Scenes in Sheffield showed the police just bow-down to the far-right

On Saturday 8 November, Sheffield played host to Nick Tenconi, UKIP, his cronies, and a sea of far-right YouTube personalities; police facilitated chaos on the streets from several different forces:

There was the unmistakable smell of gammon in Sheffield. A queue of them was already making its way through town when I arrived at the station, and I followed the well-trodden path to the cathedral. The police had a section 14 in place for the day to prevent any risk of violence. It would have been far easier if they hadn’t allowed the march to happen, but hey ho. Here at the Canary, we are all for free speech:

It’s a shame that you can’t say the same for the dozens of YouTubers pretending to be journalists, with “We are the press now” stickers on their recording equipment. Since when did the press hide their beloved leader with umbrellas because you’re “a left-wing reporter”?

Yeah, lad, I am. I’m like, an actual journalist, and I actually get paid to do this… I’m not wasting my Saturday for 20p a view, buddy.

Wilful chaos in Sheffield

The cathedral in Sheffield was full of several thousand left-wing activists, who knew that being a racist cunt isn’t popular. Sorry, Amy, I’m back to swearing, but come on, they kind of are:

The gathering at the cathedral wasn’t a legal assembly – section 14. Wooo. The lefties defied the police, briefly, and after they made it clear who really owns the streets, they acquiesced to the planned route after some deliberation with officers in attendance.

I asked the police if this meant that the UKIP march could now start and come via the cathedral… no comment. Even the sergeant didn’t know; she told me to wait right there while she found out what was going on, then instantly walked to the wrong police van and tried to get in. It’s a perfect metaphor: no one has a clue whatsoever what’s going on. The marches were rerouted multiple times throughout the day.

Flag-clad rabble rousers from UKIP

I headed to Tudor Square, where a small group of one hundred or so flag-clad rabble-rousers were waiting for the huddle of six-foot men that was hiding Nick Tenconi from passersby to join, which it eventually did (umbrellas at the ready):

The group listened to this angry wee man ranting and raving, chanting about deporting people – presumably most of them British citizens. A man in the crowd periodically piped up to shout that “we all know the left have always been the real fascists”… one copper in my eyeline was literally stood there screaming with his eyes. When even the police know you’re full of shit, you know it’s time to put down the megaphone:

Two incredible young women had apparently maneuvered their way into the middle of the crowd and unfurled their signs (“Stop sucking off Nigel Farage”… yes, gurls!), and were instantly chased out by a baying mob of men who came into the street to demand safety for women and children. Gotta love that irony.

Chat shit, get banged

While I was talking to them – clearly shaken by the experience – a man walked past who was part of the crowd: “Those two put my kid in danger – horrible little bastards they are.”

Maybe don’t take your child to a UKIP rally. It’s not hard.

These are the same people who later shouted at another reporter that she was a nonce because she posted pictures of someone’s kids online at a rally. In the words of a wise man (my boss):

Chat shit, get banged. If you take your kid to a far-right rally, you can’t complain when they end up on the internet forever.

I spent a few moments taking the women’s comments:

I don’t know what they want from me… and it’s really scary, you walk past these people every day, and they say things like I hope you get gang – raped… so you know.

Fortunately for me, I don’t. I wish those two young women realised how brave they were for what they just did. They have more balls as individuals than that whole crowd of men. Solidarity to you both. I hope you found somewhere safe to regroup.

Two-tier policing in Sheffield

As the march started, I stood to one side and then followed – the reactions from people on the side of the road ranged from disgust to happy cheering. Mostly disgust, though. One woman was in tears, another on the verge of it.

A scuffle broke out right in front of me – an activist with a Palestine flag on the side of the road was barged into by a lass with a flag of St. George… she barged back – suddenly there’s a melee as the Palestinian flag becomes a tug-of-war. A man in orange steps in and wrestles the instigator to the ground to get the flag back. After the scuffle was over, the Muslim woman with the flag was arrested and led away to the nearby police station by several officers:

🚨 Two-tier policing in #Sheffield

🔴 Far-right @UKIP goon pushes antifascist.
🔴 Antifascist pushes back.
🔴 Far-right goon grabs Palestine flag.
🔴 Antifascist grabs England flag.
🔴 Antifascist gets arrested???

What are you doing @syptweet???
🎥 @JustBarold pic.twitter.com/TcOPAejRcJ

— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) November 8, 2025

I have since been contacted by a witness who says:

Unfortunately [she] had her phone stolen and was very upset that no efforts were made to retrieve it. The two people implicated had England/Israel flags on their backs, and the husband came to attack me. Whilst I was distracted, his wife attacked the woman who was eventually arrested. We hadn’t really exchanged any verbal insults or anything; we were silently walking alongside.

Sometimes you just wish they would stop and look around them and realise what they are doing. It’s almost like, because they aren’t charging protesters on horseback anymore, it’s impartial policing. That’s literally the context in which I realised I was viewing policing  –  “they aren’t kicking the fuck out of me, so therefore it’s balanced.” Yes, I am sometimes an idiot.

Kettling the left while letting the far-right roam around

I caught up with the tail end of the march going past the area where the left-wing protesters were being cordoned:

Tangent: when does a cordon become a kettle, or is it literally just semantics?

Cops love to kettle the left while letting the far-right do whatever they want 🚩

We’re on the ground in #Sheffield and our reporter @JustBarold has been told he cannot go past the line if cops penning antifascists in ‘for his own safety’ 🙃 pic.twitter.com/E4uTmpnMyP

— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) November 8, 2025

Anyway, I wasn’t allowed through for my own safety  –  fuck the NUJ, they don’t count. I followed down the road, where there were half a dozen far-right auditors and bloggers just happily walking between the double police cordon set up to contain the vitriol. It’s strange, I asked:

Why do they just get to do what they want?

“They don’t,” replied an officer, “please stay this side of the cordon, sir.” He followed up as I watched yet another YouTube personality just walk straight through. At one point, there was an instigator literally communicating with members of the entourage on the other side of the lines – the police said they were trying to identify who it was – just put them all back behind the lines:

One of them was literally standing there, screaming at a young woman that she’s a nonce. This whole thing is a circus run by clowns.

A joke in Sheffield from the cops

We got pushed back further, YouTubers allowed to follow behind the police:

I went back up to the bridge – maybe I’ll have to content myself with the lefties today – nope, not allowed in. After showing a sergeant my payslip with “Canary Media Limited” on it, I’m in – but then I can’t leave:

Sorry, it’s not safe, we are dealing with this on an individual basis.

I replied:

I’m a journalist, I have a right to come through, and I have a train to catch.

Apparently that wasn’t valid. Let’s get this straight – first it’s too dangerous for a legitimate journalist to enter this area, and then it’s not safe for me to leave… but it’s safe for the police to allow two auditors into the cordoned – off area.

I pointed it out to the two officers on camera duty, but they were more interested in taking the piss out of a bloke on the megaphone, reading from his phone. Clowns. Circus:

Eventually, UKIP were once again paraded past the left. It turns out Mr. Tenconi was escorted from the area by the police with his minions for their own safety, whilst the left were allowed out to make their way home through the streets with far-right hooligans side by side.

Walking through the bus station in Sheffield, I bumped into a few of them. Safety first, eh?

Featured image and additional images via the Canary