On Wednesday afternoon, police and communities were bracing for a new wave of far-right riots following unrest seen in towns and cities across England last week.
Shops and homes were boarded up, immigration centres were barricaded and 6,000 police officers were mobilised across the country.
But by evening, the far-right rioters were mostly gone, despite widely reported plans by the groups to mobilize more than 100 targets across the country, including around 40 immigration centers.
Instead, counter-protesters were seen joining in by the thousands in many of the targeted locations. On the streets of Walthamstow in East London, around 5,000 anti-racism protesters were seen holding signs saying ‘No Room for Racism’ and ‘Refugees Welcome’.
Similar scenes played out in places such as Brighton, Bristol, Newcastle and Liverpool – very different from what the country saw in Southport last week or across England and Northern Ireland over the weekend.
Hundreds of people have been arrested and dozens of police officers injured following unrest last week. Police said intelligence suggested more riots could be expected, but many saw Wednesday’s events as a sign the worst may now be over.
So why didn’t the far-right rebels take action on Wednesday like they did last week? Here’s everything you need to know:
Number of arrests
More than 400 people were arrested following last week’s unrest, many during the events and some in the days after. Police raided homes and detained people after identifying them as suspects through investigations.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said: “We had raids at dawn this morning. The most violent people in the Whitehall protests and violence last week… around 70 per cent of them have criminal backgrounds.”
“We’ve got criminal damage, violence, weapons offences, football banning orders. These are criminal thugs. Any claims that they’re patriotic or have a cause to protest are nonsense and frankly, most of them will be charged with violent disorder and most of them will be doing several years in prison.”
Officers are also working on social media footage and images. Features such as live streaming and geotagging, which have been developed over the past few years, will be useful for police intelligence gathering. A police source told The Guardian: “Every force will have analysts monitoring social media, [such as] TikTok is for evidence gathering purposes.”
The images of arrests and house raids will have a great deterrent effect on those who do not want to be in the same situation and are thinking of rebelling.
Strict punishment
Following the unrest in Southport and beyond, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) worked swiftly to prosecute those involved in the riot. Many have already been sentenced, their cases brought to the head of the queue despite the UK’s sometimes years-long court case backlog.
Three men became the first to be jailed for their involvement in the Southport riot on Wednesday. The longest sentence was given to Derek Drummond, 58, from Southport, who was sentenced to three years after pleading guilty to violent disorder and assault on an emergency worker.
Director of public prosecutions Stephen Parkinson said: “There are sentencing guidelines which state that many people caught in this disorder will go to prison immediately. There should be no doubt about that. They will go to prison.
“We are prepared to look at terrorist crimes. I am aware of at least one instance where this has happened.”
Mr Parkinson’s strong language, echoed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, is likely to have deterred many would-be rioters – and when we now see the kinds of punishments people can receive for participating in violence, that deterrent is even stronger.
Counter protesters
Unlike last week’s far-right riots, the targeted plans were shared widely on social media on Wednesday. It is possible that organizers had dared to share details more openly after the relatively high turnout for the riots over the weekend.
Shops, homes and targeted immigration centres braced for violence by boarding up windows and even barricading doors. Police forces responded by deploying more than 6,000 officers to deal with possible further disorder.
But perhaps most significant was the huge presence of anti-racist counter-protesters in places all over the UK. These huge crowds dwarfed the far-right presence in most places, which had already diminished compared to recent days.
The actions were organised with the help of campaign group Stand Up to Racism. The anti-racism organisation has organised dozens more protests on Saturday for a National Day of Protest aimed at “stopping the far-right”. In London, crowds are set to gather outside Reform UK’s headquarters.
Commenting on the scenes in London, Mr Rowley said: “It was a huge police operation. I’m really pleased with how it went.”
“We put thousands of police on the streets and I think the show of force by the police and frankly the unity of the communities overcame the challenges that we saw and everything happened very peacefully last night.”