The Battle of Cable Street was a series of clashes that took place at several locations in the East End of London on Sunday 4 October 1936.
The British Union of Fascists (BUF), led by Oswald Mosley, announced a march to celebrate the fourth anniversary of their organisation. The BUF had become increasingly antisemitic, so their decision to march through East London, then home to a large Jewish population, rather than close to its headquarters in Westminster, was regarded as a deliberate provocation.
A broad coalition of local representatives was unsuccessful in persuading the Home Secretary to ban the march, so the Independent Labour Party, the Communist Party of Great Britain and the Jewish People's Council Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism rallied large crowds, of mostly politically unaffiliated people, onto the streets in an attempt to block the march.
There was fighting between the BUF and counter-protestors at the fascist muster point at Tower Hill. The Metropolitan Police then clashed with both parties as they separated the factions and established a cordon around the BUF force.
The police attempted to clear...
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