Counter-protesters have turned out in UK cities amid warnings of at least 100 far-right marches being planned for Wednesday night.
People were on the streets of towns and cities including Bristol, London, Liverpool, Birmingham and Brighton.
More than 6,000 specialist police had been mobilised amid fears of a repeat of the violence seen around the country over the past week.
Some businesses closed early and others chose to board up windows ahead of an anticipated 8pm start time.
Solicitors and other agencies who work with asylum seekers had been warned they could be targeted.
But as the night progressed it appeared the mass far-right protests had failed to materialise, with counter-demonstrators instead taking the initiative.
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The Stand Up To Racism group tweeted photos of the counter-protests alongside the words “this is what a mass movement looks like”.
I am here to reiterate that Sir Starmer’s idea of increasing the number of police would be a fundamentally flawed reaction.
Edit: the point is kindly rescinded - I do best when I stay in my wheelhouse
I think you misunderstand the idea - he wasn’t proposing hiring more police, but temporarily increasing the total man-hours being worked to make sure there is sufficient capacity to respond
There’s a significant number of police staff, including those who usually work non-citizen-facing roles, who are trained to be riot police, for circumstances just like this.
Thanks, that does sound more reasonable than the impression I had.
It’s creative accounting because hiring more police takes time and costs money - getting some of the back room onto normal rounds frees up those with riot training.
Like the bit at the end of Hot Fuzz when the whole office puts on riot gear.