On 16 October 1993, an anti-racism march near Welling in South East London turned violent, leading to large-scale clashes between police and protesters which left around 70 people injured.
The BNP opened an office in a bookshop at 154 Upper Wickham Lane in Welling, South East London, in 1989,[1] which served as the party's headquarters.
[2] The local area saw a sharp increase in the number of racist attacks in the years following the opening of the office,[3][4][5][6] including the murder of Stephen Lawrence in neighbouring Eltham in April 1993, which had caused opposition to the bookshop to intensify.
[5] They planned to march to the BNP bookshop in Welling to demand its closure,[2] but the initial route passing directly past the property was blocked by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Paul Condon.
[5][7] The police had set up a wide exclusion zone around the bookshop that began in at the bottom of the hill in East Wickham, just before the main road entered Welling.