Truth Trucking in Liverpool
Report written by Paul Golding — Liverpool was traditionally a militant left-wing city, so it was a huge and welcome surprise when we encountered an almost surreal level of support for the British National Party.
The whole Truth Truck team had been forewarned to expect police and anti-BNP hostility, so security measures were beefed up in advance. After assembling on the outskirts of the city with numerous other BNP A-frame vehicles, the now formidable motorcade headed towards the city centre.
The unbelievable demonstrations of support started almost immediately, even while filling up with fuel on the outskirts of Liverpool. The BNP convoy was bombarded with toots, thumbs up and shouts of support, and at many points along the way we had to stop the truck to hand out Racism Cuts Both Ways brochures to an eager public.
At least 80 percent of all passersby were supportive, and local activists pointed out that the few hostile reactions were most likely from the bussed-in far-leftist outsiders.
Compared with the support received in the first nationwide Truth Truck tour earlier in the month, the support received in Liverpool bordered on the insane, and this is no exaggeration! I was left frequently gobsmacked, and expressed an interest in closing shop in London and moving to Liverpool to my local Scouser guide!
One good example is the almost blanket support given by bus drivers, who sometimes stopped next to the Truth Truck beeping their horn, even while fully loaded with passengers!
At one point a group of approximately eight teenagers crowded around the Truth Truck while stuck in traffic outside St. George’s Hall enquiring “what’s it all about.” We immediately gave out multiple copies of the Racism Cuts Both Ways brochure and they all started giving very vocal support upon realising we were the BNP!
At one point, a police motorcycle started following our convoy, and then ordered us to pull over. This is where our new prearranged anti-police-harassment techniques kicked in: after getting off his motorcycle he was greeted by around six BNP members with camcorders rolling.
To say he was thrown off balance by this would be an understatement. Faced with the crowd of camcorders, he changed his tune and sent us on our way. We had special software installed on the cameras and camera phones which streamed straight to the Internet, and our BNP Webmaster Simon Bennett was waiting for the footage to arrive in his studio, so we would have been literally live online if subjected to harassment. This fortunately proved unnecessary as we were subjected to no further stops.
Liverpool is definitely a city that will see the Truth Truck again in the near future. Rest assured, the Truth Truck will also be there to support the Blackburn and Burnley activists who faced police repression previously as well. It was a wise move investing in this amazing campaigning vehicle, and so far it is doing the BNP proud.
