Last updated on August 29th, 2024 at 04:57 pm
London: Thousands of anti-racism protesters took to the streets in several UK cities on Saturday, including London, Glasgow, Belfast, and Manchester, amidst recent far-right unrest following a knife attack that killed three children in Southport.
The protests were organized by the advocacy group Stand Up To Racism after false rumors on social media linked the deadly July 29 stabbings to a Muslim immigrant. The demonstrations passed off peacefully despite fears of violent confrontations with anti-immigration groups.
But before the rallies, over a dozen towns and cities in England and Northern Ireland experienced anti-immigrant violence, with rioters targeting mosques, hotels associated with immigration, and even police vehicles. However, officials said that that violence has ebbed dramatically following nearly 800 arrests and hundreds of imprisonments of rioters.
The police in Northern Ireland, where unrest began last weekend, are investigating a suspected racially motivated hate crime after a petrol bomb was thrown at a mosque in Newtownards, east of Belfast. Luckily, it didn’t ignite, and there was racist graffiti sprayed on the building.
Around 5,000 anti-racism protesters rallied in Belfast on Saturday, police said, adding that the event passed “largely without incident.” The United Against Racism group’s Fiona Doran said the gathering sent a clear message that “Belfast is a welcoming city which rejects racism, fascism, Islamophobia, antisemitism, and misogyny.”
Demonstrators marched through the streets of London in their thousands, beginning outside the office of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, which they blame for fomenting the riots with anti-immigrant rhetoric and conspiracy theories. There was also a thick presence of police at the protests.
Meanwhile, court cases were in process for suspected rioters. Stephen Parkinson, the head of the prosecution service, said hundreds of those involved in recent violence could expect to come before the courts shortly, facing possible prison sentences of up to 10 years for the most serious crimes.