Cable Street Blockade

October 4 1936 – 18 Tishrei 5697

The Battle of Cable Street broke out in London. Fascist leader Oswald Mosley had planned to march thousands of his Blackshirts (so called for their Nazi-style uniforms) through the city’s heavily Jewish East End. In the event, the two thousand or so demonstrators faced ten times as many anti-fascists, including local women and children who dumped chamber pots on Mosley’s men and pelted them with rotten vegetables. Struggling to keep order, the police arrested and abused numerous counterdemonstrators. The subsequent legal brouhaha crippled fascist activity in Britain, with legislation forbidding party uniforms, etc.