From 'stop the boats' to expelling 15 million people
A far-right march on County Hall uses false claims about Kent County Council to demand the removal of 15 million people from Britain
Saturday's demonstration outside County Hall was presented as another protest against illegal migration. The speeches told a much bigger story. We examine how the rhetoric has shifted, what was actually said from the stage, and why the event marked a significant change in the message being promoted by one of Kent's most visible anti-migrant campaign groups.
Kent far-right rally shifts from 'stop the boats' to mass deportation
The Kent Nationalist Movement had tied its logo to the gates of County Hall without permission. In front of it, another banner supplied the policy, if not the punctuation: REMIGRATION NOW MILLIONS MUST LEAVE. Then Britain First leader Paul Golding put a number on it.
“We will expel at least 15 million uninvited immigrants from our country,” he told the crowd outside the headquarters of Kent County Council.
This was not presented as a policy confined to people crossing the Channel in small boats. Golding said he did not care whether someone had arrived through Dover or legally through Heathrow, mentioning migrants from India. His message to all 15 million was simple: “Don’t unpack, you’re going back.” The crowd repeated it.
For a movement which has built much of its profile protesting against illegal migration and accommodation for asylum seekers, that is a significant shift. Standing outside Kent County Council's headquarters on Saturday, the target expanded to include legal migrants. The nation being defended was repeatedly defined through ancestry, blood and whiteness. “Remigration” was not left as a convenient euphemism. Both principal speakers explained that it meant millions of people leaving.
The scale of the event itself was rather less historic. Searchlight, the anti-fascist magazine, reported a turnout of “barely 100,” around half the attendance at KNM’s previous Maidstone march in June. It said the demonstration was outnumbered by a younger and louder counterprotest.
The limited turnout should not obscure what happened on the streets of Maidstone. KNM used its platform to move openly from opposition to illegal migration to the proposed removal of millions of people who were living in Britain legally.
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Below the line, there's lots more on what the Kent Nationalist Movement said at County Hall, why its claims about KCC do not stand up, and where the movement is heading next.
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