A peaceful anti-racist protest attended by thousands of Brightonians overwhelmed about half a dozen anti-immigrant protesters last night, leading to a total of zero arrests.
About five or six people answered the call for a riot by far-right activists in Queens Road, Brighton yesterday – but were met by first hundreds, and then thousands of counter-protesters. Police estimate the crowd reached a size of 2,000 people.
A band played while Sussex Police officers formed a human shield around the far-right protesters, who were kept there for about two hours while various slogans were shouted at them, including “fascist scum, off our streets”.
They were escorted to a police van to be taken away from the area shortly before 10pm. Queens Road was then cleared, to shouts, whistles and applause from the crowd.
#Brighton A group of 5 to 7 people was escorted to a safe place by the police more than an hour ago, ending the protests. Queen's Road traffic is back to normal. Protestors have de-escalated. Brighton is at peace. pic.twitter.com/yzMUib4AMa
— Zeeshan Tirmizi (@ZeeshanTirmizi) August 7, 2024
#Brighton Queen's Road is getting clear now. pic.twitter.com/kjbVavxYNd
— Zeeshan Tirmizi (@ZeeshanTirmizi) August 7, 2024
Sussex Police thanked those who helped keep Brighton safe.
Assistant Chief Constable Paul Court said: “We would like to thank communities for their support, engagement and providing information to help us keep communities safe.
“There will be a continued police presence and additional policing resources in coming days to maintain peace and prevent disorder.
“We have now stood down from Queens Road, Brighton, where around 2,000 members of the public who gathered this evening for a peaceful protest, have now dispersed.
“We had a significant police presence and there were no incidents of note and no arrests.
“We would like to thank the community for their support, engagement and providing information to help us keep people safe.
“The message remains the same. Anyone planning to take part in criminal disorder in Sussex will regret their actions. Do not do it. Our officers are mobilised and fully prepared, and the ramifications for those involved will stretch far beyond the conclusion of any incidents.
“Please do speak to local officers for reassurance and report any concerns to the police via the usual channels – online, through 101 or by dialling 999 in an emergency.”
Not sure if ‘fascist scum off our streets’, counts as being peaceful. The fact is there is a problem, and the government is not dealing with it.
There certainly is, right wing extremists terrorizing our communities.
Presumably you will be happy to accommodate the so-called refugees in your home, since the country will soon be running out of 4 star hotels for them? And you won’t mind waiting much longer for the NHS appointment, or getting on the housing list?
This isn’t the Mail Online.
Hove Guy == Patcham Guy? You pretending to be two people in a futile attempt to inflate your numbers?
Fine. If you think growing our population by 700,000 a year, including tens of thousands of illegals by small boat is acceptable, if you think our schools, hospitals, roads , benefit system, and prison system will cope, and if you think it will help our chronic shortage of affordable housing….fine go ahead, and welcome them!
Not sure eh? Well take your time thinking about it then.
Just goes to show that support for the right wing may appear strong online but in the real world they’re barely a blip.
Just a few losers who need to get out more.
Does that include the Manchester Arena bombings, the London bus bomb? All the far right eh? People seem to have a bad case of amnesia.
You seem to have a bad case of skewed thinking. If a white guy kills someone that doesn’t mean all white guys are guilty. Targeting a whole community because of the actions of one person is twisted, and obviously motivated by racism. And of course the stabber wasn’t even from that community. The far-right don’t care at all about victims of attacks, or checking their facts, it’s just a convenient excuse to hurt some brown people and push the country toward race war.
And only a fascist would portray “fascist scum off our street” as non-peaceful.
Ah, I see. The old, ‘I don’t have a cogent argument, so I’ll fall back on good old fashioned ‘whataboutism’. Would you like some Ketchup with your helping of logical fallacies, sir?
And the riots in Rochdale only a few weeks ago?
Wrong site again Einstein.
Rochdale wasn’t a riot, it was a protest that ended without incident. Of course you’re not mentioning that there was no violence, because you’re here to spread misinformation. Also, that was for a policeman stamping on someones head, the protestors didn’t go and burn down other policemen’s houses like your buddies who you’re failing to condemn while focusing on your whataboutery bullsh*t. You’re also not mentioning that the guy stamped on was a Muslim, so pretty clear you’re against the protestors because they were protesting on behalf of a Muslim.
Islamist extremists are right wing, and should have no place in any country.
Extremists don’t have a place in any country as you say. Extremists are a tiny minority of any population, Islamic included. If you’re saying all Islamic people should leave the country because of the actions of a few extremists, then you’re also saying all far-right should also leave the country because of the actions of a few extremists. Maybe you should just drop the Islamic part and refer to extremists, and understand what extremist actually means, by definition it precludes most of the population.
Fair point, no to all extremists,
Correct, extremists of any sort, are not good for anyone or anywhere. But, by definition, extremists are very rare. Otherwise they’d not be extreme and would be mainstream.