Each of his friends in the café recalls a Britain that was far from welcoming. Abdulla tells me that he took part in the Battle of Cable Street in east London in 1936. He owned a café on Leman Street where Somali sailors would meet to get news from back home.
“Mr Cohen, my friend and Jewish neighbour, told me that this march was being organised by fascists, [by] a madman called Mosley who hated blacks and Jews. The Jewish community had organised a counter-attack, along with the local community. We Somalis joined them pushing Mosley and his thugs back. In my eyes, I was a British man defending his neighbourhood.”
http://www.newstatesman.com/2012/08/bitter-sweet-victory-londons-somalis
About the Battle of Cable Street:
http://www.historyinanhour.com/2012/08/14/battle-of-cable-street-summary/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cable_Street
@horumar
