The Battle of Lewisham
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 9 October 2020
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In August 1977, the racist National Front organisation planned to stage a march into Lewisham in South London at a time of high racial tension in the area. The National Front activists were met by a huge counter-demonstration organised by anti-racist campaigners – in the clashes that followed, hundreds of people were arrested and injured before the National Front were forced to withdraw. The so-called Battle of Lewisham is now seen as having halted the rise of the far-right in British politics. Nacheal Catnott talks to Lez Henry, who grew up in Lewisham and witnessed the unrest. Produced by Eleanor Biggs.
PHOTO: A police officer attempts to restore order in Lewisham in 1977 (Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.0 | Hello and thank you for downloading the Witness History Podcast with me |
| 0:45.0 | Nakel Kepnell. All this week we've been looking back at events from |
| 0:48.1 | Black British history. Today I'm your guest presenter and I'll be telling you a |
| 0:52.4 | little-known story of an anti-racist |
| 0:54.7 | demonstration in a place where I grew up and how it crushed the biggest white supremacist |
| 0:59.4 | group in Britain. It's August 1977 and people in Luresham in Southeast London have heard that |
| 1:08.8 | the racist National Front are planning a massive show of strength in their |
| 1:12.4 | neighborhood. |
| 1:13.0 | You know, the word on the street in Lewisham was that the National Front |
| 1:17.0 | are going to do the biggest march they've ever done. |
| 1:20.0 | And it was when we heard out with a noise from around the corner when the flares and the smoke bombs would be in front. |
| 1:30.0 | We kind of went round the corner so we could see what was happening. |
| 1:34.4 | You could smell some of the fumes from the smoke bombs and the flares and all that. |
| 1:38.2 | It was mayhem. |
| 1:40.2 | Les Henry turned 20 four days before what became known as the Battle of Lusham. |
| 1:45.0 | South London born and bred he grew up experiencing racist abuse from the National Front Fugs |
... |
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