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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Business
Helen Livingstone

‘Standing together’: What the papers say about far-right rallies and counter-protests

Neil Henderson United Kingdom Walthamstow Daily Express Daily Mail
Composite image of UK headlines on 8 August 2024.
Composite image of UK headlines on 8 August 2024. Papers have been dominated by news of counterprotests to far-right rallies. Composite: Daily Mirror, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Daily Express, The Guardian, The Times, Metro UK, The Independent, The I

UK headlines were dominated by far-right rallies and the protesters who set out to counter them, with much of the expected violence failing to materialise. Even as shops shut up early and local police forces in England and Wales braces for unrest, far-right gatherings either did not take place or were outnumbered by counter-protesters who formed human chains around asylum centres.

The Guardian splashed on “Thousands take to the streets to counter threat from far right” with a picture of crowds in Walthamstow, east London waving placards reading “Refugees welcome” and “Stop the far right”.

The Daily Telegraph ran with “Britain shuts up shop over riots threat”, reporting that MPs had been advised to work from home while GP surgeries closed and shops boarded up their windows, with a picture of a man hammering up plywood across the front of a Samaritans charity shop in Southend, Essex.

The i headlined on “Far-right rioters face football ban as ministers bid to curb unrest”, writing that rioters involved in violence could be barred from matches as “police probe links with hooliganism”.

The Daily Mail’s front page featured a picture of counter-protesters in Walthamstow, headlining it “Night anti-hate marchers faced down the thugs” and reported that thousands had taken to the streets to “stare down feared far-Right rioters”.

The Independent showed the mugshots of three men jailed for their roles in last week’s Southport riots with their sentences in bold under the headline: “The full force of the law”, adding that they are “the first of many to be jailed” over the violence.

The Daily Mirror also used a picture of the Walthamstow counter-protesters with the headlines “Power of the people” and “Standing together” writing that thousands of anti-racists had turned out to thwart the “far-right thugs blighting Britain”.

The Express headlined its splash “United Britain stands firm against thugs” and also used a picture of counter-protesters in Walthamstow.

The Times also used Walthamstow to illustrate its headline “Thousands take to street to confront the far right”, reporting in its sub headings “Police warn of 100 clashes across England” and “Rioters handed sentences of up to three years”.

The Metro took a different angle on the protests, writing in its headline “Putin’s pawns stoking riots” under the line “Russians targeting UK far-right channels”.

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