Anti-Racism Protests Counter Far-Right Threats

Anti-racism protesters gathered on streets in Liverpool to challenge expected far-right groups that failed to materialize following more than a week of violent racist attacks targeting Muslims and migrants.

The protesters were made up of a diverse collection of Muslims, anti-racist and anti-fascist groups, trade unionists, left-wing organizations, and locals appalled at the riots that had hit the country.

Police said around 50 people in Croydon, south London, had thrown bottles and were trying to cause disruption.

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.

Thousands of police officers fanned out across Britain amid fears that protests planned by far-right groups would descend into fresh violence after days of anti-immigrant riots shocked the country.

But by late evening, large anti-immigration protests had not materialized and only a handful of arrests had been made.  Instead, thousands of anti racism protesters gathered in cities across the country, including Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool and London.

Some of those demonstrations were close to places that had been identified as potential targets for rioters.

And as the summer evening that many had feared could turn violent made way for the night, many expressed relief that the worries of wide-scale violence had not been realized.

More than a dozen towns and cities across Britain experienced violent unrest over the past week, fueled in part by far-right agitators and an online disinformation campaign intent on creating disorder after a deadly knife attack on a children’s dance class in northwestern England.

Much of the misinformation after the attack in Southport claimed that the teenage suspect — who was born in Britain — was an asylum seeker. 

The police have not disclosed a motive for the stabbing attack. Britain has very tight restrictions on what can be reported once a case is underway.