Glance at most mainstream media over the past few days and the impression is that there have been mass protests at hotels used to house asylum seekers. The Times ran several front pages, the BBC news website couldn’t keep away from headlining it and so on.
Nigel Farage of course did not waste an opportunity to see if he could provoke another round of the Farage riots.
As the report from Stand Up To Racism, who organised counter protests at many locations, the far and fascist right did mobilise some numbers. The numbers were not huge and sometimes outnumbered (as in Liverpool) by anti-racists but they did happen.
The likely focus of all this is another exercise in self promotion by Stephen Yaxley Lennon in central London on 13th September
Stand Up to Racism report
This weekend saw significant far right demonstrations aimed at harassing asylum seekers with 300 in Wakefield, 200 in Altringham and 200 in Cheshunt, Essex. The far-right also mobilised over 100 people in Bournemouth, Portsmouth, Chichester, Orpington, Leeds, Cannock, Crawley, Tamworth, Nuneaton, Perth and Newcastle.
However, despite Nigel Farage urging more protests outside hotels housing refugees after the Epping ruling, the far right did not mobilise the numbers expected.
The biggest demonstrations this weekend were organised by Stand up to Racism with 500 in Liverpool and 500 in Bristol. As well as Bristol and Liverpool, Anti-fascists outnumbered the far-right in Leeds, Leicester, Rhoose, Cardiff, Exeter and Perth, and in Newcastle numbers were similar.
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