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Anti-racism protesters rally across UK

by Agence France-Presse

   London --

   Thousands of anti-racism demonstrators rallied Saturday across the
   United Kingdom to protest recent rioting blamed on the far right in the
   wake of the Southport knife attack that killed three children.

   Crowds massed in London, Glasgow, Belfast, Manchester and numerous
   other towns and cities as fears of violent confrontations with
   anti-immigration agitators failed to materialize.

   It followed a similar situation that unfolded Wednesday night, when
   anticipated far-right rallies up and down the country were instead
   replaced by gatherings organized by the Stand Up To Racism advocacy
   group.

   More than a dozen places across England as well as Belfast had been hit
   by unrest prior to that, following the July 29 stabbing spree, which
   was wrongly linked on social media to a Muslim immigrant.

   Rioters targeted mosques and hotels linked to immigration, as well as
   police, vehicles and other sites.

   However, recent nights have been largely peaceful in English towns and
   cities, prompting hope among authorities that the more than 700 arrests
   and numerous people already being jailed has deterred further violence.

   However, in Northern Ireland, which has seen sustained disorder since
   last weekend, police said they were investigating a suspected racially
   motivated hate crime overnight.

   A petrol bomb was thrown at a mosque in Newtownards, east of Belfast,
   in the early hours of Saturday, with graffiti sprayed on the front door
   and walls of the building, according to the Police Service of Northern
   Ireland, or PSNI.

   It said the petrol bomb thrown at the property did not ignite.

   Taken seriously

   "This is being treated as a racially motivated hate crime, and I want
   to send a strong message to those who carried this out, that this type
   of activity will not be tolerated, and any reports of hate crime are
   taken very seriously," PSNI Chief Inspector Keith Hutchinson said.

   There were also overnight reports of damage to property and vehicles in
   Belfast, as nightly unrest there rumbled on.

   The disturbances in Northern Ireland were sparked by events in England
   but have also been fueled by pro-U.K. loyalist paramilitaries with
   their own agenda, according to the PSNI.

   Around 5,000 anti-racism demonstrators rallied in Belfast on Saturday
   without incident.

   In London, hundreds massed outside the office of Brexit architect Nigel
   Farage's Reform U.K. party before marching to Parliament, as a large
   police presence looked on.

   Farage and other far-right figures have been blamed for helping to fuel
   the riots through anti-immigrant rhetoric and conspiracy theories.

   "It's really important for people of color in this country, for
   immigrants in this country, to see us out here as white British people
   saying, 'No, we don't stand for this,'" attendee Phoebe Sewell, 32,
   from London, told AFP.

   Fellow Londoner Jeremy Snelling, 64, said he had turned out because "I
   don't like the right-wing claiming the streets in my name."

   He did not hold Farage "personally responsible" for the violence but
   argued that the Reform party founder had "contributed" to the volatile
   environment.

   "I think he is damaging, and I think he's dangerous," Snelling said.