From the Lincolnshire Echo by Adrian Curtis
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| Lithuanian Igor Kartel grabs Patriots microphone to deliver his positive message - moments before he was challenged by the group's leaders |
The counter-demonstrator who broke through the ranks to address the East Anglian Patriot march insists he was trying to bring both sides together.
Lithuanian businessman Igor Kartel, 28, who had supported the Lincoln Against Racism and Fascism march earlier in the day, managed to get among the leaders of the Patriots and snatch the megaphone in order to deliver his message of peace.
But after telling the crowd that everyone should work together, he was surrounded by members of the Patriots and hauled away by police.
Mr Kartel told the Echo in an exclusive interview moments after the incident:
I didn't go there with a bomb, I went with a positive message. I know something could have gone wrong. But the worst they could do was beat me up, it was nothing really. I was scared a little.
They did not know what I was going to say. Everybody was shocked and asking 'why is this guy taking the microphone?'
I said something positive like we have to think about the same country and talk. Then I tried to put my banner in front of them and that is when they pushed me away. But I just stood there. I would never have attacked them.
I would use my power to defend women and children but not in this situation. If they had had tried to beat me up, I would not have attacked them back.
They just asked me to go away and the police said the same thing. I know it could look like a situation where I was trying incite things but that was not my intention at all. I don't think I am a brave man.
Everything I do, I do it for people and for this country. If we get together and talk then a lot of things can change.
We have got a lot to do to change the minds of these people. But we can do it. They are not bad people. They are good people.
They are the same. We should get around the table and talk.
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