The current far-right modus operandi is to portray themselves as the noble protectors of women and children. Yet time and again they are revealed to be the last person you’d want anywhere near your son, daughter, or frankly anyone else – not least in Belfast.
The latest case of a racist vigilante being unmasked in this way is Mark Payne, part of the East Belfast First Division. The group have been banned from TikTok, but can still be found on videos featured on the Belfast Nightwatch First Division Facebook page. These show large crowds on men roaming the city streets, with even comments from seemingly supportive followers questioning whether this intimidating mob would put anyone at ease. One wag suggested they might be attempting to track down Jeffrey Donaldson, the disgraced former Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader, who is currently facing trial for a serious of sexual offences.
Far-right vigilantes in Belfast: unmasked as perpetrators of violence
The group describes itself as:
Concerned Parents, from all communities, working together, patrolling Belfast streets, for the safety and protection of our children and vulnerable people.
The implication, or sometimes direct assertion, is typically that migrants – and increasingly anyone who is Black or brown – pose a danger to those supposedly at risk.
Payne’s history of “protection of…children and vulnerable people” includes his involvement in the stabbing of a 14-year-old who was seriously injured in 2004 when Payne was 22 years old. The child suffered multiple wounds from the knife attack, resulting in serious injury.
The Belfast Telegraph reported that Payne was:
charged with intimidation of two female witnesses, stealing a kitchen knife, possessing an offensive weapon in a public place in connection with a burglary, and entering as a trespasser Grosvenor Rugby Club with the intention of inflicting grievous bodily harm against another man.
He ultimately served four years in jail for the incident.
Racist ex-convicts and murderers
Payne was pictured outside Belfast’s Laganside Courts alongside fellow ex-convicts Mark Sinclair (armed robbery) and Glen Kane (manslaughter). Kane was convicted for his role in the killing of Kieran Abram, a Catholic man who was kicked to death in a sectarian attack in July 1992. Sinclair currently goes under the moniker Freedom Dad, where he has become known for turning up at pro-Palestine protests in an attempt to provoke those seeking to stop so-called Israel’s genocide in Gaza. He is the cousin of ‘Shankill Butcher‘ Billy Moore, who was part of a gang of sadistic killers that murdered Catholics during the 1970s and 80s.
Their presence at the court was due to the appearance inside of another racist criminal who we are entreated to trust with protecting the safety of the vulnerable. Neil Pinkerton was appearing before a magistrate facing:
three counts of common assault, two counts of using disorderly behaviour at Connswater Retail Park and at a McDonald’s fast-food outlet, trying to damage a car, harassment, possessing Class B cannabis and inciting hatred.
These offences were alleged to have been committed on 6 September this year. Another incident of disorder in the Connswater area occurred on 8 September, as a racist mob forced a terrified man from his car and damaged the vehicle. Pinkerton also has an interest in hunting with dogs, and has faced trial over animal cruelty.
Fitting a wider patter of far-right violence
This fits a wider pattern among the far-right generally, with notorious Islamophobe Tommy Robinson (real name Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon) possessing a string of convictions including assault occasioning actual bodily harm, immigration fraud, mortgage fraud, and stalking, among others.
In another recent edition of “every accusation is a confession”, the migrant bashing Manchester-based Lee Twamley was found to have a history of people smuggling, bringing four Vietnamese people into England in the back of his Ford Connect van.
Featured image via the Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.