The Battle of Lewisham 1977 — Nationalists vs. Black Muggers

If you can not remember the ‘Battle of Lewisham’ don’t worry as you are probably in good company with the rest of this country’s population.

If you can remember the events of Saturday 13th August 1977 then you are probably either politically active on the left or right, a local historian specialising in south London, or just someone with a very long memory when it come to current affairs.

To set the scene for this day thirty years ago we can see what the BBC has to say via it’s On This Day web pages:

more than 200 protesters have been arrested after demonstrations in Lewisham against a National Front (NF) march … 110 people, including 55 police officers, were injured … an estimated 400 Socialist Workers Party members had gathered … in frustration at having failed to prevent the NF march the crowd … vented their anger on the police … [who] … were attacked with bottles and bricks and also had ammonia sprayed in their faces … the severity of the onslaught led to officers using riot shields - the first time such equipment has been used in the [mainland] UK [1 BBC]

At the end of the BBC piece we can read something which is highly pertinent in regards to today’s London, and many other city areas of the country:

[NF] Spokesman Richard Edmonds said by demonstrating in Lewisham - an area with a high proportion of West Indian immigrants - they were “standing up for white people” and highlighting the disproportionate amount of street crime committed in the area by black youths. [1]

The marches and riots of the day have a blog dedicated to them, Lewisham ‘77 Remembering and reflecting on the ‘Battle of Lewisham’ in August 1977 [2]. The blog has a fairly accurate and detailed chronology of events before, during, and after the day.

Read the whole fantastic article here: http://tottenhamlad.blogspot.com/

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