LONDON: Thousands of anti-racism demonstrators rallied across Britain on Saturday against recent far-right riots following a knife attack in Southport that left three children dead.
Crowds in London, Glasgow, Belfast, Manchester and many other English towns and cities, as fears of a violent confrontation with anti-immigration agitators failed to materialize.
It followed a similar situation on Wednesday night, when planned far-right rallies up and down the country were replaced by rallies organized by the anti-racism advocacy group.
More than a dozen locations across England, as well as Belfast, were previously affected by unrest after a stabbing on July 29, which was mistakenly linked on social media to a Muslim migrant.
Rioters targeted immigration-related mosques and hotels, as well as police, vehicles and other locations.
However, recent nights have been largely quiet in English towns and cities, raising hopes among authorities that more than 700 arrests and scores of people currently in prison have prevented further violence.
However, in Northern Ireland, which has seen ongoing unrest since last weekend, police said they were investigating a suspected racially motivated crime overnight.
A petrol bomb was thrown at a mosque in Newtownards, east Belfast, in the early hours of Saturday, spraying graffiti on the front door and walls of the building, according to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
The statement said that the petrol bomb that was thrown at the property did not ignite.
The PSNI chief said: “This is being treated as a racially motivated hate crime, and I want to send a strong message to those who did this, that this type of activity will not be tolerated and any reporting of the crime hate is taken very seriously.” Inspector Keith Hutchinson said.
There were also reports of damage to property and vehicles in Belfast as unrest continued in Belfast overnight.
According to the PSNI, the unrest in Northern Ireland was sparked by events in England, but also fueled by pro-British loyalist militias with their own agendas.
About 5,000 anti-racism protesters demonstrated in Belfast on Saturday without incident.
In London, hundreds of people rallied outside the office of Brexit architect Nigel Farage's British Reform Party before marching on parliament, as a heavy police presence looked on.
Farage and other far-right figures have been accused of helping to fuel the riots through anti-immigrant rhetoric and conspiracy theories.
Phoebe Sewell, 32, from London, said: “For people of color in this country, for immigrants in this country, it's really important that we're seen here as white Brits saying, 'No, we're not for this.' told AFP.
Jeremy Snelling, 64, of London, said he was attending because: “I don't like the right-wing claiming my name in the streets.”
He did not hold Farage “personally responsible” for the violence, but argued that the founder of the Reform Party “contributed” to the unsettled environment.
“I think he's damaging and I think he's dangerous,” Snelling added.
