A senior member of a 'fascist' group whose founder was part of the BNP has encouraged supporters to join an anti-‘climate lockdown’ protest in Oxford this weekend.

Wearing a grey hooded top bearing the slogan ‘The White Race’ and seemingly standing in a Tesco supermarket, Jeff Marsh nationalist group Patriotic Alternative claimed: “They’re trying to take our freedom away.

“They’re zoning off cities and you won’t be able to drive from one part to the other. They’re starting with Oxford. They’re doing a lot of others.”

The claims that Oxford's councils are plotting a 'climate lockdown' is strongly disputed by both city and county councils, who have characterised it as a misleading falsehood.

READ MORE: Oxford councillors abused over LTN 'conspiracies'

Mr Marsh, also known as Joe Butler, founded far-right football hooligan group Casuals United in the 2000s as a ‘ready-made army’ to challenge ‘Muslim fundamentalism’.

He could be seen in the 21 second video clip to be wearing an Aquascutum-pattern scarf partially-obscuring his face.

Encouraging supporters to attend the planned protest march in Oxford this Saturday, he told his followers: “So, you need to get there [Oxford] on the 18th. PA [Patriotic Alternative] will have a big presence there.”

In another video, shared to the ‘Patriotic Alternative Official’ page on WhatsApp-style social media site Telegram on February 15, Mr Marsh compared the council’s supposed 15-minute neighbourhoods policy to ‘something off the Hunger Games’.

Mr Marsh claimed of the supposed plan: “Zone one, zone two, zone three.

"And you’re not allowed to drive from one zone to another and they call it Low Traffic Neighbourhoods.”

Oxfordshire County Council has repeatedly said that any suggestion it is trying to impose a ‘climate lockdown’ or prevent people from leaving their ‘neighbourhood’ is false and misleading.

READ MORE: Council releases FAQ after LTNs 'conspiracies'

Led by former British National Party publicity director Mark Collett, who in 2002 featured in TV documentary Young, Nazi and Proud, the group Patriotic Alternative was founded in 2019.

A member of the group has this week been accused of delivering hundreds of leaflets to homes in Merseyside just days before disorder at a hotel accommodating refugees in Knowsley last Friday.

The group has denied involvement in the disorder, which led to a police riot van being set on fire.

It is claimed that Patriotic Alternative has tried to ‘hijack local issues’.

Nick Lowles of anti-far right charity Hope Not Hate told The Times this week that the group ‘stirr[ed] up trouble in communities while presenting themselves as the “authentic” voice of the people’.

Oxford Stand Up To Racism’s Ian Mckendrick said: “People in Oxford have every right to campaign against the LTNs, but should not be conned into providing cover for fascist groups who have a history of bringing racism and violence onto the streets.

READ MORE: Police on high alert for Saturday LTN protest 

“The far right are like wolves in sheep's clothing and will turn on our diverse communities if they ever get a toe hold here.”

The group is organising an 'alternative' protest event at Bonn Square from midday. 

Laura Towler of Patriotic Alternative hit back at the criticism of the group by ‘far left extremists’.

She claimed organisations such as Hope Not Hate ‘seem to be struggling with the fact that the public agree with Patriotic Alternative on the majority of issues, hence why they keep writing off genuine concerns as being “far right” or “fascist”’.

Earlier this week, Thames Valley Police said it would respond 'proportionately' to the protest in Broad Street. 

Detective chief inspector Colin Paine said in a statement: “It is important to stress that where any criminal offences are committed, an appropriate response will be put in place and such incidents investigated."