antifa

Demonstrators form human shields in towns and cities across England, after 6,000 police drafted in to tackle disorder. Thousands of anti-racism protesters gathered across England and formed human shields to protect asylum centres after police warned of unrest from more than 100 far right-led rallies. Holding placards saying “refugees welcome” and “reject racism, try therapy”, people took to the streets in towns and cities nine days after the country was shaken by repeated riots following the murders of three girls in Merseyside. But there was little sign of the unrest seen over the past week. Police staged their biggest mobilisation to counter disorder since the 2011 riots on Wednesday as they said there was a credible threat that many of the planned gatherings could turn violent. (…) About 6,000 riot-trained officers were drafted in to tackle the expected rallies and an estimated 30 counter-protests after immigration law firms and refugee centres were listed as potential targets in a far-right chat group on the encrypted messaging app Telegram. But thousands of counter-protesters took to the streets of Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol, Brighton and London to protect their communities from the rumoured protests that were due to take place on Wednesday evening. At 7pm in Liverpool, hundreds of people formed a human shield outside a targeted church that hosts an immigration advice centre while women held banners saying: “Nans against Nazis”. Similar scenes were witnessed in the east London boroughs of Hackney and Walthamstow as thousands of local people and anti-fascist activists came together and held placards saying “we are one human race” and “unite against hate”. In Brighton, the handful of anti-immigration protesters who gathered outside a targeted law office were surrounded by police for their own protection after they were outnumbered by about 500 counter-protesters who chanted: “Off our streets, Nazi scum.” Later, the gathering took on a street carnival atmosphere with a samba band and loud singing.

via guardian: Thousands of anti-racism protesters take to streets to counter far-right rallies

siehe auch: UK riots latest: Thousands of counter-protesters crowd out planned far-Right rallies. Far-Right demonstrators were left outnumbered on Wednesday night as thousands of counter-protesters crowded them out in towns and cities across England. Police forces across the country had braced for more than 100 far-Right demonstrations, but it was the counter-protesters who turned out in far greater numbers. In London, more than 5,000 people amassed in Walthamstow carrying banners of ‘Oppose Tommy Robinson’ and ‘Refugees Welcome’.  Hundreds of counter-protesters also gathered outside an immigration advice centre in Brentford and the Old Fire Station in Hackney. There were also large counter-demonstrations in Birmingham, Sheffield, Liverpool, Newcastle, Bristol, and Brighton.