The curious case of balaclavas on Britain’s streets
From our UK edition
A balaclava on a British street is a small declaration: I do not want you to know who I am. Last weekend, that declaration was made in Dover and Portsmouth, where hundreds of men, many dressed head-to-toe in black, turned out against the arrival of migrants by small boat: road blockades, walkie-talkies, faces covered. It looked less like a demonstration than a uniformed show of force. Some of Antifa’s fiercest enemies now dress like them That should worry us. There is no democratic entitlement to intimidate the public, assault police officers or obstruct emergency services. But Westminster should be interested in something beyond the spectacle: why do these men believe they need to hide their faces in the first place?
