The far-right looks to Medway again

Plus parking fees come to country parks, local band makes national radio, news in brief, and more

With far-right riots taking place up and down the country, it was likely only a matter of time before something happened in Medway. Nothing has so far, but leaks from organising group chats suggests bad actors are attempting to whip up trouble tomorrow, with counter-protestors rapidly responding. We’ve got more details below, as well as news of the parking charges hitting Medway’s country parks, a Medway band making it to national radio, our news in brief section, and more.

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The far-right looks to Medway again

It’s difficult to know what to say about the events of the past week. It’s almost too much to find the right words.

Using last week’s horrific events in Southport as a jumping-off point, bad actors have brought violence and intimidation to communities across the country.

It was only a matter of time before it risked reaching us.

So it was that yesterday, word started to spread on social media that the far-right were planning ‘demonstrations’ across the country on Wednesday night. We’re formatting the word like that as the post, originally taken from a Telegram organising channel that has been involved in the riots seen over the past week, was littered with suggestions that these would be far from peaceful protests.

Surrounded by flame emojis, phrases like ‘they won’t stop coming until you tell them’ and ‘mask up’ offered a pretty clear insight into the kind of ‘demonstration’ they were talking about.

It was inevitable that Medway would appear, given the long list of targets. While previous attacks around the country have centred on locations like hotels housing asylum seekers and mosques, groups are now targetting the offices of lawyers offering immigration advice. We aren’t publishing the exact details here, but they are now being widely shared on social media.

Amongst this, confusion and misinformation have begun to swirl on social media, with users reporting a litany of different potential locations that may or may not face issues in the coming days. Certain community groups have announced they are postponing events, and some shops and businesses have told customers they will close early tomorrow.

We reached out to Medway Council, who declined to comment on the situation, while Kent Police offered the following statement:

“Kent Police is aware of possible protest dates and locations being promoted on social media and is well prepared to respond swiftly and robustly to any incidents of disorder that may arise. The force is continuing to monitor all available information and has sufficient resources in place to respond whilst continuing with the daily business of keeping people safe and preventing and detecting crime. Officers are also engaging with communities to provide ongoing reassurance.”

Inevitably, as soon as word began to spread that the far-right were targeting a location in our towns, counter-protestors began to organise. We say inevitably because Medway has a long history of standing up to the far-right, most notably a decade ago when locals drove Britain First out of Rochester High Street during a period of heightened tensions.

Britain First being blocked from Rochester High Street in 2014. Photo: Phil Dillon, (C) All Rights Reserved

Medway Stand Up To Racism has arranged a counter-protest at the location being targeted. Ivor Riddell, spokesperson for the group, gave us the following statement:

"For ordinary people to do nothing, invites those who wish to bring fear and hatred to spread their divisive message and give it gravitas. The people of Medway have a long history of opposing Fascism, going back to when Oswald Moseley visited the Medway Towns for rallies such as in Batchelor Street in Chatham. Or Britain First in Rochester.

We can never allow this sick ideology to take hold in our community, however it is dressed up, as just ordinary people feeling angry or defending our borders. These tropes are nothing more than window dressing for radical right wing exceptionalism and hatred of the other.”

Of course, people will have different views about how to respond to these sorts of events in our community. Independent councillor Chris Spalding tweeted that “there should not be any counter-protest”, suggesting that the Medway Green Party, sharing details, would hold culpability should there be any disorder and not the far-right bad actors behind the initial event.

The events come in the week that the government confirmed that 500 new prison places will be created to house the influx of rioters into the justice system. Part of these plans involve reopening HMP Cookham Wood in Rochester, which was already set to be repurposed for adult prisoners, but will now see that work accelerated.

In between will be the vast majority of people, not directly involved, nervous about where we are as both a community and a country. KMTV has visited a mosque in Gillingham, which is not currently facing any direct threats but still has members feeling unsafe because of what is happening. Under the circumstances, that seems understandable, if unfortunate.

We have no way of knowing what tomorrow or the coming days will bring. We can only hope it will be peaceful.

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Parking fees come to country parks

Any story we move to after that is going to have some tonal whiplash, so let’s just jump to parking and ignore the weird segue involved.

We knew parking fees were being introduced at Medway’s country parks, but we didn’t know exactly when. The kind of fun people who read Medway Council budget documents knew it was coming earlier in the year. If social media posts are any indication, many others found out when the payment machines appeared in the car parks.

Following an announcement, we now know the £2.50 all-day charges begin on 2 September. This seems like a prudent time to do it as it avoids the big summer holiday rush and instead means people gradually discover them through the autumn months. By next summer, people won’t even give them a second thought. That appears to be the logic, anyway.

For regular users, Medway Council are offering an annual ticket for £60, which allows you to park at ‘all Medway Council country parks’. The word ‘all’ is doing a lot of heavy lifting there as Medway only has two: Riverside Country Park and Capstone Farm Country Park.

Eventually, a third will join the lineup as Medway converts the former Deangate Ridge Golf Course into the Deangate Community Parkland, which is apparently still a country park despite the name. Independent councillor for Hoo & High Halstow Ron Sands has queried whether the park there faces charges and received confirmation that it won’t for now but will once the new park is completed.

In the grand scheme of things, parking charges at country parks aren’t a particularly novel concept. Most country parks around the country charge for parking, and most charge rather more than the flat £2.50 all-day fee Medway is planning. While access to facilities is free, and rightly so, the ability to bring your car isn’t a right. There is a compelling argument here that our country parks should be rather better served by public transport than they are now, but that’s an argument for another day.

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Local band makes national radio

It’s not often we get to write about Medway musicians making it to a national stage, such is the weirdly island like nature of our scene. We’re happy to see excellent Medway band Little Storping in the Swuff appear on Marc Riley and Gideon Coe’s BBC 6 Music show this week.

Little Storping in the Swuff, looking delighted alongside Marc Riley and Gideon Coe.

The appearence follows a solid run for the band, who released their debut album earlier this year, and have recently completed a number of gigs, both locally and in the distant lands of London. Word on the street suggests the band are already hard at work on their next record too.

You can listen to the session in full here. There’s one song at the start and a small set and interview around 49 minutes in.

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In brief

🏳️‍🌈 Two people have had eggs thrown at them outside The Ship Inn in Rochester. Kent Police are describing the incident at Medway’s most prominent gay bar as a hate crime.

🏥 Work has begun on the new Healthy Living Centre upstairs inside the Pentagon in Chatham. The site will include two GP practices, a pharmacy, and community health services.

🌽 Rainham’s maize maze has reopened this week. The location at Maize Moon on Lower Rainham Road has a magical theme this year and will cost £4 to visit.

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More Authority

This week, we interviewed Emily Brown, the world’s first Namaste practitioner in a hospital environment. She’s brought a new type of care to Medway Hospital and has since won the prestigious Hospital Hero award for her work. Steven met Emily to discuss how practising Namaste works, how she came to be doing it at the hospital, and what the future holds.

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Footnotes

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Music that soundtracked the creation of this edition: Antisocialites by Alvvays, Pram Town by Darren Hayman & The Secondary Modern, and House Without A View by Lande Hekt.