The Battle of Lewisham took place on 13 August 1977, when 500 members of the far-right National Front (NF) attempted to march from New Cross to Lewisham in southeast London and various counter-demonstrations by approximately 4,000 people led to violent clashes between the two groups and between the anti-NF demonstrators and police. 5,000 police officers were present and 56 officers were injured, 11 of whom were hospitalised. 214 people were arrested. Later disturbances in Lewisham town centre saw the first use of police riot shields on the UK mainland.
Background
In the mid-1970s, New Cross and surrounding areas of South London became the focus of intense and sometimes violent political activity by neo-Nazis and members of the National Front, led by John Tyndall and the National Party, a breakaway faction led by John Kingsley Read. In 1976 the two organisations had a particularly strong showing in a local ward election to Lewisham London Borough Council. In response to this, the All Lewisham Campaign Against Racism and Fascism (ALCARAF) was launched with the support of local trade unions, anti-racist and anti-fascist groups.
On 30 May 1977, the police staged dawn raids in south-east London and arrested twenty-one young black people including a 24-year-old woman, in connection with a series of muggings. Following the arrests, the police said that they believed the "gang" were responsible "for 90 per cent of the street crime in south London over the past six months." They appeared at Camberwell Green Magistrates' Court on 1 June 1977, charged with various offences of "conspiracy to rob." During the hearings, some of the defendants fought with the police while spectators in the public gallery attempted to invade the court. The Lewisham 21 Defence Committee was set up soon after. They heavily criticised police tactics.
On 2 July 1977, the Lewisham 21 Defence Committee held a demonstration in New Cross. Up to 200 National Front supporters turned out to oppose it, throwing "rotten fruit and bags of caustic soda at marchers". More than 80 people were arrested.
National Front march
In the following weeks, the National Front (NF) announced plans for a march from New Cross to Lewisham. The NF national organiser, Martin Webster, told the press: 'We believe that the multi-racial society is wrong, is evil and we want to destroy it'. Local church leaders, Lewisham Council and the Liberal Party all called for the march to be banned, but Metropolitan Police Commissioner David McNee declined to make an application to the Home Secretary for a ban to be imposed. McNee reasoned that if a ban were imposed, then this would lead to "increasing pressure" to ban similar events and would be "abdicating his responsibility in the face of groups who threaten to achieve their ends by violent means." Deputy Assistant Commissioner David Helm asked the NF to voluntarily abandon the march, which they refused to do. Helm also asked how they would respond if the march was banned, and was told that they would simply march elsewhere. This meant that any ban would have to be imposed, manned and enforced across the entire Metropolitan Police district, which would still not prevent the NF from marching outside of the proscribed area. A ban on marching would also not prevent the NF instead holding a static public meeting "perhaps in provocative circumstances", which would still attract a counter-demonstration. The police dilemma was further compounded by the limitations of the Public Order Act 1936, which granted no powers of arrest in the event that a ban was ignored.
There were political differences between anti-fascists about how best to respond, and as a result there were three distinct mobilisations for the counter-demonstration. ALCARAF called for peaceful demonstration earlier on the day of the National Front march. 13 August Ad Hoc Organising Committee, called on people to occupy the National Front's intended meeting point at Clifton Rise in New Cross. A third organisation, the Anti Racist/Anti-Fascist Co-ordinating Committee (ARAFCC, the London-wide Federation of Anti-Racist/Anti-Fascist Committees, including ALCARAF) also mobilised activists from across Greater London and called for support for the ALCARAF march and for a physical attempt to stop the NF march.
