UK riots updates: Anti-racist counter-protests across England

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We will be closing this live page shortly, but before we do, here’s a brief recap of some of the day’s main events:

• Thousands of anti-racist counter-protesters took to the streets of England in solidarity with immigrants and ethnic minorities that have been targeted in the last few days.
• Far-right groups appeared more subdued after several days of violent anti-immigrant riots.
• Authorities warned that rioters will face steep penalties, with UK’s head of counter-terrorism policing, Assistant Commissioner Matt Jukes, stating that classifying some of the riots as “terrorism” remained a possibility.
• Muslim Council of Britain has called for the country’s Muslim community to stay safe and united in the face of “hatred and violence”.

The day started high on tension here in Liverpool amid fears of violent protests. But the situation has calmed down.

Most of the hundreds of protesters who showed up at the Asylum Link Merseyside centre earlier today have now dispersed after a day of peaceful protests. They had gathered here as earlier reports suggested that the site would have been targeted by anti-migrant protesters, but it did not happen.

Some in the crowd suggested that this was thanks to the high turnout.

“I am very happy with the turnout,” said Hashem, a Muslim present at the counter-protest. “Good people within our community took a moral stand. The far-right hate is not welcome in Liverpool.”

Thousands of counter-protesters have taken to the streets in the UK in a show of solidarity against far-right, anti-immigrant groups.

You can look through our full gallery here.

Michael Walker, a reporter with the independent news organisation Novara Media, has told Al Jazeera that the last day has brought some “positive news”, with far-right demonstrations appearing more muted and anti-racist counterprotestors rallying in the streets.

“There were fears that there would be far-right riots around the country. Most of them haven’t come to pass,” he told Al Jazeera in a TV interview.

“It’s been very clear that the spirit of the nation is not with the rioters of the past seven days. That said, it’s not a time for complacency.”

Police in Northampton have asked anti-racism protesters to leave after far-right demonstrations failed to materialise.

“There has been no disorder tonight,” police said on X, adding that patrols would “remain in the immediate area for some time yet”.

A couple hundred supporters of immigrants who showed up outside a law office on a residential street in the London neighbourhood of North Finchley found themselves largely alone with several dozen police officers.

The crowd chanted “refugees welcome” and “London against racism.” Some held signs saying “Stop the far right,” “Migration is not a crime” and “Finchley against Fascism.”

Outside an immigration centre in the Walthamstow area in east London, a counterprotest leader shouted: “Fascists gone” to which a crowd of hundreds responded: “Off our streets.”

Read more here.

Here in Walthamstow, the community expected rioters to turn up after it was rumoured that an immigration solicitors office was on the list of targets.

Instead, there were anti-fascist groups, Palestinian flags, LGBTQ flags and makeshift cardboard signs with messages like“Refugees are welcome here”.

Salma Iqbal, who works for a refugee charity, said she felt the need to come.

“I was born in the UK to Pakistani parents and this really hits me – right to the very core,” Iqbal told Al Jazeera.

“I could sit at home, scroll through X, and I could feel defeated and demoralised, but then you come out here with people of all backgrounds … and this is what being British is about.”

There was some tension initially, many people were wearing facemasks and coverings, waiting for rioters to arrive and expecting the worst.

A policewoman said a few arrests had been made but that police lines had been filtering out any potential rioters trying to get to the high street.

By the end of the evening, the mood shifted. There was drumming and chanting. A street performer blew giant bubbles that floated across a pink summer sky.

A large anti-racism protest is taking place in Walthamstow, with demonstrators chanting “We fight back” and holding banners saying “Refugees welcome.”

Walthamstow is one of the cities where far-right protests were expected to take place starting at 20:00 GMT.

Shah Khan, the father of the former world champion boxer Amir Khan, says his own son is proof of the success of immigration.

Shah, a British-Pakistani, came to the UK in 1970, and settled in the northern town of Bolton, which has seen far-right violence in recent days.

“A lot of people are from outside… they’re not locals, I don’t think,” he told Al Jazeera.

“We as a community we all get on. I don’t think the genuine Boltonians here are involved in these sorts of riots.”

London’s Metropolitan Police has said approximately 50 people have attacked officers in Croydon, throwing bottles and other objects.

“They’ve made clear their intention is to cause disruption & fuel disorder,” it said on X.

It added that the violence did not appear to be linked to a specific political group. “This is not linked to protest, this appears to be pure anti-social behaviour,” it said.

It also reported large anti-racism protests taking place in Waltham Forest and North Finchley.

Counterprotests are taking place in several cities against the UK to prevent violent attacks on several locations shared by far-right groups on social media.

Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen was at a law firm in Rotherham, one of the reported targets. “Protesters have gathered and police is also blocking the road to the law firm to make sure that no one can get through,” Vaessen said.

“So far we haven’t seen any far-right protesters coming, but there’s a lot of anxiety and people are worried about what could happen tonight.”

Some residents in Liverpool say they are ready to stand alongside asylum seekers in the event of more violence.

“It’s about solidarity, standing up against ignorance, against bigotry and hatred,” Patrick, a local journalist who wished to be identified by his first name, told Al Jazeera.

“We can’t allow people to attack buildings housing people who are most vulnerable and destroy the little bit of refuge they have.”

Patrick, who grew up in Liverpool, said he wanted to challenge the far right’s idea that no one would stop them. “That’s not going to be the case because people will stop you,” he said.

Threats from the UK’s government and police appear to have largely kept the far right off the streets this evening, although that could change as we go further into the night.

However, anti-racist counterprotesters have been out in force in several English cities, including London, Birmingham and Liverpool, making clear their opposition to the riots and violence against asylum seekers, ethnic minorities and Muslims that the UK has seen over the past week.

Large crowds have gathered across London, waving anti-fascist placards and banners, as well as Palestinian flags. In Rotherham, anti-racist groups also gathered in front of an immigration law firm that had been threatened by the far right.

Small far-right protests have been reported in Hounslow, in west London, in Brighton, on the south coast, and in Aldershot, in southern England, where a riot broke out outside a hotel housing asylum seekers on July 31.

Organisations assisting asylum seekers are bracing for more violence amid growing fear among the refugee community, which has been at the receiving end of far-right hatred in the UK.

Ewan Roberts, centre manager at Asylum Link, an organisation helping asylum seekers in Liverpool, says the refugee community is “terrified.”

“People come here thinking they’ve made it to safety” only to be attacked in the place they thought would protect them, Roberts said. “It’s unconscionable,” he added.

Roberts said he always thought of Asylum Link, which is involved in social projects that include music therapy, picking up litter, planting trees and providing food and clothes for the needy, as having a “very positive profile”.

The violence spreading through the UK has shattered that sense of community building. “It’s really, really, really upsetting,” he said.