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 the fatal stabbing of three girls in Merseyside and the rioting that followed. 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, saying many of the planned gatherings had the potential to turn violent.
Lawyers’ offices shut down, high street shops were boarded up, GP practices closed early and MPs were told to consider working from home as 41 of the 43 local police force areas in England and Wales braced for potential disorder.
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 instead, thousands of counter-protesters took to the streets of Liverpool, Birmingham, Bristol, Brighton and London to protect their communities.
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 Hackney and Walthamstow, both in east London, 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.
But tensions flared in Aldershot in Hampshire after a group chanting “stop the boats” clashed with protesters holding “stand up to racism” placards who had been chanting “refugees are welcome here”. Dozens of police officers rushed onto the road to stop the groups from getting too close to each other. There were also reported skirmishes in Blackpool.
Northamptonshire police said three people had been arrested for public order offences in Northampton, and were in custody, and no members of the public or police had been injured.
The Metropolitan police said eight people had been arrested in Croydon for assaulting emergency workers, possession of offensive weapons and other offences after about 50 people gathered “to cause disruption and fuel disorder”. “They’ve dragged and thrown objects down the road and thrown bottles at officers. This is not linked to protest, this appears to be pure anti-social behaviour,” the force added on X.
But by 9pm few far-right protesters were seen at the alleged targeted sites, although counter-protesters remained on the streets.
A police source with knowledge of the national picture said there were believed to have been small, far right-led rallies in Durham, Blackpool, Norwich, Northampton, Sheffield and Brighton.
The source said police were confident in their intelligence and felt justified in standing up 6,000 riot officers. One reason for the apparent far-right no-show, the source said, was the deterrent effect of the wave of arrests and court appearances that gathered pace after the violence at the weekend, which caused widespread shock.
Earlier Nick Lowles, a long standing expert on the British far right, and who now leads the campaign group Hope Not Hate, told the Guardian that he was sceptical there would be widespread trouble on Wednesday evening.
The expectation was triggered by a list of targets found on social media. Lowles, speaking before this evening said: “I think it’s a hoax, designed to spread fear and panic. Which of course it has done.
“I have no doubt that some people will turn up at some of these places, especially in areas where demographics are similar to where previous trouble has been. But other areas will be very quiet.
“The list has been compiled by one man in Liverpool, who simply googled immigration law firms etc. No-one is organising the local protests and there is very, very little chatter about it on the forums and WhatsApp groups that have been key over the past week. It’s had more circulation from the left:community groups than the far right .”
Police expect the next couple of days to be relatively quiet and more so called protests are expected this weekend.
Some 15 events across England and Wales were known of by police, mostly involving counter protesters. It was believed some far right led gatherings were taking place, though on a much smaller scale than expected.
Earlier, Sir Mark Rowley, the head of the Metropolitan police, said threats against immigration lawyers were “at the centre of our planning tonight”, adding: “We will not let the immigration asylum system be intimidated.”
The director of public prosecutions, Stephen Parkinson, added that publication of targets could be considered a terrorism offence as he revealed that one case of alleged terrorism was “actively under consideration” following the unrest across England and Northern Ireland in the last week.
Britain’s head of counter terrorism, assistant commissioner Matt Jukes, also confirmed for the first time that counter terrorism detectives were investigating some of the violence which erupted after the killing of the three young girls at a Taylor Swift-inspired dance class in Southport last Monday.
The Guardian understands that counter terrorism police are interested in an alleged attempt to set fire to a mosque near the scene of the atrocity, barely 36 hours after Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine were killed. They are also also looking into the attempt to set fire to a Rotherham hotel housing more than 200 asylum seekers on Sunday.
Parts of England went into effective shutdown on Wednesday with shops boarded up in the centre of Manchester, the Jewellery Quarter of Birmingham, Aldershot town centre and Westcliff-on-Sea in Essex ahead of the rumoured protests.Cases being heard at an immigration tribunal were also abandoned on Wednesday following concerns that far right agitators could target the building. Staff, lawyers and claimants at Hatton Cross Tribunal Hearing Centre, near Heathrow Airport, were ordered to leave at around lunchtime. Some hearings could not be completed.
Those inside the court building were told that there was far right activity in the area. A Whitehall source said the decision to abandon the court was precautionary. It is understood that other immigration tribunals have also been closed early because of fears of violence.
It came as Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons speaker, wrote to MPs suggesting they review their security in the wake of the threat of further riots and suggested some might want to consider working from home.
So far 428 arrests across 26 forces have been made and more than 140 people have been charged since the riots erupted last Tuesday, but that number is expected to increase, police said.
Disorder-related sentencing hearings are scheduled for 26 people over the next two days, the Ministry of Justice added on Wednesday evening. Offences covered by the hearings will include violent disorder, publishing written material to stir up racial hatred, and racially aggravated threatening behaviour.
Chief Constable BJ Harrington, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for public order, said that police and the Crown Prosecution Service would seek to minimise the number of suspects released on bail, as a deterrent to further rioting, and that even defendants with no previous convictions had already been remanded in custody after a first appearance in court.
Keir Starmer said the government was taking “swift action” against rioters after three men were jailed at Liverpool crown court on Wednesday for their parts in the disorder.