LONDON: Thousands of anti-racism protesters gathered across the UK on Saturday to protest recent riots blamed on far-right groups, following a knife attack in Southport that left three children dead.
Crowds gathered in London, Glasgow, Belfast, Manchester and many other cities in England as fears of violent confrontations with anti-immigrant protesters emerged.
The incident followed a planned rally by far-right groups across the country on Wednesday night, which was replaced by a rally organized by the Stand Up To Racism advocacy group.
More than a dozen locations across England, including Belfast, have been hit by earlier riots following a stabbing incident on July 29 that was mistakenly linked on social media to Muslim migrants.
Rioters attacked mosques and hotels involved in the evacuation, as well as police, vehicles and other locations.
However, the night was largely quiet in cities across England, prompting hopes that the arrests of more than 700 people and the jailing of scores of others will help stem the violence.
However, in Northern Ireland, which has seen continued unrest since last weekend, police said they were investigating a suspected hate crime last night.
A petrol bomb was thrown at a mosque in Newtownards, east Belfast, in the early hours of Saturday morning, with graffiti found on the front door and walls of the building, the Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI) has reported.
It was revealed that the firebomb thrown at the house did not catch fire.
“This is a racial hate crime and I want to send a clear message to those who commit this crime that this type of activity will not be tolerated and we take any reports of hate crime seriously,” PSNI Chief Inspector Keith Hutchinson said.
There were also reports of damage to property and vehicles in Belfast overnight as unrest continued.
The unrest in Northern Ireland has its roots in events in England, but also in pro-British paramilitary groups with their own hidden agendas, the PSNI has reported.
Around 5,000 anti-racism protesters gathered in Belfast on Saturday without incident.
In London, hundreds of people gathered outside the offices of Brexit architect Nigel Farage of the Reform UK Party before marching to Parliament, watched by a large number of police officers.
Farage and other far-right figures have been blamed for helping to incite the riots through anti-immigrant rhetoric and conspiracy theories.
“It's really important for black people in this country, and for immigrants in this country, to see us coming out here as white British people saying 'no, we're not standing for this',” Phoebe Sewell, a 32-year-old attendee from London, told AFP.
Fellow Londoner Jeremy Snelling, 64, said he protested because “I don’t like the right wing using my name to claim power in the streets.”
He did not hold Farage “personally responsible” for the violence, but argued that the Reform Party founder was a “contributor” to the volatile environment.
“I think he’s damaging and I think he’s dangerous,” Snelling added.
