LONDON: Thousands of anti-racism demonstrators rallied across the UK on Saturday to protest recent rioting blamed on the far-right in the wake of the Southport knife attack that killed three children.
Crowds massed in London, Glasgow in Scotland, Belfast in Northern Ireland, Manchester and numerous other English towns and cities, as fears of violent confrontations with anti-immigration agitators failed to materialise.
It followed similar developments on Wednesday night, when anticipated far-right rallies up and down the country failed to materialise. Instead, people turned out for gatherings organised by the Stand Up To Racism advocacy group.
Up until that point, more than a dozen English towns and cities — and Belfast too — had been hit by anti-migrant unrest, following the deadly July 29 stabbings which were falsely linked on social media to a Muslim immigrant.
Rioters targeted mosques and hotels linked to immigration, as well as police, vehicles and other sites.
Recent nights have been largely peaceful in English towns and cities, prompting hope among the authorities that the nearly 800 arrests and numerous people already jailed had deterred further violence.
Despite the respite, UK media reported Saturday that Prime Minister Keir Starmer had cancelled plans to go on holiday next week to remained focused on the crisis.
– ‘No to racism’ –
In Northern Ireland, which has seen sustained disorder since last weekend, police said they were investigating a suspected racially motivated hate crime overnight.
A petrol bomb was thrown at a mosque in Newtownards, east of Belfast, early Saturday, with racist graffiti sprayed on the building, said the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
The petrol bomb thrown at the property had failed to ignite, it added.
“This is being treated as a racially motivated hate crime, and I want to send a strong message to those who carried this out, that this type of activity will not be tolerated,“ PSNI Chief Inspector Keith Hutchinson said.
Overnight, there were also reports of damage to property and vehicles in Belfast, as nightly unrest there rumbled on.
While the disturbances in Northern Ireland were sparked by events in England, they have also been fuelled by pro-UK loyalist paramilitaries with their own agenda, according to the PSNI.
Around 5,000 anti-racism demonstrators rallied in Belfast on Saturday “largely without incident”, police said.
Fiona Doran, of the United Against Racism group which co-organised the gathering, said it showed “that Belfast is a welcoming city… that says no to racism, to fascism, to islamophobia, to antisemitism, or misogyny”.
– ‘Delivering justice’ –
In London, thousands massed outside the office of Brexit architect Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party before marching through the city centre, accompanied by a large police presence.
They blame Farage and other far-right figures for helping to fuel the riots through anti-immigrant rhetoric and conspiracy theories.
“It’s really important for people of colour in this country, for immigrants in this country, to see us out here as white British people saying ‘no, we don’t stand for this’,“ attendee Phoebe Sewell, 32, from London, told AFP.
Fellow Londoner Jeremy Snelling, 64, said he had turned out because “I don’t like the right-wing claiming the streets in my name”.
He accused Reform party founder Farage of having “contributed” to the volatile environment.
“I think he is damaging and I think he’s dangerous,“ Snelling added.
Meanwhile, suspected rioters continued to appear in court on Saturday.
Stephen Parkinson, the head of the prosecution service, said hundreds of alleged participants in the violence would soon face justice as a “new phase” of “more serious” cases worked through the system.
those convicted could face jail terms of up to 10 years under the most serious offence of rioting, he warned.
“It’s not about exacting revenge, it’s about delivering justice,“ Parkinson said, in comments reported by the Sunday Times.
