In some ways, the counterprotests across the UK against the far right have been a straightforward, much-needed good news story. A great array of people, right across the country, mobilising almost spontaneously to protect refugees, Muslims and other minorities from the worst wave of racist attacks for decades. The counterprotests are a sign that this country has become less tolerant of racism and more politically engaged, in a fundamental rather than party-political sense.
At the counterprotest I went to in north-east London, people of different ages, races, sexualities and religions filled the road and pavements. The crowd was tense at first, but then grew chattier, almost festive, as it became clear that the racists weren’t going to turn up.
