Free speech means answering the argument, not tearing down the gazebo
Comment: Brighton is the latest in a string of street debates broken up by opponents. Whatever you think of the people behind the table, shutting them down is not an answer.
On Saturday in Brighton, a Freedom Watch GB debate stall was shut down. We know this from the people who did it.
At 21:04 BST, Brighton and Hove Stand Up To Racism wrote on X: "Well done and many congratulations to the school kids of Brighton who through mass direct action shut down this far right Restore Britain activist and grifter in Churchill Square today - you did us all proud!" Forty minutes later it added: "Anti-racist Brighton school kids: 1 Far right grifters: 0", and asked: "where's your gazebo gone?"
The group's description of those involved as "school kids" is its own. According to Sussex News, it shared footage with a caption justifying the action, describing "a far right sect preaching hate and threatening school kids".
At 18:21 on Saturday, Freedom Watch GB founder Montgomery Toms wrote: "Attacked again, gazebo destroyed, debate shut down." Ben Weller, who posted that he was taking part, said they had been "trying to have a good conversation about the role of the state and the rights of the unborn" and claimed they were repaid "by spitting, stealing, and destroying". Those claims have not been independently verified. So far there has been no police statement, no mainstream news coverage and no reported arrests.
On Sunday 11th October, Mr Toms posted a video on X which he says shows the incident, writing: "I was attacked, mobbed, shut down. My gazebo was destroyed."
Video: Montgomery Toms, via X (x.com/MontgomeryToms/status/2109325173740425550)
Brighton is not a one-off. On 5 October, Freedom Watch GB set up outside Senate House at the University of Bristol. Epigram, the student paper, reported that around 100 students and activists protested and that protesters took down the gazebo at about 1.30pm.
Avon and Somerset Police said a solo-crewed officer attended at about 11.30am. "An incident broke out when a man was grabbed, resulting in a physical altercation involving a small number of people," the force said. "The officer was able to separate those involved and, as they were the only attending officer on the scene, had to prioritise keeping people safe and preventing any further offences from being committed." It added: "A man reported being assaulted by members of the counter-protest". Enquiries, including a review of footage, are ongoing. The Tab and Bristol24/7 also covered it.
Freedom Watch GB's response was the right one: "we actively encourage people to challenge us, criticise us and debate us." The next day, Toms said a debate at Cardiff University was also "mobbed and shut down".
In Manchester on 15 June, the activist known as Young Bob was attacked while hosting a debate stand on Market Street, the Manchester Evening News reported. Greater Manchester Police arrested three people, two juveniles and one person in their 20s, on suspicion of robbery and assault. All three were bailed pending further enquiries. No charges have been reported.
On Sunday, Tommy Robinson asked: "Why is everyone silent on this?" He argued: "If this was anyone but a white man, politicians would be queueing up to condemn it." That is his view. What can be said is that police in Bristol and Manchester issued public statements, while in Brighton none has appeared so far.
Freedom Watch GB is Toms's own group, set up in December 2025. It is not a Restore Britain operation, although Toms works at Restore's headquarters and the group has said it wants to be "a vehicle to win over young voters" to Restore. "Far right" is its opponents' label.
If an argument is wrong, it can be beaten in the open, with a microphone and a crowd. Celebrating its removal by force is not anti-racism, it is intolerance. You may walk past, heckle, set up your own stall or argue back. You are not entitled to take someone else's away.
Sources
Image: Anthony O'Neil, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons