Anti-racist protests in Britain were well-turned out on Saturday, following 10 days of racist and Islamophobic violence, considered the worst in Britain for 13 years.
The largest demonstration today brought together several thousand people in Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, where police last week recorded numerous acts they described as racist.
A mosque in Newtownards, east Belfast, was again the target of vandalism overnight, with police saying they were treating the case as a racist crime.
Folks gathering at Writers Square ahead of today’s march. pic.twitter.com/u2ww6fDfiG
— Brendan Harkin 💀 (@brendanjharkin) August 10, 2024
Gatherings of hundreds of people also took place in, among others, Newcastle (northern England), Cardiff (Wales), Glasgow and Edinburgh (Scotland).
In London, nearly 1,000 people rallied outside the headquarters of the anti-immigration and anti-establishment Reform UK party, holding placards reading “no to racism, no to hate”. No incidents occurred.
This is from London.
Hindu Community gathered outside the UK Parliament to protest against the attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh.#BangladeshiHindus pic.twitter.com/VcyCTTzxTy— Be political (@be_political123) August 10, 2024
The last major clashes between police and rioters happened on Monday night, but police remain on alert this weekend.
The British Judiciary has reacted swiftly to the racist riots, indicting 300 rioters in a week for various crimes, including online posts fueling violence. Over 700 people have been arrested.
Yesterday Friday, a court sentenced a 28-year-old man to 20 months in prison for inciting racial hatred online. It is the first sentence to be handed down since the riots, with the British government aiming to deter and crack down on the Far Right riots.
A first wave of anti-racism demonstrations took place on Wednesday, and in the following days thousands of people demonstrated peacefully in the streets in many cities against racism and Islamophobia.
The violence, which targeted mosques and migrant shelters, erupted after a knife attack that killed three girls on July 29 in the northeastern English city of Southport.
The fuse for the racist and Islamophobic riots was fake news and rumors circulating on the Internet regarding the identity of the alleged perpetrator.
Source: RES-MPE
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