Battle of Cable Street (1936)

Sun Oct 04, 1936

Image

Image: Battle of Cable Street, with police clearing the way for a car carrying fascists (1936) [jewishmuseum.org.uk]

On this day in 1936, 20,000 anti-fascists turned out in East London to drive out a rally of 2,000-3,000 fascists organized by Oswald Mosley, forcing them to flee through Hyde Park in what is now known as “The Battle of Cable Street”.

The fight included the Metropolitan Police, sent to protect a march by members of the British Union of Fascists led by Oswald Mosley, and various anti-fascist demonstrators, including local anarchist, communist, Jewish and socialist groups.

After it became known that the British Union of Fascists (BUF) were organizing a march to take place through the heart of the East End (an area which then had a large Jewish population), an estimated 100,000 residents of the area petitioned then Home Secretary John Simon to ban the march because of the strong likelihood of violence. He refused, and sent a police escort in an attempt to prevent anti-fascist protesters from disrupting the march.

Anti-fascists built roadblocks in an attempt to prevent the march from happening, and on Oct. 4th an estimated 20,000 anti-fascist demonstrators turned out, met by 6,000–7,000 policemen (including mounted police) and 2,000–3,000 fascists. Demonstrators fought police with sticks, rocks, chair legs and other improvised weapons. Rubbish, rotten vegetables and the contents of chamber pots were thrown at the police by women in houses along the street.

The leader of the BUF, Oswald Mosley, decided to abandon the march, and fascists fled through Hyde Park while the anti-fascists rioted with police. More than 150 demonstrators were arrested and approximately 175 people, including police, women, and children, were injured in the violence.