Anti-racism marches in Britain, police on alert despite calm | News
Thousands of anti-racism activists took to the streets across Britain on Saturday in response to far-right violence, amid fears it could flare up again despite a lull, as police remained on alert on Sunday for fresh unrest.
The moves come after Britain was rocked by more than a week of riots, with crowds chanting anti-immigrant and Islamophobic slogans attacking mosques, looting shops and clashing with police.
The march in Belfast yesterday was the largest, with an estimated 5,000 people taking part. Fiona Doran, of United Against Racism, which helped organise the march, said the move “shows that Belfast is a city that says no to racism, fascism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and misogyny.”
In addition to Belfast, anti-racism rallies were held across the UK, including in Newcastle in northern England, Cardiff in Wales, and Glasgow and Edinburgh in Scotland.
In the capital, London, about a thousand people gathered in front of the headquarters of the anti-immigration Reform UK party, holding up banners reading “No to racism, no to hate,” without incident.
“I don't want the right wing to take to the streets in my name,” said Jeremy Snelling, 64, who took part in the rally. “I'm for open borders, and refugees are a good thing.”
“It's very important for immigrants in this country to see us here, white British people, saying: 'No, we do not tolerate violence,'” said Phoebe Sewell, 32.
Targeting a mosque
The last major clashes between police and rioters date back to Monday evening, and police have said they will remain on high alert until Sunday for fear of renewed unrest.
In Newtownards, east Belfast, a mosque was targeted again the night before last with a Molotov cocktail, but it did not ignite, and the mosque was vandalised, while police said they were treating the matter as a racist crime.
“This is a racially motivated hate crime and I want to send a strong message to the perpetrators that this type of activity will not be tolerated,” said Chief Inspector Keith Hutchinson, the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
Calm and fears
The authorities attribute the relative calm that has returned to the country to the firm judicial response, with more than 800 people arrested and 300 convictions issued for inciting riots and publishing material on the Internet that fuels violence.
“Hundreds of people suspected of involvement in the violence will soon be brought to justice,” said Stephen Parkinson, Director of Public Prosecutions for England and Wales.
Parkinson warned that those convicted could face prison sentences of up to 10 years for the most serious offence of rioting.
“This is not about revenge, this is about justice,” he said in comments reported by The Sunday Times.
Despite the calm, British media reported on Saturday that Prime Minister Keir Starmer “cancelled his plans for a holiday next week in order to remain focused on the crisis.”
Starmer said on Friday that his country's authorities must “remain on high alert” in the coming hours and days, as a court issued the first prison sentence for incitement online during the recent unrest.
Starmer said during a visit to London's Metropolitan Police headquarters that the “swift justice” meted out by police and courts to rioters in recent days had acted as a deterrent to further disorder in England.
King on line
Although the British King Charles III is supposed to stay away from political issues, his silence on the crisis has drawn criticism, prompting him to break his silence and thank the police for confronting the recent far-right riots in the United Kingdom, attributing this violence to the “delinquency of a small number of people,” and calling for “mutual respect and understanding.”
According to a Buckingham Palace spokesman, the King had telephone conversations with Starmer and police officials on Friday, “in which he stressed that he was greatly encouraged by the many examples of solidarity in the face of aggression and the delinquency of a small number, with the sympathy and resistance of the greater number of people.”
The spokesman said Charles III, who is currently on holiday in Scotland, sent his “sincere thanks to the police and emergency services for all they are doing to restore peace in areas affected by disorder and racist and anti-Islamic violence”.
The King and his wife Camilla were quick to publish a message of condolence to the families of the victims of the knife attack that claimed the lives of three girls aged between 6 and 9 years old at a dance school on July 29 in Southport, northwest England.
The unrest is the worst in the UK since 2011, when three girls were stabbed to death at a dance class in Southport and five other children were seriously injured. Rumours and misinformation fuelled by the far right that the perpetrator was a Muslim led to rioting.
Some of the far-right hooligans and agitators are believed to have links to England's football hooligan scene, which dates back decades and has declined since its peak in the 1980s but is still capable of producing violence during matchday season.