Good morning. It was billed as a night of bigotry and bloodshed: more than 100 far-right rallies were anticipated across England and Wales, with the potential for the worst unrest of the last two weeks. Shops were boarded up, and workers stayed at home; 41 of 43 local police force areas were preparing for the threat of violence. But something else happened, instead.
In Birmingham and Bristol, Southampton and Sheffield, and in many other towns and cities besides, anti-racist protesters gathered in their hundreds and thousands to stand up against the extremists. And while handfuls of far-right sympathisers did come out in some places, they were almost universally outnumbered. In many places, they simply didn’t turn up at all. At the end of the night, and with very few reports of trouble, the counter-protesters went home peacefully, their message sent with absolute clarity.
