Britain First Anti-Mosque March Raises Hundreds Of Pounds For Refugee Council

Britain First Rally Inadvertently Raises £1,300 For Refugees
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Britain First are being credited with helping raise over £1,300 to help refugees after a fundraising page was set-up to coincide with their march in Burton-upon-Trent on Saturday, so "the haters will be doing good for the targets of their hate".

Andrew Smith created the page to rally support for refugees while the far-right group marched againsthttp://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/german-town-tricks-neo-nazis-into-raising-money-for-an-anti-nazi-charity-9867016.html the building of a "mega-mosque" in the Staffordshire town.

Smith wrote that his idea was inspired by similar events in the German town of Wunsiedel. He explained his motivation on his JustGiving page: "I thought that it would make much more sense if their efforts could be put to good use in raising money for desperate refugees here in the UK.

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The JustGiving page that Andrew Smith created hoping the Britain First march would encourage people to donate to the Refugee Council

"This way, the haters will be doing good for the targets of their hate. Hopefully you'll agree that it's a positive, uplifting message."

By Monday afternoon £1,356 had been raised for the Refugee Council.

Some donors applauded the idea. Comments that accompanied donations included: "Glad to turn Britain First on it's head." Another read: "Well done Britain First, hating people can be good after all! Have a nice walk."

Staffordshire Police estimated there were 210 people at the Britain First demonstration and 250 people on a counter-demonstration, organised by Unite Against Fascism.

Six people were arrested. Two men – a 19-year-old from Northamptonshire and a 34-year-old from Derbyshire – were arrested for failing to remove face coverings when asked to do so by police officers and an 18-year-old man from the Nottingham area was arrested for affray.

Three people were arrested for public order offences.

Britain First demonstrators were amusingly told not to be "silly" during their march in a low-key sign opposing their actions.

The pseudo-political party put out a video about the protest in which they quoted Winston Churchill's 'We shall fight on the beaches'.

The response they received was however, quite mellow.

Anti-fascism campaigners Hope Not Hate tweeted a picture of the demonstrators surrounded by police officers, which appeared to show the police outnumbering the protest.