungracious behaviour. Two of the men turned their backs, including Mr Short-and-Angry, too cowardly to even engage with a middle-aged woman. The one who remained facing her said they couldn’t know who I am. (Do they treat all strangers like this?) She told them that perhaps they ought to look me up!

By this point we knew that this was not an event we wished to be associated with, nor was it a safe place to be. My purpose is to document peaceful protests, and I carried only a wide-angle street camera. If you want to document riots, then you need protective gear, press status, and a long telephoto lens — plus a willingness to go into danger for the “sellable shot” of bleeding or burning. That is not my calling, and there is no shame in walking away from what is clearly intended to be a provocation to goad others into an escalating response. I am one of the tribe of people seeking peace, not war.

Heading back to the car it became obvious we were being followed — the man in the black hood (on the left, by the fence) turned away when I took a picture back down the street. We overshot the car, went around a side street, came back, crossed the road, tried to get into a Subway (but it was closed in fear of disturbances), and eventually made it back to the car, having decided it was a less risky route than to the police in the square. Meanwhile, I had swapped over my memory cards to preserve any evidence I had from the square earlier, and as protection against having a knife drawn and camera taken.

As we walked past the stalker at one point I turned wide angle video on my smartphone, and caught him unawares. We took a wide path, and he knew that we knew he was following us. He didn’t dare cross the road when we did; it was too obvious, and there were plenty of bystanders. (You can’t make up the Marshsall Artist background given the looming explicit military law!)

As a social media commenter notes, he has been trained to minimise his evidence footprint, both in images and DNA: trousers tucked into socks to reduce leg hair being left at the scene, gloves to protect fingerprints, neck warmer and hood up (in August) for facial privacy, and all black clothing. He is a sinister coward — and now is immortalised for all to see! There are organised and funded factions working to disrupt our society and deny us peaceful protest. Both the far-left and far-right represent the same ungodly wrong, neither following “the way” to peace. This is the real “left-wing scum” behaviour. I bet he doesn’t realise military intelligence “have it all”! Dumbass.

After nervously looking all around us as we approached the car, we quickly drove off, not worrying about the destination. Police vans were everywhere, and I am sorry for the officers under orders caught up in this and having to put themselves at risk. Yes, they took the job and the salary, but they are victims of betrayal too, and deserve some sympathy. They are both complicit in the wokeness that has destroyed our country, as well as subjected to its predations, and none of us are 100% clean. We couldn’t turn down one side street as it was blocked by a large crowd of local Muslims. Many police and locals were outside a mosque. Whatever you feel about multiculturalism, everyone deserves security in their own home, and it was knowingly being threatened.

So, what to make of it all? The legacy media and social media commentary are focusing on a narrative of “local community” versus “far-right” in this context, but that is to feed the oppositional duality. None of those represented that we encountered were following a higher spiritual path; pointing at any of them as allies or enemies is to privilege them inappropriately. I cannot better Bible quotes on the subject, in this instance, as we are all commanded not to turn to the left or the right, but to follow the narrow way of righteousness:

• Joshua 1:7 (ESV): “Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.”

• Proverbs 4:27 (NIV): "Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil."

• Deuteronomy 5:32-33 (NIV): "So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess."

• Isaiah 30:21 (NIV): "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.'"

• Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV): "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."

Many of the men there would count themselves as “patriots” because they bear a flag icon. They are not, as they only fuel the destruction of their own country, attack genuine freedom activists like me, and aid the treacherous and self-righteous Antifa types who attempt to police it outside of the law. The spiritual ugliness of what happened in Middlesbrough yesterday is the culmination of a long period of secular brainwashing and cultural erosion. The local Muslims are to an extent victims of treasonous policies that are using them; it is an “innocent and involuntary invasion” for most. Yet there are plenty of reports, too, of their resorting to knives and threats. Nobody looks good here.

A civil war is when rival “teams” of the indigenous population fight for dominance. We are in something materially different right now: a global conflict between the indigenous and the alien, where the latter have become the dominant cultural force in many cities and towns. I am having to ask myself very uncomfortable questions about what has happened in Britain in the last few decades, and the assumptions I made that we could somehow muddle through it all without serious societal breakdown. My sense from Middlesbrough is that northern England in particular is a powder-keg right now.

I recommend all good men and women stay away from these dangerous events; don’t ignite something you cannot put out. “Lizard brain” tribal instincts have been unleashed, and once you add in financial collapse and failure of the justice system, the result could be far beyond any nightmare we might have envisioned in our lifetime. The time for peaceful protesting is over; stay home, prepare yourself mentally, practically, and spiritually for what is to come. This wasn’t an isolated flare-up around a local issue; our country is “on the edge” and unimaginably hard times are near. Dedicate yourself to finding the narrow gate that straddles the left and right; “the way” is the only way to peace.

Not all the shape-shifting lizards are bad…