Thousands of people in towns and cities across England took to the streets on Wednesday to denounce hatred, racism and Islamophobia, halting any attempts by far-right groups to provoke unrest like those seen in the country in recent days.
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Carrying flags, signs and chants, thousands gathered in shopping centres in various towns amid a strong security presence set up by the country’s various law enforcement agencies to prevent new outbreaks of violence.
Chanting slogans against the far right, applauding and shouting messages of peace, protesters gathered in cities such as London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Southampton, Sheffield and Newcastle.
Massive anti-right wing demonstration in Walthamstow, London, on Wednesday. / ANDY RAIN
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“Haters are not welcome here,” “Stop the far right” and “I welcome refugees” were some of the signs carried by many of the demonstrators, surrounded at all times by hundreds of officers in riot gear.
In the north-east London borough of Walthamstow, where thousands of people gathered, a woman with a loudspeaker led the call, shouting “Whose streets?” and the crowd responding: “Our streets!”
British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper thanked “all the police officers who worked tonight to protect and support local communities” via the X network.
Police on alert
British police have been put on alert for a possible night of violence after reports circulated on the internet of 30 immigration centres where far-right groups were planning to demonstrate.
To prevent an escalation of tensions, more than 6,000 riot police were on standby to prevent a repeat of the violence seen in recent days in British cities, where rioters looted shops, set cars and rubbish bins on fire, attacked a hotel housing asylum seekers and threw stones, bottles and cans at officers.
Anti-fascist protesters in Brentford, London, on Wednesday. / NEIL HALL
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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned on Tuesday that law enforcement would take “all necessary measures” to control a new wave of unrest and that the full force of the law would be applied against those responsible.
More than 400 people have been arrested in the past week in connection with the riots, which began on July 30 after three girls were stabbed to death at a leisure centre in Southport, in north-west England, by a 17-year-old boy – Axel Rudakubana, born in Wales to Rwandan parents – but far-right groups reacted after erroneous information circulated on social media that the boy was an asylum seeker.
According to media reports, King Charles III is receiving daily briefings on the unrest of the past week, but has no plans to visit any of the places affected by the riots.
Anti-far-right demonstration outside the Merseyside Refugee Centre (Liverpool) on Wednesday. / PETER POWELL
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The head of state, who is on holiday in Scotland, is also not expected to make any kind of intervention to ease tensions due to the monarchy’s political neutrality.
The monarch, who is being treated for an undisclosed cancer, has always been a promoter of interreligious dialogue as a way of uniting groups and has defended community cohesion.
The first people convicted for the riots
On Wednesday, a 58-year-old man was sentenced to three years in prison for taking part in the riots on 30 July in Southport, the first to be prosecuted for the violence in the United Kingdom.
The man was Derek Drummond, who was convicted by Liverpool Magistrates’ Court in north-west England after admitting taking part in the riot and assaulting a health worker.
One of the participants in the far-right demonstration on August 3 in Manchester. / STR
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Liverpool Crown Court also handed down jail sentences to two other rioters, identified as Declan Geiran, 29, jailed for 30 months, and Liam Riley, 40, sentenced to 20 months.
