Anti-racism protesters sweep Britain after days of far-right riots
- British police prepared for far-right agitators, but they found peaceful anti-racism protesters instead
Thousands of police and anti-racism protesters gathered on streets across Britain on Wednesday to challenge expected far-right groups that failed to materialise following more than a week of violent racist attacks targeting Muslims and migrants.
Britain has been hit by a series of riots that erupted early last week after three young girls were killed in a knife attack in Southport, northwest England, triggering a wave of false messaging online that wrongly identified the suspected killer as an Islamist migrant.
Posts online had said far-right, anti-Muslim protesters would target a list of immigration centres, migrant support centres and specialist law firms on Wednesday, prompting many businesses to close early and some shops to board up windows.
The reports prompted the deployment of thousands of police officers, and crowds of protesters massed in towns and cities including London, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool and Hastings, holding banners saying “Fight racism”, “Stop the far-right” and “Will trade racists for refugees”.
The protesters were made up of a diverse collection of Muslims, anti-racist and anti-fascist groups, trade unionists, left-wing organisations, and locals appalled at the riots that had hit the country.