LONDON: Thousands of anti-racism demonstrators gathered across Britain on Saturday to protest recent riots blamed on the far right in the wake of the Southport knife attack that killed three children.
Crowds gathered in London, Glasgow, Belfast, Manchester and many other English cities, as fears of violent confrontations with anti-immigration agitators did not materialize.
It followed a similar situation that unfolded on Wednesday night, when expected far-right demonstrations up and down the country were instead replaced by gatherings organized by advocacy group Stand Up To Racism.
More than a dozen locations across England and Belfast had previously been hit by unrest, following the July 29 stabbing, which was falsely linked to a Muslim immigrant on social media.
Rioters targeted mosques and hotels linked to immigration, as well as police officers, vehicles and other locations.
However, recent nights have been largely calm in English towns and cities, raising hopes among authorities that the more than 700 arrests and many people already in custody have deterred further violence.
But 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 on Saturday, with graffiti sprayed on the front door and walls of the building, according to the Police of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
It said the petrol bomb thrown at the property did not ignite.
“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 and all reports of hate crime are taken very seriously,” PSNI Chief Inspector Keith Hutchinson said .
There were also overnight reports of damage to property and vehicles in Belfast, as overnight unrest there rumbled on.
The unrest in Northern Ireland was sparked by events in England but has also been fueled by pro-UK loyalist paramilitaries with their own agenda, according to the PSNI.
Around 5,000 anti-racism protesters gathered in Belfast on Saturday without incident.
In London, hundreds gathered outside the office of Brexit architect Nigel Farage's Reform UK party before marching to Parliament, as a large police presence looked on.
Farage and other far-right figures have been blamed for helping to fuel the riots through anti-immigrant rhetoric and conspiracy theories.
“It's really important for people of color 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, of London , told AFP.
Fellow Londoner Jeremy Snelling, 64, said he had turned up because “I don't like the right wing claiming the streets in my name.”
He did not hold Farage “personally responsible” for the violence but argued that the Reform Party founder had “contributed” to the volatile environment.
“I think he's malicious and I think he's dangerous,” Snelling added.
